Friday TV Ratings 1/5/24: Dr. Death Preview OK, WWE SmackDown Easily Leads, Dateline Takes Second (UPDATED w/Analysis)

Ratings Analysis: Peacock original Dr. Death (0.22) looked decent enough in its broadcast television debut but still lagged behind its Dateline lead-out (0.26). Death was strong enough to help NBC beat out ABC's broadcast of Impact X Nightline (0.17) in the 8 p.m. time slot, but it lost out to CBS's showing of The Greatest @Home Videos (0.24). CBS also had reruns of Fire Country (0.13) and Blue Bloods (0.12), while ABC followed Nightline with 20/20 (0.23). By CW Friday standards, repeats of Penn & Teller: Fool Us (0.09), Masters of Illusion (0.06), and World's Funniest Animals (0.05) performed particularly well. Fox's WWE Smackdown (0.67) unsurprisingly topped the night.

Finals Update: WWE SmackDown (+0.1) adjusted up.

Time	Show	18-49 Rating	18-49 Share	Viewers (mil)	Network
8 PM	WWE SmackDown	0.67	8	2.47	Fox
	The Greatest @Home Videos: The Cedy Awards	0.24	3	2.74	CBS
	Dr. Death (Broadcast Preview)	0.22	2	1.65	NBC
	Impact X Nightline	0.17	2	1.95	ABC
	Penn & Teller: Fool Us (R)	0.09	1	0.67	The CW
9 PM	20/20	0.23	3	2.73	ABC
	Fire Country (R)	0.13	1	1.92	CBS
	Masters of Illusion (R)	0.06	1	0.50	The CW
9:30 PM	World's Funniest Animals (R)	0.05	1	0.45	The CW
10 PM	Dateline NBC	0.26	3	2.07	NBC
	Blue Bloods (R)	0.12	2	2.39	CBS