TV ratings: ‘Sing-Off’ rises in return with ‘Voice’ lead-in

NBC’s Monday night was all musical with the return of “The Sing-Off,” hosted by Nick Lachey, which has been off the air for two years. The two-hour “Sing-Off” Season 4 premiere improved over its 2011 opener, according to early numbers from Nielsen.

“Sing-Off” drew an average of 8.36 million viewers and a rating of 2.4 in the key 18-49 age group, up 26%, certainly benefiting from the lead-in from Monday night’s biggest entertainment show, “The Voice.” In addition, “The Voice” bled into “Sing-Off’s” time slot by two minutes.

“The Voice” drew 12.8 million viewers and was flat in the 18-49 demographic with a rating of 3.4, the best of the night on the major networks.

RELATED: ‘The Voice’ recap: The Top 5 perform in the semifinals

NBC won the night with an average of 9.86 million viewers overall.

Fox saw a slight uptick from its new sci-fi cop drama “Almost Human,” which grew by 6% to a 1.8 in 18-49 and booked an audience of 5.98 million, so it could be finding its footing. Meanwhile, “Sleepy Hollow,” which is back after a week off, fell a bit to a 2.1.

ABC brought the cheer with holiday specials from 8 to 10 p.m., starting with “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which drew 5.8 million viewers and a rating of 1.6 in 18-49.

The premiere of “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” in which families compete to see who could create the most spectacular holiday lights display, grabbed an audience of 5.5 million and a 1.4 rating among 18-49-year-olds. The new series will go on for two more weeks.

PHOTOS: Cable versus broadcast ratings

On CBS, the only originals were “Mike & Molly,” down 17% from last week to a 2.0, and “Hostages,” flat with last week’s 1.1.

In the world of cable news, CNN debuted the new host for its media show “Reliable Sources,” Brian Stelter, the former New York Times reporter. Stelter’s first-night drew about 400,000 viewers, somewhat less than the average for the show so far this season. Not surprisingly, it’s nowhere near Howard Kurtz’s Fox News show, “MediaBuzz,” which started in the fall and has been averaging more than 940,000 viewers.

Ratings for A+E Networks’ “Bonnie & Clyde” miniseries, which aired on History, Lifetime and A&E, don’t come in until later Tuesday.

[UPDATE: The ratings numbers for ABC in this post have been updated to reflect final stats from Nielsen are lower than the preliminary figures. Early numbers were tentative and subject to change because of NFL preemptions.]

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