‘Madoff’ Ratings Debut With Little Dividends, ‘Chicago P.D.’ Rises, ‘Arrow’ Down

The saga and scams of Bernie Madoff took over ABC on Wednesday in the first part of a two-night miniseries, but Madoff (1.2/4) didn’t really prove that great an investment – at least in the ratings. While the Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner starrer snagged 7.03 million viewers overall, among adults 18-49 the 2-hour Part 1 last night was way down from the average that ABC commonly pulls in from 8 -10 PM. In the 8 PM slot, only NBC’s The Mysteries Of Laura (1.1/3), which was down a tenth from last week, was lower among the Big 4. In the 9 PM slot, Madoff was tied for last place with a Criminal Minds (1.2/4) repeat. Week-to-week, Madoff was down 8% from what repeats of ABC’s usual comedy block had on January 27.

Compared to January 13, when ABC last had originals in The Middle (1.9/7), The Goldbergs (2.0/6), the powerhouse of Modern Family (2.7/8) and black-ish (1.9/6) running from 8–10 PM, Madoff stock obviously dropped. Based on ABC News correspondent Brian Ross’ book The Madoff Chronicles, the Ben Robbins created pic did far better among the older news demo of adults 25-54 with a 1.7/5 result. Having said that, Part 1 of Madoff was up 20% in the 18-49 demo from ABC’s last original TV movie, In My Dreams. The Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie aired on April 20, 2014, a fairly non-competitive Sunday. Madoff lead-out American Crime (0.8/3) was down 11% from its January 27 show.

Overall, Fox was the winner of the night in the key demo with 1.9/6 while NBC took the viewership top spot with an audience of 7.07 million – just a nose ahead of Fox’s 6.92 million. Both the most-watched (9.15 million) and the top-rated show of the night, American Idol (2.3/7) was pretty steady with last week, with just an 8% dip in the demo. In its second week in the 9 PM Wednesday slot, Hell’s Kitchen (1.5/5) heated things up 7% from its January 27 slot debut.

With Criminal Minds in repeat, CBS had a fairly staid night. 2 Broke Girls (1.5/5), Mike & Molly (1.6/5) and Code Black (1.2/4) were down 6%, even and down 8% from last week – when there was an original CM anchoring the line-up. In what was the biggest drop of the night, Arrow (0.9/3) took an 18% fall on Wednesday to a season low in early numbers. Not that Arrow’s hurt hindered Supernatural (0.7/2), which was even with its January 27 show – as it had been with its January 20 show.

As Arrow was the big drop of the night, Chicago P.D. (1.7/6) was the big riser. The Dick Wolf Windy City show rose 13% in the demo over its last original of January 20 and 10% in viewers to 7.2 million. Lead-in Law & Order: SVU (1.8/6) had a bit of a bump too with a 6% demo bop up from its last original – also of January 20.

Related stories

'Madoff' Review: ABC Miniseries Starring Richard Dreyfuss Misses Big Picture

'Hell's Kitchen' Ratings Solid In 'Second Chance' Slot, 'American Crime' Down

'Arrow' Ratings Return Up, 'Chicago P.D.' Down, 'American Idol' & 'American Crime' Steady

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