Friday, July 3, 2026

TV: “Empire” Returns to Lower Ratings After Jussie Smollett Scandal: Can it Recover or Is This the End?

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“Empire” returned to TV last night after a break that started in mid December. The last two episodes each scored 5 million viewers.

But a lot has changed since then. A star of the show,  Jussie Smollett, today entered a plea of not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct and lying to the police. His scandal went on for weeks, and has damged “Empire” in the process.

The result is that last night “Empire” returned to 4.4 million viewers. That’s down 12% but also their second to worst outing of this season. On Halloween, “Empire” had 4.23 million.

“Empire” was already showing signs of wear and tear, but Smollett’s saga may be the nail in the coffin. If this is the beginning of a trend, watch Fox announce a short final season for next year.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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