TV Ratings: 'This Is Us' Finale Spikes, 'Rise' Tops 'For the People'
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The battle among freshmen went to the new NBC series, though it still lost more than half of its 'Us' lead-in.
NBC swept Tuesday night thanks to a strong finish for one drama and a good-enough start for another.
This Is Us wrapped its second season at 9 o'clock, cementing its status as broadcast's No. 1 drama by earning a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49 — a 17 percent spike, week-to-week, and its best regular-time-slot showing since November. This comes as the sophomore run has been averaging a 5.5 rating among adults 18-49 with live-plus-seven lifts throughout the season. (Tuesday's telecast also earned a live showing of 10.8 million viewers.)
With a new episode of The Voice (2.2 adults) earlier in the night, NBC used the 10 o'clock slot to launch Jason Katims' drama Rise. It earned a respectable 1.3 rating in the key demo, just half of what This Is Us earned in the hour before, and averaged 5.7 million viewers.
Rise wasn't the only new effort for the evening — or at 10 o'clock. ABC launched its latest Shonda Rhimes–produced legal drama, For the People. It limped in at a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49, ranking last in broadcast in the time period but retaining its lead-in from back-to-back episodes of Black-ish — which took 0.9 and 0.8 ratings among adults 18-49. On the bright side, For the People did grow from its lead-in among total viewers, averaging 3.3 million viewers to Black-ish's 2.8 million.
At the top of the night, The Middle (1.1 adults) and Fresh off the Boat (0.9 adults) posted steady episodes.
CBS posted even outings of NCIS (1.4 adults), Bull (1.2 adults) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1 adults). And, on Fox, a repeat Lethal Weapon did not dampen LA to Vegas (0.7 adults) or The Mick (0.6 adults). The CW aired new outings of The Flash (0.7 adults) and Black Lightning (0.5 adults).
TV Ratings This Is UsRead the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
