Tuesday TV ratings: The Resident down, NCIS: New Orleans up

By Alexandria Ingham | Dec 18, 2019

THE RESIDENT: L-R: Manish Dayal and Matt Czuchry in the "Whistleblower" fall finale episode of THE RESIDENT airing Tuesday, Dec. 17 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2019 Fox Media LLC Cr: Guy D'Alema/FOX /

Dec. 17 brought many fall finales across different networks, but it also brought mixed results in the TV ratings. Here’s The Resident, NCIS, and more.

FOX and CBS aired fall finales, while NBC had the final of The Voice. These episodes brought a mixture of results when it comes to the TV ratings for Dec. 17.

Most of the time, we see an upward tick in the ratings for fall finales. They’re major episodes that leave us with major questions. Or they promise to wrap up big storylines. Both were certainly the case for the likes of NCIS, The Resident, and NCIS: New Orleans. And yet, only one of those three shows mentioned saw an upward tick in the ratings.

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NCIS usually leads the pack, but saw a 10% drop in the demo, with a steady audience. While the audience continued to hold the lead, it was The Voice that won in the demo. The Voice‘s final also delivered a 3% boost in both figures.

CBS’ unexpected falls followed with FBI, which lost 14% of its demo and 4.5% of its total audience. Arguably, opting for two weeks of reruns before the fall finales was a big mistake.

The only show to see an upward tick in both metrics outside of The Voice was NCIS: New Orleans. This wasn’t all that surprising. The series ended with a major cliffhanger and the hope for justice for Lasalle. The 7% boost to the demo and 2.6% boost to the audience was certainly well deserved for an excellent, intense episode.

What about FOX? The network also saw downward ticks for its fall finales. The Resident suffered the worst, losing 10% of both its audience and demo in an episode that would leave us with some major questions for the next three weeks.

Empire didn’t suffer as badly. While it lost 3% of its demo, its total audience remained steady. This is the final season, too, so the thought of renewal isn’t a concern.

As for the rest of the networks, it was mostly specials and reruns. A Charlie Brown Christmas won the first hour in the demo with a 1.1 rating, which is nothing to grumble about. The CW performed about average with the Dog of the Year special.

Take a look at the TV ratings for Dec. 17.

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What were you watching last night? What do you take from the Tuesday TV ratings? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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