Ratings Rat Race: ‘Blacklist’ Ends Fall Run On High Note, ‘Almost Human’ Slips Again

It was an encouraging finish for NBC‘s new drama The Blacklist. Part 2 of its fall closer (3.5 in adults 18-49) tied its lead, The Voice, for the first time in the demo. (It actually built on the last half-hour of The Voice in total viewers.) In fact, this was the first time a scripted NBC show following the hit reality series has been able to match or build on a Voice original. There will be some adjusting down in the finals for both The Voice and Blacklist (likely 0.1-0.2) as the network’s programming was pre-empted for a football game in New Orleans. Still, Blacklist, currently up 17% from last week, is expected to set or tie its second best 18-49 rating since the premiere and post its second largest audience ever (12.3 million in the fast nationals). The Voice is currently 6% ahead of last week’s 3.3, which was a fall Monday low for the singing show.

The strong football game last night, up from last week, did not make things easy for Fox’s Almost Human (1.7), which was down 11% from last Monday to post its third consecutive decline since the premiere. CBS’ Monday block was largely status quo with some slippage in the middle. The network’s highest-rated How I Met Your Mother (2.9) and 2 Broke Girls (2.7) and lowest rated Hostages (1.1) were even with last week, while Mike & Molly (2.4) was down 4% and Mom (2.1) was down 9%.

It was an up and down night for ABC, which aired Christmas specials following the season finale of Dancing With The Stars last Monday. A Charlie Brown Christmas from 8-9 PM (1.9, 7.1 million viewers) was down 34% from last year when it aired as part of the network’s Wednesday comedy block. Still, the 48-year-old cartoon topped Fox’s original drama Almost Human. CMA Country Christmas from 9-11 PM (1.5, 7.3 million), which featured Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robinson, inched up from last year’s telecast (1.4, 7.2 million) drawing the franchise’s second best numbers despite airing against NBC’s The Voice and Blacklist vs. mostly repeats in its Thursday outing on December 20 last fall.