Ratings: ‘Law & Order: SVU’ surges with 400th episode; ‘Blindspot’ stays low; ‘Hunted’ slip

On Wednesday night, “Law & Order: SVU” had a chance to celebrate a milestone in 400 episodes. As expected, the viewers responded for the occasion.

With a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, NBC had its best performance for the show since the season premiere. The same can be said for its total viewer count with 6.8 million electing to watch. While we don’t anticipate seeing these numbers stay this high, it was nice to see the show get its proper due on the night.

The one shame is that it seems as though many people tuned in to the network specifically for “SVU” and not anything else on the network. “Blindspot” stayed low with a 0.9 rating, while “Chicago PD” ended up falling to a 1.3, down from its own recent performance on the air.

As for elsewhere on the night…

CBS – “The latest episode of “Hunted” went down a tick to a 1.2, but we do still believe that with an average in the 1.2-1.4 rating for every episode since the inflated premiere, there’s a reason for CBS to bring it back. It’s not like many of their other hour-long shows are performing better. Take, for example, “Criminal Minds” and its 1.2, or “Code Black” and its 0.9.

ABC – “Modern Family” (2.2) remains the king of the lineup and the king of the night, but it continues to sink closer to “The Goldbergs” (1.7), “Speechless” (1.6), and “black-ish” (1.6) in terms of its averages. It’s an anchor for them, but we wonder how long its shelf life can still be if the ratings continue to slip.

Fox – The latest “Lethal Weapon” episode drew a 1.3; meanwhile, “Star” scored the same rating, further showing that it has finally found its footing.

The CW – There isn’t too much that is different here, with “Arrow” (0.6) continuing to have an edge over “The 100.” What is now interesting is that this number would make “Arrow,” despite being the original in the DC Comics – CW universe, the lowest-rated of the four shows for the week.

(Photo: NBC.)