Shondaland had a rough return last night, when “Scandal” came back from hiatus down 34 percent versus its prior winter premiere. The show declined a more modest 12 percent from its 2015 fall finale.
All told, ABC’s full “TGIT” lineup dropped enough to tie Fox atop the key demo. Both Fox and CBS beat ABC in terms of total viewers.
The broadcast networks faced competition from the Democratic Debate last night, which ran from 9 p.m. ET-11 o’clock.
Fox and ABC tied for first in ratings, both with a 2.1 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. With only “American Idol” on its primetime schedule, Fox finished first in total viewers with an average of 8.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. ABC was third with 7 million viewers.
For ABC, 8 p.m.’s “Grey’s Anatomy” had a 2.4/8 and 8.2 million viewers. At 9, “Scandal” got a 2.1/7 and 6.9 million viewers. “How to Get Away With Murder” at 10 received a 1.8/6 and 5.8 million viewers.
CBS was third in ratings with a 1.9/6 and second in viewers with 8.7 million. “The Big Bang Theory” at 8 earned a 3.8/14 and 16 million viewers. At 8:30, “Life in Pieces” posted a 2.1/7 and 9.5 million viewers. “Mom” at 9 had a 1.7/6 and 8.1 million viewers. Following a rerun, “Elementary” at 10 got a 1.1/4 and 6.1 million viewers.
NBC was fourth in ratings with a 1.1/4 and in viewers with 4.9 million. “You, Me and the Apocalypse” at 8 received a 0.8/3 and 3 million viewers. At 9, “The Blacklist” had a 1.4/4 and 6.3 million viewers. At 10, the heavily time-shifted “Shades of Blue” was steady from last week with a 1.1/4 and 5.4 million viewers.
The CW and Univision tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.7/2. CW was fifth in viewers with 1.86 million, topping Univision’s sixth-place 1.85 million by a very narrow margin.
For the CW, “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” at 8 posted a 0.9/3 and 2.4 million viewers. At 9, “The 100” received a 0.5/2 and 1.3 million viewers.
Telemundo was seventh in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.3 million.