Friday Ratings: Fox’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown Wins, But Dem Debate SmackDowns Dim

Fox’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown has returned to the top of the Friday night demos, posting an 0.8 in its two-hour time slot. The strong showing allowed Fox to win the overall network battle on the evening.

Fans tuned in to see Carmella clinching a SmackDown Women’s Championship opportunity with a Fatal 4-Way victory. Goldberg also laid down a Universal Championship challenge for “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, and Daniel Bryan bounced back with a win over Heath Slater.

The CBS law enforcement drama lineup was a step behind, as MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0 each posted an 0.7. A rerun of Blue Bloods capped the night at the eye network.

ABC had the Democratic Presidential debates, and that couldn’t compete, drawing a dismal demo of 1.1. even though there were a few smackdowns among the competitors. The debates were watched by the largest total audience on the evening, with 7.86 million turning in. ABC News said it was the best performance in the time slot with non-sports programming in nearly five years in total viewers.

At the CW, Charmed (0.2) and Dynasty (0.1) held the fort from the previous week.

NBC saw its Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (0.4 rating in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall from 8-9 p.m. ET), maintaining 100% week to week in 18-49 (0.4 vs. 0.4) and grews by +7% in total viewers (3.609 million vs. 3.363 million).

Dateline NBC (0.6 rating in adults 18-49, 0.9 in adults 25-54, 3.9 million viewers overall from 9-11 p.m. ET): That earned the show’s top results since Jan. 10 (0.7 in 18-49, 1.0 in 25-54, 4.1 million viewers overall).