‘Commander’ debuts big with older viewers

Plenty of viewers hailed the premiere of “Commander in Chief” Tuesday night. But those viewers may be a little older than ABC executives would like.

“Commander,” starring Geena Davis as the nation’s first female president, connected with 16.4 million viewers, according to figures available Wednesday from Nielsen Media Research. That was good enough for first place in the 9 p.m. time slot, easily surpassing the runner-up, Fox’s medical drama “House” (13.4 million).

Unfortunately for ABC, however, “Commander” was in a three-way tie for second place (with NBC’s comedy block and CBS’ season debut of “The Amazing Race”) among viewers 18 to 49 -- the age group that advertisers and TV executives care about most.

That means that a large proportion of “Commander” viewers were over 50. Don’t be surprised, then, if a bevy of twentysomething interns soon becomes commonplace in “Commander’s” Oval Office.