Final Broadcast Ratings: March 31, 2016

The return of the CBS Thursday night line brought the network to a second place finish. The series premiere of RUSH HOUR drew 5.1 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in Adults 18-49. That is a 10% rise over the last ELEMENTARY episode in the time slot, but off by 500,000 viewers. Life beyond this spring is not likely for RUSH HOUR.

Also on CBS was the season finale of LIFE IN PIECES, drawing 7.2 million viewers and a 1.7 rating in the A18-49 demo. It only held roughly half of its lead-in from THE BIG BANG THEORY, something just about any other series can do, if not better. But, i do expect a renewal of the series, over THE ODD COUPLE, which comes back next week.

FOX is still winning Thursday nights with AMERICAN IDOL, as it limps towards its series finale. Other than BIG BANG, IDOL was the only other program of the night to post an A18-49 demo over a 2.0 and was second in the A25-43 demo. With a two-hour runtime, it is still strong enough to push FOX on top of the night.

ABC dropped to third place, with a season low of GREY'S ANATOMY in the A18-49 demographic, a 1.6 rating. With that low start to the night, SCANDAL out rated its lead in for the first time this spring, in the two older demographics. Week two of THE CATCH only lost about 20%, week-to-week, and may have a chance for a second season.

NBC barely beats The CW, with its two season finales. YOU, ME AND THE APOCALYPSE is mercifully done and will never come back, unless you watch it on Netflix, was fifth in its 8 PM time slot. SHADES OF BLUE, with no lead in support, was there with RUSH HOUR for winning the 10 PM time slot.

Final L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
ABC	6.40 million	1.2	1.6	2.0
CBS	7.50 million	1.1	1.8	2.5
CW	1.60 million	0.5	0.6	0.7
FOX	9.10 million	1.4	2.1	2.8
NBC	3.70 million	0.4	0.7	1.0

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	Grey's Anatomy	7.77	1.7	1.6	2.0
9:00	ABC	Scandal	6.43	1.3	1.7	2.1
10:00	ABC	The Catch	5.07	0.6	1.0	1.5
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory	14.23	2.0	3.5	4.9
8:30	CBS	Life In Pieces (SF)	7.23	1.1	1.7	2.5
9:30	CBS	2 Broke Girls	5.69	0.8	1.6	2.1
10:00	CBS	Rush Hour (SP)	5.06	0.7	1.1	1.5
8:00	CW	Legends of Tomorrow	1.97	0.5	0.7	0.8
9:00	CW	The 100	1.23	0.4	0.4	0.5
8:00	FOX	American Idol	9.11	1.4	2.1	2.8
8:00	NBC	You, Me & The Apocalypse (SF)	2.80	0.3	0.6	0.8
9:00	NBC	The Blacklist [R]	2.90	0.3	0.5	0.8
10:00	NBC	Shades of Blue (SF)	5.41	0.6	1.1	1.6

* - in millions