Primetime Ratings: ‘Empire’ Down But Still on Top

Election coverage mostly in the rearview, entertainment programming had its viewers back, and Fox was the winner on Wednesday with a 2.3 rating in adults 18-49, with an 8 share. Based on Nielsen’s fast nationals, ABC was runner-up at 1.7/7, CBS at 1.4/5, NBC at 1.2/4 and The CW at 0.5/2.

Fox’s Lethal Weapon scored a 1.8, up 6%, and Empire lost 15% to 2.9.

The previous Wednesday featured game seven of the World Series on Fox.

ABC’s The Goldbergs grew 18% to 2.0 and Speechless went up 6% to 1.7. Modern Family ticked up 5% to 2.3, while Black-ish (1.6) and Designated Survivor (1.2) both lost a tenth of a point.

CBS’ Survivor grew 19% to a 1.9. Criminal Minds lost 19% at 1.3 while Code Black grew 29% to a 0.9.

On NBC, Blindspot did a flat 1.1 and Law & Order: SVU was down 7% at 1.3, before Chicago P.D. scored a flat 1.3.

CW’s Arrow stretched 17% to 0.7 and Frequency was a flat 0.3.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.