UPDATED WITH FINALS: Opposite CBS’ dominant “Thursday Night Football” game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, Fox dramas “Bones”and “Sleepy Hollow” were up on the opening night of the November sweep up thanks to a cross-over episode. ABC’s “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder,” meanwhile, fell to lows while NBC’s “The Blacklist” edged up.
Fox’s “Bones”-“Sleepy Hollow” crossover resulted in a 20% week-over-week improvement for the night and gave the network its highest-rated Thursday since premiere week. While “Bones” was up just a tick (1.3/5 in 18-49, 6.57 million viewers overall), “Sleepy Hollow” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.57 million viewers overall) was the real beneficiary, spiking 38% (0.3) from last week but still well behind the competing dramas on ABC and NBC. Both shows also saw significant week-over-week spikes in teens.
ABC disrupted its drama flow by preempting “Grey’s Anatomy” for the annual Halloween special “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” (1.7/6 in 18-49, 6.54 million viewers overall), which was able to match its score on the comparable night a year ago. “Scandal” held up pretty well at 9 p.m. (2.3/7 in 18-49, 7.80 million viewers overall), but was down a tenth to its season low. And at 10 p.m., “How to Get Away With Murder” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 6.27 million viewers overall) was down 0.3 from its prelim score of last week and 0.2 below its finals average to hit its series low. Despite the declines, ABC remained the night’s No. 1-rated non-sports network on Thursday.
NBC’s “Heroes Reborn” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 3.95 million viewers overall) was just about on par with last week, and “The Blacklist” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 7.03 million viewers overall) was up a tenth to match the show’s highest rating since its Oct. 1 premiere. Closing out the night, “The Player” was down a tick (0.7/2 in 18-49, 3.87 million viewers overall). The Peacock announced earlier this week that new Jennifer Lopez cop drama “Shades of Blue” would take over the 10 p.m. timeslot from “The Player” starting Jan. 14.
At CBS and NFL Network, “Thursday Night Football” averaged a 6.0/20 in 18-49 and 17.53 million viewers, up a smidge from last week’s game. “Thursday Night Football” moves exclusively to NFL Network starting next week, though it’s back on CBS as well for the Dec. 3 game between Green Bay and Detroit.
At CW, “The Vampire Diaries” was up a tick (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.24 million viewers overall) and “The Originals” (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.07 million viewers overall) matched its score of last week.
Of note in Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates for last Sunday, ABC’s “Quantico” was down a tick in 18-49 (2.8) but its 1.3 gain from its same-day rating (1.5) represents one of the fall’s biggest percentage lifts (87%). Lead-in “Blood & Oil” held at a 1.3 for the third straight week.
At Fox, the gap narrowed a bit between “The Simpsons” and the rest of the net’s comedies on the night. “Simpsons” grew 0.45 to a 3.24, and was followed in L+3 rating by “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (2.54), “Family Guy” (2.44) and “Last Man on Earth” (2.17). The Will Forte series saw the biggest spike, rising 0.70 or 48%.
WEEK’S TOP PRIMETIME SHOWS IN LIVE+3
(Oct. 19-25, 2015)
Adults 18-49 rating
1. The Walking Dead (AMC), 9.5
2. Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia-Carolina (NBC), 7.6
3. Empire (Fox), 6.5
4. Thursday Night Football: Seattle-San Francisco (CBS/NFLN), 5.9
5. The Big Bang Theory (CBS), 5.4
6. Monday Night Football: NY Giants-Philadelphia (ESPN), 5.2
7. Modern Family (ABC), 4.1
8. Scandal (ABC), 3.7
8. Blindspot (NBC), 3.7
8. The Voice-Monday (NBC), 3.7
11. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), 3.6
11. Talking Dead (AMC), 3.6
13. The Voice-Tuesday (NBC), 3.3
13. How to Get Away With Murder (ABC), 3.3
15. The Simpsons (Fox), 3.2
16. American Horror Story (FX), 3.1
17. NCIS (CBS), 2.9
18. The Goldbergs (ABC), 2.8
18. Survivor (CBS), 2.8
18. Quantico (ABC), 2.8
Total Viewers (in millions)
1. Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia-Carolina (NBC), 20.66
2. NCIS (CBS), 20.04
3. The Big Bang Theory (CBS), 18.91
4. The Walking Dead (AMC), 18.24
5. Thursday Night Football: Seattle-San Francisco (CBS/NFLN), 17.19
6. Empire (Fox), 16.03
7. NCIS: New Orleans (CBS), 15.19
8. Dancing With the Stars (ABC), 14.04
9. Monday Night Football: NY Giants-Philadelphia (NBC), 13.98
10. Blue Bloods (CBS), 13.72
11. The Voice-Monday (NBC), 13.28
12. The Voice-Tuesday (NBC), 13.06
13. Scorpion (CBS), 12.32
14. Madam Secretary (CBS), 12.22
15. Blindspot (NBC), 12.22
16. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), 11.70
17. NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), 11.62
18. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), 11.32
19. Scandal (ABC), 11.30
20. Criminal Minds (CBS), 11.22
Total Viewers
