‘Chicago Fire’ Ratings Fizzle In Return Thanks To Dem Debate & MLB

On a night that had Hillary Clinton coming out from the bubble to debate Bernie Sanders and those other guys who want to deny her the Democratic nomination on CNN, and the LA Dodgers pulling off a 3-1 win against the New York Mets to force a National League Division Series Game 5, it was kind of inevitable that everyone on the Big 4 would take a hit on Tuesday – and they did.

Yes, NBC won the night among adults 18-49 with a 1.8/5 rating. A win that was in no small part thanks to The Voice (2.5/7) being the top show of the night. Now opening NBC’s Tuesdays as The Voice lead-in is Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris (1.2/4). BTE slipped 8% as it moved into the 8 PM slot from its previous perch at 10 PM. That hit The Voice hard with a 32% drop from its last original of September 29. All of which watered down the return of Chicago Fire (1.8/6) for a fourth season.

With a weaker Voice led-in than last year, the Dick Wolf EP’d series crashed 31% from its Season 3 debut of September 23, 2014. Right now, in fast nationals, that’s a season premiere low for Chicago Fire. However, the drama’s pilot of October 10, 2012, a Wednesday, drew a 1.9/5 in the final numbers, Which means an adjustment could see last night’s premiere escape the low – we’ll see. For you statheads out there, last night’s Season 4 debut won the 10 PM slot and was up 20% among the key demo from the Season 3 finale of May 12.

Speeding off last week’s Season 2 debut, the CW’s The Flash (1.3/4) actually stayed pretty steady on a night where many others stumbled with just a 7% lag from it October 6 show. The same could not be said for lead-out iZombie (0.5/2), which had a 29% bite taken out of its Season 2 demo debut of last week. The CW was preempted in the Windy City as the Chicago Cubs took the National League Central Division series with a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals last night –so expect some adjustments there.

The most watched show of Tuesday on the Big 4 was, no surprise, NCIS (2.0/7). Still, even with a massive 15.73 million tuning in at 8 PM, the CBS procedural slipped 9% from its October 6 show. Overall, CBS was the most watched net of the night with 12.03 million viewers. Still, NCIS: New Orleans (1.5/4) and freshman Limitless (1.4/5) were down 12% and 18% from last week.

Now down more than 50% from its 18-49 debut result of September 22, The Muppets (1.3/5) slid 24% from last week last night. That had a knock on that saw Fresh Off The Boat (1.4/4) sink 22% and Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D (1.4/4) down 13%. Still the superspy series saw some relief in another weekly rise among M18-34, this time up 27% among the S.H.I.E.L.D targeted demo.

Over on Fox, there was not a lot to laugh about as comedies Grandfathered (1.0/3) and The Grinder (0.9/3) fell 16% and 10% respectively on the competitive night. Scream Queens (1.0/3) will likely continue its delayed viewing success but in Live + Same Day number the sorority satire was down 17% last night from its October 6 show.

And now, just in time for Halloween, we have the next GOP debate coming up on October 28 – who will dress up as the Trump killer?