Image Credit: Kevin T. Gilbert/NBC; Bob D'Amico/ABC; Monty Brinton/CBSAll that promotion about Big Bang Theory’s big move to Thursdays paid off for CBS: The comedy posted a 37 percent increase among adults 18-49 last night versus the debut of the first half of Survivor: Samoa last September and dominated in all of the major demographics. Buoyed by the Emmy win for star Jim Parsons last month, the sitcom easily won its timeslot at 8 p.m. and averaged a stunning 13.95 million viewers opposite heavy competition from the other broadcast networks.
The rest of CBS’ lineup faired equally as well. The debut of $#*! My Dad Says posted a slight gain over Samoa among 18-49 and averaged 12.4 million viewers. It also won its timeslot in viewers and key demographics. And the Justin Bieber-boosted premiere of CSI attracted the biggest audience at 9 p.m. with 14.5 million and even posted a rare win among female teens. With The Mentalist averaging 15.25 million viewers at 10, CBS easily won the night in viewers (14.3 million) and adults 18-49.
ABC finished second for the night among adults 18-49 and viewers (9.4 million), thanks to a particularly strong performance by the return of Grey’s Anatomy at 9 p.m. Though it was down 21 percent versus last season’s premiere among adults, it still won its timeslot in the demographic and averaged 14 million viewers. Private Practice also ruled in demos like women 18-49 and persons 12-34 and averaged 9 million.
I’ve saved ABC’s worst news for last: The debut of My Generation at 8 p.m. only pulled in 1.6/5 in 18-49 and a mere 5.21 million viewers. That’s a 61 percent drop in the demo versus the premiere of FlashForward last year. Why’d the network kill that drama again?
Poor Fringe on Fox. The critically-beloved series was down 30 percent versus last season’s premiere among adults 18-49 (2.1/6) and only averaged 5.82 million viewers. Still, that’s right in line with what it was averaging last season, when the high-concept drama premiered a week earlier than the rest of the competition (thus the drop in 18-49). Bones was also down from last season’s premiere and averaged 9.7 million.
Over on NBC, the critically-beloved comedies 30 Rock and The Office posted gains among adults and averaged 5.84 million and 8.39 million, respectively. Both shows won their timeslots among adults 18-34 (though 30 Rock tied with Says). Community averaged 5.01 million viewers and the new Outsourced at 9:30 p.m. picked up 7.43 million viewers and won in key male demos. And just when it couldn’t get any worse for The Apprentice, it did: The reality show only averaged a 1.4/4 rating among adults 18-49 — it’s lowest-rated telecast ever. It only averaged 3.80 million. Big mistake going back to average Joes after all those celebrity editions, Mr. Trump.
On the CW, The Vampire Diaries posted gains among adults 18-34 and viewers (3.6 million) versus last week. It won its timeslot in female teens and even beat the debut of My Generation in adults 18-34 and women 18-34. Nikita was flat week-to-week in viewers (3.2 million).
Overall, Fox finished the night in third place among viewers (7.8 million), ahead of NBC (5.73 million) and the CW (3.39 million).
Loved the office and 30 Rock – why don’t they take the Apprentice off the air – waste of time.
I have to say the the only reason i am watching the apprentice this season is BECAUSE OF the average joes…the celebrity editions were to pretentious for it to be any fun for me (too much ego and you knew from the time the cast was announced who would fare well). This is “real” competition and part of the show is getting to know the people and picking favorites along the way. GIVE IT A SHOT!!
Record it if nothing else….on another note how can DVR viewing be factored into these ratings…i literally don’t talk to anyone who watches most of their shows without recording them and we ARE the key demo!!
Unless you have a Neilson box, it doesn’t matter how you watch. And if you have a Neilson box, apparently they’ve now figured out how to factor in DVR recordings.
DVR/Tivo ratings take two weeks to factor. The results listed above are only “overnights” Alternate viewing which included hulu.com & others like diary records come out later but who follows up weeks later on the ratings of some third rate sitcom
I agree – Donald, “yah FIE-yah’d!” And nice to see a scripted sit-com finally chip away at the reality schlock-ocracy. It seems America may have finally had enough… hopefully.
What are you talking about? Everyone knows that The Apprentice is the number one show on television. Always has been, always will be.
CSI- a “rare win among female teens”. Gosh, I wonder why!
I miss FlashForward
holla that!
If you miss watching FlashForward as it failed, you can watch The Event as it fails…
I want EASTWICK BACK!!! God it did way better than my generation on its premiere and if ABC keeps that stupid drama with that ratings and it didnt keep eatwick with higher ones i will be pissed!!!
Stupid Fox. Can’t they move Fringe to another night? It is such a great show!!
so true! I love Fringe such a great cast and writing. I dont want it to get canceled!
I`m soooooooooooo upset now!fringe was amazing last season and I hoped that the ratings will go up on the strength of good WOM. I guess not.
