Do Alcatraz's Strong Premiere Ratings Hurt Terra Nova's Chances of Renewal?

Alcatraz's premiere was a pretty good one for FOX, when it came to ratings. According to TVBytheNumbers, the new J.J. Abrams-produced series drew a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating (and 9.968 million viewers). By comparison, Terra Nova, the show Alcatraz is replacing on FOX Monday nights, got a 3.1 when it premiered this past September.

This is especially notable because of the precarious position Terra Nova is in, where a decision must be made on a renewal very shortly, if the show is to return in the fall. FOX won't have the benefit of seeing how the entire rest of the season goes, but early strength for Alcatraz could hurt the very expensive Terra Nova's chances.

Of course, what remains to be seen is how Alcatraz holds up. It will almost certainly fall next week – almost every new series does, after premiere week sampling – but the question is by how much, and more importantly, how quickly it can stabilize after that. In the meantime, FOX has to be happy to have a show that tied with Revenge as the second best-rated drama premiere this season (Once Upon a Time has the highest-rated premiere among dramas).

CBS, per usual, led the Monday night ratings, with Two and a Half Men's 4.6 adults 18-49 as the top performer, as it always is, followed by 2 Broke Girls (4.5), How I Met Your Mother (4.4), Mike & Molly (3.8) and Hawaii Five-0's 2.8. NBC had a big uptick this week thanks to the Betty White's 90th Birthday special (a 2.7 rating) and Betty White's Off Their Rockers (2.6), which gave an 86% increase to the ratings of Rock Center with Brian Williams, to a 1.3

ABC meanwhile had a 2.4 18-49 for The Bachelor and a 2.3 for Castle. Gossip Girl had a series low for The CW with an 0.6 adults18-49 rating.

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