James Corden off to solid start
Published 12:00 am Friday, March 27, 2015
- Emily Berl / The New York TimesThe first episode of “The Late Late Show” with James Corden, which premiered Monday, was received with widespread praise.
CBS’ “The Late Late Show With James Corden” kicked off Monday night with laughs and solid ratings.
The show scored an overnight rating of 1.4/5 in 56 metered markets, according to early Nielsen numbers. That is up 27 percent from the same night last year. It is also a 17 percent increase over “The Late Late Show” season average (1.2/4) when it was hosted by Craig Ferguson.
CBS announced in September that Corden would replace Ferguson. Popular overseas, the British writer, actor and comedian won a BAFTA for his performance in the sitcom “Gavin and Stacey,” which he also co-wrote and co-produced, and took home a Tony in 2012 for his role in the play “One Man, Two Guvnors.”
Corden came in 17 percent ahead of NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” which posted a rating of 1.2. “The Late Late Show” also topped NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly,” which earned a 0.8 overnight rating.
But the two Jimmys — Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” on NBC and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC — still dominated late night, each nabbing an overnight rating of 2.4/6.
“What it is on March 23 is not what it will be, and we can’t beat ourselves up too much about it,” Corden told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview. “Because the very nature of these shows is that they’re bred on familiarity and they’re bred on connection, and it’s impossible to have that straightaway.”