RATINGS RECAP: 12/2/15

ABC
8:00 The Middle
Viewers: 7.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
8:30 The Goldbergs
Viewers: 6.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
9:00 Modern Family
Viewers: 7.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:30 Black-ish
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 Nashville
Viewers: 4.2 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9

CBS
8:00 Survivor
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 Criminal Minds
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 Code Black
Viewers: 8.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

NBC
8:00 Christmas in Rockefeller Center
Viewers: 8.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:00 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:30 SNL Christmas
Viewers: 4.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4

FOX
8:00 Rosewood
Viewers: 5.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:00 Empire
Viewers: 11.8 million, 18-49 demo: 4.5

After their Thanksgiving Eve slumps last week, the FOX dramas came back nicely for their fall finales on Wednesday night. At 8pm, Rosewood was up four tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. If it can somehow hold these numbers when Empire isn't around, that would be a huge win. I'm pretty skeptical of that, however. Then at 9pm, Empire came roaring back as it rose 2.6 million viewers and 1.3 demo points to end its fall run on a strong note. It won't be back again until the end of March. NBC had a night of holiday specials but Christmas in Rockefeller Center and SNL Christmas were well behind last year's performance while How the Grinch Stole Christmas made the jump to NBC and only did OK. It seems that holiday specials in general are down this year.

On CBS, Survivor also came all the way back from its Thanksgiving Eve dip last week. It was up 1.3 million viewers and three tenths in the demo. At 9pm, Criminal Minds was up seven tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. Yes, it had to deal with Empire but it didn't have to compete with Law & Order: SVU which usually helps its case. The best news came from Code Black, which had its second straight impressive week. It was up a million viewers and two tenths in the demo. The viewer total is just a tenth below the series premiere while the demo tied the series premiere. This show is making a late push to get back in the renewal conversation. I wouldn't count it out at this point with how its been performing lately.

Finally on ABC, the 8pm hour held up pretty well but the rest of the night was pretty troublesome. The Middle was down three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo while The Goldbergs was down six tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. Both these shows were up from the same week last year, however, and they were pretty impressive since they've had trouble against Christmas in Rockefeller Center before. At 9pm, Modern Family was down a million viewers and four tenths in the demo. This show has only been lower once, during the oddly scheduled season finale last season. Same goes for Black-ish, which was down six tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. We'll see if these shows can do better without Empire here over the next couple months. At 10pm, Nashville was down two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo to a new series low.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Empire (FOX)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Nashville (ABC)