Newly minted nonagenarian Betty White ruled the night on NBC, bringing in solid ratings for her 90th birthday celebration and carrying the network through the rest of the night as well. Meanwhile Alcatraz premiered on Fox to good numbers, tying with Revenge for the second place in the ratings among new dramas for this season in the 18-49 adult group.
Alcatraz came out ahead of Terra Nova’s debut with 10 million total viewers, although Deadline’s ratings report pointed out that the new Fox show didn’t face quite the competition as Terra Nova which went up against a major Monday Night Football game. Fox hasn’t seen numbers this good among adults 18-49 for the premiere of a drama since Lie To Me back in 2009, and for overall numbers it’s the best they’ve seen since Human Target in 2010.
Over at NBC Betty White’s 90th Birthday special drew 13.9 million viewers among adults 18-49, and she remained a true Golden Girl throughout the night, carrying 12.2 million over to the preview of her new reality series Betty White’s Off Their Rocker. Her special brought NBC its biggest numbers for that time slot in 4 years (aside from the Olympics). Thanks to Betty, even Rock Center did well, with viewers up 86% overall.
In spite of the love for Betty, CBS managed to carry the night overall for total viewers 18-49, with the 150th episode of How I Met Your Mother up 13% at 10.1 million. 2 Broke Girls and Two and A Half Men both came in with gains in the ratings as well, with 11.3 and 12.9 million viewers respectively. Gossip Girl returned to the CW last night to a 14% increase in viewers 18-34 since it last aired an original episode, but a series low in 18-49 and total viewers.
