Shonda Rhimes dramas deliver ratings record

ABC’s fall finales for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and newcomer How to Get Away with Murder ended on a high note.

All three dramas from showrunner Shonda Rhimes delivered strong ratings Thursday night, with Grey’s at 8.3 million viewers and a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating, Scandal at 10 million and a 3.1 rating and HTGAWM with 9.8 million and a 3.1 rating. HTGAWM in particular rose 7 percent from last week.

ABC points out the network won all four Thursdays in the adult demo during the November “sweeps” period—which hasn’t happened for the ABC in at least 23 years. The block was also up 20 percent over last year. For more, read Natalie Abrams’ interviews with Rhimes and the cast of Thursday night’s episodes of Scandal and HTGAWM.

Also Thursday: Fox was steady. NBC’s was up notably, particularly Parenthood which jumped 50 percent, but some football preemption is almost certainly skewing these early numbers to some extent. CBS also had football preemptions and was up slightly—but new comedy The McCarthys isn’t doing itself any favors by holding steady, with a dangerous 1.4 in the demo.

Speaking of preemptions, ABC, CBS, and NBC all had some presidential address preemption, but unlike high-rated NFL disruption, such news coverage, if anything, is more likely to result in lower morning ratings for the entertainment shows. So ABC’s Rhimes’ block could go even higher when the more accurate national ratings come in.