'Glee' finale falls to dramatic new low

Will that final season order get a little smaller? Fox’s Glee fell to a dramatic new low for its fifth season finale Tuesday night. The once-hugely popular musical dramedy dropped to just 1.9 million viewers and a 0.6 ratings among adults 18-49 — that’s down 38 percent from Glee‘s previous series low reached earlier this season. Glee was even topped in the preliminary ratings by The CW’s The Originals finale, which is inflated slightly due to some baseball preemption in New York City, but The CW says its shows should still beat Fox’s lineup in the demo when the final numbers are released. Glee is ordered for a 22-episode final season that will premiere next year, but earlier this week Fox left open the possibility of that order shrinking. Fox also premiered improv-obstacle course comedy Riot last night to what one analyst called the lowest rating for a series premiere on the Big 4 broadcast network ever.

Also Tuesday: The finales for CBS’ NCIS, NCIS: LA and Person of Interest were all up from last week. NBC’s The Voice was steady, About a Boy was up slightly for one episode and tied with last week for its finale, and the finale of Chicago Fire was steady and up 12 percent from last season’s closer. ABC’s SHIELD finale was steady, The Goldbergs finale posted a slight gain, the Trophy Wife series finale jumped 29 percent from last week. Full chart: