Preliminary Analysis: The first fall season premiere made its way onto the airwaves last night in incredibly solid fashion. The 29th season premiere of ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars' managed a robust 1.3 rating, going a whopping three-tenths above its fall 2019 starting point (1.0). On top of that, the longtime reality series actually beat out every single rating from last season. One would have to go back to 2017 to find an episode with a higher rating than this one. Dropping Tom Bergeron as host in favor of Tyra Banks was definitely a controversial move but it seems like viewers were still intrigued enough to tune in. Although 'Dancing' scored a major win, the 'Vote or Miss Out' special (0.4) that came after it completely squandered that sturdy lead-in.
Over on NBC, a disappointing season of 'American Ninja Warrior' (0.5) got even worse in week 2. The series shed a tenth from last week's miserable start and continues to trail what it was doing last year. 'Dateline' (0.4) also lost a tenth from its last episode at 10. CBS's 'Love Island' (0.4) fell a tick from its Sunday episode surrounded by repeats of 'The Neighborhood' (0.4), 'Young Sheldon' (0.3), and 'Bull' (0.4). Fox went with the 2016 film 'Patriots Day' (0.3) and got the same result as week-ago 'Draft Day'. The CW performed well enough by its standards with repeats of 'Whose Line' (0.2/0.2) and 'Penn & Teller' (0.2).
