Variety reports that a great week for reality premieres continued Wednesday, with CBS' "Star Search" and ABC's "The Bachelorette" and "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii" all premiering to strong ratings. "Bachelorette" was the night's top-rated show in key demos, and "Star Search" and "Celebrity Mole" delivered their networks' best series scores in their time slots in more than two years.
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According to Nielsen, "Star Search" kicked off the night with a slot-winning 13.84 million viewers overall for CBS. Its 5.1 rating/14 share among adults 18-49 represents the network's second best score for the hour this season (behind the "Country Music Awards" in November). "Star Search" skewed much younger than the typical CBS program, also winning its 8 p.m. hour in adults 18-34 (4.8/14) and placing second to Fox's premiere of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" in teens and kids.
"Bachelorette" averaged a slot-leading 8.4/20 in adults 18-49 and 17.44 million viewers overall at 9 p.m. It overpowered an original episode of NBC's "The West Wing" (4.7/11 in adults 18-49, 13.96 million -- the drama's lowest scores for an original episode since May 2000). The "Bachelorette" bow, while not as big as Fox's "Joe Millionaire" on Monday, tops the premieres for the first two editions of "The Bachelor" and was higher than all but the finale for last fall's highly rated second edition of the series in adults 18-49 and 18-34 (9.1/24).
At 10, the premiere of "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii" (10.65 million, 5.2/14 in adults 18-49) placed second to NBC's "Law & Order" (19.55 million, 7.1/19), giving ABC its best 18-49 series score in the hour since an interview with Michael J. Fox after his exit from "Spin City" in May 2000. "Mole" retained 62% of its "Bachelorette" 18-49 lead-in (5.2 vs. 8.4), much better than the 46% average for drama "MDs" coming out of "The Bachelor" last fall (2.9 vs. 6.3).
ABC reality senior VP Andrea Wong said she was happy that the network seems to have found a series capable of holding on to a good chunk of the "Bachelorette" lead-in. "I'm thrilled with how both shows performed," she said. "I really believed 'Celebrity Mole' would appeal to the 'Bachelorette' audience. And what was great about 'Bachelorette' is that men came to it in greater numbers" than to "The Bachelor."