Associated Press: With a standard-setting finale to its first season reaching 17.6 million viewers, Fox’s music business drama “Empire” has proven that it’s still possible for broadcast television to create big hits. The viewership estimate doesn’t take into account the number of people who will see the show via Internet streams, video on demand and on DVR in the coming days and weeks. Fox estimates that in a month’s time more than 27 million people will have watched Wednesday’s last episode. In addition, Facebook said some 4.2 million people accounted for 15.8 million posts, shares and comments on the finale.