Now I`m so scared that they`ll cancel the show. Don`t let it happen!
Fox is stupid. Fringe needs another night desperately.
I wish Fox would move Fringe to another night. This was the show I was most looking forward to its return! Please don’t cancel Fringe!
FRINGE needs to move to Tuesdays, it is an awesome show, the best drama on network tv other than Friday Night Lights – though I was not terribly thrilled about last night’s season premiere – I like Olivia the least of all the characters – Peter, Walter, and Agent Broyle are by far the best. And keep Peter and Olive platonic!!!
Yes, FOX should REALLY move Fringe BACK to Tuesdays where it started.
At least move it to Monday night with House. There is no other good drama on Monday night (surely not the event)
As long as Fringe were moved to Mondays at 9, right between Chuck and Castle, then I’d be all for that. But yeah, it needs to leave Thursdays.
I choose Wednesdays. I have nothing to obsess over that night.
Vampire Diaries FTW!
Chicks dig it. It`s not a bad show either.
Heavy competition in the 8PM hour? No, just no. While alot of shows are fan favorites in the hour, it’s one of the easier timeslots – competition was much worse in its old slot. 3 networks were under 6 million last night at 8.
Why does Fringe have such low ratings? That show is awesome!
Quality isn`t everything. I don`t think it`s promoted well and time slot is not good. Fox doesn`t give it a “must see” attention but “just one of many shows” one.
This continues to frustrate me, too. Since Supernatural was moved, there’s a little less competition, but I watch both CSI and The Office with the wife, and she won’t watch Fringe, so it still gets sacrificed. I’ve had 2 cable systems (Comcast and Verizon), and neither has a Fox on-demand service. Thought I’d catch reruns this summer, but Fox didn’t start them until just before the new season picked up, so I have to put in too much effort to catch up on it. I’m afraid this will be one of those shows that Syfy or Chiller will get 5 or 10 years down the road, and I’ll probably finally get around to watching it then. Any other night (except maybe Tuesdays), and I’d be able to squeeze it in.
It’s a very tough show to keep up with. I think it probably does very well when people can watch it later or in bulk (DVD). You miss a bit, you feel lost in it.
What they need to do is put the entire first and second season on Hulu (the free part) like they did for Lost. I know a lot of people who started watching it just because it was there for free and they heard a lot of good talk about it.
Bring Back Parks and Rec!!
Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later
BIG BANG proved they don’t need the overrated TWO AND A HALF MEN lead in.
knock-knock ratings? knock-knock ratings?
knock-knock ratings?
You are so right!!! I can’t stand Two and a Half Men…. BBT can stand on it’s own (I’m sure Sheldon could explain how that would work!)
Big Bang Theory jumped the shark a while back – they should rename the show – “The Sheldon Show” and get it over with
i pity the fool that disrespects Charlie!
abc cancelled flashforward because it was at my generation levels by the time it ended.
^^THIS
Yeah, it’s not like it would have done any better if it had premiered in My Generation’s place.
I was so ready for the Apprentice to come back on, and then when i watched it, i realized that i dont like any of the contestants. The first episode was two hours of these people bickering with each other over what goes in an office. It was soooo boring. I love Mr Trump, but unless something changes, this show will be on my dvr only, that was i can fastforward past all of the boring parts.
My problem with this new season of The Apprentice is that not only contestants are unlikable but also totally incompetent. I honestly don`t see why would anyone want to hire any of these mean-spirited backstabbing people with below averige skills. They are all looking for 15 minutes of fame rather than a job, duh! and it shows. Also, challenges are so repetitive. yet another ice cream sales job that women win thanks to their sexappeal and being more comfortable with this type of work. Wake me up when the next episode is on! Oh, it`s another run an animal/baby care task where some chick is going to scream how much she hates pets/kids and irritate everyone. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Yeah for BBT! Big fan of the show. I still do not understand why Networks think putting good shows against each other is a smart thing to do. “Bones” and “Fringe” are good shows that belong on another night. Most nights there is nothing to watch anyway. Tuesday night is the worst night of TV unless you are a NCIS fan. Move “Bones” and “Fringe” to Tuesday nights!!! Maybe we can start a protest to the Fox network to make this move?
Totally. I don`t want Fringe cancelled and Thursday is obviously a death for it.
Love what Sheldon is doing to Trump in the photo!
That can’t be a coincidence! Loved BBT as always…hope Penny being gone doesn’t hurt the show…
Nah, it’ll be fine. There’s always the Raj/Wolowitz bromance, and the odd interaction between Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik to tide viewers over while Penny’s gone. If all else fails, throw Leslie Winkle into the mix!
glad to see success for BBT, but I have to say I like the apprentice better with the average joes, I never watched a celebrity edition of it.
Thursday is loaded with good shows. I counted 4 that I wanted to see during the same time. I can only DVR 2 & tape 1 on another TV. Tuesday is a lousy night for TV. If the shows do poorly on Thursday, move them to Tuesday.