RATINGS RECAP: 4/23/15

ABC
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
9:00 Scandal
Viewers: 7.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 American Crime
Viewers: 4.1 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 14.6 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
8:30 The Odd Couple
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
9:00 Mom
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
9:30 The Big Bang Theory (Repeat)
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 7.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3

NBC
8:00 The Blacklist (Repeat)
Viewers: 3.4 million, 18-49 demo: 0.5
9:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 7.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
10:00 Dateline NBC
Viewers: 5.7 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9

FOX
8:00 Bones
Viewers: 4.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:00 Backstrom
Viewers: 3.0 million, 18-49 demo: 0.8

On Thursday night, ABC's heavily promoted episode of Grey's Anatomy featuring the exit of a main character since the beginning of the show's run helped it soar in the ratings. It was up a stunning two million viewers and seven tenths in the demo. ABC announced they will air a two hour episode next week with a special episode so Scandal will be preempted. Speaking of Scandal, it surprisingly received no help from the much bigger lead-in as it was down a tenth in viewers and the demo. I really would have thought it would have received a boost but it must have been some old time Grey's Anatomy fans coming back to the first hour. At 10pm, American Crime was down three tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo to tie a series low. On NBC, The Blacklist came back from a few weeks off and had a rough night. It was down two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. The viewer total ties a series low while the demo is an outright series low. At 10pm, Dateline NBC was up two tenths in viewers and down two tenths in the demo.

After a couple weeks of ascending ratings, The Big Bang Theory took a step back for CBS as did the whole lineup. Big Bang was down two tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. At 8:30pm, The Odd Couple was down two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. After several strong weeks, Mom had a pretty off night as it was down six tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. I'm not sure what happened here but I wouldn't take it as a sign that it can't handle the 9pm timeslot because it's had a couple good weeks. At 10pm, Elementary was up a tenth in viewers but down a tenth in the demo. Finally on FOX, Bones was down two tenths in viewers and even in the demo, tying series lows in both categories. At 9pm, Backstrom was down four tenths in viewers for a series low, and even in the demo for a fourth consecutive week.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: The Blacklist (NBC)