‘Grimm’ premiere ratings surprise, ‘Chuck’ crushed

So how Grimm was it?

The final season of NBC’s Chuck and new drama Grimm had to premiere up against Game 7 of the World Series on Friday night. Here’s how they did:

– Chuck‘s fifth season returned to 3.4 million viewers and a 1.0 in the adults 18-49 rating, down to an all-time low. Check out the clip from last night’s premiere where Morgan ironically mocks baseball.

– Grimm, however, opened really well, all things considered. The supernatural drama delivered 6.5 million viewers and a 2.1 in the demo. That’s building 110 percent upon its lead in. Grimm ranked as Friday’s highest-rated non-sports show and, in fact, was the highest-rated non-sports show that’s aired on a Friday since last December. Grimm also built slightly from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. This is definitely a promising start for a Friday drama. 

And here’s some food for thought: Grimm had a higher-rated premiere than NBC’s Prime Suspect or Playboy Club — yet arguably had the toughest time period launch of any new fall show.

NBC was aided by CBS going into repeats to avoid the smash-up. Fox postponed Fringe, while releasing this video to appease fans). ABC had reality and news.

Given the situation, Chuck and Grimm deserve to be graded on a curve (ball). And the issue wasn’t”how did NBC do in the ratings” anyway, but whether these shows are going to be able to perform well in the weeks to come if a percentage of viewers miss these launch episodes since they were watching the Big Game. As the new kid on the block, Grimm in particular had a lot on the line. Chuck fans, one suspects, will find the show. For once, DVR is the network’s friend.

Over on The CW, the network once again was largely unaffected by the sports competition. Nikita (1.8 million, 0.6) was steady, though Supernatural (1.7 million, 0.7) was down a peg.