Jack Bauer returned last night, and he brought a lot of his fans with him. The ratings for 24: Live Another Day's premiere are in, and after some time zone adjustments, it looks like the event series performed well, coming in behind its 2010 Season 8 premiere numbers, but not by much, which is particularly impressive when factoring in Fox's overall ratings these days by comparison to four years ago.
The initially reported numbers for 24: Live Another Day's ratings had the premiere listed at a 2.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo, with 8 million total viewers tuning in for the 2-hour premiere. As EW points out, that's down 29% from the debut of Season 8's premiere in 2010, however factoring in Fox's declining ratings between then and now, being down by a small margin is actually not so bad. Deadline has since updated the numbers with the time zone adjusted ratings, and number for Adults 18-49 is actually 2.6, with 8.1 million total viewers tuning in to see Jack Bauer back in action.
But let's look at 24's 8.1 million viewers as compared to another Fox drama on the air right now (that was also on the air in 2010). Bones' most recent new episode brought in 5.97 million viewers. On the reality TV side, believe it or not, American Idol's May 1 episode only took in 7.03 million viewers with a 1.5/5 rating in the Adults 18-49 demo. The episode before that was up a bit with 8.79 million total viewers and a 1.9/6 rating among adults 18-49, but performance episodes tend to do better than results episodes in general. Since we're comparing then and now for Fox, it's worth noting that in 2010, American Idol Season 9's 18-49 demo rating was over a 6 at its lowest, and up to 11.9/29 at its highest. Bones, meanwhile, was bringing in more than 9 million viewers per episode in its 2010-2011 season. When it comes to ratings, things have changed on Fox, but you really wouldn't know it to look at 24: Live Another Day's premiere ratings by comparison to Season 8.
Missed the premiere? Watch the full two-hour 24: Live Another Day debut below:
The limited series, which consists of 12 episodes, reintroduced us to Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer, a former Counter Terrorism Unit agent who was last seen on the run from his own government. Last night's premiere saw Jack Bauer emerge from hiding with the CIA hot on his trail. For those either to see Jack Bauer back in action and reunited with his faithful (former) co-worker Chloe O'Brian, the premiere episode and the hour that followed didn't disappoint. Hopefully the series continues to build in that momentum in the episodes that follow. Read our review of the first two hours here, and catch the next hour of the series Monday at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.
