A pair of series premieres Thursday night gave NBC hope for an eleventh-hour comeback this season.
The 10 p.m. debut of the network's new cop drama "
Southland" was narrowly topped by the premiere of CBS' mystery-thriller "Harper's Island," while Amy Poehler's comedy "Parks & Recreation" opened to a solid number.
"Southland" (9.9 million viewers), from "
ER" producer John Wells, built solidly on its "
30 Rock" lead-in (6.7 million).
"Harper's Island" pulled in more viewers (10.2 million), but it lost a big chunk of its "
CSI" lead-in (16.7 million), and lost viewers during the telecast. ABC aired repeats.
NBC surrounded 8:30 p.m.'s "Parks" (6.9 million) with two original episodes of "
The Office" (7.3 million and (8 million). It replaced "Kath & Kim," which premiered to 7.5 million viewers last October and went on to average 4.9 million during its 17-episode run.
Neither of NBC's premieres posted numbers the fourth-ranked network would have celebrated last fall. But coming near the end of another difficult season, they're refreshing in the wake of dismal performances by the likes of "
Kings" and "Chopping Block."
"Clearly it's a marathon and not a sprint, but we're really invested in these shows, and they are really super-high quality, and last night gives us some space and belief that they'll continue to perform," NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman said.
"Southland" and "Parks" demonstrated what could be described as "inconclusive potential" Thursday night, and the network hopes that when heavy-hitting ABC returns to originals in two weeks, the new shows will hold their own.