Ratings: ‘Law & Order: SVU’ surges following ‘The Voice’; ‘Empire’ season 2, ‘Arrow’ down (11/11/2015)

What did Wednesday night’s television lineup prove more than anything else? It is as simple as reminding us that when it has a solid lead-in, “Law & Order: SVU” can still be a pretty solid hit for NBC more than a decade and a half into its run.

The winners – Thanks in part to airing after the first “The Voice” results show of the season, the Mariska Hargitay drama had an impressive 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Does this help its chances at a season 18? Maybe, but we feel like that is a decision more up to the producers and Hargitay at the moment as to whether or not they want to continue. We could envision the show easily going to season 20, just to make it a nice, round number. They never run out of stories to tell, which is unfortunate in a way since that means that there are more terrible things happening in the real world.

“Chicago PD” (1.6) also rose as a benefit of getting a stronger lead-in, and even over on CBS “Criminal Minds” (1.6) and “Supernatural” (0.7) recovered from their worst performances of the season.

The losers – With a 4.2 rating in the demo, “Empire” is already starting to come close to losing its title of #1 show on TV in live+same day ratings. “The Big Bang Theory” is creeping up on it once more. Its decline is noticeable, as was “Arrow” dropping to a 0.9 for its first episode after the John Constantine cameo.

As a whole, though, we’d consider this to be a fairly good night for broadcast TV. Anytime the majority of the programs improve from the previous week, there’s something to celebrate in what is becoming an increasingly difficult battle with cable.

(Photo: NBC.)