Jinkies! Or… whatever they exclaim over in Riverdale. Because the CW drama on Wednesday opened Season 2 not just with series highs but double its usual numbers — and on a new night, with no lead-in.
All told, Riverdale drew 2.33 million total viewers and a 0.8 demo rating (per finals), up sharply from its freshman launch out of Supernatural (1.4 mil/0.5) and doubling its Season 1 average and finale (both of which were 1 mil/0.4).
In fact, Archie and the gang delivered the Wednesday lead-off spot’s best numbers since the Nov. 30 episode of Arrow. What’s more, Riverdale‘s premiere was up 31 and 33 percent from Arrow‘s Season 5 average while giving the CW its highest-rated telecast among teens in five years (since Vampire Diaries on 10/11/12). TVLine readers gave the premiere an average grade of “A-.”
Leading out of that, Dynasty did 1.26 mil and a 0.3 rating (with a “C+” reader grade), down from what Frequency debuted to in the time slot a year ago (1.4 mil/0.4) and matching fellow freshman Valor‘s Monday launch (1.2 mil/0.3).
Elsewhere on the night….
CBS | Survivor (7.9 mil/1.7) ticked up, Criminal Minds (5.9 mil/1.1) held steady and SEAL Team (7.9 mil/1.2) stabilized in Week 3.
FOX | Empire (5.9 mil/2.0) and Star (4.6 mil/1.5) each rose a tenth.
NBC | Blacklist (5.6 mil/1.0) and Chicago PD (6 mil/1.2) were steady, while SVU (5.7 mil/1.2) dipped a tenth.
ABC | Speechless (4.3 mil/1.1) slipped two tenths, The Goldbergs (5.6 mil/1.5) and Modern Family (6.2 mil/1.8) each dipped one tenth, while American Housewife (5 mil/1.4) and Designated Survivor (4.6 mil/0.9) were steady.
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