TV Ratings: ‘Lethal Weapon’ Grows, Fox Wins Wednesday Night

Fox’s “Lethal Weapon,” glorying perhaps in a full-season pickup, was up from last week in Nielsen’s preliminary ratings with a 1.9 in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and 6.69 million total viewers. (It also grew from the first half hour to the second.)

Comparisons to last week’s ratings are tough, though, since large parts of the southeastern U.S. were experiencing preemptions for local coverage of Hurricane Matthew’s impending devastation.

That said, a bump is a bump, and it’s encouraging, particularly given that “Lethal Weapon” has shown it can add on another couple tenths of a point in the ratings that matter to advertisers.

Following “Lethal Weapon” on Wednesday night was “Empire,” which seems to have hit a plateau from its previous precipitous drops from last season — it was actually up a tenth from last week in the demo, weighing in with a 3.4 demo rating and 9.3 million total viewers.

ABC had its usual two hours of comedy followed by “Designated Survivor,” all mostly steady with last week. “The Goldbergs” drew a 1.8 in the demo and 6.4 million viewers. “Speechless” came in with another 1.8 and 5.99 million total viewers. “Modern Family” improved two tenths form last week, to a 2.4 in the demo and 7.45 million viewers; “Black-ish” had a similar uptick with a 1.6 demo rating and 5.88 million viewers.

“Designated Survivor” came in with a 1.6 and 7 million viewers, beating the snot out of its time slot competition and improving on the demo and total audience of its lead-in, which should cheer up ABC execs.

NBC’s “Blindspot” is continuing its downward trend in its new-for-this-season Wednesday night slot, weighing in with a 1.1 demo and 5.43 million viewers. “Law & Order: SVU” and “Chicago P.D.” both contributed a 1.1 to NBC’s demo pile, with total audiences of 5.71 million and 6.14, respectively.

CBS’s “Survivor” started the night off well enough, with a 2.0 in the demo (up from a 1.8 last week) and 9.01 million viewers.

The CW’s “Frequency” continues to not be much of a live-same-day draw, though it held steady with its premiere demo rating of a .4 and an audience of 1.11 million. “Arrow,” its lead-in, is holding steady with a .7 demo and 1.95 million viewers.

As a caveat, yes, most of these shows will see large lifts — anywhere from 50% to more than 100% — once viewing within three and seven days is counted.

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