Mired in fourth place in Nielsen's current 18-49 ratings, Fox needed a big midseason premiere. On Jan. 7, Empire delivered. Drawing a 3.8 live-plus-same- day demo number, the drama series-about an African-American family prominent in the world of hip-hop-was the network's highest-rated premiere in three years. Empire outperformed its American Idol lead-in by 19%. It also matched ABC's How to Get Away With Murder as the highest-rated premiere of the 2014-15 season. Murder, from executive producer Shonda Rhimes, features African-American actress Viola Davis at the head of an ethnically diverse cast. Until Empire came along, it was the undisputed frontrunner to finish as the season's top-rated new drama. When ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee addressed reporters at the TCA winter press tour Jan. 14, he touted the network's on-screen diversity, talking up Murder as well as comedies Black-ish (the highest rated new comedy this season), Cristela (a contender, though not a sure bet, for renewal that features a Latino family) and the upcoming Fresh Off the Boat (the first broadcast comedy built around an Asian-American family since Margaret Cho's All-American Girl in 1994).
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