Kung Fu reboot debuts to The CW’s best Wednesday numbers in seven years

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The CW continues its winning streak with new series premieres this season because Kung Fu premiered on Wednesday night to strong numbers for the network.

The Kung Fu reboot debuted to 1.4 million total viewers and a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographic. This makes it The CW’s highest total viewership number for a Wednesday debut in 7 years since The 100 debuted on March 19, 2014. In addition, Kung Fu delivered The CW’s largest audience in the time period in two and half years since Riverdale in October 2018 (0.1, 530,000 viewers).

The CW has had a great season debuting new shows. For the network, Kung Fu is the third-best premiere of the season including returning series following the debuts of Walker (2.43 million viewers, 0.4 demo rating) and Superman & Lois (1.71 million viewers, 0.4 demo rating). The premiere also gave a boost to Nancy Drew (0.1 demo rating, 666,000 viewers), which delivered its largest audience of the season and its best since December 11, 2019. Needless to say, despite a television season that was definitely uncharted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The CW has really thrived with new series that appeal to their demographic.

Kung Fu is inspired by the original series created by Ed Spielman and it follows a young Chinese American woman Nicky (Olivia Liang), whose quarter-life crisis causes her to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to San Francisco, she finds her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption and her own parents Jin (Tzi Ma) and Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) are at the mercy of a powerful Triad. Nicky will rely on her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the ruthless assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor Pei-Ling (Vanessa Kai) and is now targeting her.

Did YOU watch the series premiere of Kung Fu?