Friday Ratings: Baseball Playoffs Dominate The Demo Wars, But ‘Blue Bloods” Still The Viewership King

It’s October, which means it’s time for the Major League Baseball playoffs to take center stage. Friday’s ratings reflected that, as Fox’s broadcast brought in a 1.1 in demos and 5.31 million viewers.

Surprisingly (or maybe not so, given the fanaticism of its following) CBS crime drama Blue Bloods brought in a slightly higher audience, scoring a 5.76 million viewership, albeit with an 0.4 in demos. It was helped by a strong lead-in from Magnum PI, which also had an 0.4 and 5.15 million viewers. The 8 PM opening volley, SWAT, topped the eye network’s demos on the night, bringing in an 0.5.

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At ABC, Shark Tank continued strongly with an 0.5, and held its own despite strong competition. Trailing newsmag 20/20 managed an 0.3, down slightly from the week before, but tied with NBC’s Dateline 0.3) for bragging rights.

NBC saw its series debut of Ava DuVernay’s life-swapping Home Sweet Home come in with an 0.2.

The CW had Penn & Teller: Fool Us up a tick to an 0.1, while Nancy Drew also took a leap up the ladder with an 0.1.

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