US TV

'Undercover Boss' return boosts CBS on Friday night

Published Saturday, Feb 18 2012, 21:11 GMT | By Paul Millar | Add comment

Undercover Boss made a strong Friday debut last night, Nielsen overnight ratings data indicates.

New to the 8pm hour, the CBS reality show picked up a strong 10.7m and a 2.4 adult 18-49 rating.

The Tiffany Network is likely to be pleased by the audience despite being down on its last Sunday instalment, due to the lower amount of viewers watching TV on Friday nights.

Moving to 9pm, A Gifted Man benefitted from an Undercover Boss lead-in, climbing to 9.5m (1.5). But Blue Bloods fell to a still-decent 10.6m (1.6) at 10pm.

Whitney Houston performing live in concert at the Acer Arena, Sydney

A Whitney Houston 20/20 special, appealing to 7.9m (2.0) between 9pm and 11pm, ensured ABC a primetime victory. With Undercover Boss as competition, 8pm reality show Shark Tank dipped to 5.7m (1.5).

Elsewhere, NBC's two-hour coverage of the NAACP Image Awards averaged 3m (0.8) from 8pm, then 4.4m (1.1) watched Dateline.

On Fox, Kitchen Nightmares (3.1m/1.3) and Fringe (3m/1.1) got the better of The CW's combination of Nikita (1.6m/0.6) and Supernatural (1.7m/0.7).