‘Wicked City’ Ratings Slide In Week 2, ‘Flash’ Speeds Up, ‘NCIS’ & ‘Best Time Ever’ Rise

On what could have been the night of Game 6 of the World Series, it was a buoyant Tuesday for CBS and pretty steady for most of the rest of the Big 4 and the CW in primetime. However, for the latest debut of the season, Tuesday was not so kind. Now not facing the big MLB playoffs nor the launch of the 2015-16 NBA season, ABC’s Wicked City (0.7/2) took a 22% drop among adults 18-49 in its second week. While a bit more than usual for a freshman show after its debut, the 1982 set crime anthology has gone from weak to worst with danger zone numbers. The earlier part of ABC’s night saw everything stay the same with The Muppets (1.4/5), Fresh Off The Boat (1.5/5) and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1.4/4) all even with their October 27 shows.

Led by a strong NCIS (2.3/7), CBS topped Tuesday night with a 1.9/6 rating and 13.21 million viewers. Up 10% from the sports heavy October 27, the Mark Harmon-led procedural was the highest-rated show of the night and the most watched with a huge audience of 17.78 million tuning in. Additionally, NCIS hit its best numbers last night since the 2.5/8 rating and 18/19 million viewers of its Season 13 debut on September 22. The rest of CBS’ night saw rises too with NCIS: New Orleans (1.9/6) and newbie Limitless (1.5/8) up 18% and 7% respectively from last week.

The CW saw its fastest man alive hit a Season 2 high with The Flash (1.5/5) up 7% among the 18-49s and second in its time slot, ahead of offerings by ABC, NBC and Fox. The WBTV-produced superhero series also hit a season viewership high with 3.73 million tuning in. Lead-out iZombie (0.6/2) was even in the demo with last week, but also had its most watched episode of the season with an audience of 1.59 million.

Probably lamenting that they weren’t able to squeeze more stellar ratings out of the World Series, which ended on November 1 with the Kansas City Royals defeating the N.Y. Mets 4-1 to win their first championship since 1985, Fox was back to normal last night. And that was pretty much a steady thing with comedy Grandfathered (1.0/3) even with its last original of October 20 and lead-out The Grinder (0.8/3) down 11%. Scream Queens (1.0/3) was also even with its last new show of October 20.

With a special clip show edition of The Voice (2.0/6) sitting in the middle of NBC’s Tuesday offering, the net had ups and dips. With the Backstreet Boys among those taking the stage, the Season 1 finale of Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris (1.3/4) leapt up 18% from last week. With nearly 5 million viewers watching, that’s the best the variety show has done in total audience in five weeks and matches its September 29 show in the key demo. A mixed ratings bag for NBC, Best Time Ever still seemed to be a work in progress even as it ended its initial run. As the network started its night on a jump, NBC ended things with a slip as Chicago Fire (1.8/6) was down 5% from last week. Still the drama nicely topped its 10 PM time slot against competition from ABC and CBS.

Related stories

'Best Time Ever' To Stay At 10 PM One More Week

'Best Time Ever's Move To 8 PM Delayed By Week

'Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris' Has OK Ratings Start, 'Zoo' Slips In Finale

Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter