Fall TV: 'MacGyver' and 'Exorcist' Cool Down

Two of this season's many reboot TV series are fighting for audiences on the same night this fall. Neither of them debuted particularly strongly on premiere week, but expectations are low for Friday nights on network TV. However, both series saw a substantial drop in their audiences from week one to week two, and one of them lost a concerning proportion of its premiere-week audience.

MacGyver, the reboot of CBS' 1980s series, had its second-episode rating in the 18-49 age demographic drop by about a quarter from its debut-episode performance, and its total viewership dropped by about 10 percent. That's a significant drop, especially in the younger age group, the only demographic that networks and advertisers care about. Still, CBS has to air something on Friday nights, and if MacGyver can hold steady-ish, it's likely to stay around for the full season and probably get called back for a second season.

Things don't look as good for The Exorcist on Fox. It wasn't even able to win its time slot with its debut episode, and its second-week rating fell by 40 percent in the 18-49 group. Only the dismal numbers for The CW's Penn & Teller: Fool Us were worse in the time slot. Again, expectations for Friday are low, but they might not be that low. At this point, it looks like you'd be taking a big risk if you get too attached to The Exorcist.