The drama is among the night's few improved series, while "The Voice" inches down again and "The Mindy Project" outperforms its "New Girl" lead-in.

The CW saw Supernatural tick up with the backdoor pilot for potential spinoff Bloodlines. The durable drama, still one of the network's highest-rated after nine seasons on the air, posted its best numbers in eight weeks with a 1.0 rating in the demo, up a tenth, and 2.1 million viewers. Lead-in The Originals (0.8 adults), itself a planted spinoff on The Vampire Diaries this time last year, was up two-tenths of a point at 8 p.m.

NCIS helped drive CBS to a nightly win in both the demo (2.2 adults rating) and total viewers (14.3 million). The drama was a tight second to The Voice, averaging a 2.5 adults rating -- up three-tenths of a point from last week. NCIS: Los Angeles (2.1 adults) and Person of Interest (1.9 adults) were both steady.

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If The Voice's 2.7 rating with adults 18-49 holds in final ratings, it will be another series low for the show, off a tenth from last week. About a Boy (1.7 adults) shed two-tenths of a point at 9 p.m., while Growing Up Fisher (1.5 adults) held steady. Chicago Fire (1.7 adults) closed the night up a tenth of a point, giving NBC an average 2.0 rating in the key demo and 8 million viewers.

Agents of SHIELD (1.9 adults) saw no lift with the return of How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders, though both The Goldbergs (1.6 adults) and Trophy Wife (0.9 adults) saw improvement. Celebrity Wife Swap (0.8 adults) was off a tenth from the prior week, and ABC netted a 1.3 rating with adults 18-49 and 3.96 million viewers for the night.

Fox's comedy block saw new lows for Glee (0.8 adults) and New Girl (1.0 adults) -- the latter off two-tenths of a point from last week. Tuesday marked the first time that The Mindy Project (1.1 adults), up a tenth from last week, outperformed its New Girl lead-in. Fox averaged a 1.0 rating for the night and 2.3 million viewers.

