NBC thrilled with 'Bionic' bow

The series premiere of Bionic Woman exceeded NBC's internal projections by 20%, it has emerged.

The show, which stars former EastEnder Michelle Ryan in the lead role, was watched by nearly 14m viewers and had a 14% share of the adults 18-49 demographic. In terms of households it had 5.7 rating points, where 1 point represents 1% of the total number of US TV-equipped households. It went up against Private Practice, ABC's much-awaited Grey's Anatomy spinoff, which performed well but achieved a lower 5.2 rating.

Overall freshman programming got off to a decent start, with only NBC's Journeyman posting a relatively low 3.5 rating. Year-on-year comparisons for existing shows, however, are proving difficult for the industry to draw due to a number of changes since 2006's premiere week; far more households in the US are now equipped with a DVR - Nielsen Media Research, America's ratings measurement body, estimates it to be in the region of 20% - and Nielsen are experimenting with a number of new metrics in an attempt to keep pace with technological developments. Increasing importance is being attached to "live plus seven" ratings, which take into account DVR viewing of programmes up to a week after airing, in place of the traditional emphasis on the overnight numbers.