Preliminary Analysis: Boasting the return of cast member Chris Meloni, NBC's 'Law & Order: SVU' (1.6) soared past anyone's wildest expectations for the highly-publicized crossover event. One would have to go back to September 2016, nearly 5 years ago, to find an episode of 'SVU' with a stronger rating than this. The crossover continued in the 10pm hour with the monstrous series premiere of 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' (1.5). While a sizable drop seems inevitable, 'Organized Crime' retained a solid portion of its lead-in and has given itself room to fall with that mammoth start. Although it was completely overshadowed by the massive 'Law & Order' numbers, 'Manifest' (0.6) had a fairly decent return in the 8pm slot. The third-season drama lost three-tenths when stacked up against its season two premiere (0.9) but was just a tenth shy of its year-ago finale (0.7).
Against the peacock network's resurgence, 'Station 19' (0.7), 'Grey's Anatomy' (0.8), and 'A Million Little Things' (0.4) all lost a tenth on ABC. CBS housed the lackluster series premiere of new sitcom 'United States of AI' (0.5). The series shed a tenth from a sinking 'Young Sheldon' (0.6) but was just a hair below where 'B Positive' began in November. Speaking of 'B Positive' (0.4), the freshman comedy crashed to a series low behind a stable edition of 'Mom' (0.5). The timeslot downgrade caused the series to lose two-tenths from its last broadcast. 'Clarice' (0.3) ticked down in the 10pm slot. Fox's 'Hell's Kitchen' (0.7) inched down and led into the anemic season 2 premiere of 'The Moodys' (0.3/0.2). The comedy tied its low at 9 and dropped down to a new one at 9:30, making the 'Call Me Kat'/'Last Man Standing' pair look infinitely more desirable. The CW went with encores of 'Penn & Teller' (0.1/0.1).
Finals Update: 'Law & Order: SVU' (+0.1), 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' (+0.1), 'Station 19' (+0.1), 'Manifest' (+0.1), 'Grey's Anatomy' (+0.1), 'Young Sheldon' (+0.1), and 'Mom' (+0.1) adjusted up. 'Clarice' (-0.1) adjusted down.
