Good news for NBC’s second night of the fall season — its shows did just fine

Judges panel on “The Voice” (Tyler Golden - AP) The second night of the first fall season of NBC’s ‘The Voice” did just fine. Matthew Perry’s “Go On” did fine, too. About 7 million people are interested in the controversial “The New Normal.” That’s all good news for the struggling network.

On Tuesday, “The Voice’s” audience — 11.3 million viewers — was down about 1 million from the previous night’s fall kickoff, but it was still an audience that every broadcast network would like.

That said, the show clearly is not taking the next step to “phenom” status. It might, in fact, have taken a small step back among young viewers — NBC’s currency in ad sales — for the sake of becoming a player on the fall prime-time slate. Previously, “The Voice” has aired on NBC in the spring and over the summer.

Are we the only ones fighting hard to shake that nagging feeling that “The Voice,” “X Factor” and “American Idol” are all becoming the same show?

Following “The Voice,” “Go On” averaged nearly 10 million viewers, retaining 85 percent of its lead-in; anything more than 80 percent is considered good. It’s also a very respectable return on the 16 million who’d watched the comedy’s pilot episode at about 11 p.m. one night after NBC’s broadcast of the London Summer Games.

At 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBC aired another episode of “The New Normal,” which scored virtually the same audience size that the first episode did Monday. It appears there are 7 million people interested in this controversial Ryan Murphy comedy.

At 10 p.m., “Parenthood” returned to continue its slow slide into oblivion. This time, its season launch attracted 5.5 million viewers — its smallest opening yet.

Last season, the much-DVR’d drama launched with more than 6 million tuned in. Back in March of ’10, NBC unveiled the TV-ization of the hit flick with more than 8 mill watching.