CBS's two-time Emmy-winning The Amazing Race returned to the network's fall schedule with a bang last evening, drawing the reality program's best debut ratings since the September 5, 2001 premiere of its inaugural Fall 2001 edition.
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According to the final national Nielsen ratings for Tuesday, November 16, The Amazing Race 6's special two-hour 9-11PM ET/PT debut averaged 11.79 million viewers, a 7.4/11 rating/share in households 4.3/11 in Adults 18-34, 5.0/12 in Adults 18-49, and 5.5/12 in Adults 25-54.
The first The Amazing Race series to air as part of CBS's regular season schedule since 2002's The Amazing Race 3, The Amazing Race 6 finished first in its regular 9-10PM time period among viewers (11.73 million), Adults 25-54 (5.3/12) and Adults 18-49 (4.7/11, tied with NBC).
Besting a "supersized" episode of NBC's surprisingly strong The Biggest Loser during the their 9:00-9:30 PM overlap period, The Amazing Race 6 finished as Tuesday's top rated and most watched reality program (although that title will no doubt go to Fox's American Idol once its fourth season premieres in January.)
Replacing CBS's cancelled Clubhouse drama, The Amazing Race 6 improved CBS's time period performance with regularly scheduled programming in the 9PM hour by 104% in Adults 18-49 (from 2.3/6), 135% in Adults 18-34 (from 1.7/5), 83% in Adults 25-54 (from 2.9/6) and by 36% in viewers (an increase of 3.09 million viewers).