K-Ville Starts Strong For Fox’s Fall Season

Fox started its new Monday lineup a week earlier than the other networks, delivering fairly good numbers for the premiere of New Orleans cop drama K-Ville and average ratings for the third-season opener of Prison Break. According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, K-Ville averaged a 3.4 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and about 9 million viewers overall during the 9 o’clock hour, winning in demos opposite its broadcast competition that included repeats of CBS comedies and an original Singing Bee on NBC.

K-Ville outperformed the premiere of Vanished in the time period a year ago for Fox by 13% in 18-49. While these are solid numbers for a premiere, Fox must get ready for tougher competition next week as new episodes of Heroes, Dancing With the Stars and Two and a Half Men provide stiffer competition.

Prison Break opened the night for Fox with a 3.2/9 in 18-49 and 7.4 million viewers overall, narrowly winning the 8 o’clock hour in demos over NBC’s special firstrun episode of Deal or No Deal (3.1/9 in 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall). The drama was down about 13% from its season opener of a year ago in late August. Like K-Ville, Prison Break’s tougher task lies ahead in week two, when Dancing With the Stars, NBC’s new Chuck and other shows open their seasons. For the night, Fox beat out its broadcast rivals in key demos although it’s expected to finish behind ESPN in the nationals once Nielsen tabulates cable numbers later today.