NBC Lights Fire With 'Revolution'

Revolution-A2NBC has struck some initial ratings pay dirt with the premiere of its action-drama "Revolution" -- delivering the best results in three years for any broadcast prime-time drama.

"Revolution" -- about what happens when the power and electricity goes out -- grabbed a strong Nielsen preliminary 4.1 rating/11 share among 18-49 viewers and 11.7 million overall viewers at 10 p.m. on Monday night, nearly matching the two-hour "The Voice" from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., which grew week-to-week by 10% to a stronger 4.6/12 and 13.4 million overall viewers.

"Revolution" benefited heavily from a big marketing campaign, as well as a big "Voice" lead-in. But as usual, the question for many analysts will be: How is it doing in week three or four?

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NBC says "Revolution" is its biggest opening drama in five years -- since "Bionic Woman" in 2007 (a 5.7 rating), which didn't last long after its initial start.

Still, "Revolution" did many times better than NBC's "The Playboy Club" of a year ago, which revealed a weak 1.6 rating among 18-49 viewers.

Fox had a so-so start for one returning and one new show on Monday. A new season premiere of "Bones" at 8 p.m. garnered a modest 2.3 rating/6 share, down 30% from a year ago. New show "The Mob Doctor" at 9 p.m. didn't fix much at 1.5/4.

ABC went with "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" singing to a steady 1.7 rating/4 share -- about the same as the last time around. The CW's "The LA Complex" gained a bit week-to-week, a 0.4/1, up from a 0.3 rating a year ago. A second new episode at 9 p.m. earned a 0.2 rating among adults 18-49.

For the night among the key 18-49 group, NBC scored a 4.4/12, followed by Fox with a 1.9/5, ABC at 1.7/4, Univision with 1.6/4, CBS at 1.3/3, and CW with 0.3/1.

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