The Jay Leno Show dropped 42 percent of its premiere audience on Tuesday — or roughly 7.5 million viewers, according to preliminary numbers. Night 2 of Leno’s prime-time NBC talker averaged 10.7 million viewers as the show went up against the last half of Big Brother’s two-hour season finale and Barbara Walters’ repackaged sit-down with Patrick Swayze. However, last night’s Leno did outperform former time slot holder Law & Order: SVU, which averaged 9.3 million viewers least season Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
The CW’s rebooted Melrose Place also shed viewers in its second outing, down 21 percent from last week’s series debut, according to overnight numbers, while 90210‘s ratings held strong. Meanwhile, The Biggest Loser returned to NBC with a two-hour season opener that averaged 9.9 million viewers (but rose to 10.5 million by the last half hour). Fox’s plus-sized Bachelor experiment, More to Love, ended its first season with a two-hour finale that averaged 4.3 million viewers, peaking at 5.2 million for its final 30 minutes.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | NCIS (CBS) The Biggest Loser (NBC) More to Love (Fox) Shark Tank (ABC) 90210 (The CW) |
12.0 (repeat) 9.9 4.3 3.6 (repeat) 2.4 |
| 9 p.m. | Big Brother 11 (CBS) Shaq Vs. (ABC) Melrose Place (The CW) |
7.9 4.3 1.8 |
| 10 p.m. | The Jay Leno Show (NBC) Barbara Walters Special: Patrick Swayze: Last Dance (ABC) |
10.7 6.1 (repeat) |
Read more:
Ken Tucker on Leno’s Night 2
Josh Wolk recaps the Big Brother season finale
Darren Franich recaps The Biggest Loser’s season premiere
Jennifer Armstrong recaps 90210
Wendy Mitchell recaps Melrose Place
Michael Slezak recaps the More to Love finale
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz on ‘Leno’: Count the awkward pauses!






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this is sad. seriously. melrose and the cw needs to step it up. I like jay leno I really do but thanks to him all the good shows that start at 10pm on the nbc are cancelled. We could stand to watch him at a later hour he’s not THAT special.
Watched both 90210, Melrose and Jay leno last night. 90210 is a definite improvement on last years attempt. I still think that the girl who plays Naomi is very annoying but it is better. Melrose is actually alot better than I expected. The girl who plays Ella and the med student are probably the more interesting characters. And Jessica Simpsons sister does nt suck. As for jay Leno’s show… The format of the show seems a little scattered at the moment, like its still a work in progress. I really like Jay but I think 5 nights a week is probably excessive. A US version of Top Gear would have suited him much better than anything else. However I will stay tuned, at least until the other networks come back with new shows, then we’ll see…
MP is actually a strong show. Its better written than I thought it would be and certainly stronger than 90210 was when it premiered last year. But it needs to be paired with a show that is more adult like OTH. 90210 should be paired with GG and that way they would just have a teen night and a adult night.
If you look closely, it says “Shag Vs.” Haha.
Melrose is pretty bad. I’ve watched both episodes, but I’m ready to check out soon unless it steps up. Can’t say I’d be devastated if I lost it.
90210 and MO, rehashed shows, they will never be able to get success of original shows. I think Jay was much replxed last night. A better show than first night overall except Cruise/Diaz interview. Awkward at best. Same old Tonight’s Jay and I’m happy with it. And take a swipe at Conan whenever you can. ha ha…..
Ratings are bullshit. They don’t take into account online viewing or dvr’ing. No one I know even has a ratings box. Hopefully the CW will keep the Melrose reboot.
jay leno dropped because most of the people who tuned in on monday wanted to see what kanye had to say
They cannot decide if Melrose Place is a keeper after just two episodes, give it a chance people! It strangely seems to mimic the original’s first season – ratings were bad at first but who knows, it might improve towards the end? I certainly hope say – I love all things Melrose!!!!! Come on guys – share with all your friends – get as many people as possible to watch it!
i really like melrose place! ratings suck. i watched both weeks & so did several of my friends, but we’re not counted.
Hope Heather Locker’s return can save Melrose Place….this show has been great so far. I couldn’t believe it when I read on Perez Hilton that the ratings are taking a big dive which is so stupid because this show is just getting better…so come on people stop being so LAME! I was so glad they had Taryn Manning guest star in last week’s episode – love her! She even pulled a gun on Jonah as they played the Boomkat song “Run Boy” – it was so great. (check out the scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSwbDxF95B0 )
Bring Taryn back for more episodes and let’s make Heather a full-time, permanent cast member again!