Ratings Analysis: Placed behind 'NFL Overrun' (6.80) and 'The OT' (4.00), Fox's latest Gordon Ramsay series 'Next Level Chef' (1.55) posted a strong rating at 8PM in preparation for its move to Wednesday nights. Though this bested last year's 'Call Me Kat' preview (1.37) and every post-NFL 'Simpsons' from the fall, 'Chef' also had a stronger football lead-in than those programs. There's no telling if 'Next Level Chef' will perform well in its proper timeslot but at least it was sampled nicely out the gate. In the 9PM hour, 'The Simpsons' (0.68) and 'The Great North' (0.42) went higher than most of their non-NFL episodes from fall 2021 but were well below their post-football installments. Over on ABC, 'America's Funniest Home Videos' (0.56, +0.17) and 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune' (0.51, +0.15) made sizable gains in the new year while 'Supermarket Sweep' (0.41, +0.07), and 'The Rookie' (0.32, +0.04) were able to bounce back a bit from their depressed, December ratings. CBS's '60 Minutes' (0.55, -0.88) crashed without NFL assistance, but 'The Equalizer' (0.54, +0.09) returned a tenth above its disappointing fall finale. In the back-half of the evening, 'NCIS: Los Angeles' (0.47, -0.03) and the first Sunday episode of 'SWAT' (0.42, -0.12) lost some ground, with the latter only managing to tie its Friday low. NBC started the year strong with 'Football Night in America' (2.20) and a massive 'Vikings v. Packers' NFL game (5.00). The CW had feeble reruns of 'Legends of the Hidden Temple' (0.04) and 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us' (0.06).
Finals Update: 'America's Funniest Home Videos' (+0.1), 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune' (+0.1), 'NCIS: Los Angeles' (+0.1), 'NFL: Vikings v. Packers' (+1.1), 'NFL Overrun '(+1.7), 'The OT' (+0.7), 'Next Level Chef' (+0.4), and 'The Simpsons' (+0.1) adjusted up.
(R) = repeat
