Ratings: ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ ‘The Originals,’ drop; ‘Dr. Ken’ rises; ‘Amazing Race’ steady

We cannot exactly say that Friday is a night worth celebrating when looking at the vast majority of primetime ratings. To be frank, the majority of them just weren’t good. It’s even more surprising when you consider that there were a wide array of repeats on the air that so many shows dropped.

The good news – We’re not sure that a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic is necessarily good news, but this is what “The Amazing Race” ended up pulling off for the latest chapter of its social-media season. We’re perpetually nervous about the show’s renewal odds, but right now our hope is that it gets two more seasons so that it can end with a season 30 … if it has to end at all.

Also, kudos to “Dr. Ken” on ABC for improving to a 1.1 even without a new “Last Man Standing” before it. That should help it to secure a season 2.

The bad news – For “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Originals,” seeing the two of them with 0.4 ratings despite the lesser competition didn’t make us feel particularly great about their future beyond just another season or so. Meanwhile, we would have really preferred to see “Grimm” get something higher than a 0.9 when you consider that the show is nearing its 100th episode, and unlocking (in some ways literally) a really big piece of its mythology.

Next week will mark the return of some of CBS’ programming, so hopefully it will spice up the night and give us a little bit of something more to discuss. Fingers crossed!

For now, head over here to read some other reaction to this big “Vampire Diaries” episode, and you can also sign up over here to secure some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)