Ratings: ‘Jane the Virgin’ starts okay; ‘Gotham,’ ‘Scorpion’ fall

Really, the main story from the ratings last night was just going to see how in the world a show like “Jane the Virgin” was going to fair as a part of the primetime lineup on The CW. The plus was that it was critically-acclaimed, and has a potential star-making turn from Gina Rodriguez. However, the negative was that it’s a silly title, and the idea of a show about artificial insemination is not something that will draw many people.

For the time being, though, the news is mostly good. With a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic for its premiere, that is better than we thought it would do. After all, you have to remember that this has no built-in audience like “The Flash,” and also has a lead-in with “The Originals” that doesn’t match up too well with it.

The caveat here is that The CW was preempted in St. Louis for ESPN’s football coverage last night, so the number could be slightly inflated.

The other ratings to watch now are the 2.4 for “Gotham,” even if it has a full season, and the 2.4 for “Scorpion.” If the latter show stops the bleeding here, we expect that it will be granted something similar. The sad thing is that neither is turning out to be a breakout hit like “The Blacklist,” which is still drawing a 2.8 despite some really similar competition against “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “Castle.”

The real test for all these shows may come in the spring, if they last for that long. It’s very hard to have staying power when there are so many other options out there, especially when it comes to live TV.

We’ll have more ratings news soon, but for now if you want to get some further TV news on all we cover at CarterMatt sent to you, sign up for our CarterMatt Newsletter today. (Photo via The CW.)