Ratings: ‘Shades of Blue’ starts solid; ‘Angel From Hell’ disappoints; ‘American Idol’ holds fairly steady

Thursday was the night of many series premieres, and to go along with that it was also the night that many shows returned. What stood out, and what tanked? We’ve got it all for you in our latest report below.

The winners – The biggest victor is probably “Shades of Blue” over at NBC. The Jennifer Lopez series premiered to a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and over 8.5 million viewers. While not necessarily home-run ratings, these are some of the best numbers the network has seen here in years. It’s a great start, and even if the network keeps around 75% of that moving forward the rest of the season, it’s probably enough for a season 2 if this show is meant to have one.

Also, “Elementary” rose to a 1.2 rating (not great, but better than usual), and “The Blacklist” benefited from a lack of “Scandal” in going up to a 1.6. “American Idol” did drop to a 2.7 after premiering to a 3.0, but this is still a better number than we thought it would get.

The losers – It’s hard out there to be a new comedy. Just ask “Angel From Hell,” which premiered to a pretty substandard rating of 1.6. Granted, it kept almost all of the “Mom” rating on the night (1.8), but this is a network that tends to cancel any new comedy that averages around this figure, let alone premieres with it. Single-camera shows for some reason just haven’t worked here, and we do feel for the awesome Maggie Lawson, who needs another hit show after “Psych.”

Also, ABC’s “My Diet Is Better Than Yours” flopped with a 0.7, but we don’t know who actually thought that it was going to be a hit.

Want to get some other news right now when it comes to “American Idol”? Then head over here to see our review from last night’s show! Also, sign up here to score some more TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)