TV Ratings: ABC’s ‘The Last Defense’ Opens Soft

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The premiere of the ABC documentary series “The Last Defense” failed to capture a substantial audience on Tuesday night.

The docu-series, which is executive produced by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, explores flaws in the American justice system through the cases of Darlie Routier and Julius Jones. The premiere episode averaged a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 2.7 million viewers. That was good enough to tie CBS’ “48 Hours: NCIS” in the demo, yet “The Last Defense” finished last in the timeslot in total viewers.

Still, “The Last Defense” drew ’s biggest summertime audience to the 10 p.m. hour since August 2016. ABC aired only repeats prior to 10 p.m.

On NBC, “America’s Got Talent” (2.2, 11.3 million) and “World of Dance” (1.5, 6.2 million) were both even and topped the night.

CBS aired mostly repeats until “48 Hours: NCIS” (0.5, 4.4 million), which was even.

On Fox, “Beat Shazam” (0.7, 2.3 million) and “Love Connection” (0.5, 1.7 million) were steady.

The CW aired only repeats.

NBC topped the night with a 1.0 and 9.6 million viewers. Fox was second in the demo with a 0.6 but fourth in viewers with 2 million. CBS and ABC tied for third in the demo with a 0.5. CBS was second in viewers with 5.1 million. ABC was third with 2.4 million. The CW averaged a 0.3 and 1.1 million viewers.