‘Empire’ Drops Again on Otherwise Steady Wednesday

Fox won last night’s primetime ratings race thanks to a 4.6 from Empire in viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen’s overnights, pacing Fox to a 3.0 rating in that demo, along with a 10 share.

Survivor (2.1 adults) was dead even with its showing last week before steady episodes of Criminal Minds (1.7 adults) and Code Black (1.2 adults) on CBS.

Fox rookie “Rosewood” also was lower kicking off the night (1.4/5 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall), down 0.4 to its smallest score to date.

And finally, week two of “Arrow” (2.467 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.9, #14) and “Supernatural” (1.881 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.8, #15) on The CW (2.174 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.9, #5) closed out the evening. It also was down 8% from last week among the young adults (18-to-49-year-olds) prized by advertisers, although it was easily Wednesday’s top show in both ratings categories.

At NBC, “The Mysteries of Laura” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 6.9 million viewers overall) and “Law & Order: SVU” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall) were down a tick from last week. “Arrow” held at last week’s premiere score in adults 18-34 (0.9), which was up from a 0.7 for its second episode of last season, and led among the broadcasters for its hour in men 18-34 (1.0/5).

“Modern Family” was ABC’s best with 7.8 million total viewers. ABC’s suite of comedies – The Middle (1.9 adults), The Goldbergs (2.0 adults), Modern Family (2.6 adults) and Black-ish (1.8 adults) – were all steady with last week.

Meanwhile, FOX (3.385 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #4) offered up fresh installments of “Hell’s Kitchen” (3.660 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.2, #12) and “Red Band Society” (3.112 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.9, #13). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, “Late Night” (0.5/4 in 18-49) topped “Late Late Show” (0.3/2).