Last night’s only new series premiere, A Gifted Man, had a decidedly mixed debut. That seems to essentially be on par with what the critics and public thought. Though many of the critics’ reviews gave thumbs up to the cast, many felt that the show’s premise and script were lacking.

Per the fast affiliate numbers, the first episode of A Gifted Man registered a 1.4 in the 18-49 demographic and 9.31 million total viewers. It was in second place for the timeslot in terms of the demo — Kitchen Nightmares posted a 1.6 rating. However, A Gifted Man easily won the timeslot in terms of total viewers, attracting nearly as many viewers as NBC, ABC, and The CW networks combined.

Later in the evening, CSI: New York and Blue Bloods both performed better than Gifted Man. Year-to-year, Gifted Man matched now-cancelled Medium’s demo number but improved on total viewership by 50% (9.31 million versus 6.1 million). It should be noted that CBS cancelled Medium with an average 1.4 rating.

While it’s ultimately the demo numbers that matter most, attracting more than nine million on a Friday is nothing to sneeze at. The show’s fate will ultimately be decided by how well it performs in the next few weeks. For right now, it’s too early to tell.

NOTE: Updated weekly and season ratings are now available.

What do you think? Were you watching A Gifted Man? Will you watch again? Is the TV series worthy of a slot on the schedule or should it be cancelled instead?

Image courtesy CBS.