Ratings: ‘Empire’ episode 7 ratings through the roof; ‘Stalker’ at series low

When we were talking about the ratings for “The Walking Dead” earlier this week, we commented that ultimately, the only even decent threat to the show’s ratings domination was “Empire” on Fox. Even still, we didn’t take it that seriously, given that the numbers were not necessarily that close.

Well, maybe we should start looking at Taraji P. Henson and company as a real challenger to the AMC drama in terms of becoming the #1 scripted show on TV. After all, the series is very likely to defeat “The Big Bang Theory,” and that hasn’t happened with a regularly-scheduled scripted show in quite some time, other than specials or ones airing after the Super Bowl. With the final ratings adjustments, “Empire” is at another new series high in the form of a 5.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. At this point, these ratings are so enormous that it is really hard to ignore them or question if this show is just a fluke. It’s the real deal.

“Empire” already has a second season, and we really don’t see it slowing down in the coming weeks. With a shorter season 1, it may be possible for even more new viewers to catch up over the summer, and then dive in to some of the new episodes whenever they come back on the air. We imagine that Fox would really want to push this series to launch in the fall.

In other news, “Stalker” (1.2) got one more nail in its coffin, and “Arrow” (1.2) managed to defeat “The Mysteries of Laura” in the demo, and even came close to the series finale of “The Mentalist” (1.3). Not bad at all!

You can preview the next new “Empire” episode right away at the link here, so stay tuned! Also, be sure to sign up in the event you want to get some other TV scoop on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)