“Station 19” premiered with an average of 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 for its two-hour premiere, which was below NBC’s “Chicago Fire” which was 1.2 for both hours in the demographic. “Fire” had more total viewers overall, averaging 6.88 million over the two hours compared to “Station 19”’s 5.42 million. “Station 19” was premiering against non-time zone adjusted NCAA games, which might have been a reason for the lower viewership. “Grey’s Anatomy” was the lead-in to “Station 19” which pulled a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 7.5 million viewers, coming in second place right after college basketball. These numbers for “Station 19” are not up to par with what ABC had predicted, but still hoping that viewership grows in the next week, especially with “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder” having their season finales soon. This is the first-time Shonda Rhimes has showed a Latina leading one of her shows, which is a shift from the black and white heroine’s viewers are used to seeing. Andy Herrera, the main character, shows that Latinas are more than their stereotypes of “spicy” eye candy and irritating supporting roles, and are strong woman who are the same as everybody else. As for press, Herrera talked to E! News for an exclusive first look at the poster and talked about her character on the show.
Porter, Rick. TV Ratings Thursday: ‘Station 19’ has lukewarm debut, NCAA Tournament on top. TVByTheNumbers. March 23, 2018.
O’Connell, Michael. TV Ratings: ‘Chicago Fire’ bests ‘Station 19’ Premiere, March Madness Rules All. Hollywood Reporter. March 23, 2018.
Romero, Ariana. Station 19 Finally Brings a Leading Latina Voice to TGIT. Refinery 29. March 23, 2018.