RATINGS RECAP: 9/22/16

ABC
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
9:00 Notorious
Viewers: 5.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
10:00 How to Get Away with Murder
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4

CBS
8:00 Thursday Night Kickoff
Viewers: 8.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
8:27 Thursday Night Football
Viewers: 17.6 million, 18-49 demo: 6.1

NBC
8:00 Superstore
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
8:30 The Good Place
Viewers: 5.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 Chicago Med
Viewers: 7.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
10:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 6.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3

FOX
8:00 Rosewood
Viewers: 3.7 million, 18-49 demo: 0.7
9:00 Pitch
Viewers: 4.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1

CW
8:00 The Flash (Repeat)
Viewers: 0.9 million, 18-49 demo: 0.2
9:00 Supernatural (Repeat)
Viewers: 0.7 million, 18-49 demo: 0.2

After three days of promising performances from newbies, it was a different story on night four of premiere week. On Monday, four shows went above a 2.0 demo followed by four more on Tuesday and a whopping nine on Wednesday. On Thursday, there was just one - the ever reliable Grey's Anatomy, which remained the jewel of the ABC Thursday lineup and was down just three tenths in the demo from last year's premiere. But then things got ugly, starting with the series premiere of Notorious. The Scandal placeholder followed up terrible reviews with an embarrassing performance, delivering just 5.4 million viewers and a 1.1 demo, retaining just 44% of Grey's in the demo. This was major rejection from the audience and ABC has a problem already on this night. They might want to consider flipping it with its lead-out, How to Get Away with Murder, very soon. Murder tied a series low but built on its lead in by three tenths in the demo. A flip of the two shows might salvage the fall until Scandal comes back.

While Notorious was a disaster, FOX perhaps had a bigger bomb with the return of Rosewood on its new night. The second year drama was completely ignored with a 0.7 demo, confirming what everyone already knew: it was nothing but a timeslot hit last year when it led into Empire. FOX has had a rough week outside of Wednesday but this was just abysmal. It also gave absolutely no support to the premiere of Pitch which followed. It wasn't a good performance but Pitch's 1.1 demo looks a whole lot better than the 1.1 for Notorious does. It built on its lead-in by four tenths in the demo and at least showed a semblance of a pulse. The problem is it's likely to drop from here. I'm not always a fan of knee-jerk schedule moves but FOX needs to move Rosewood ASAP. I would send it to Fridays and bring Hell's Kitchen over here as a lead-in to Pitch.

Despite nothing topping a 1.5 in the demo, the network that may have shown the most promise with their scripted lineup was NBC because nothing bombed completely. Yes, this lineup wasn't anything special but they were launching a brand new lineup on a night where they have had a horrible time for years now. So the fact that Superstore had an OK 1.5 demo leading the night off (it was the second best demo of the whole night besides football) is a good thing. So is the fact that The Good Place showed good retention, Chicago Med delivered decent total viewers, and The Blacklist was a big improvement on previous 10pm shows is a good thing. The question is can it stay somewhere close to these numbers? If it can, NBC will have at least stabilized a very troubled night and that is no small task. Finally on CBS, Thursday Night Football had good numbers for a Patriots blowout of the Texans.

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