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'Big Bang Theory,' 'Gotham' give fall TV solid opening

Gary Levin
USA TODAY
Johnny Galecki, left, Kunal Nayyar and Jim Parsons in 'The Big Bang Theory,' Monday's top-rated show.

The new fall TV season officially opened Monday with solid ratings for several new shows, and viewers flocked to their favorites.

CBS' The Big Bang Theory, in a temporary return to the night, drew 18.1 million viewers for a double-episode premiere, helping new drama Scorpion, which opened to a strong 13.8 million same-day audience, according to Nielsen. Big Bang's opener was its second-best yet, behind only last year's 19 million on a Thursday; and Scorpion easily bested last season's newcomer Hostages, which had half the audience on the same night.

At Fox, Batman origin series Gotham earned 8.2 million, a good chunk of which were in the category of adults ages 18 to 49, while Sleepy Hollow's second-season opener claimed 5.5 million, down from 10.1 million last year.

NBC's The Voice was also down, but its 12.9 million viewers (down from 15 million last year) was still ahead of its 2012 fall premiere, and with The Blacklist (12.3 million, down slightly), won the night among young adults.

Week 2 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars drew 12.8 million (last week's opener had 16 million against little competition), and a special premiere of drama Forever averaged 8.6 million at 10 p.m. ET/PT, besting CBS' finale of Under the Dome (7.5 million). Forever moves to its regular time slot Tuesday.

And ESPN's Monday Night Football claimed 13.3 million, down from 14.9 million last week.

And all series — scripted shows especially — will find bigger audiences when DVR-delayed ratings are available.

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