RATINGS RECAP: 3/26/15

ABC
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 8.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 Scandal
Viewers: 8.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 American Crime
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3

CBS
8:00 NCAA Basketball Tournament
Viewers: 7.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3

NBC
8:00 Dateline NBC
Viewers: 6.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 8.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 The Slap
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 0.7

FOX
8:00 Bones
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
9:00 Backstrom
Viewers: 3.6 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9

Thursday night had more basketball on CBS and it delivered similar numbers to last year at this time. ABC started things out with Grey's Anatomy, which was up half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo. The good news did not continue at 9pm where something is wrong with Scandal. Though it was still the top demo among broadcast series and was up three tenths in viewers, it was down another tenth in the demo for its worst performance since November 2012. This is especially troubling since Grey's has been doing just fine. It actually beat Scandal in viewers and was just a tenth behind it in the demo. ABC better hope this is a weird blip for a couple weeks, but it's starting to look like a troubling trend. Despite the lead-in being down, American Crime was up a tenth in viewers and the demo at 10pm.

FOX had the return of Bones after several months off. It was up slightly from its last airing in December. It was a weaker lead-in for Backstrom, however, and that show was down three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo, tying a series low. Finally on NBC, a Dateline NBC at 8pm didn't capture the same audience as last week's Robert Durst special. At 9pm, The Blacklist was down half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo to a series low. It's been holding pretty steady on Thursdays so this was its first step back in awhile. At 10pm, The Slap was dead even with last week.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Scandal (ABC)