It's usually good to wait a week to see if a heavily hyped show's premiere audience returns. But things are looking good for NBC's new musical competition show "The Voice."

It averaged a 6.8 rating/11 share in Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. Tuesday, providing the Peacock with its best Tuesday numbers of the year. And it has some television observers buzzing.

But how amazing are these ratings?

The 6.8 household rating is 15 percent better than what NBC did in the timeslot last year, and topped anything the network has aired on Tuesdays this year at all, including its high-rated "Biggest Loser" and it's not so high-rated "Parenthood."

It also competed well against "Dancing With the Stars" and the new hit show "Body of Proof" on ABC, which have been fighting with CBS for ratings dominance on Tuesdays. Yet, it didn't have to compete with CBS, which decided to air reruns of television's highest-rated dramas, "NCIS" and "NCIS: Los Angeles."

"The Voice" will most definitely be NBC's top-rated program, especially on a network that is averaging just a 3.8/6 this season, good for fourth place (once again).

At the same time, its strong premiere is tops for NBC -- for now. Freshman drama "Harry's Law" was the leader until this week, averaging a 6.0/10 through the end of March, good enough for 31st place overall among all network shows, tied with "Bones" on Fox. If "The Voice" keeps most of its premiere audience, it could likely end up in television's top 25 -- a spot NBC has not been able to feel for quite some time.

So the question really is, are we seeing a new beginning for NBC?

Not likely for this season, as we're almost to the end. But if the network does some serious housecleaning of its underperforming schedule next year, and make a real killing in pilot season, the future could be brighter for NBC.

For now, it is getting buzz for "The Voice." Next week will prove if it has staying power or not.