RATINGS RECAP: 10/6/15

ABC
8:00 The Muppets
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
8:30 Fresh Off the Boat
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
9:00 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Viewers: 4.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 Quantico (Repeat)
Viewers: 3.1 million, 18-49 demo: 0.7

CBS
8:00 NCIS
Viewers: 16.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 NCIS: New Orleans
Viewers: 14.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
10:00 Limitless
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7

NBC
8:00 The Voice Clip Show
Viewers: 8.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
10:00 Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris
Viewers: 4.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3

FOX
8:00 Grandfathered
Viewers: 3.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
8:30 The Grinder
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:00 Scream Queens
Viewers: 3.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2

On Tuesday night, ABC saw another drop in week three of The Muppets. It was down nine tenths in viewers and another three tenths in the demo. It has now dropped 1.2 demo points in just three weeks, which is not a good sign at all. This never seemed like it was going to be a game-changer to me, but I'm surprised at how rejected it has been. If it levels off now, it'll be OK but I'm not convinced that will happen. The best news for ABC came at 8:30pm where Fresh Off the Boat was not only up two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo, it also built on its lead-in. This is really looking like a long-term player for ABC. Too bad their Wednesday lineup is full. At 9pm, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was down six tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo from last week's season premiere. ABC chose to encore Quantico again, delaying the Beyond the Tank premiere yet another week. It delivered decent numbers for a repeat.

On CBS, NCIS was up four tenths in viewers and even in the demo. NCIS: New Orleans followed and was 1.3 million viewers and even in the demo. New Orleans debuted weakly but it has held steady for three weeks. Next week, it has to face a new edition of The Voice, which will only be in the 9pm hour. At 10pm, Limitless was down a tenth in viewers and two tenths in the demo. It skews much younger than New Orleans with the same demo but many less viewers. It has surely done enough to get a full season from CBS. NBC had a clip show of The Voice and that led to Best Time Ever crashing to a new low as it fell 1.5 million viewers and six tenths in the demo with a much weaker lead-in. That doesn't bode well for its move to 8pm next week.

It was a rough second week for the new FOX comedies after their decent starts last week. Grandfathered was down 1.4 million viewers and three tenths in the demo while The Grinder was down an even worse 1.5 million viewers and half a demo point. These were pretty disastrous second weeks as they are already in minuscule ratings territory, especially The Grinder. The good news for these two shows is that FOX's lineup is in disarray so they will probably be patient with these two shows to see if they can find an audience. At 9pm, week three of Scream Queens was down half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo. FOX continues to tout its huge online presence but that is not translating at all to live viewers and it's not like it's the biggest beast ever in DVR. This is just more of a narrowly appealing show than FOX had hoped.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: The Grinder (FOX)