Fox treated the Season 2 premiere of Ryan Murphy’s emergency drama “9-1-1” as a new series, pouring tons of marketing support behind the show. And at least on night one, it worked.
Airing in a special Sunday night slot on the eve of premiere week, “9-1-1” averaged its most-watched episode ever. Thanks to running after a football lead-in, the Sept.23 Season 2 premiere of “9-1-1” averaged 13.8 million viewers, including three days of time-shifted DVR and VOD usage.
That made it Fox’s most-watched entertainment program in two years (not including post-Super Bowl programs). “9-1-1“ was also the week’s top-rated adults 18-49 scripted show, and posted its best-ever number in the demo (3.4).
Meanwhile, it was also a strong week for FX, which landed the top two scripted series of the week in cable: Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Apocalypse,” which was the No. 1 scripted cable originals series of the week in adults 18-49 and total viewers (in its second episode), and “Mayans M.C.,” which was No. 2 among all cable scripted originals, in its third episode.
The news wasn’t as good for the 70th Primetime Emmys, which sunk to a new modern low — a 2.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 10.6 million viewers on NBC, down from a 2.6 rating and 11.9 million viewers on CBS last year. (This year’s show took place on a Monday, but suffered from tepid reviews.)
Over on Xfinity’s ranker of top video on-demand shows last week, Showtime’s “Shameless” was tops, but FX nabbed three of the top five slots.
Here are this week’s rankers:
Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending Sept. 23, 2018:
RANK |
SHOW & NETWORK |
LIVE+3 RATING |
WATCHED RATING |
1 |
Sunday Night Football: Detroit vs. New England NBC |
6.5 |
6.4 |
2 |
Monday Night Football: Chicago vs. Seattle ESPN |
4.1 |
4.1 |
3 |
9-1-1 Fox |
3.4 |
2.6 |
4 |
Thursday Night Football: Cleveland vs. New York Jets NFL Network |
3.1 |
3.1 |
5 |
America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC |
2.7 |
2.3 |
6 |
70th Emmy Awards NBC |
2.5 |
2.4 |
7 |
America’s Got Talent (Wednesday) NBC |
2.4 |
2.1 |
8 |
American Horror Story FX |
2.3 |
1.1 |
9 |
Big Brother (Thursday) CBS |
2.0 |
1.5 |
10 |
Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS |
1.8 |
1.5 |
tie |
Big Brother (Sunday) CBS |
1.8 |
1.4 |
12 |
Mayans M.C. FX |
1.7 |
0.8 |
13 |
Masterchef Fox |
1.5 |
1.1 |
14 |
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation MTV |
1.4 |
0.8 |
tie |
Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood VH1 |
1.4 |
1.0 |
16 |
Masterchef (Wed. 8 p.m.) Fox |
1.3 |
1.0 |
tie |
The Big Bang Theory CBS |
1.3 |
1.2 |
tie |
I Feel Bad NBC |
1.3 |
1.1 |
19 |
Saturday Night Football: Stanford vs. Oregon ABC |
1.2 |
1.2 |
20 |
The Real Housewives of Orange County Bravo |
1.1 |
0.6 |
tie |
Young Sheldon CBS |
1.1 |
1.1 |
tie |
60 Minutes CBS |
1.1 |
1.0 |
tie |
90 Day Fiance: Before 90 TLC |
1.1 |
0.8 |
tie |
WWE Entertainment USA |
1.1 |
1.0 |
25 |
Fear the Walking Dead AMC |
1.0 |
0.7 |
tie |
Dateline Friday NBC |
1.0 |
0.8 |
tie |
Black Ink Crew VH1 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
Adults 18-49; ratings points. Source: Nielsen Media Research |

“America’s Got Talent”
Trae Patton/NBC
Total viewers ranker, week ending Sept. 23, 2018:
RANK |
SHOW & NETWORK |
LIVE+3 |
WATCHED |
1 |
Sunday Night Football: Detroit vs. New England NBC |
19.62 |
19.51 |
2 |
America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC |
14.85 |
12.99 |
3 |
America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC |
14.44 |
12.88 |
4 |
9-1-1 Fox |
12.65 |
9.84 |
5 |
Monday Night Football: Chicago vs. Seattle ESPN |
11.95 |
11.89 |
6 |
70th Emmy Awards NBC |
10.63 |
10.22 |
7 |
60 Minutes CBS |
9.28 |
9.00 |
8 |
Thursday Night Football: Cleveland vs. New York Jets NFL Network |
8.76 |
8.69 |
9 |
The Big Bang Theory CBS |
7.59 |
7.27 |
10 |
Big Brother (Thursday) CBS |
6.84 |
5.70 |
11 |
I Feel Bad (Wednesday 10 p.m.) NBC |
6.65 |
5.72 |
12 |
Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS |
6.47 |
5.57 |
13 |
Young Sheldon CBS |
6.46 |
6.31 |
14 |
Big Brother (Sunday) CBS |
6.29 |
5.46 |
15 |
NCIS CBS |
6.26 |
6.07 |
16 |
Dateline Friday NBC |
5.90 |
4.83 |
17 |
Bull CBS |
5.74 |
5.48 |
18 |
Elementary CBS |
5.13 |
3.10 |
19 |
NCIS: New Orleans CBS |
5.11 |
4.91 |
20 |
Masterchef Fox |
5.06 |
3.86 |
21 |
Young Sheldon (Monday 8 p.m.) CBS |
4.82 |
4.72 |
22 |
I Feel Bad (Wednesday 10:30 p.m.) NBC |
4.75 |
3.98 |
23 |
Paley Center: This Is Us NBC |
4.73 |
4.43 |
24 |
American Horror Story FX |
4.63 |
2.22 |
25 |
Masterchef (Wednesday 8 p.m.) Fox |
4.42 |
3.28 |
Total viewers; in millions. Source: Nielsen Media Research |

“Shameless”
Showtime
Here is this week’s Xfinity On Demand ranker:
Top 20 TV Series, Sept. 17-23, 2018:
RANK |
SHOW |
NETWORK |
1 |
Shameless |
Showtime |
2 |
Game of Thrones |
HBO |
3 |
American Horror Story: Apocalypse |
FX |
4 |
Snowfall |
FX |
5 |
Mayans M.C. |
FX |
6 |
The Simpsons |
Fox |
7 |
The Sinner |
USA |
8 |
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation |
MTV |
9 |
Power |
Starz |
10 |
The Purge |
USA |
11 |
America’s Got Talent |
NBC |
12 |
Insecure |
HBO |
13 |
Ballers |
HBO |
14 |
Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N Out |
MTV |
15 |
This Is Us |
NBC |
16 |
9-1-1 |
Fox |
17 |
Big Brother |
CBS |
18 |
Keeping Up with the Kardashians |
E! |
19 |
Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood |
VH1 |
20 |
Floribama Shore |
MTV |
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