Established reality shows continue to perform well in their returns this summer as NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” opened its second season with winning results Tuesday night.
News is especially welcome for the Peacock, whose primetime circulation has been very low the past few weeks, making even the season premiere of a successful show a not-so-sure thing.
“Talent,” from the producing teams behind Fox’s “American Idol” — FremantleMedia North America and Syco TV (Simon Cowell’s company) — spiced things up by adding a new host (Jerry Springer) and a new judge (Sharon Osbourne).
And auds checked them out from 9 to 11 p.m., with “Talent” averaging a 4.3 rating/12 share in adults 18-49 and 12.99 million viewers overall — net’s best showing in the time period in five months. It was easily the night’s top show, building nicely on its lead-in from a special “Deal or No Deal” (2.7/9, 10.11m).
Numbers rep the second best demo score to date for “Talent” (behind only its series bow last summer) and its largest overall audience.
The 4.3 demo rating ties with that for Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” last Thursday as the best result for any program on any net since the broadcast season ended May 23. No NBC program had topped a 2.7 rating in the past two weeks.
“Talent” will air another two-hour audition episode next week (this time from 8 to 10 p.m.) before settling into its regular 8-9 p.m. timeslot, where it will be joined on the sked by “Last Comic Standing” at 9.
[There’s More at: Variety]