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NBC Chalks Up a Comedy Milestone With the Most-Watched Summer Sitcom Debut on the Big 4 Broadcast Nets in Eight Years

Aug 6, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Judging from a string of press releases from NBC, the network is pretty excited about the reception for its newest sitcom. “Mr. Robinson,” starring “The Office” alum Craig Robinson as a middle school music teacher, premiered Wednesday night and chalked up what the network says is the most-watched summer comedy debut on any of the big four broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — since 2007.

NBC announced that the premiere is also the second-highest-rated summer comedy bow in the key 18-49 demo since 2009. The network also reports that NBC won the night in prime time, with “Mr. Robinson” winning its 9 p.m. time slot among the big four in every key demo and beating NBC’s previous summer comedy debut by 71%.

Here are a few of the ratings highlights for the “Mr. Robinson” rollout, courtesy of NBC:

  • “Mr. Robinson” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall from 9-9:30 p.m. ET) is the most-watched summer-comedy debut on the Big 4 since 2007 (6.191 million for “Creature Comforts” on CBS June 4, 2007), a span covering 11 summer-comedy launches.
  • “Mr. Robinson” is the #2 highest-rated summer comedy debut on the Big 4 since 2009 (1.6 for “The Goode Family”), a span covering 10 summer-comedy launches. The only higher-rated summer-comedy debut on the Big 4over that span in18-49 is “Undateable” (1.3 on May 29, 2014).
  • “Mr. Robinson” won the time period among the Big 4 in every key demographic and was up +71% versus NBC’s prior summer comedy debut (1.2 vs. 0.7 for “Working the Engles” July 10, 2014).
  • “Mr. Robinson” retained 86% of its lead-in from “America’s Got Talent” in adults 18-49 (1.2 vs. 1.4).
  • A second episode of “Mr. Robinson” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall from 9:30-10 p.m. ET) retained 83% of the prior half-hour’s strong series premiere rating in 18-49, retained 91% in men 18-49 (1.0 vs. 1.1), 93% in adults 25-54 (1.4 vs. 1.5) and 94% in women 25-54 (1.5 vs. 1.6).
  • The 9:30 “Mr. Robinson” ranked #1 or tied for #1 in the time period among the Big 4 in every key demo.

Primetime results are based on “fast affiliate time period” data from Nielsen Media Research. All ratings are “live plus same day” unless otherwise indicated.

mr. robinson-nbc

One Comment

  1. I watched the first episode and thought it was only OK. I liked most of the cast but I didn’t think that there was anything new or original about the show, so far. But, I was certainly mistaken about my take on Blackish so this could be a winner for NBC, despite my opinion!

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