NBC’s new miniseries “The Slap” didn’t land much of a blow with its series premiere Thursday night, debuting to lukewarm ratings. Meanwhile, ABC won the night in the key demographic with its drama slate of “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” according to preliminary numbers.
“The Slap” premiere scored a light 1.1 rating/4 share in the 18-49 demographic most important to advertisers, a 59 percent slide from last March’s premiere of “Believe.” In total viewers, “The Slap” notched 5.1 million total viewers.
Aside from “The Slap,” the network aired “The Blacklist,” which was down 29 percent from last week’s time-period premiere with a 1.7/5 and 8 million total viewers, and “Allegiance,” which slid 36 percent from last week’s series premiere, posting a 0.7/2. “Allegiance” drew 3.6 million total viewers. Overall, NBC landed in fourth place with a 1.2/4 and 5.6 million total viewers for the night.
ABC was the key demo winner for the night, averaging a 2.7/9 among the 18-49 crowd, and took second place in total viewers with 8.5 million. “Grey’s Anatomy” held even with last week, though it tied its series low with a 2.3/8 and 7.7 million total viewers. “Scandal” inched down to a 3.1/10 and had 9.3 million total viewers. “How to Get Away With Murder” held steady for a 2.7/9 with 8.4 million total viewers.
CBS and Fox shared second place for the night, with each network averaging a 1.8/6, with CBS taking first in total viewers, averaging 8.9 million for the night. Following a repeat of “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS aired “Mom,” which was down 25 percent for a 2.1/7 and had 10.1 million total viewers. “Two and a Half Men” inched down to a 2.1/7with .2 million total viewers. After another “Big Bang Theory” repeat, “Elementary” posted a 1.4/5, a slight downtick from last week, and drew 7.7 million total viewers.
Fox, in third place in total viewers with 7 million, aired “American Idol,” which posted a 2.3/8 with 9.5 million total viewers; followed by “Backstrom,” which jumped 30 percent in the demo for a 1.3/4 and 22 percent in total viewers, drawing 4.4 million.
Univision was fifth with a 1.1/4 and 3 million total viewers.
The CW shared sixth place with Telemundo in the demo, with both networks averaging a 0.5/2. (In total viewers, CW edged out Telemundo, with 1.3 million versus Telemundo’s 1.2 million.) “Vampire Diaries” posted a 0.7/2 with 1.5 million total viewers, while “Reign” had a 0.4/1 with 1 million total viewers.