RATINGS RECAP: 5/20/15

ABC
8:00 500 Questions
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 7.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
9:30 Black-ish
Viewers: 5.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 Celebrity Wife Swap
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 9.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Survivor: Worlds Apart Live Reunion Show
Viewers: 7.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8

NBC
8:00 The Mysteries of Laura
Viewers: 7.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
9:00 Law & Order: SVU
Viewers: 7.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
10:00 Chicago PD
Viewers: 7.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4

FOX
8:00 Masterchef
Viewers: 3.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2

The final night of the 2014-15 season had season finales and summer premieres. ABC had both with the series premiere of game show 500 Questions getting a decent 1.2 demo. It will air for seven nights in a row. At 9pm, the season finales of Modern Family and Black-ish crashed to series lows. Modern Family was down nine tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo for a series low. Its previous worst performance was a 2.5 demo on Thanksgiving Eve, 2009. Black-ish fell seven tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo. It was three tenths lower in the demo than its previous series low. Did people think their season ended last week with the other comedies? I don't really understand why ABC scheduled it the way they did. At 10pm, the season premiere of Celebrity Wife Swap was pretty low but not disastrous for summer filler expectations.

On CBS, Survivor ended a solid edition by not spiking for the finale as it was up just a tenth in viewers and even in the demo. It was a solid season but this was a bit of a disappointing end. The Live Reunion show was on par with the fall reunion show. NBC had a small rally for The Mysteries of Laura, which was up nine tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. The other two crime dramas were down though. Law & Order: SVU was up two tenths in viewers but down the same in the demo. Chicago PD was up three tenths in viewers but down two tenths in the demo. FOX had Masterchef start out OK at a 1.2 demo. As hard as it is to believe, that was only half a demo point down from the American Idol finale last week.

Although I don't cover late night, it's worth noting that the final episode of The Late Show with David Letterman delivered the best total viewer count for the show since February 1994!

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Survivor (CBS)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Modern Family (ABC)