After blockbuster ratings from their coverage of NFL, FOX chose Sunday night to launch "24" into its fourth season with a special two hour bow.

Monday night will see the third episode of "24" as the show begins to settle into its new timeslot. Obviously those people at FOX didnt want to waste the blockbuster ratings that the NFL game provided (14.9/24) which was the most watched show of the night, even ahead of Desperate Housewives 25.2 million viewers.

"24" started out with 15.4 Million(9.0/14) viewers at 8pm, before dropping down to 14.3 Million(8.5/12) viewers at 9pm, averaging 14.8 million(6.1/13) viewers for the night. Its 15.4 Million start recorded the highest ratings in the shows history. Its first hour was the 7th most watched show of the night, and its second hour was the 9th. But its no small feat for "24" which performed solidly for the whole night. The true telling will be if it can carry those first time viewers over to Mondays showing - scheduled tightly together to maximise the viewership.


For more and a measure up of the ratings between it and Alias' premiere last week
http://naturalflux7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1491

Pretty good for 24, especially since retention over the two hours was strong. I hope it can find a similar audience on Mondays, which is a less populated night, thanks to the soon-to-depart MNF and soon-to-conclude Raymond.

24 did remain strong all night, dropping around a million viewers in hour 2 which is comparable to Alias' dropoff. That said, 24's competition was not in the same genre come hour 2, Alias had to face two shows wiht similar audiences - and 24 was on earlier too which gave it an advantage.

Overall very good premiere showings from two of the biggest cult shows on tv. It will be interestign to see if 24 can build by itself on Mondays, as American Idol dosent start till later in Feb