Splash has heralded great news for ABC in the latest network ratings, with the celebrity, um, diving reality competition giving the network a much needed boost that continued throughout Tuesday night (March 19, 2013), although it was still some way behind CBS, which had drama combo NCIS and The Voice.

Nevertheless, the debut of the reality show will be heartening to ABC, not least because of the effect that it had on their schedule of the evening as a whole. It averaged a 2.6/8 in adults 18-49 and 8.8 million viewers overall in the 8pm, beating out Fox’s competing Hell’s Kitchen, which took a 2.0/6 in the 18-49 category and 4.9 million viewers overall. It also placed second to NCIS, and had the top 18-49 score for the premiere of an unscripted series on any network since Fox’s The X-Factor back in September 2011.

The success of Splash was sustained, which meant that a special of Dancing With the Stars called Exclusive First Look took 2.1/6 in the 18-49 category and 9.6 million viewers overall, while at 10pm drama Body of Proof took 1.5/4 in the 18-49 category and 8.3 million viewers overall. That was a rise of 25% in the 18-49 category from the previous week. A word of warning to ABC though, because NBC returns with its hugely popular The Voice next week, meaning that Tuesdays are set to get even more competitive. Splash stars former Hugh Hefner girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson and defensive line man in the NFL, Ndamukong Suh. 

Kendra Wilkinson

Kendra Wilkinson prepares to take the plunge in Splash