TV Ratings: ‘This Is Us’ Beats ‘Voice’ Lead-In Once Again, ‘Scream Queens’ Dips

The broadcast season is starting to settle into its mid-fall ratings rut, with a few exceptions.

NBC’s “This Is Us” put up another strong performance in its second week at 9 p.m., drawing a 2.6 in the demo and 9.62 million total viewers in Nielsen’s preliminary ratings. That’s a little less than last week’s prelim demo rating (2.8), but still better than the rest of the competition, and the clear winner of the night. Yes, it once again built on its “The Voice” lead-in (2.4 in the demo, 10.32 million overall). “Chicago Fire” rounded out the evening on NBC with a solid 1.7 demo rating and 7.41 million total viewers.

CBS’ “Bull” remained as steady as one could hope, with a 1.6 demo rating and 12.21 million viewers overall. “NCIS” came in at a 1.8 in the demo and 14.53 million total viewers, a slightly higher total audience than last Tuesday. (“NCIS” also had the most total viewers on the night.) “NCIS: New Orleans” drew a 1.2 in the demo and 9.56 million viewers.

ABC’s Tuesday comedy block ticked down across the board from their premieres last week, a not-unexpected development. “The Middle” started off with a 1.5 demo and 5.95 million viewers. “American Housewife” built on that in the demo with a 1.6 and 5.67 million viewers. “Fresh Off the Boat” ticked down a couple tenths to a 1.3 and 4.07 million viewers, as did “The Real O’Neals” with a 1.0 and 3.1 million viewers. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” at 10 p.m. was also down from last week, to a rounded-up 0.9 in the demo and 2.56 million total viewers.

“The Flash” over on the CW held steady in the demo but dipped slightly in viewers compared to last week, drawing a 1.0 and 2.63 million, respectively. “No Tomorrow” has finally settled into a 0.3 demo rating and 854,000 viewers.

Fox’s “Scream Queens” continues to slide, drawing just a 0.6 in the demo and 1.5 million viewers. The Fox comedies in the eight o’clock hour, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “New Girl,” are holding steady at 0.9 in the demo. “Brooklyn” drew 2.03 million total viewers, while “New Girl” once again slipped below 2 million with a total audience of 1.84 million.

As a reminder, most of these shows will see viewership gains of at least 50% once viewing within three and seven days is counted. But if the first two weeks of C3, or commercial, ratings are any indication, most of those gains won’t translate into the deliveries networks promise advertisers.