TheWrap: “Empire” is back — and it has returned with a vengeance. The Fox hip-hop soap opera scored 16 million total viewers on its Wednesday Season 2 premiere, hauling in a 6.5 rating/20 share in the key 18-49 demographic. That viewer number may not be quite as massive as the Season 1 finale’s gaudy 16.7 million, but it is way up from its series debut. The 6.5 demo rating matches the freshman-year finale.