Even though three new comedies premiered last night on TV, the spotlight may have been stolen by ABC’s “Scandal.” The drama, which stars Kerry Washington, returned to the 10 p.m. slot with series records, “averaging a 3.6 rating with adults 18-49 — a 71 percent jump year-over-year — and 10.5 million viewers,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Thursday’s third-season premiere featured fallout from the revelation of Olivia Pope’s (Washington) affair with the president (Tony Goldwyn), and USA Today reported that the series “was up 57% in viewers and an even larger 71% in young adults compared to last fall’s opener. It enjoyed its biggest growth to date out of Grey’s Anatomy (9.4 million, up 1% from last week’s two-hour premiere), topping its lead-in by 12% in viewers and 20% in young adults.”
“Scandal” also broke previous social media series records with an evening high of 712,877 tweets, up 714 percent from last season’s premiere and 22 percent from May’s season finale.
Although the “Scandal” season 3 kickoff was unable to elevate ABC over CBS in either overall or among young viewers for the night, it still proves that a black female lead, as well as an African-American stacked cast, can do big numbers in prime time.
