Monday’s series premiere of Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and the season finale of CBS’ Under the Dome both aired to large national audiences. Sleepy Hollow, a present day re-imagining of the classic Washington Irving story that’s filmed in the Wilmington area, premiered its pilot episode at 9 p.m. to 10.1 million viewers. In the key 18-49 age demographic, which networks and advertisers rely heavily on to gauge a show’s success, the supernatural series garnered a strong 3.5 rating, which trumps several prominent Fox premieres, making it the network’s best fall drama premiere in seven years. Additionally, the premiere was the highest-rated new drama series debut since last September’s premiere of NBC’s Revolution, another locally filmed series.
Under the Dome, the most watched scripted show of the summer that’s also filmed in the Wilmington region, ended its first season at 10 p.m. with a sizable audience of 11.8 million (2.8 share), its largest since the show premiered June 24. Monday also marked a 33 percent surge over last week’s tennis-delayed penultimate episode. Under the Dome expects to begin shooting its second season in the Wilmington area early next year for a summer 2014 premiere.