FOX's COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY Premiere Heads Toward 40 Million Viewers Worldwide

Sunday night's epic series COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY premiered across 10 U.S. networks which yielded 8.5 million viewers nationally and is expected to grow to a total audience of 40 million viewers worldwide. FOX's week was also highlighted by strong performances from American Idol XIII, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Glee. For the week, FOX ranked No. 3 for the week among Adults 18-34 and No. 4 among Adults 18-49.

Overall, FOX had:

3 of the Top 20 programs among Adults 18-49: American Idol Wed. (No. 9), American Idol Thurs. (No. 20 tie) and Family Guy (No. 20 tie).

6 of the Top 20 programs among Adults 18-34: Family Guy (No. 8), COSMOS (No. 10), American Idol Wed. (No. 14), New Girl (No. 17), American Idol Thurs. (No. 20 tie) and Simpsons (No. 20 tie).

4 of the Top 20 programs among Teens: American Idol Wed. (No. 5), Family Guy (No. 7 tie), American Idol Thurs. (No. 7 tie) and Simpsons (No. 14).

2 of the Top 20 programs among Total Viewers: American Idol Wed. (No. 13) and American Idol Thurs. (No. 17).

ABOUT COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY

More than three decades after the debut of "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," Carl Sagan's stunning and iconic exploration of The Universe as revealed by science, COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY sets off on a new voyage for the stars. Sagan's original creative collaborators - writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and astronomer Steven Soter - have teamed with Seth MacFarlane (FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD) to conceive a 13-part series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy Award- and Peabody Award-winning original series.

Hosted by renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson ("Death By Black Hole," "Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier"), the series will explore how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. It will bring to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and transport viewers to new worlds and across The Universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale. COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY will invent new modes of scientific storytelling to reveal the grandeur of The Universe and re-invent celebrated elements of the legendary original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination. The most profound scientific concepts will be presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous Science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.

Carl Sagan's original series, "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," was first broadcast in 1980, and has been enjoyed by more than 750 million people worldwide.