The series finale of 30 Rock — good-bye, old friend! — going into two episodes of The Office should have been a pretty good lead-in for the debut of NBC's new show Do No Harm. Instead, the Jekyll-and-Hyde drama, starring Steven Pasquale as a part-time lunatic, broke a record. The sort of record you don't want to break: It posted the lowest in-season rating ever for a network scripted premiere, getting a 0.9 in the 18 to 49 demographic. It was also the least-watched drama of all time among total viewers, with 3.1 million. Squashed like a bug, really.
Its network competition was Elementary (10.8 million viewers and a 2.2 in 18 to 49) on CBS, which will get a huge boost Sunday night after the Super Bowl, and ABC's thriving Scandal (8.1 million viewers, 2.7 in 18 to 49). Do No Harm even did worse than the news magazine Rock Center in the Thursday at 10 p.m. time period. It cannot last there.
Oh, and the 30 Rock finale did fine, considering its sad ratings history, particularly recently: 4.8 million viewers, and a 1.9 in 18 to 49.