Last night, 'Empire' capped off its television-defying freshman season with a two-hour finale and just like it has every week since its January 7th debut, the show soared to a new viewership high with 16.7 million viewers and a 6.5 rating among adults 18-49.

Starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, the show, which also has the No.1 album on the Billboard 200, ends the season as the top show on the broadcast networks, having officially passed 'The Big Bang Theory' in the key demo. The show, created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, has already been renewed and is expected to return in the fall for a second season.

It was a good night for ABC!!! The network finally premiered the Viola Davis-starrer 'How To Get Away With Murder' and it made a killer debut by pulling in 14 million viewers and a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, which is by far the best launch of the fall's new shows.

'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Scandal', the other two series from Shonda Rhimes, were also strong in their returns as Olivia Pope and company opened to a series high 3.8 adults 18-49 rating and nearly 12 million viewers, while the latter earned a a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating and 9.8 million viewers in its new time slot. To put it simply, Rhimes pulled off a trifecta of ratings hits.

Elsewhere, 'Thursday Night Football' grabbed 4.5 adults 18-49 rating with 12.5 million viewers for CBS, 'Bones' (1.6, 6.2M) returned even with last year's season finale on FOX, 'The Biggest Loser' (1.3, 4.5M) and the premiere of 'Parenthood' (1.4, 4.3M) continued to struggle on NBC, and The CW was full of reruns. Peep the primetime ratings for Thursday, September 25th beneath: