TV

Strong start for Cowell's 'Inventor'

Published Friday, Mar 17 2006, 23:59 GMT | By James Welsh
Simon Cowell's American Inventor made a strong debut on ABC Thursday night, with over 14m viewers tuning in.

The network had been airing promos heavy on the "from the producers of American Idol" line in the run-up to the reality show's debut, a move that clearly paid off. Between 8pm and 10pm, it built viewer numbers with each successive half-hour and appeared to give Primetime at 10pm a ratings bump, with the news magazine posting an above-average 8.7m viewers.

Non-stop NCAA action averaged just under 11m viewers for the night, handing CBS second place in the preliminary numbers. NBC was a close third, with ER posting a strong 14.1m viewers at 10pm after relatively lackluster performances from its comedy block. Fox trailed far behind in fourth place, averaging 5.3m viewers for the night.
Play games on DS
The Deal or No Deal jackpot is now over £55,000 and will keep climbing until someone wins it. Play now
Play games on DS
Sail the seven seas in search of answers to a mysterious heritage in the online version of Golden Trails 2 - The Lost Legacy, a fascinating hidden object adventure.
S26 T1.5593061447144 {run_id}