Ratings: ‘MacGyver’ falls more; ‘Dr. Ken’ rises; ‘The Exorcist’ recovers

For the first two weeks of the fall season, it appeared as though CBS made a fairly smart move in opting to put “MacGyver” on Friday nights over “The Amazing Race.” After all, the show debuted to some pretty huge numbers (at least for the night), and also was doing a good job elevated both “Hawaii Five-0” and “Blue Bloods” afterwards.

However, three episodes in and it’s close to being at the same level “The Amazing Race” was when it was last on the air. Friday’s episode mustered just a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down around 15% from the prior week. It only managed to tie “Last Man Standing” for #1 on the night. If it continues to hover around here, odds are that it’ll still get a full-season order and have a shot at a future. However, if it sinks further in its first season we could see this show subject to one of its own signature explosions.

As for some other ratings news on the night…

The good news – After a really woeful week two, “The Exorcist” on Fox recovered in posting a 0.7 — but let’s not pretend like that is much of a good rating either. It’s just good by comparison. “Dr. Ken” (0.9) is the only other show to improve on its prior outing on the air. “Hawaii Five-0” (1.3) did manage to stay steady, and given the loss of viewership for its lead-in you have to consider that good news. So far, this season is up over 15% in the demo versus season 6.

The bad news – “Blue Bloods” fell down to a 1.2, but that’s still nothing to cry over. This show remains one of the most consistent on TV, and we do continue to think that it can run for as long as the people making it want for it to.