‘The Voice’ Tops Tame Tuesday; ‘SHIELD’ Stronger in Later Slot

NBC edged out CBS for the young-adult lead on Tuesday behind the night’s top show, “The Voice,” and solid numbers for the net’s young scripted series that followed the music competition.

The most curious development on a night with depressed ratings for most shows was CBS vet “NCIS” hitting a season low — even though it didn’t face ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.” The ABC rookie, meanwhile, saw a bit of a bounce for its heavily promoted episode, which aired at a special 9 p.m. time and thus away from “NCIS” (the original, at least) as well as “The Voice.”

At ABC, “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” aired a repeat in its regular timeslot (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall) followed by an original at 9 p.m. (2.0/6 in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall). The original, up 17% from last week’s prelim score (1.7) and 5% above its week-ago national rating (1.9), looked stronger relative to its timeslot competition — finishing within a tenth of CBS vet “NCIS: Los Angeles” in 18-49 while winning in men 18-49 and some younger demos. (It will pull away to win the hour in 18-49 with DVR playback.)

Closing the night for ABC was a low-rated season premiere for “Celebrity Wife Swap” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.1 million viewers overall) in what’s become the network’s lowest-rated weeknight hour.

At CBS, “NCIS” (2.1/7 in 18-49, 16.7 million viewers overall), “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 14.7 million viewers overall) and “Person of Interest” (1.7/6 in 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall) were all on the bottom end of their ratings range. “NCIS,” which was the night’s most-watched program overall and No. 2 in 18-49 and 25-54, oddly lost half a ratings point week to week in 18-49. “NCIS: L.A.” was down 9% from last week but led its hour in most key categories, and “Person” was 11% lower than its prior original and tied for the hour’s 18-49 broadcast lead while leading outright in 25-54 and total viewers.

CBS dominated the night as usual in total viewers, averaging nearly as many viewers as ABC, NBC and Fox combined.

NBC’s “The Voice” (2.9/10 in 18-49, 11.6 million viewers overall) was at its low end as well, but up a tick from last week’s preliminary number and matching its national rating; it was Tuesday’s No. 1 show in 18-49 and 25-54 (3.9/11). It was followed by rising numbers for first-year comedies “About a Boy” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall) and “Growing Up Fisher” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall), which seemed to benefit from the absence of ABC comedy competition in the hour.

At 10 p.m., “Chicago Fire” (1.7/6 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) was down a tenth from last week (when it faced lesser broadcast and cable drama competition) to tie for the hour’s broadcast lead in 18-49. Ratings for FX’s 10 p.m. series premiere of “Fargo” will be released later today.

There was no real movement for Fox’s low-rated shows “Glee” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 2.5 million viewers overall), “New Girl” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall) and “The Mindy Project” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall), as the net placed fourth on the night.

CW’s “The Originals” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.5 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.7 million viewers overall) aired originals for the first time in three weeks and hit season lows.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 2.1/6; CBS, 2.0/6; ABC, 1.3/4; Fox, 1.0/3; CW, 0.7/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 14.0 million; NBC, 8.4 million; ABC, 3.8 million; Fox, 2.3 million; CW, 1.6 million.

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