Those repeated ads about a dead boy returning to his father after 32 years struck a nerve with television viewers, who proved curious enough to check out the debut of ABC’s new drama Resurrection.
The series drew just under 14 million viewers for its debut on Sunday night, more than AMC’s The Walking Dead or any other programme on what is usually television’s biggest night of viewing, the Nielsen ratings company said.
That’s behind only CBS’ Intelligence as the most-watched drama debut of the season, Nielsen said. It’s the best opening for a Sunday night drama on ABC since Brothers & Sisters in 2006.
Fox’s Cosmos debuted to 6.6 million people on Sunday night, a strong showing for a programme that’s unusual for the network. It was Fox’s most-watched programme last week after American Idol.
The news isn’t particularly good for Idol, however. The long-running hit reached just under 9.8 million people on Thursday, its second-smallest audience ever and the smallest audience among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that Fox seeks. NBC’s The Voice is now the clear favourite in music competition shows.
