Modest Return for Fox’s ‘Gotham’; ‘The Orville’ Loses Steam

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Household Rating/Share
ABC: 3.4/ 6, CBS: 3.1/ 6, NBC: 2.6/ 5, Fox: 1.8/ 3, CW: 0.9/ 2

Note: Comparisons to the year-ago evening are excluded due to the start of the 2016-17 TV season.

-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox got discouraging overnight household news care of the return of “Gotham” and the time period premiere of “The Orville” following two higher rated preview episodes the past two Sundays. Despite facing repeats on the Big 3 networks, season four of “Gotham” could only muster a 2.3 rating/4 share in households (#2t) from 8-9 p.m. Comparably, that was 18 percent below the sophomore season premiere of medical drama “Rosewood” on the year-ago evening (2.8/ 5 on 9/22/16), and certainly not an improvement from its Monday overnight performance last season.

Although “The Orville” at 9 p.m. perked up to a 2.8/ 5 in the household overnights in the 9 p.m. hour, it also trailed the debut of failed year-ago time period drama “Pitch” (3.2/ 5 on 9/22/16) by 12 percent. “The Orville” also faced encore telecasts on ABC, CBS and NBC, which is all the more reason to anticipate erosion next week. Sorry Fox…this will be hard to spin.

In season (or series) finale news, CBS drama “Zoo” closed season three with a modest 1.9/ 3 at 10 p.m., which trailed a repeat of “Chicago Fire” on NBC (#1: 2.0/ 4) by five percent.

The only other original programming last night was “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (#5: 1.0/ 2 from 8-9 p.m.) and the 9 p.m. half-hour portion of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” (#5: 0.7/ 1).
What follows is the breakdown by half-hour for Thursday, September 21:

8:00 p.m.
ABC – “Grey’s Anatomy” (R): 2.4/ 4 (#2t)
CBS – “The Big Bang Theory” (R): 4.9/ 9 (#1)
NBC – “American Ninja Warrior” (R): 2.4/ 4 (#2t)
Fox – “Gotham” (season premiere): 2.4/ 4 (#2t)
CW – “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”: 1.0/ 2 (#5)

8:30 p.m.
ABC – “Grey’s Anatomy” (R): 2.1/ 4 (#4)
CBS – “Mom” (R): 3.9/ 7 (#2)
NBC – “American Ninja Warrior” (R): 2.3/ 4 (#2t)
Fox – “Gotham” (season premiere): 2.3/ 4 (#2t)
CW – “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”: 1.1/ 2 (#5)

9:00 p.m.
ABC – “Scandal” (R): 2.0/ 3 (#4)
CBS – “The Big Bang Theory” (R): 4.0/ 7 (#1)
NBC – “American Ninja Warrior” (R): 2.1/ 3 (#3)
Fox – “The Orville” (time period premiere): 2.8/ 5 (#2)
CW – “Whose Line is it Anyway?”: 0.7/ 1 (#5)

9:30 p.m.
ABC – “Scandal” (R): 2.0/ 3 (#4)
CBS – “Mom” (R): 3.3/ 6 (#1)
NBC – “American Ninja Warrior” (R): 2.2/ 4 (#3)
Fox – “The Orville” (time period premiere): 2.9/ 5 (#2)
CW – “Whose Line is it Anyway?” (R): 0.7/ 1 (#5)

10:00 p.m.
ABC – “How to Get Away With Murder” (R): 1.6/ 3 (#3)
CBS – “Zoo” (season or series finale): 2.1/ 4 (#1)
NBC – “Chicago Fire” (R): 2.0/ 4 (#2)

10:30 p.m.
ABC – “How to Get Away With Murder” (R): 1.5/ 3 (#3)
CBS – “Zoo” (season or series finale): 1.8/ 3 (#2)
NBC – “Chicago Fire” (R): 2.1/ 4 (#1)

Source: Nielsen Media Research