TV ratings: Good news for 'Gotham,' 'The Flash,' other newcomers

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Jessica Miglio/Fox

Fox has ordered a half-dozen more episodes of "Gotham," bringing its first-season order to 22.

Annlee Ellingson

Staff Writer- L.A. Biz

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Nielsen was slow in getting its TV ratings out last week, so pardon the interruption to our regularly scheduled programming, but the results are pretty much the same, with NBC leading adults 18-49 and CBS winning total viewership.

The Peacock was first among adults 18-49 with a 2.6 rating average last week, reported TVbytheNumbers, followed by the Eye with a 2.1. Their rankings were reversed in total viewership, with CBS drawing 10.5 million pairs of eyeballs on average and NBC 8.9 million.

NBC's dominance can once again be attributed to "Sunday Night Football," which logged its highest viewership yet this season with Sunday's game. During the matchup, Peyton Manning set the record for career touchdown passes, surpassing Brett Favre's 509. Denver's 42-17 win over San Francisco was the most-watched program of the week with an 8.2 in the demo and 23.8 million total viewers. That's a vast improvement over the previous week, when Peyton's brother Eli and his New York Giants got blown out by Philadelphia in the lowest-rated game so far this season.

ABC tied with CBS for runner-up among adults 18-49 with a 2.1 rating average and ranked third in total viewership with 7.9 million total average viewers. The Alphabet scored two of the season's top series debuts with "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Black-ish" and has placed full-season orders of both.

Fox is still struggling in fourth among the big four networks with a 1.6 rating average in the demo and 4.7 million total average viewers. One blazing bright spot on the network's schedule is "Gotham," the Batman prequel centered on Detective Jim Gordon. Consistently ranked in the top 25, the show is Fox's highest-rated fall drama debut in 14 years. The network has ordered a half-dozen more episodes, bringing its first-season order to 22. On the other hand, Fox hasn't canceled "Mulaney" yet, but the Sunday-night sitcom did get its episode order cut from 16 to 13.

Rounding out the ratings were Univision with a 1.1 in the demo and 2.9 million total viewers and the CW with a 0.7 and 1.9 million. The CW also has a hit with a new comic-book show. The week before last, "The Flash" was the network's highest-rated and most-watched series premiere in more than five years. The CW has placed full-season orders of both it and the critical breakout "Jane the Virgin."

Over on cable, AMC's "The Walking Dead" is back on the air. The post-apocalyptic zombie show set another series record with its season-five premiere the week before last with 17.3 million total viewers, up 7 percent over its season-four debut. Sunday's numbers weren't quite as high, but were good enough for the top spot. And FX's "American Horror Story: Freak Show" also drew a series-best 6.1 million total viewers upon its debut two weeks ago, landing in the top 10 again last week.

Here are the top 10 primetime broadcast shows for the week ended Oct. 19, 2014, in the 18-49 demographic according to Nielsen TV Ratings, as reported by TVbytheNumbers: