Fox’s The X-Files continued its strong return to the airwaves this week, scoring a 3.2 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 9.7 million viewers overall in its Monday timeslot debut.
Episode 1 of the sci-fi drama’s new mini-season aired Sunday, in a special one-off slot following the AFC Championship game, which drew more than 53 million viewers. The popularity of the game combined with viewers’ enduring love for agents Mulder and Scully helped propel the revival’s premiere to a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49. That in turn gave a lift to the Sunday night debut of Lucifer at 9:00 pm ET/PT.
Monday night’s airing of X-Files marked a significant drop-off from Sunday night’s 13.5-million turnout, but this was expected, and still earned the show honors as the year’s second highest-rated broadcast entertainment series so far, following only the juggernaut that is Fox’s Empire.
Created by Chris Carter, The X-Files last aired new episodes 14 years ago, during one of two final seasons without star David Duchovny. But Duchovny is back as Agent Mulder for this six-episode mini-arc and clearly fans have never stopped hungering for that spark between him and co-star Gillian Anderson, as Agent Scully. It remains to be seen whether the revival’s remaining four episodes will continue to draw big ratings, but it bodes well that despite losing the football lead-in on Monday night, X-Files still managed to hang tough with competitors such as ABC’s The Bachelor and CBS’ Scorpion, the evening’s most-watched show overall.
Brief Take: Fox’s clever two-night positioning of The X-Files has ensured the show’s new episodes mark a return to form – even 14 years after the fact.
Read more at Variety.
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