Big Brother 10’s debut down from the spring and is the series’ lowest-rated debut ever

Big Brother 10 »
by Andy Dehnart / July 15, 2008, 8:01 AM

The first episode of Big Brother 10 was watched by 6.3 million viewers, down just over one million from the 7.4 million who watched last summer’s eighth-season debut.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the show was down about the same amount from last spring’s misguided season, when 7.3 million viewers tuned in to the first episode. Both of the past two seasons, however, debuted on Tuesdays, so perhaps one million people didn’t flee the show, and they’ll find it tonight.

While this was “the lowest-rated season premiere for the show,” it still “[won] the 8 o’clock hour” and had “a roughly 50% demo improvement in the timeslot for CBS vs. last week’s ‘Million Dollar Password,’” Variety reports. That, at least, is good news for CBS.

Slow Sunday for broadcasters [Variety]