Piers Morgan Debut Gets Big Ratings

Piers Morgan's debut show drew impressive ratings.

According to early Nielsen returns, 2.1 million people tuned in to watch the first episode of "Piers Morgan Tonight," which featured an interview with Oprah. That's just behind the 2.24 million who watched Larry King;s last show in December, and a 219 percent jump from King's average ratings during the fourth quarter of 2010.

Still, Morgan didn't manage to beat the Fox News juggernaut. Sean Hannity's exclusive interview with Sarah Palin drew 2.36 million viewers. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow came a distant third, with 1.1 million viewers.

Comments

[jjmummert]

05:00 AM on 01/21/2011

Who wouldn't have a fairly good first week with his lineup of guests? One viewing of his show was enough for me. Grade: C

[NoNothing]

08:18 PM on 01/20/2011

Morgan smashed by Hannity on the 3rd night and beaten by Maddow. Sinking like a stone!

[jerzygurl]

04:38 PM on 01/20/2011

WOW! So Piers Morgan has been able to drive MSNBC into 3rd place at 9:00. That's got to send shivers to the new owners.

[ScottV]

11:35 AM on 01/20/2011

Darn I missed it was to busy watching The Walking Dead on AMC.

[edlindaspy]

12:35 AM on 01/20/2011

I enjoyed Morgans interview with Oprah. His last question to Oprah was how did I do as my first interview? He knew Oprah would tell him the truth lol,,,,

I would never listen to Hannity and don't understand why so many people out there do. His voice drives me crazy along with his attitude and self rightous talk. Rachel is very good,,,and thorough,,she does her homework.

[RandyMan7027]

09:46 PM on 01/19/2011

As long as FOX "News" owner Ruphert Murdock(sp) wishes him ill, I'll watch Piers every damned night!

[DixieMelody]

06:08 PM on 01/19/2011

He smacked down that ghastly Omarosa on Celebrity Apprentice, so he is aces in my book for that reason alone.

[JavaManiac]

02:10 PM on 01/19/2011

Yeah - but can he keep it up?

And the snowbilly lightening rod was having an exception week of "foot in mouth" disease - so of course people tuned in to see what she would say next.

[Angelus2007]

02:47 PM on 01/19/2011

His ratings actually improved over the first night. That is always a good sign. He actually beat Hannity. I think they will fall down a little of course, and fluctuate based upon who he is interviewing. Larry King would get about 800-900k a night, but would go up over 1 million if he was interviewing someone popular.

[toocoldout]

09:14 AM on 01/20/2011

His ratings went down the second night. But Hannity's went down more, thus Morgan beat Hannity the second night.

[tnlcallen]

01:21 PM on 01/19/2011

Of course his first show is going to do well in the ratings. His ratings will slip back down, and then only time will tell if he will be able to accomplish his goal, which is to beat Fox in the time slot.

[Angelus2007]

02:48 PM on 01/19/2011

He beat Fox last night. His ratings beat Hannity.

[russe043]

12:39 PM on 01/19/2011

I watched both of his interviews: Oprah and Howard Stern and enjoyed the format and content of both. It's a refreshing change from Larry King and much better than anything else that fills that hour on television.

[52tucker]

11:34 AM on 01/19/2011

The Piers Morgan set looks like my grandmother's living room. Just saying.

[FungusAmungUs]

10:41 AM on 01/19/2011

I like him and his journalistic background. I watched both of his shows and liked that fact that he isn't a suck up like Larry King. I have no idea why LK was so successful other than the fact he acted as the PR rep for whomever he was interviewing. Piers does some challenging under the shows limitations and I think his Howard Stern interview was excellent. I also have been watching his documentaries on the cable channel Planet Green this week which are very good!

[samilli3]

10:33 AM on 01/19/2011

He is British....so he will have a different style...they always seem forceful.

[goodmarina]

09:53 AM on 01/19/2011

I happened to be flipping through channels and caught the initial part of the Oprah interview ... it was a great interview where it felt more like a conversation -- instead of an "interview".  I watched the entire show b/c I enjoyed it.

I switched on to the Howard Stern interview ... rather tedious and boring after one segment. Frankly, it was not that Morgan's style was bad ... Stern's ego was too big for that format.

[turkeylurky]

09:17 AM on 01/19/2011

I predict that in 3 months he'll be replaced by Howard Stern.
Stern is entertaining and knows how to interview and he'd kick FoxNews/Hannity's arse from here to Christmas..

[tpk]

11:21 AM on 01/19/2011

He should be, Stern was great last night.