The Dovekeepers premiered on Tuesday night at 9 pm after a substantial publicity push throughout the day.  The show premiered after the CBS juggernaut, NCIS, whose 18-49 rating was at a season low of 2.1/7 and 16.3 million total viewers. The Dovekeepers did not hold on to a significant portion of that audience, beginning it’s 2 night run with a 1.0/3 in the 18-49 demographic and 8.99 million total viewers.  The show won both the time slots it occupied, both 9 and 10pm, and came in second in overall viewers for the night after NCIS.  Though it overtook it’s closest time slot competitor, NBC’s Undateable, by 4 million viewers, it did have a weak performance in the 18-49.  It’s 1.0 rating was one of the weakest of the night, only slimly beating a rerun of Chicago PD and the series premiere of Weird Loners.

Hopefully the second night, whose content was arguably stronger than the first, will carry the respectable audience the first night garnered and can finish out strong.