Ratings: ‘Empire’ still surging; ‘Law & Order: SVU’ hits series low
Today’s ratings article is truly a case at the moment of very good news for one show coupled with bad news for another.
Let’s start with what may get many people smiling, and that is the meteoric rise of “Empire” as a major pop-culture sensation. The series drew impressive ratings the first two weeks, but to go all the way up to a 4.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic two weeks in? That much is unheard of! It is hard to necessarily even find the right precedent for this; it has been years since a show rose three weeks in a row after it premiered, especially one with these sort of numbers to start with. To think, we thought going in that this would be a 2.0 series at best. Great for Fox, and this is helping “American Idol” (3.3, up three tenths versus last week) in its own way. For the first time in forever, the singing show has a worthy companion.
So what about the bad news? “Law & Order: SVU” (1.2) set a new series low last night on NBC, and it was for an episode directed by star Mariska Hargitay. You would think that would be a reason to get more people watching. While the ratings weren’t necessarily through the roof before “Empire” premiered, that show is seemingly hurting “SVU” pretty badly as competition, much more than “Criminal Minds” (which also notched a series low with a 1.9) ever did. Given how long this show has been on the air, we’d start the fan campaigns now to ensure that you get a season 17.
As for some other news, “Arrow” returned to a solid 1.1 on The CW, while “The Mentalist” improved to a 1.5. That show is not necessarily killing it, but its ratings on Wednesdays have been fairly decent for CBS.
Photo: NBC
Michael Goldman
January 22, 2015 @ 10:04 pm
It’s good to see somebody knows what all these different numbers mean. I guess the next question then is WHY CAN’T NBC COME UP WITH A SHOW LIKE EMPIRE? Does NBC even have a top 5 new show this year like The Blacklist was last year? Do any of the new NBC shows coming out this spring look like they can be gangbusters? If the answer is no, then NBC better renew SVU IMMEDIATELY and start cleaning house. It sounds like they have an awful lot of people sitting around making money for nothing. If NBC does have a gangbuster show coming out or one that you consider to be one, please let us know.
Michael Goldman
January 22, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
Having 2 episodes down ratings wise after “Forgiving Rollins” isn’t good. What did they have in common? NO ROLLINS!(Kelli Giddish). Maybe she is as important to the show as I’ve been writing(over and over and over again)! Maybe I’m really on to something. I would have thought that the Amaro fans would be salivating to have an episode all about him. The episode did have Armand Assante, one of the great actors of our time. I didn’t have a problem with the way Mariska directed the episode. Is Kelli Giddish worth the $200,000 an episode that NCIS offered Cote de Pablo to stay? Absolutely, and maybe more. WAKE UP NBC! iS Kathryn Heigl getting somewhere around $250,000 an episode for State of Affairs? Maybe that’s what Kelli should be offered at the end of the season, especially if State of Affairs gets cancelled. More later.
Ana Maria Câncio Brandao
January 22, 2015 @ 11:12 pm
The fall of SVU in the demo, it has nothing to do with Kelly Gidish but with the overwhelming success of Empire. Criminal Minds, which has no Gidish Kelly also fell in the demo after competing with Empire. And Forgiving Rollins, taking into account the propaganda that was made, was not as well. She competed against the People’s Choice Awards and not against Criminal Minds. Success was the same promeiro episode of SVU this season, focused on Mariska. This was 2.7 in the demo and more than 10 million viewers.
Ana Maria Câncio Brandao
January 22, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
Empire has been impressive in the past two weeks. But I want to stress that SVU fell 18-49 demo, it remained stable in total viewers. Moreover, had a slight increase. The last episode had a total of 6600 million viewers. This week 6750 million. Empire is so overwhelming that Criminal Minds lowered to less than 2.0 in the demo 18-49 after 10 years with higher ratings.