NBC’s Blindspot, starring Jamie Alexander as a woman who shows up in Times Square with lots of tattoos and no memory, won the first night of fall TV among the key adults 18-49 demographic with a 3.1 overnight rating, while CBS’ Life in Pieces took the viewer crown with 11.5 million people tuning in.

Blindspot, comparatively, attracted 10.6 million viewers at 10 p.m., airing behind the season premiere of newly-crowned Emmy reality-competition champion, The Voice. Compared to last year, The Voice and Blindspot both opened 10% lower than their prior-year counterparts, The Voice and The Blacklist.

Life in Pieces got a nice amount of sampling due to its Big Bang Theory lead-in. Big Bang, which featured Penny and Leonard’s impromptu wedding, attracted 17.8 million viewers and a 4.5 among adults 18-49, making it the top scripted show of the night, even though it fell 18% from last year’s fall premiere. Life in Pieces averaged a 2.7 rating in the key demo, up 29% from last October’s premiere of The Millers.

The rest of CBS’ Monday night — once a power block for the network anchored by such shows as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory at 9 p.m. — was more lackluster. Scorpio, returning for its second season, averaged a 2.1 among adults 18-49 and nearly 11 million viewers, while NCIS: LA dropped to a 1.2 in the key demo and nearly 8 million viewers.

Fox had a slow night overall, with Gotham’s second season premiere dropping to a 1.6 among adults 18-49 and 4.5 million viewers. That’s a loss of nearly half of its original premiere audience, although down only one-tenth of a ratings point in the demo from last spring’s season finale.

Minority Report, based on the movie and Philip K. Dick story of the same name, opened to a soft 3.1 million viewers and a 1.1 in the demo. Fox expects both shows to climb in the delayed viewing ratings that come out later, but that performance automatically makes Minority Report a good bet for early cancellation.

ABC didn’t launch a new show on Monday night, but Dancing with the Stars averaged a 1.8 in the demo, while Castle’s season 8 premiere returned to a series low 1.2, down nearly a full ratings point, and 7.1 million viewers, down from 8.4 million viewers from last spring’s season finale.

The CW won’t launch its shows until October.

Worth noting is that Monday Night Football on ESPN pulled nearly 12.5 million viewers away from broadcast primetime, averaging a 4.7 among adults 18-49.

Disclaimer: While overnight ratings provide an initial gauge of viewer interest and show performance, viewership can change significantly in the live plus three day and most-current ratings that come in later.

Cube image courtesy of NBC.

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