Primetime Ratings: Fox Wins With Emphatic ‘Empire’

Fox was the ratings winner in Wednesday’s prime, riding a robust Empire to a 1.7 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 7 share. Next up was CBS at 1.2/5.

Empire returned to the Fox schedule up 25% to a 2.0 while Star climbed 15% to 1.5 .

On CBS, Survivor did a flat 1.7, SEAL Team a flat 1.0 and Criminal Minds went up 22% to 1.1.

NBC rated a 1.1/5, as a The Voice repeat did a 1.3 across two hours, then the special Andrew Lloyd Webber: Tribute to a Superstar scored a 0.6.

ABC was at 1.0/4, as The Goldbergs slipped 7% to 1.4 and the premiere of Alex, Inc. did a 1.1. Modern Family was off 13% at 1.4 and Splitting Up Together scored a 0.8 (it did a 2.2 on Tuesday, with red-hot Roseanne kicking off prime). Designated Survivor posted a flat 0.7.

Univision rated a 0.5/2 and Telemundo a 0.4/2.

The CW was at 0.2/1 as Riverdale tallied a 0.3 and Life Sentence a 0.1, both dramas down a tenth of a point.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.