The Question, Monday 1/13/14: Is The Blacklist a B-Lister Without The Voice?

Just like in fall 2012, the biggest new series of fall 2013 was the series NBC put after The Voice on Monday - this time James Spader drama The Blacklist. But just lumping it in with last year's Revolution is likely doing it a disservice. While The Voice faded in the second half of the season, The Blacklist held tight, eventually beginning to build on the numbers Revolution was getting after a much stronger Voice. So confident is NBC ithat it gets a run of season one episodes without a Voice lead-in, something Revolution never had last year. It begins tonight in a timeslot which also sees the first regular episode of CBS' Intelligence. Is The Blacklist a B-lister without The Voice? That's The Question for Monday, January 13, 2014.

The Blacklist This Season

3.8 (premiere, 9/23/13, 5.6 Voice at 9:30) 3.14 (average, 4.51 average Voice at 9:30) 3.2 (finale, 12/2/13, 3.4 Voice at 9:30)

Expectations will probably be pretty high on the heels of Chicago Fire dropping less than 10% in its first Voice-less episode of the year. However, that show had established an audience with a smaller lead-in in season one, and its Tuesday Voice lead-in was several ticks lower than what The Blacklist had on Monday. (There's a special American Ninja Warrior leading in tonight.) Dropping by as little as ChiFi against two respectable competitors would be a huge win, but The Blacklist held so well over the course of the fall that a collapse like last year's Go On also seems unlikely.

Over/Under: 2.65.

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