The season premiere of 60 Minutes, the first new episode since the show’s tumultuous gut renovation by Bari Weiss, kicked off on Sunday night — and it was fairly well received by critics. Despite the CBS editor-in-chief having largely blown up the show and installed a new executive producer, Nick Bilton, the much-anticipated season 59 seemed to bear a resemblance to seasons one through 58. The ratings, however, fell off a cliff.

According to the official Nielsen data, the premiere’s total viewership dropped 21 percent overall from last year and by 33 percent among the 25- to 54-year-old demographic most important to advertisers. Per the New York Post’s Ariel Zilber and Alexandra Steigrad:

The long-running program drew 7.9 million viewers for its season opener, marking its smallest premiere audience in records dating back to at least 2000. It was also the first premiere this century to fall below 9 million total viewers and 2 million viewers in the key 25-to-54 demographic …An NFL game leading into “60 Minutes” drew 18.4 million viewers, meaning the news program’s audience was more than 10 million smaller than its lead-in.

The long-running program drew 7.9 million viewers for its season opener, marking its smallest premiere audience in records dating back to at least 2000. It was also the first premiere this century to fall below 9 million total viewers and 2 million viewers in the key 25-to-54 demographic …

An NFL game leading into “60 Minutes” drew 18.4 million viewers, meaning the news program’s audience was more than 10 million smaller than its lead-in.

Even as the newsmagazine clocked its “worst ratings in more than 25 years,” as the Post headline blared, the paper’s reporters noted that Sunday’s NFL game wasn’t as strong a lead-in as it was last year:

A source with knowledge of the numbers reached by The Post pointed to a weaker NFL lead-in. The Packers-Vikings game preceding “60 Minutes” drew 18.4 million viewers, down about 22% from 23.8 million a year ago. The source also noted that NFL viewership on NBC........

© Daily Intelligencer