Rating News - 7th October - See How Fringe, TVD, Bones and Grey's did

Updated Cancellation Table is here.



Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
CBS Wins; More Mixed Freshman Series Results

Thursday 10/07/10
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only.

HH
Rtg/Shr
CBS 8.3/13
ABC 6.0/ 9
Fox 4.8/ 7
NBC 3.5/ 6
CW 2.3/ 4

----------

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, October 8, 2009):
CW: +21, Fox: + 2, CBS: + 1, ABC: - 8, NBC: -12

----------

-Yesterday’s Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Honorable Mention:
Bones (Fox)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Community (NBC), Outsourced (NBC), Fringe (Fox), The Apprentice (NBC)

----------

-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS remains the network to beat on Thursday, with an overnight advantage over second-place ABC last night of a significant 38 percent. Next was Fox, followed by lagging NBC and The CW, which continues to resonate on Thursday thanks to sophomore The Vampire Diaries.

Relocated The Big Bang Theory stood well above the competition at 8 p.m., with an 8.4 rating/14 share in the overnights. But lead-out $#*! My Dad Says slipped to No. 2 (one-tenth of a rating point behind the second-half of Fox’s Bones), with a 6.3/10 at 8:30 p.m. Week-to-week, that was down by six percent, with retention out of The Big Bang Theory of a so-so 75 percent. Take a look at the three-week overnight track:

$#*! My Dad Says (CBS)
9/23/10: 7.7/12
9/20/10: 6.7/11
10/07/10: 6.3/10

Next on CBS was veteran CSI (#2: 8.1/13 at 9 p.m.), which was down by 10 percent from one year earlier (9.0/14 on Oct. 8, 2009), followed by The Mentalist at a dominant 9.5/16 at 10 p.m. Growth for The Mentalist out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of CSI (8.3/13) was 14 percent.

After abruptly canceling freshman drama My Generation, ABC filled the Thursday 8 p.m. hour this week with a repeat of Grey’s anatomy, which finished fourth with a 3.2/ 5 in the overnights. One week earlier, My Generation scored a 3.0/ 5 on Sept. 30. Next was an original installment of Grey’s Anatomy (#1: 9.0/14 at 9 p.m.), which is now beating competing CSI in the overnights, followed by spin-off Private Practice at a second-place 5.8/10 at 10 p.m. Although The Mentalist beat Private Practice by a hefty 64 percent in the overnights, the battle between adults 18-49 will be considerably closer.

Fox’s underrated Bones was on the Thursday 8 p.m. map, with a second-place 6.2/10 in the overnights this week (which was up five percent from one year earlier). But struggling Fringe dipped to a fourth-place 3.4/ 5 at 9 p.m. Comparably, retention for Fringe out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of Bones (6.4/10) was just 53 percent.

NBC remained stalled at the 8 p.m. gate, with sophomore Community fourth at a 2.9/ 5. Needless to say, Community should not have been granted a second season. Nor should it be anchoring the evening. Next on NBC was 30 Rock, which perked up to a third-place 3.6/ 6 at 8:30 p.m., followed by The Office at an also third-place 4.8/ 7 at 9 p.m. As I stress every week, The Office always scores among adults 18-49, and the overnight growth of 33 percent out of 30 Rock is worth positively noting. In week three news, sitcom Outsourced slid to a disappointing 3.8/ 6 at 9:30 p.m., 21 percent below lead-in The Office and seven percent below one week earlier (4.1/ 6 on Sept. 30). One year earlier, a one-hour edition of The Office averaged a 5.0/ 8.

Outsourced Three-Week Overnight Track
9/23/10: 5.0/ 8
9/20/10: 4.1/ 6
10/07/10: 3.8/ 6

At 10 p.m., not even Donald Trump can spin the ratings for The Apprentice, which finished a distant third with a 2.9/ 5 in the overnights.

The CW closed its highest rated night with consistent performances for The Vampire Diaries (#5: 2.5/ 4) and week five of Nikita (#5: 2.1/ 3). But what could be potentially concerning is the modest demographic retention for Nikita to-date out of The Vampire Diaries. Stay tuned for last night’s demos.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback