The Question, Monday 1/7/13: Is NBC's Midseason Drama Deceptively Strong?

Tonight NBC dives into the heart of its three months of Voice-lessness with the regular timeslot premiere of The Biggest Loser and, at 10/9c, new drama Deception. It's a little bit Revenge, a little bit Dirty Sexy Money, and NBC hopes its likely female skew will match up well with The Biggest Loser. Reviews thus far are merely OK, and I don't think anyone really expects a big out-of-the-box smash. Is NBC's midseason drama deceptively strong? That's The Question for Monday, January 7, 2013.

The Biggest Loser (Lead-in) Last Night	Recent NBC Drama Premieres
2.9 (average 9-11pm) 3.0 (10:30 half-hour)	1.6 (The Playboy Club, 9/19/11, out of 1.9 The Sing-Off) 1.8 (Prime Suspect, 9/22/11, 3.3 Whitney) 2.1 (Grimm, 10/28/11, 1.1 Chuck) 1.4 (The Firm, 1/8/12, 1.7 Dateline) 3.8 (Smash, 2/6/12, 7.7 The Voice) 2.0 (Awake, 3/1/12, 1.7 Up All Night) 4.1 (Revolution, 9/17/12, 5.1 The Voice) 1.9 (Chicago Fire, 10/10/12, 1.9 SVU)

I had this premiering a little below 2.0, but I'm adjusting it up a bit based on how wildly The Biggest Loser exceeded my expectations. Beyond the question of how much interest there is in this show in a vacuum, it's also worth mentioning that it's facing college football's BCS National Championship. While the shows will skew pretty differently, the football game is gonna cast a wide net; double-digit demos are likely. That competition and typical post-premiere drop tendencies mean the lead-in The Biggest Loser will probably drop at least somewhat from what it got last night.

Over/Under: 2.05.

No entries accepted after 6:00am ET the morning after the date in the headline. If editing your pick, please leave a separate comment.