NBC's Friday Night Lights has lost close to a fifth of its second season premiere audience after ABC rolled out Women's Murder Club, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

ABC's show, which centres on a group of four women - a detective, a District Attorney, a medical examiner and a reporter - who, in their spare time, crack San Francisco's toughest crime cases - pulled 10.6m viewers and an 8% 18-49 demo share in its 9pm slot on Friday. That performance knocked 19% off Friday Night Lights' previous-week numbers, with the award-winning show tumbling to just 5.4m total viewers and a 5% demo share.