Ratings: ‘State of Affairs’ starts okay, but not ‘The Blacklist’ by any means

When it comes to their new series “State of Affairs,” NBC may be suffering at the moment from a case of mixed emotions.

Let’s start things off here with what we consider to be the good news: The show premiered to a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is solid for a 10:00 p.m. drama. It is better than what most other networks have in this timeslot all across the week, and “The Blacklist” and “How to Get Away with Murder” are really the only two shows that air this late on broadcast TV with a similar sort of audience (but higher).

With that being said, here is the big caveat: This is the premiere for the show! Ratings almost always go down after the first episode, and with this one in particular there was a huge curiosity around Katherine Heigl’s return to TV after “Grey’s Anatomy,” and there is also that big lead-in from “The Voice.” While we hope it stays reasonably steady so that the show can find itself (the start was a little rocky, but we never like to root against a show with so many hard-working crew members), we wouldn’t be shocked to see a 1.8 or so for the second episode. It could go even lower if it ends up airing in the new year after “The Celebrity Apprentice,” at least if that is what NBC decides that they want to do with the show.

One another thing worth mentioning here is that the departure of “The Blacklist” from the night led to rises for both “NCIS: Los Angeles” (1.7) and “Castle” (2.0), which means that those two shows likely have a similar audience to James Spader and company. One thing to remember here is that “Castle” was preempted in some ABC markets due to the NFL and will likely adjust down, but even still it is probably going to finish up versus last week’s big wedding.

One last nugget: “The Millers” scored a 1.5 following news of its cancellation. Most viewers stuck with the show; it’s either that or some left, and others got curious and tuned in.

(Photo via NBC.)