Is 'Empire' a hit? Fox will say 'yes' as ratings climb in the second week

Looks like Fox has the makings of a hit in Empire, its blinged-out, hip-hop soap.

Generally, ratings often decline in the show's second week. But they actually went up for Empire, with the show averaging 10.3 million viewers in the 18-49 demo Madison Avenue so desperately craves, up 5 percent from the previous week.

While I'm enjoying the show so far, some of the performances -- especially Taraji P. Henson as turned up Cookie -- are a little over-the-top and need to go down a notch. The writing could also be a bit stronger.

For instance, it doesn't make sense that after spending 17 years in the joint, Cookie would expect her sons to immediately embrace her coming home. She should've expected the cold shoulder.

And having Lucious (Terrence Howard), the dying rap mogul, solving his little extortion problem from his boy, Bunkie -- and Cookie's cousin -- by putting a bullet in Bunkie's head just didn't ring true. If they were so tight, why did Lucious resort to murdering his friend so quickly?

Oh, I know....makes for better drama than Lucious actually, you know, sitting down and ironing out his differences with his homie.

Who wants to see that?