It looks like swapping Life Sentence with The Originals on Wednesday night is going to pay off. The final season premiere of The Vampire Diaries spinoff came in higher than Life Sentence and from its premiere last season.
On The CW, The Originals began its final season with a 0.4 demo rating and 1 million viewers, up 0.1 from last season’s debut. It’s also about three tenths above what Life Sentence was registering in that timeslot for the last few weeks. Riverdale (0.4, 1.08 million viewers began the night for the network and improved a tenth on its last episode on March 28.
On FOX, Empire held onto its spot as the night’s top show at a 1.7 demo rating and 5.32 million viewers, off a tenth from last week’s fast nationals (it adjusted up in the finals). Star held steady at a 1.3 demo rating and 4.04 million viewers.
On CBS, the two-hour finale of Criminal Minds was even with last week’s 0.9 demo score and 5.64 million viewers. The show was not announced during the mass renewals CBS made the other day so it’s going to come down to money for the long-running series. Actor’s contracts get more expensive the longer a show runs and since the ratings have been sliding lately, I think it will be a game-time decision for the network when the rest of the renewals are announced in May.
On ABC, Alex, Inc. scored a season-low 0.6 demo rating and 2.86 million viewers with a repeat lead-in, and Designated Survivor matched last week’s 0.6 demo score and 3.50 million viewers.
On NBC, Law & Order: SVU scored a 1.4 demo rating and 6.53 million viewers, up three tenths from its last airing. Chicago PD ended the night with a 1.2 demo rating and 6.58 million viewers, up a tenth week to week.
