Ratings: ‘Chicago Fire’ season 4 stars solid; ‘The Muppets,’ ‘NCIS,’ ‘Scream Queens’ fall more

It is becoming increasingly difficult at the moment to stand out in a crowded field, especially when you are a show that has been around for longer than a year or two. How do you prevent something as potentially inevitable as viewer erosion?

Luckily, “Chicago Fire” on NBC has figured out a way to make that happen, though they probably at the same time do benefit from having one of the best lead-ins on the entire schedule in “The Voice.” The show’s premiere on Tuesday generated a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was a pretty large funk of the surprisingly-low 2.5 that “The Voice” posted itself. The biggest reason for all of the lower numbers is the presence of the Democratic Presidential Debate over on CNN, which captured much of the country’s attention … even though there are far fewer candidates than the army of people running for the Republican nod.

The disappointments for many other shows were across the board, whether it be “The Muppets” (1.3), “NCIS” (2.0), “NCIS: New Orleans” (1.5), or “Scream Queens” (1.0). The biggest letdown of all may be “iZombie” (0.5), which lost well more than half of the lead-in from “The Flash.” Anytime you are shedding that much of your viewership, it is only fair to question whether or not you really have a permanent place in the lineup. We wouldn’t be shocked if The CW moved the Rose McIver series to a different name, just to make way for “Legends of Tomorrow” or “Containment” in that spot.

We’ll have some more ratings news coming up in the future; stay tuned!