Ratings: ‘The Blacklist’ Season 9 Premiere Grows From Megan Boone Exit Episode Last June

Thursdays at 8 p.m. suit James Spader drama better

The Blacklist - Season 9
Photo by: Will Hart/NBC

“The Blacklist” debuted its ninth season Thursday on NBC to higher ratings, and almost 1 million more viewers, than it saw for its Season 8 finale in June, an episode that featured the exit of longtime star Megan Boone as FBI agent Elizabeth Keen.

The Season 9 premiere of the James Spader-led drama “The Blacklist” drew a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 3 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen data. That’s up from the 0.2 rating and 2.1 million total viewers that the Season 8 finale posted in comparable initial numbers.

Of course it’s important to keep in mind here that “The Blacklist” debuted its ninth season on a Thursday at 8 p.m., a more favorable time slot than the Wednesday 10 o’clock hour during which its eighth season ended. And it’s much, much more favorable than the Friday night 8 p.m. slot that “The Blacklist” was in for the majority of Season 8.

Due to the nature of live sports, the below numbers for Fox should be considered subject to significant adjustment. Final data will be available later today.

Fox was first in ratings with a 2.1 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 8.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers were put up by a “Thursday Night Football” game featuring the Cleveland Browns’ win over the Denver Broncos, which ran throughout primetime.

ABC and NBC tied for second in ratings, both with a 0.5. ABC was third in total viewers with 3.7 million, NBC was fourth with 3.2 million. 

For ABC, “Station 19” at 8 earned a 0.6 and 4.5 million viewers. At 9, “Grey’s Anatomy” earned a 0.6 and 3.8 million viewers. At 10, “Big Sky” got a 0.3 and 2.8 million viewers.

For NBC, “The Blacklist” Season 9 premiere at 8 drew the above-mentioned 0.4 rating and 3 million viewers. At 9, “Law & Order: SVU” garnered a 0.6 and 3.7 million viewers. “Law & Order: Organized Crime” at 10 received a 0.5 and 3 million viewers.

Readers can find TheWrap’s recap of “The Blacklist” Season 9 premiere, which reveals what has happened to James Spader’s Raymond “Red” Reddington in the two years since Liz’s death, here.

CBS was fourth in ratings with a 0.4 and second in total viewers with 4.4 million. At 8, “Young Sheldon” earned a 0.6 and 6 million viewers. At 8:30, “United States of Al” put up a 0.4 and 4.3 million viewers. “Ghosts” at 9 got a 0.5 and 5.1 million viewers. “B Positive” at 9:30 had a 0.4 and 3.7 million viewers. At 10, “Bull” settled for a 0.3 and 3.7 million viewers.

The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 428,000. At 8, “Coroner” managed a 0.0 and 511,000 viewers. “Legacies” at 9 closed the night with 0.1 and 344,000 viewers.

We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.

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