Monday’s TV Ratings: ‘DWTS’ Athletes Edition Stumbles to Premiere Low

Twelve athletes may have waltzed their way onto the stage Monday night, but Dancing With the Stars: Athletes did not sashay its way to the top of Monday night TV ratings.

The premiere episode of Dancing With the Stars: Athletes, which saw not one, but two couples go home, underperformed in ratings, hitting a series low. Drawing in 8.5 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, the premiere episode was down 20 and 30 percent from last fall’s season opener and reached a new demo low.

After the fan votes and judges’ scores were tallied following performances of the cha cha, salsa, foxtrot, and Viennese waltz, Johnny Damon and Jamie Anderson were eliminated from the competition. Damon was partnered with Emma Slater, and Anderson was partnered with Artem Chigvintsev. The couples were judged based off Monday night’s dances. Votes and judges’ scores were tallied throughout the evening with these two couples going home at the end of the night.

The remaining celebrities are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jennie Finch, Tonya Harding, Chris Mazdzer, Mirai Nagasu, Josh Norman, Arike Ogunbowale, Gleb Savchenko, Adam Rippon, though that list will quickly grow smaller given that the season is only four weeks long, with eliminations occurring each week.

Leading out of Dancing With the Stars was The Crossing, which slipped to a series low with 3.8 million viewers and a 0.5 demo rating.

The clear winner of the night was unsurprisingly NBC‘s The Voice, which has consistently posted stellar numbers despite several weeks competing against ABC‘s American Idol. The singing competition nabbed 8.7 million pairs of eyes turning in and scored a 1.6 key demo rating, ticking up slightly. Meanwhile, Good Girls (4.3 mil/0.9) remained steady week to week.

On CBS, Kevin Can Wait (5 mil/0.8) and Superior Donuts (4.1 mil/0.7) both dropped to new lows. Man With a Plan remained even, with 4.8 million viewers and a 0.8. Leading out of a Big Bang Theory rerun, which clocked 4.2 million viewers and a 0.7 demo rating, Elementary (4.7 mil/0.6) was up from its May premiere and even with its Season 5 average.

Fox’s Lucifer (2.8 mil/1.6) and The Resident (3.9 mil/0.8) both dropped a tenth in the demo, hitting and matching series lows.

Over on The CW, Supergirl ticked up with 1.5 million viewers and a 0.5 rating, while iZombie (720K/0.2) was steady.

Overall, NBC won the night with an average of 7.2 million viewers and a 1.4 rating, while ABC came in second with 6.9 million viewers and a 0.9. Fox and CBS ties in the demo for third with a 0.7, though the latter won in viewers with an average of 4.6 million. Fox averaged 3.3 million viewers. The CW averaged 1.1 million and a 0.3.