Primetime Ratings: CW’s ‘Arrow’, 'Supernatural' Premiere With a Pop

The CW drama Arrow put up a 1.1 rating among viewers 18-49 in its season premiere, according to Nielsen’s preliminary ratings. That is up 9% over Arrow’s 1.0 season finale last spring. Arrow led into Supernatural with a 0.9, 11% higher than its 0.8 upon season signoff in May.  

Elsewhere on the dial, Fox’s Empire showed a 5.0, down from last week’s 5.3, which was down considerably from the season premiere’s 6.5. All eyes are on Empire, broadcast’s breakout hit last season.

While Empire was off 6% from last week’s rating, Fox nonetheless cruised to an easy win, its 3.4 rating in 18-49, along with 11 share, according to Nielsen preliminary numbers, well ahead of ABC’s 1.8/6. CBS put up a 1.6/5, NBC a 1.4/4 and CW a 1.0/3.

Broadcast prime was up against an MLB wild card game on TBS, and ratings suffered as the marketing pop behind the recent premieres has subsided with the season a few weeks old.

On Fox, Rosewood scored a 1.7, down 15% from last week’s 2.0.

On ABC, The Middle showed a 1.9, down 14% from last week, and The Goldbergs a 2.1, down 9% from the previous week. Modern Family scored a 2.7, off a more modest 7% from last week, while Black-ish tallied a 1.9—up a tick from a 1.8 last Wednesday. Switching out of comedies, music soap Nashville averaged a 1.1 across its hour, down 17% from the previous airing.

On CBS, Survivor rated a 2.0 in 18-49, down 13% from last week. Criminal Minds’ 1.7 was off 18% from a week before, while rookie medical drama Code Black’s 1.2 dropped a frightful 25% from last Wednesday’s series premiere.  

NBC’s The Mysteries of Laura, with a 1.1, was down 17% from last week’s 1.2. Law & Order: SVU weighed in at 1.5, down a tick from last week’s 1.6, while Chicago PD’s 1.5 reflected a 12% decrease over last Wednesday

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.