'Stalker' fares okay in ratings, 'Black-ish' takes a big hit

Despite heavy criticism about the gratuitous violence against women, Stalker actually fared okay in its series debut, but the same can’t be said for week two of what ABC’s been touting as the No. 1 new comedy, Black-ish.

Kevin Williamson’s Stalker debuted to 9 million viewers and a 2.0 in the 18-49 demographic, which is actually on par with last fall’s CSI premiere and won CBS the time slot in the demo. Criminal Minds won the 9 p.m. hour in total viewers, drawing 11.5 million and a 2.8, though down slightly year-over-year in the demo. Survivor was down 11 percent from last week, with 9.47 million and a 2.4, but also won the demo.

Over on ABC, new comedy Black-ish fell an alarming 24 percent from its series debut last week, with 6.6 million viewers and a 2.5. However, the network would point out that this is the strongest week-two retention for any comedy in the post-Modern Family slot since 2009.

Elsewhere on the network, The Goldbergs (6.6 million, 2.2) continued to build on The Middle (7 million, 1.9), with the 8 p.m. comedies helping ABC tie for third in the demo with Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen (3.8 million, 1.4), up 8% in the demo over last week. While Modern Family (10 million, 3.5) was down 11 percent from last week, it won the demo. Nashville closed the night with 5.1 million and a 1.5, even with last week.

NBC saw drops on its Wednesday night shows, with Mysteries of Laura taking a 7-percent hit with 8.9 million and a 1.4. Law & Order: SVU (7.8 million, 1.8) was down 18 percent, though ahead of Fox’s Red Band Society, which drew 3.3 million viewers and a 1.1 in the demo. To be fair, Red Band grew during its second half hour, so it’s not quite code blue just yet. At 10 p.m. Chicago P.D. (6.7 million, 1.6) dropped 16 percent.