Last year's hit summer sensation 'Under the Dome' off to slow start this season

A substantial number of the people who made CBS' "Under the Dome" the surprise hit of last summer appear to have lost interest in the fate of the fictional town of Chester's Mill, Maine.

The Nielsen company said 9.4 million people watched last week's second-season premiere of the show about a town placed under a mysterious dome, an episode written by Stephen King. That's down from the 13.5 million who watched the live premiere episode last year.

CBS pointed out that nearly 4 million viewers were added when time-shifting over the next two days was taken into account, a higher rate of time shifting than in 2013.

Nielsen said NBC's airing of a Miley Cyrus concert special Saturday reached 2 million viewers.