“Station 19” is no “Grey’s Anatomy.” To be fair, not many shows are — but the Shondaland spinoff didn’t get off to too hot a start last night.
Shonda Rhimes’ newest ABC series premiered to lackluster Nielsen ratings on Thursday, when its first hour matched NBC’s competing “Chicago Fire” in the key 18-49 demographic, but the second 60 minutes couldn’t keep pace.
Neither block of “Station 19” was able to match NBC’s firefighter show in terms of total viewers, but at least they provided a time slot boost to the Disney-owned broadcast net.
Either way, CBS smoked out all of its primetime competition last night with a pair of March Madness basketball games. Due to the nature of live sports, however, the CBS numbers in this story should be considered subject to adjustment.
Airing all NCAA Tournament coverage, CBS was first in ratings with a 2.4 rating/10 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 8.1 million, according to preliminary numbers.
ABC was second in ratings with a 1.4/6 and in viewers with 6.1 million. “Grey’s Anatomy” at 8 p.m. earned a 1.9/8 and 7.5 million viewers. The first hour of “Station 19” at 9 had a 1.2/5 and 5.7 million viewers. The second hour got a 1.1/4 and 5.1 million viewers.
NBC was third in ratings with a 1.1/5 and in viewers with 5.6 million. “Superstore” at 8 received a 1.1/5 and 3.9 million viewers. At 8:30, “A.P. Bio” managed a 0.7/3 and 2.9 million viewers. The first hour of “Chicago Fire” at 9 had a 1.2/5 and 6.5 million viewers. The second hour got a 1.2/5 and 7.1 million viewers.
Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.6/3 and in viewers with 2.4 million. “Gotham” at 8 received a 0.7/3 and 2.4 million viewers. At 9, “Showtime at the Apollo” settled for a 0.6/2 and 2.4 million viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.6 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.2 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 788,000, airing reruns.