Here’s the Wild No. 1 New Show of Summer 2021 (So Far)

Summer 2021 will likely be short on new hits until the Tokyo Olympics, if you even count them, kick off next month on NBC.

Save CBS, each of the English-language broadcast networks have debuted at least one new series so far this summer, with Fox and ABC launching a pair.

ABC’s “When Nature Calls With Helen Mirren,” which launched Thursday night, is already the biggest summer freshman to date — and that’s even when comparing its available Live + Same Day viewing to the other shows’ Live + 7 Day numbers, which include one week of (mostly) DVR catchup.

That’s some queen of the jungle stuff right there.

“When Nature Calls” drew 3.584 million “live” total viewers Thursday night, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. That’s about 1 million more “live” audience members than ABC’s “Celebrity Dating Game” initially posted. Adding in a week of “Celebrity Dating Game” catchup, the Mirren-hosted animal clip show still outdrew it by 125,000 night-of viewers. Airing in the 8 o’clock hour vs. at 10 p.m. didn’t hurt.

The gap will only grow when Americans catch up on “Nature” over the next week.

“The Celebrity Dating Game,” hosted by Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton, bowed to 3.459 million total viewers, according to Nielsen’s L+7 data. That is 279,000 more audience members than the next-biggest show, Fox’s “Crime Scene Kitchen.”

The other guys weren’t close — see our bar graph below, which includes both Live + Same Day viewing for the newcomers and the 7-day delayed-viewing growth where available.

Among adults 18-49, however, the Joel McHale-hosted “Crime Scene Kitchen” (a 0.9 Live + 7 Day rating) jumps “When Nature Calls” (a 0.5 “live” rating) and “Celebrity Dating Game” (0.6 L+7 rating). (The non-self-starter premieres had great lead-ins: “The Masked Singer” Season 5 finale for “Crime Scene” and “The Bachelorette” for “Dating Game.”)

And Fox’s animated pet comedy “Housebroken” just barely edges out NBC’s tiny physical challenge series “Small Fortune,” with a 0.35 rating vs. a 0.34. Yeah, we had to go to two decimal places for that one — pretty granular, just like the game show’s theme.

No matter how you slice it, The CW drama “The Republic of Sarah” comes in last, with a 0.1 rating among people ages 18 to 49. In the show, rebellious high school teacher Sarah leads her suddenly mineral-rich town to essentially secede from the United States. The series hasn’t struck ratings gold.

Helen Mirren, you have earned a plug. “When Nature Calls With Helen Mirren” airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

OK, maybe two other honorable mentions.

“Celebrity Dating Game,” hosted by Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton, airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

“Crime Scene Kitchen,” hosted by Joel McHale, airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox.