On its original broadcast in the United States on ABC, the premiere was watched by an estimated 18.82 million viewers, making it the most watched episode of the night and the fourth most watched of the week. "A Tale of Two Cities" had four million less viewers than the previous season premiere. In Canada, the episode was watched by 1.972 million viewers on CTV, easily winning its timeslot. In the United Kingdom, "A Tale of Two Cities" was broadcast on November 22 along with follow-up "The Glass Ballerina" in "Lost"s first broadcast after changing to Sky1. With 1.549 million viewers, it was most watched program of the week on the non-terrestrial channels.