Nellie Andreeva

ABC’s new series Work It didn’t set the world on fire in its premiere last night, but it didn’t crash and burn either. The cross-dressing comedy opened with a 2.0/5 among adults 18-49 and 6.1 million viewers. That was down 17% in 18-49 from the premiere in the time slot of the now defunct Man Up!, but in terms of retaining the Last Man Standing lead-in, Work It! did actually a little better than Man Up! with 83% vs. 80%. Of course, matching the performance of a swiftly canceled series is not that reassuring. Last Man Standing (2.4/6) was up 9% in 18-49 from the series low it posted with its most recent original three weeks ago. In its regular slot premiere, Celebrity Wife Swap (2.2/5) was down 8% from its preview behind The Bachelor on Monday, while Body Of Proof (1.5/4) tied the series low rating it posted with its last original four weeks ago.

CBS’ dramas logged double-digit gains in their return from a three-week hiatus. NCIS (4.2/11, 20.02 million) was up 17% in 18-49, topping 20 million viewers for a second time this season. NCIS: LA (3.5/8, 17.07 million) was also up 17% in the demo and posted its largest audience of the season. Unforgettable (2.5/6, 11.6 million) was up 14%. CBS (3.4/9, 16.2 million) dominated the night, sweeping every half-hour in 18-49 and total viewers.

More bad news for NBC. The Biggest Loser (2.3/6) continued its ratings slide. Its season premiere was down 30% from last January’s debut to log the franchise’s lowest-rated spring opener ever. Parenthood (1.7/4) kept with the downtrend, dropping 19% from its last original five weeks ago for a series low.

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