• by Wayne Friedman , September 22, 2014

On the eve of the start of the TV season, CBS launched the new drama “Madam Secretary.” Nielsen preliminary results show a decent 2.0 rating/5 share among 18-49 viewers for live-plus-same-day viewing -- some 14.7 million viewers overall -- for “Madam,” running at 9 p.m.

Former network TV executive Mitch Metcalf writing for Showbuzz Daily, said the "Madam Secretary" performance was “underwhelming but not unexpected.” He adds that “it was strongest by far with older female viewers” who “almost quintupled” the number of 18-49 male viewers.

CBS’ prime time had the benefit of a strong late-afternoon NFL game to lead off the night -- a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl between Denver and Seattle. It earned a hefty 8.3 rating/27 share. After this, the season debut of “60 Minutes,” starting at 8:04 p.m., earned a big 3.6/10.

But as is typical of 10 p.m. network TV shows, CBS struggled with the season debut of “The Good Wife” with a 1.3/4, its lowest season premiere ever.

NBC won the night with its heavy-hitter “Sunday Night Football” in tow -- scoring a 7.2 rating/20 share, down from 14% from the 7.6 rating the week before.

ABC was entirely in reruns, as was Fox -- except for “American Dad,” which took in a decent 1.4/4 at 9:30 p.m. NBC earned a 6.1/16 average for the night among 18-49 viewers, followed by CBS with a 3.8/11; Fox at a 1.2/4; Univision with a 0.7/2; and ABC at a 0.6/2.