The NFL Draft kicked off in strong fashion in the TV ratings, as “Will & Grace” aired its finale ever episode (barring another revival, of course) to decent numbers.
Round 1 of the draft, which saw LSU quarterback Joe Burrow selected as the number one overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, scored a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.1 million viewers during primetime hours on ABC. That represents a significant jump on last year’s first day, which scored a 1.1 rating and 4.5 million total viewers.
Meanwhile NBC aired a quartet of finales, including the series curtain call for “Will & Grace.” The final episode delivered a 0.5 rating (which is technically down a fraction on the penultimate episode) and 3.1 million total viewers, the show’s largest Live+Same Day audience since March 2019. A “Will & Grace” farewell followed with the same 0.5 rating and 2.9 million pairs of eyeballs.
Earlier on, the season finale of “Superstore,” which saw America Ferrera make her exit, came in at a 0.7 rating and 3.1 million viewers, even on last week and up almost 1 million viewers from the season 4 finale. The season 7 finale of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” followed that up with a 0.6 rating and 2.3 million viewers, a five-week audience high for the former Fox comedy. The season 21 finale of “Law & Order: SVU” rounded off the night with a 0.7 and 3.7 million viewers, down 10% on the penultimate episode.
More to come…