Ratings: ‘Empire’ episode 9 up AGAIN; ‘CSI: Cyber’ premiere, ‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ solid

The ratings have arrived for Wednesday night’s TV lineup, and in what has to be the least-surprising news of the day, “Empire” has somehow managed to increase its ratings footprint yet again. At this point, it is almost at “Walking Dead” levels.

Wednesday night’s new episode “Unto the Breach” drew a 5.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and that is an increase of three tenths from last week’s previous record. The show theoretically could rise again when we have the final numbers a little later in the day. Per TVbythenumbers, this is the highest rating for a regularly-scheduled drama series since “Grey’s Anatomy” all the way back in October of 2009. That’s an insane thing to think about in the age of DVR and streaming devices. At this point, it wouldn’t shock us if the show got a season 3 renewal before its second season even began.

Nothing of course came close to “Empire” last night, but “CSI: Cyber” shouldn’t feel terrible about its 1.8 rating for the series premiere. This is higher than most recent episodes of “CSI” proper, and it also nearly matched its “Criminal Minds” lead-in. “Survivor” was the highest-rated show on CBS, matching the 2.3 rating that it had for its premiere a week ago. Is this show the most consistent out of any of TV? We’re starting to feel that way.

For those curious, “American Idol” is not really being helped much by “Empire” airing an hour later. The top eight performance show last night drew just a 2.1, a big drop from last week that probably has something to do with NBC airing a clip show of “The Voice” … which also drew a 2.1. That really has to sting, and probably is not getting enough attention right now.

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