Ratings news: ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ opens big
ABC’s all Shonda lineup is strong, even against NFL Football
What do you do when the other network has a new NFL contract that threatens to gobble up the night (Thursday) with the most advertising dollars at stake?
If you're ABC, you sing "Help me, Shonda/Help, help me, Shonda."
What better counterprogramming could you hope for against the turf giant than a triptych of Shonda Rhimes shows?
Grey's Anatomy lead off Thursday for ABC with 9.8 million viewers and a 3.0 rating among 18-49 year olds. Not bad for a show in a new time slot in its 11th season up against a New York market football team. (CBS had Giants at Reskins.)
Then came Scandal (9 p.m.) with 11.9 million viewers and all-time best 3.8 in the prime demographic.
To cap it off, there was the series premiere of How to Get Away with Murder, which actually beat Thursday Night Football with 14 million viewers. Preliminary returns have the game at 12.5 million but that factors in NFL Network numbers as well.
Pretty impressive start for the Empress of Thursdays. Is it too soon to consider an all-Shonda channel?
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