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'The Voice' And 'Smash' Raise NBC To The Top in First Week

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NBC’s “The Voice” and “Smash” earned big numbers in their Monday night debut, making the network the top dog of the night again after Super Bowl Sunday.

Season 2 Of “The Voice” is off to a very good start. Sunday’s post Super Bowl premier took full advantage of the strategic timeslot, earning a 16.3 rating and 36.7 million total viewers. These numbers  made the show the highest-rated entertainment broadcast in six years.

Although “The Voice”, as expected, managed to only capture less than half of its Sunday night performance, the singing competition show still was the top-rated and most-watched Monday night show.  With a 6.6 rating/16 and 17.7 million viewers tuning in. This bumped the usual favorite, CBS’s “Two and a Half Men”, out of the top spot.

“Smash” premiered the following hour with a solid rating of 3.8/10 and 11.5 million total viewers tuning in. Although this was below “The Voice” numbers, it was still rather impressive. “Smash” took fifth place in ratings and third in overall viewers on Monday.

Putting The Voice and Smash against CBS’s Monday night comedy block was a huge risk for NBC because the segment dominated Mondays all season. However, the gamble paid off in its first week, with three out of five CBS primetime shows hitting or tying season lows.

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