UPDATE: There weren’t many adjustments in the national numbers released Wednesday afternoon by Nielsen, with top show “The Voice” edging up (3.4/9 in 18-49, 11.30m) but “NCIS” and “Agents of SHIELD” not budging. ABC’s “Trophy Wife” was down a tick from its prelim score (1.1/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall).
The No. 1 cable series in 18-49 was FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (2.4/7 in 18-49, 4.50m), which placed second in the 10 o’clock hour to the extra hour of “The Voice.”
ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” returned to originals Tuesday with its lowest score to date, beaten again in young adults by CBS vet “NCIS,” which remained easily the night’s most-watched program overall.
NBC’s “The Voice” led the way among adults 18-49 but was at a season low for an original Tuesday episode. And Fox’s comedy block looked pretty good after a week off, with “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” defeating ABC’s competing “The Goldbergs” and “Trophy Wife,” with the Alphabet pair taking a step back after their good showings last week.
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “NCIS” ruled the 8 o’clock hour with a 2.9 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and 19 million viewers overall, down a smidge from last week but again besting ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD” (2.5/7 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall). “SHIELD” was down a tick in 18-49 from its last original of two weeks ago to hit a season low in the demo, but it rose in men 18-34 to a five-week high (2.5/9) and was Tuesday’s No. 1 show in men 18-49 for a seventh straight week (3.0/9).
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Elsewhere, NBC opened with three-week highs for “The Biggest Loser” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall), which placed third in 18-49 for its hour but was within 2 shares of “NCIS.” It was followed by the second night of live shows on a two-hour edition of “The Voice” (3.3/9 in 18-49, 11.2 million viewers overall), which opened with a 3.6 rating in its 9 p.m. half-hour but was down to a 3.0 at 10:30.
Aided by the extra hour of “The Voice,” NBC won Tuesday in 18-49 for a seventh straight week to start the season.
Following “NCIS” on CBS, “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2.4/6 in 18-49, 14.7 million viewers overall) was down a bit from last week and placed second for its hour in demos, and “Person of Interest” held steady at 10 p.m. (1.9/6 in 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall).
At Fox, its comedy quartet was back with original episodes after taking last week off. “Dads” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall) held steady in the demo and edged up in total viewers, while “New Girl” (2.0/5 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall) and “The Mindy Project” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 2.9 million viewers overall) rose 11% and 15%, respectively, vs. their 18-49 scores of two weeks ago.
Though this comedy block is not a world-beater, it’s noteworthy that it performed a bit better than last week’s special two-hour installment of “The X Factor” (1.6 to 1.5), and that advantage will grow considerably in DVR playback.
From 9 to 10 p.m., “New Girl” and “Mindy Project” also were 1 share better than their ABC comedy competition: “The Goldbergs” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall) and “Trophy Wife” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall), both of which edged down two tenths from last week when they didn’t face Fox comedies.
Closing the night for ABC was the low-rated country music-themed special “In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall), airing in advance of tonight’s CMA Awards on the network.
At CW, “The Originals” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.0 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.9/2 in 18-49, 2.1 million viewers overall) were both down from a week ago.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 2.9/8; CBS, 2.4/7; Fox, 1.6/4; ABC, 1.5/4; Univision, 1.2/3; CW, 0.9/3; Telemundo, 0.5/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 15.1 million; NBC, 9.7 million; ABC, 4.9 million; Fox, 3.6 million; Univision, 3.1 million; CW, 2.1 million; Telemundo, 1.3 million.
