RATINGS RECAP: 2/5/15

ABC
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 8.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
9:00 Scandal
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
10:00 How to Get Away with Murder
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 17.1 million, 18-49 demo: 4.6
8:30 Mom
Viewers: 11.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
9:00 Two and a Half Men
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
9:30 The Big Bang Theory (Repeat)
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 7.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

NBC
8:00 The Blacklist (Repeat)
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 10.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
10:00 Allegiance
Viewers: 5.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1

FOX
8:00 American Idol
Viewers: 9.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:00 Backstrom
Viewers: 3.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0

Thursday night had the big arrival of The Blacklist to Thursday night on NBC. Results were decidedly mixed and the success of the move has been a bit polarizing today among analysts. On the plus side, it gave NBC its biggest result for a drama on the night since ER. In fact, the total viewer count was the best for any regularly scheduled program on NBC Thursday since the ER finale in April 2009. However, many are considering it a disappointment because it nearly tied a series low, didn't even compete with Scandal for the demo crown, and didn't seem to get a Super Bowl bounce. I fall into the first camp. I think this was a success for NBC. They instantly became a player on a night where they have had so much trouble and people clearly sought out The Blacklist. Look at what happened when Revolution and especially Smash left the Monday 10pm slot. In my opinion, this was a very solid performance. While the success of The Blacklist is debatable, everyone can agree the premiere of Allegiance was a complete disaster at 10pm. Despite a good lead-in and tons of Super Bowl promotion, the show fell flat on its face with a disastrous debut. It's been a horrible year for new NBC shows, but this has to be the most disappointing yet. NBC may have fixed the 9pm hour but it doesn't look like they'll be able to build a full drama lineup on the night this year. It really couldn't have gone worse for Allegiance.

After last week's big return for TGIT, ABC took a hit across the board. Grey's Anatomy was down seven tenths in viewers and a rough half a demo point for season lows. The demo ties a series low set multiple times last season. The 8pm competition was actually less than last week with NBC airing a Blacklist repeat instead of The Biggest Loser, so this is a pretty disappointing showing. At 9pm, Scandal was down nine tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo. This was not a bad drop considering the arrival of The Blacklist to the hour. At 10pm, How to Get Away with Murder was down nine tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo as well, tying a series low in the demo and hitting an outright series low in viewers.

As ABC and NBC were having their showdown, CBS had a pretty good night. The Big Bang Theory was down two tenths in viewers and up a tenth in the demo to tie Empire as the week's top show in the demo. At 8:30pm, Mom was down a tenth in viewers but even in the demo, tying last week's series high. Two and a Half Men entered its final month and was down three tenths in viewers and even in the demo. CBS pulled The McCarthys from the schedule (without officially cancelling it) and a Big Bang repeat did better in its place as it had a solid 2.0 demo against the drama powerhouses on ABC and NBC. It also seemed to help Elementary, which was up two tenths in viewers and the demo. Finally on FOX, American Idol was up three tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo, but Backstrom was pummeled by the competition and was down 1.7 million viewers and four tenths in the demo. It doesn't stand a chance now.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Allegiance (NBC)