Ratings: ‘Empire’ season 2, ‘Heartbeat,’ ‘Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,’ ‘Survivor’ all fall

It’s really not a good week for network television. For the second straight day, we’re writing what is at its core a rather-sad ratings article talking about substantial drops almost across the board for many primetime shows, and there’s really no excuse for it. There were no Presidential primaries or major sporting events elsewhere; people just aren’t showing too great of an interest in checking out live TV for one reason or another.

The good news – Hey, “Supernatural” recovered from a weak outing to score a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic. That’s something. Also, “American Idol” (2.2) seems to be getting ready for a big number tonight.

The bad news – It’s everything else. “Empire” did win the night with an impressive 4.2 rating, but that’s a drop of more than 10% from the midseason premiere. Also, given our feeling that this may have been the worst overall episode the show has put on the air in terms of logic, the ratings could fall further. The biggest drop of the night goes to NBC’s “Heartbeat,” which lost more than 20% of its audience on its way to a 0.7 rating, its worst rating so far.

Elsewhere, “Arrow” dropped to a 0.8 despite a much-promoted episode featuring the death of a major character, “Survivor” fell to its worst rating this season (1.9), and all of ABC’s comedy block experienced some lows. By and large, not the best outing in the world for many of our favorite shows.

Will things change next week? Maybe; if nothing else, the metaphorical bleeding does have to stop somewhere.

If you did miss our review of last night’s “Empire,” you can check that out by heading over to the link here right away. Also, sign up over here to secure some other TV news on almost everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)