“Will & Grace” aired its (second) series finale on Thursday, the most-watched episode the NBC sitcom’s revival has seen in more than a year, according to Nielsen.
While saying goodbye (again) to Will, Grace, Jack and Karen (again), the network also aired the season finales for comedies “Superstore” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — which both bested their respective year-ago enders in the key demo and total viewers — and “Law & Order: SVU,” which scored its highest-rated episode since its season premiere last fall.
Meanwhile, ABC dominated the night with its broadcast of Round 1 of the remote 2020 NFL Draft, which was up from its year-ago broadcast of the event.
Due to the nature of live programming, the below numbers for ABC are subject to adjustment when final data comes in later Friday.
ABC was first in ratings with a 1.6 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 6.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers were put up by the 2020 NFL Draft, which aired from 8-11 p.m.
CBS and NBC tied for second in ratings, each with a 0.6/3. CBS was second in viewers with 5.1 million and NBC was third with 3.1 million.
For CBS, sandwiched between repeats at 8:30 p.m., “Man With a Plan” received a 0.6/3 and 5.7 million viewers. At 9:30 p.m., “Broke” had a 0.6/3 and 4.8 million viewers. “Tommy” at 10 p.m. settled for a 0.5/2 and 4.6 million viewers.
For NBC, the “Superstore” season finale at 8 p.m. got a 0.7/3 and 3.1 million viewers. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” closed its season at 8:30 p.m. to a 0.6/3 and 2.3 million viewers. The (second) “Will & Grace” series finale at 9 p.m. took a 0.5/2 and 3.1 million viewers. At 9:30 p.m., a retrospective special for the series drew a 0.5/2 and 2.9 million viewers. At 10 p.m., the “Law & Order: SVU” finale ended the network’s night with a 0.7/3 and 3.7 million viewers.
Fox and Univision tied for fourth in ratings, each with a 0.5/2. Fox was fourth in viewers with 2.5 million. Univision was fifth in viewers with 1.6 million.
For Fox, “Last Man Standing” at 8 p.m. received a 0.6/3 and 4.1 million viewers. The rest of the night was filled with repeats.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 450,000. At 8, “Katy Keene” managed a 0.1/0 and 503,000 viewers. At 9, “In the Dark” settled for a 0.1/0 and 398,000 viewers.