Now, we always expect The Big Bang Theory to come out of the gate crushing the competition, but this year was good even by past standards, and possibly indicates a reversal of downward ratings spirals.
And even though last year’s premiere handled the quasi-cliffhanger about Sheldon’s mom and Leonard’s dad, “The Proposal Proposal” was legitimately anticipated to see how Amy would react to Sheldon popping the question, as well as to him getting kissed by another woman.
While many current shows premiere to fewer viewers than their previous years, The Big Bang Theory’s 16.97 million-strong audience to kick off Season 11 was a hefty margin larger than the Season 10 opener, which brought in 15.82 million people.
(Here’s how that went, as well as the other big surprise the episode gave fans.)