TV Ratings: ‘Empire’ Series Finale Delivers Largest Audience Since October

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Empire” signed off with a premature series finale on Tuesday night, after the coronavirus forced the Fox show to curtail its sixth and final season.

With the potential of the intended series finale to come at a later date, the final episode of “Empire,” for now, scored a 0.8 rating and 2.9 million total viewers. That represents the show’s highest rating and largest audience since Oct. 2019. “Empire” has seen in a steady ratings decline over the past couple seasons in particular. For comparison, the season 5 finale drew 4.1 million viewers, while the season 4 finale drew 5.3 million. Last night’s episode wasn’t done any favors by its lead-in, a “Masked Singer” replay, which scored a 0.5 and 2.7 million viewers.

CBS won a quiet night overall, thanks to its “Grammy Salute to Prince” which topped Tuesday with a 1.0 rating and 6.5 million total viewers. An “NCIS” rerun scored a 0.7 and 7.7 million pairs of eyeballs.

Over on ABC, a new episode of “For Life” scored a 0.4 (which represents a series low to date) and 2.2 million viewers. The Disney-owned network filled the rest of Tuesday with replays of its regular lineup. “The Conners” led the way with a 0.6 rating and 3.8 million viewers, followed by “Bless This Mess” and “Mixed-ish” both at a 0.4. A “Black-ish” rerun came in at a 0.3.

“The Flash” scored a 0.4 and 1.1 million viewers for the CW with its first new episode in over a month, followed by “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” at a 0.2 and 665,000 viewers.

NBC aired only replays, with back-to-back “Ellen’s Game of Games” episodes scoring a 0.8 and a 0.7 respectively. A “New Amsterdam” rerun rounded off the night with a 0.4.