NBC\'s \'Revolution\' Is Fast Out of the Gate, but Will Its Audience Stay?

By BILL CARTER

Riding the lead-in from “The Voice,” the new NBC drama “Revolution” posted strong ratings for its debut on Monday night, scoring the best numbers for a drama premiere in three years.

At the same time, the Fox network got much more dismal results for its own drama premiere Monday night, of “The Mob Doctor.”

“The Voice” had its best result of the season, scoring a 4.6 rating in the 18-to-49 age group that determines most ad sales. That was up from 4.2 the week before, the show's season premiere. “The Voice” averaged 12.7 million viewers, by far the best number of the night.

Still, NBC got what might be even better news for the first edition of “Revolution,” a science-fiction drama about a world where the power has gone out. The new series averaged a 4.1 rating in that 18-49 category, the best for any drama premiere since “V” on ABC in 2009. As a cautionary not e, sci-fi shows like “V” and “The Event” on NBC, as well as another ABC show, “Flash Forward,” often burst out fast but then do not last.

And “Revolution” did lose some viewers at its half-hour mark, falling to a 3.8 rating from a 4.4, and to a total viewership of 11 million from 12.3 million.

Still, that was a far more hopeful outcome than what Fox got from “The Mob Doctor.” The show, about a surgeon with a debt to gangsters, averaged just a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 audience, with only five million viewers.

Bill Carter writes about the television industry. Follow @wjcarter on Twitter.