'Body Of Proof' Ratings Impressive in Series Premiere

If the "Body of Proof" ratings from the series premiere are any indication of where the show is heading, ABC has a real hit on their hands. The first episode of the new drama aired at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29. It's ABC's serious entry into the battle for 10 p.m. viewers that has been dominated by "The Good Wife" on CBS for quite a while now.

According to TV Line, the premiere of "Body of Proof" drew an estimated 13.85 million total viewers. That is an extremely impressive draw for a 10 p.m. show on any night of the week. That ABC was able to do it on a Tuesday garners a little extra credit. The key demographic marks for the show were 3.0 in the 18-49 bracket. That is also remarkable, and it shows that viewers are ready for something new in that time slot.

Dana Delany is the star of "Body of Proof" and has already made her mark on this new show. She had recently been on "Desperate Housewives" for a while, but it never seemed like she completely fit in with the rest of that cast. Maybe she was underutilized or maybe her storylines were just way too stereotypical, but she now gets to work with an open-ended character that has quite a bit of depth.

There are a lot of similarities between "Body of Proof" and "Crossing Jordan," which used to be on NBC, even if ABC doesn't want to admit to it. Both shows dealt with doctors who found that their specialty was going to be working in a morgue, but maybe Delany has something entirely new to bring to the genre. This is, after all, just the first episode of the show, so there is plenty of time for her character to be fleshed out over the coming weeks. The ratings from the first episode certainly guarantee ABC will keep it in the lineup.

The best news for ABC is that this was a marked improvement over what "Detroit 1-8-7" had been pulling in on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. For viewers hoping that show would come back, this might just be the final factor that gets "Detroit 1-8-7" pulled from the network. It doesn't hurt to follow "Dancing With the Stars" either, so if Delaney can impress viewers enough to not switch the channel, this could be the perfect show in that time slot. Now we will wait to see the week two marks to see if people were just checking it out or if ABC has a sure-thing on their hands.

Reference:

Body_Of_Proof_Website