Wednesday's TV Ratings: 'SVU' Spikes to Highest Numbers Since November

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit saw a good jump in the Wednesday overnight ratings with its most [...]

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit saw a good jump in the Wednesday overnight ratings with its most recent episode.

Airing after a special edition of The Voice, which won the night in total viewers, SVU drew a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers. An improvement of 20 percent in both measures from the previous week, and matching the show's highest demo rating since November.

The episode featured a guest appearance by Stephanie March, reprising her role as former A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot.

According to Variety, The Voice drew a 1.4 in the demo and 8.2 million viewers. Chicago PD ticked up slightly with a 1.2 in the demo and 6.6 million viewers.

On Fox, Empire was again the top-rated show in the demo with a 1.7 and 5.3 million viewers. Star was even at 9 p.m. wit a 1.3 and 4 million viewers.

On ABC, Alex, Inc. scored a series low in the demo, 0.6 and 2.86 million viewers, after a rerun of The Goldbergs. Designated Survivor was steady at 10 with a 0.6 and 3.5 million.

SVU also beat CBS' special 9 p.m. Criminal Minds, which borrowed the slot from the network's usual show, SEAL Team.

The two hours that closed Criminal Minds' season, Deadline writes, averaged a 0.9 in the demo and 5.64 million viewers, failing to trigger a last-minute rally for the 13-year-old on-the-bubble drama.

The CBS crime procedural threw a curve ball during the final seconds of Wednesday night's finale after the Behavioral Analysis Unit discovered FBI Agent Owen Qinn (James Urbaniak) was not the person they should have been suspicious of. It turned out to be Special Agent Mary meadows (Karen David) who was the member of the cult led by The Messiah, who is under arrest at the BAU.

The episode came to a shocking end when Meadows pulled out her gun and pointed it at Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), who figured out what was going on too late and was given an ultimatum: Help her free her leader from the BAU or fan-favorite Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), who was captured by some cult members, dies.

On The CW, Riverdale ticked up with the special musical episode with a 0.4 in the rating and 1.1 million viewers. The Originals returned for their final season with a 0.4 in the demo and 1 million viewers, up from last season's premiere.

Overall, Fox won the night in the demo with a 1.5 but was third in viewers with 4.7 million. NBC was second in the demo with a 1.3 but first in viewers with 7.1 million and CBS was third in the demo with a 1.1 but second in viewers with 6.3 million. ABC was fourth overall with a 0.7 and 3.2 million while the CW averaged a 0.4 and 1 million viewers.

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