NCIS: New Orleans ratings for Nov. 5: Season 6’s big shock doesn’t score big

"Matthew 5:9" - Lasalle hopes to avenge his brother's murder by tracking a drug ring in Alabama he believes is responsible. Also, when Pride assists with the case, he crosses paths with Eddie Barrett (Eddie Cahill), an elusive individual who knows more than he is sharing, on "NCIS: NEW ORLEANS," Tuesday, Nov. 5 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Lucas Black as Special Agent Christopher LaSalle Photo: Sam Lotheridge/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"Matthew 5:9" - Lasalle hopes to avenge his brother's murder by tracking a drug ring in Alabama he believes is responsible. Also, when Pride assists with the case, he crosses paths with Eddie Barrett (Eddie Cahill), an elusive individual who knows more than he is sharing, on "NCIS: NEW ORLEANS," Tuesday, Nov. 5 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Lucas Black as Special Agent Christopher LaSalle Photo: Sam Lotheridge/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /
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NCIS: New Orleans ratings fell on Nov. 5 despite Season 6’s huge reveal that changed the series. See the latest NCIS: New Orleans numbers.

NCIS: New Orleans ratings were down this week, despite the show’s major shock that saw a significant cast change.

Tuesday’s episode “Matthew 5:9” stunned viewers with its plot twist, but less TV crime drama fans tuned in this week than last time. The episode’s 6.61 million live audience members was a drop from the previous 6.72 for the last new episode on Oct. 22 (-0.11, or 110,000).

That’s probably not what show producers and CBS were hoping for, considering this was a huge episode with a very surprising ending that left those who did see it reeling.

The good news for NCIS: New Orleans fans is that this is not a pattern. The show had 6.62 million live viewers two episodes ago, so all it did was fall back to a more regular number.

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And if you want to consider it good news, all three of the CBS dramas lost audience members this Tuesday, so the decline isn’t exclusive to this particular show. It was a down week all the way around.

“Matthew 5:9” ranked sixth out of 12 shows on broadcast TV this Tuesday, putting it squarely in the middle of the pack in terms of total viewers.

It was still the top pick in its 10 p.m. time slot, more than 1.50 million eyeballs ahead of NBC‘s New Amsterdam (at 5.01 million), though it is worth noting that some networks go to local news at that hour so there’s less direct competition.

More: What was the huge NCIS: New Orleans spoiler?

What about the key demographic? The episode scored a 0.7 share amongst adults 18-49. That stayed the same from the previous episode.

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Where that gets interesting is that it tied with New Amsterdam in that respect—meaning it was even amongst adults 18-49 with its direct competition. It’s a dead heat there, but NCIS: New Orleans ratings are still more than respectable with more than 6.5 million live viewers, so it looks good for the show’s future even with the big cast change.

The real litmus test will be next week: will ratings hold or fall in the wake of the plot twist? That’s a question for another Tuesday.