Zooey Deschanel's 'New Girl' overshadows 'Glee'

Zooey Deschanel's New Girl pulled in more viewers than fellow Fox comedy Glee last night.

Premiere Glee episode 'The Purple Piano Project' brought in 8.9m (5.4) in the 8pm hour, after which New Girl launched with 10.1m (4.7).

Surprisingly CBS drama NCIS beat Glee in the demos, commanding an audience of 19.6m (4.2), but that did not stop Fox from taking an overall primetime lead in the demos.

Taking top honours with total viewers, NCIS: Los Angeles kicked off with 16.7m (3.6) and mystery series Unforgettable opened with a strong 14m (2.9).

Dancing with the Stars' 'Meet The Cast' special interested 10.7m (2.0) on ABC, then the first exit from the ballroom dancing contest was seen by 14.5m (2.8) at 9pm, and the second season premiere of Body of Proof took a respectable 9.7m (2.3).

The Biggest Loser returned to NBC with a fairly modest 6.1m (2.3) from 8pm, before Parenthood slipped to 5.3m (2.1) in the 10pm hour.

Elsewhere, 1.6m (0.7) watched 90210 on The CW at 8pm, and Ringer fell to 2m (0.9) an hour later.