In the zone-adjusted finals for Sunday, the debut of Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi dramedy The Orville on Fox rose from a 2.3 and 7.3 million viewers to a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating and 8.6 million viewers. In the demo, The Orville matched the debuts of NBC’s drama This Is Us and Fox’s comedy The Mick, the highest-rated launches last season (excluding 24: Legacy, which followed the Super Bowl).

Like The Orville, midseason entry The Mick too had an NFL lead-in. The Orville outpaced the comparable football-boosted fall premiere of Fox’s comedy Son Of Zorn last year (2.4).

In men 18-34, the core constituency for creator and star MacFarlane’s animated series, The Orville posted the highest-rated broadcast hourlong series debut since Fox’s Gotham on September 22, 2014 (excluding post Super Bowl lead-outs).