Dracula NBC showed a little ratings bite Friday night 5.3 million viewers

NBC’s Dracula showed a little, yes, ratings bite Friday night: 5.3 million viewers and 1.8 rating among adults 18-49. That matches Drac‘s lead-in, the third season return of Grimm, and easily wins its ungodly 10 p.m. Friday time slot. As for 9 p.m.’s Grimm, that number is down slightly from its special Monday return last fall. Neither supernatural NBC drama won the night — that was ABC’s Shark Tank, which had a strong 7.3 million viewers and a 2.0 rating.

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers drama, season opener of 'Grimm' put the Peacock on top in young adults

Also Friday: The CW’s The Carrie Diaries returned for its second season to what must be the lowest rating ever for an original in-season drama debut on the network: 837,000 viewers and a 0.3 rating. The episode was titled “Wine Some, Lose Some,” and that premiere is definitely a loss.
“Grimm,” now in its third season, opened 13% above its year-ago Friday premiere (1.6) and placed second in its 9 p.m. timeslot in 18-49 to ABC’s “Shark Tank” (2.0/7 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall). This is NBC’s best demo result in the Friday-at-9 hour in nearly one year.
It was followed by the series premiere of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers drama “Dracula,” which won its hour in 18-49 and 25-54 (2.4/7). Excluding the night that the Boston bombing suspect was captured, this is the Peacock’s best in-season demo delivery in the 10 p.m. hour since January. A year ago, the Friday premiere of “Dateline” in the 10 p.m. hour did a 1.3 rating in 18-49.
“Grimm” was the last Friday drama premiere on any network to draw a higher rating than “Dracula’s” 1.8 (a 2.1 in October 2011).


Elsewhere, ABC’s “Shark Tank” ruled as the night’s No. 1 show in 18-49 (2.0/7) and 25-54 (2.6/7) and drew its largest overall audience ever. CBS’ “Blue Bloods” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 11.0 million viewers overall) and “Hawaii Five-0″ (1.4/5 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) led the way as Friday’s most-watched programs overall.
“20/20,” without competition from NBC’s “Dateline” for the first time this season, surged to a 1.5/5 in 18-49 and 6.7 million viewers overall; it tied or set season highs in key demos while attracting the newsmag’s most total viewers since late March of 2012.
In the night’s opening-hour reality show battle, CBS’ “Undercover Boss” (1.6/6 in 18-49, 8.6 million viewers overall) prevailed over Fox’s “MasterChef Junior” (1.4/5 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall), though the latter could pull ahead in 18-49 with DVR playback.
At CW, it was a modest second-season premiere for “The Carrie Diaries” (0.3/1 in 18-49, 0.8 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 1.6/6; ABC and CBS, 1.4/5; Fox, 1.1/4; CW, 0.3/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 9.6 million; ABC, 6.1 million; NBC, 5.8 million; Fox, 2.9 million; CW, 0.8 million.