Fox’s “Empire” popped its head up last night at 9 p.m., looked around, saw all-rerun competition — and dominated.
During the primetime hour, the only original competition across the other Big 4 networks was “Black-ish” on ABC — and the Lee Daniels hip-hop soap opera had a 30-minute head start on the Anthony Anderson sitcom. As per usual, the drama crushed the sitcom.
Fox was first in ratings with a 2.5 rating/9 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 7.3 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Rosewood” at 8 had a 1.3/5 and 4.8 million viewers. “Empire” then scored a 3.7/12 and 9.8 million viewers.
CBS was second in ratings with a 1.4/5 and in viewers with 7.1 million. “Survivor” at 8 p.m. earned a 2.1/8 and 9.3 million viewers. After a repeat, “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” landed a 1.2/4 and 6.5 million viewers.
ABC was third in ratings with a 1.3/4 and in viewers with 5 million. “The Middle” at 8 got a 1.6/6 and 6.7 million viewers. At 8:30, “The Goldbergs” received a 1.6/6 and 5.8 million viewers. After a rerun, that 9:30 “Black-ish” posted a 1.5/5 and 5 million viewers. “Nashville” at 10 had a 0.9/3 and 4 million viewers.
NBC and the CW tied for fourth in ratings, both with a 0.8/3. NBC was fourth in total viewers with 4.1 million, CW was fifth with 1.98 million.
For NBC, “Heartbeat” at 8 got a 0.8/3 and 4.7 million viewers. Repeats followed.
For CW, “Arrow” at 8 received a 0.9/3 and 2.3 million viewers. At 9, “Supernatural” put up a 0.7/2 and 1.7 million viewers.
Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 1.97 million.
Telemundo was seventh in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.3 million.