Fox took the second Wednesday of the fall season in the key demo, though the night marked a sharp drop for the second episode of Empire‘s fifth season.
The drama, averaging a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49, lost the most steam week-to-week. Still, partnered with Star (1.2 adults), it was enough to lock in a nightly win among younger viewers.
NBC saw the most week-to-week stability with the first two hours of its Chicago block (Med and Fire) earning a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 before Chicago P.D. earned a 1.2 rating.
Drama competition was not as stiff as normal. CBS put out season premieres of SEAL Team and Criminal Minds after holding them back last week. Neither cracked the 1.0 mark among adults 18-49, with SEAL Team bringing in a 0.8 rating in the key demo and Criminal Minds only mustering a 0.7 rating in live returns. That was after Survivor tied Empire as the night’s top demo performer with a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49.
ABC saw freshman comedy Single Parents hold up reasonably well, slipping only to a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49. But drama A Million Little Things stumbled harder, dropping to a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49. That was enough, however, to outshine CBS’ Criminal Minds.
Earlier in the ABC evening, comedies The Goldbergs (1.3 adults), American Housewife (1.1 adults) and Modern Family (1.4 adults) were only down incrementally from their week-ago premieres.
