ABC won over viewers on Tuesday night with “Live in Front of a Studio Audience‘s” nostalgia, lightheartedness and the visual of Kevin Hart standing side-by-side with John Lithgow, with almost a foot of height difference between them. Jimmy Kimmel’s roundup of modern superstars playing the characters of Norman Lear‘s beloved classic sitcoms “Diff’rent Strokes” and The Facts of Life” garnered approximately 4.8 million viewers in Nielsen Live+Same Day time-adjusted ratings during its 8-9:30 p.m. time-slot, and a 1.0/7 in the key 18-49 demographic.
[Dec. 16 Update: The show has now grown to a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49 and is up vs. the second edition of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which aired in 2019, by 13% (1.5 rating on 12/18/19). In addition, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘The Facts of Life’ and ‘Diff’rent Strokes’” jumped to 6.8 million total viewers after seven days of multiplatform viewing.]
“Live in Front of a Studio Audience” was Tuesday’s No. 1 program in the key demo, but Tuesday night’s winners in terms of viewership went to the “FBI” trio on CBS and NBC’s “The Voice.” “FBI” kicked off with 6.83 million viewers at 8 p.m., “FBI: International” at 9 p.m. scored 5.27 million viewers, and at 10 p.m. “FBI: Most Wanted” led the window with 5.63 million viewers. Per NetBase’s social platform analytics, the “FBI” trio amassed nearly 220 million potential impressions last night.
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NBC’s “The Voice,” which ran from 8 to 9 p.m., obtained nearly 7 million viewers (6.89) and a 0.7/5 rating in the key demo. NBC’s special of the night, the simulcast of “The People’s Choice Awards” with E! from 9 to 11 p.m., got 3.7 million viewers and a 0.6/5 rating, but it should be noted that those numbers are only from NBC’s watchers, and not E! Entertainment’s. This marks the second-highest rated “People’s Choice Awards” among ages 18-49 after its 2018 debut since NBCU took over. The ceremony, hosted by SNL vet Kenan Thompson, was produced by “Den of Thieves” alums Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski, and was seen in over 90 other countries. The show features 44 categories that fans vote on. Cardi B presented this year’s people’s icon award to Halle Berry, Becky G presented Christina Aguilera with the inaugural music icon award and Kim Kardashian West was honored with the fashion icon award.
Elsewhere on television, Philly-based mockumentary “Abbott Elementary,” created by and starring Quinta Brunson, attracted 2.87 million viewers during its 9:30 p.m. series debut on ABC, followed by an episode of “Queens” at 10 p.m. that got 1.46 million viewers. New episodes of Fox’s “The Resident” and The CW’s “Riverdale” and “The Flash” also aired on Tuesday night.
