‘Blacklist’ Holding Up As Fall’s Best New Series

Blacklist_2013The final two games of the World Series put Fox in the hunt, but it was NBC that prevailed in young adults last week, behind its trio of “The Voice,” “Sunday Night Football” and “The Blacklist.”

The James Spader drama has been the most consistently strong of the fall’s new shows, and is the No. 1-rated broadcast drama on any net in the adults 18-49 demo through six weeks of the season — a bit ahead of ABC’s veteran “Grey’s Anatomy” and newcomer “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.”

Sure, having the top-rated music contest “The Voice” as a lead-in has provided sampling for ”Blacklist” that no other first-year series has enjoyed, but it is also evident that the drama has recruited hordes of fans who opt to time-shift the program and watch it later that week.

When including three days of DVR playback, “The Blacklist” has now improved for three straight weeks (going from a 4.53 rating in adults 18-49 on Oct. 7, to a 4.54 on Oct. 14, a 4.57 on Oct. 21 and then a 4.76 on Oct. 28), according to Nielsen estimates. And in total viewers, it has claimed the three biggest builds of any show in the DVR era; last week’s episode surged 4.95 million, going from 10.51 in Live+same-day to 15.46 million in L3.

Source: Variety