'Agents of SHIELD' and 'Sleepy Hollow' are ratings tied for first time

Tuesday night’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. drip-dripped down another tenth of rating point this week. Fun fact: For the first time, Fox’s Monday episode of Sleepy Hollow tied ABC’s Tuesday night episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the ratings.

Obviously the shows air on different evenings. But in a larger sense, they are rivals — S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sleepy Hollow are both freshman sci-fi/fantasy dramas that launched in September on rival networks. S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted with massive hype. Sleepy Hollow was an underdog. They’ve both fallen notably from their premieres, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has dropped a bit more. Now, for the moment at least, they are even. Not their season averages mind you — S.H.I.E.L.D. firmly leads — but for their current episodes.

Also Tuesday, Fox’s new comedies returned steady after baseball interruption, while New Girl and Mindy Project crept up a bit. ABC’s comedies The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife continued sinking despite those full-season pickups. CBS’ dramas were roughly on par with last week. NBC’s Biggest Loser jumped up 17 percent, while The Voice sank 8 percent to its season low. On The CW, The Originals and Supernatural were both down a tad.

Full chart: