• by Wayne Friedman , September 14, 2011

The first salvo of the new network season comes from a ho-hum performance for CW's new show "Ringer."

"Ringer" at 9 p.m., starring former "Buffy" star Sarah Michelle Gellar, pulled in a Nielsen preliminary 2.74 million total viewers and 1.6 rating/4 share among CW's key audience -- women 18-34. In a broader measure, adults 18-49, the show posted a 1.2 rating/3 share.

By way of comparison, last season's CW rookie premieres fared the same or a bit better: "Hellcats" grabbed a 1.2 rating among 18-49 viewers; "Nikita" had a 1.4 rating. The former was cancelled, while the latter was renewed.

he good news for CW was that "Ringer" gave the net its best results for a Tuesday in two years -- and against last season's "Life Unexpected," it pulled in almost 70% more viewers --2.7 million versus 1.7 million. The show's 18-49 numbers were also 50% higher than a year ago.

More worrisome was that earlier in the evening at 8 p.m., the return of CW's "90210" only took in a 0.8 adults 18-49 rating, which was down from a 0.9 rating from a year ago. The show earned a 1.3/4 among its key women 18-34 viewers.

NBC started up "Parenthood" for another season on Tuesday with modest results -- an adults 18-49 2.3 rating/7 share, down some from its 2.7 rating a year ago. The network had better luck earlier in the evening with the finale of "America's Got Talent," taking in 3.6/10 -- the night's best-rated show. It was down a bit versus last season finale.

Two other notables: ABC's venerable summer competition show "Wipeout" had a 2.0/7, the same as week ago. NBC's reality effort, "It's Worth What?" had a 1.1/4, down one-tenth of a rating point from the previous week.

NBC won the night among the 18-49 crowd with a Nielsen preliminary 2.4/7. Univision was next with a 1.8/5, followed by ABC at a 1.7/5, CBS with a 1.6/5, CW at a 1.0/3, and Fox with a 0.9/3.