Ratings News - 10th December 2010 - How did Bones, Fringe, TVD do?

Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
CBS Wins; ABC Poised for Victory among Adults 18-49

Thursday 12/09/10
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 8.0/13
ABC 7.9/12
Fox 4.7/ 7
NBC 3.8/ 6
CW 1.9/ 3

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, December 10, 2009):
ABC: +155, CW: +58, NBC: + 3, Fox: no change, CBS: - 8

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Barbara Walters Special – Oprah, the Next Chapter (ABC), Barbara Walters Presents The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010 (ABC)

-Honorable Mention:
Bones (Fox), CSI (CBS), The Office (NBC), The Mentalist (CBS)

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

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS inched past Barbara Walters-ignited ABC for overnight Thursday dominance, with a 0.1 rating point advantage. But ABC is expected to dominate the evening among adults 18-49. In the distant No. 3 spot in the metered markets was Fox, followed by NBC and The CW.

Bona fide hit The Big Bang Theory opened the evening for CBS with an 8.4 rating/13 share in the overnights at 8 p.m. Next was freshman $#*! My Dad Says, which dipped to second with a 6.0/ 9 at 8:30 p.m., followed by CSI (#2: 8.2/12) and The Mentalist (#2: 8.7/14) from 9-11 p.m. Both CSI and The Mentalist took a backseat to Barbara Walters, and retention for $#*! My Dad Says out of The Big Bang Theory was only 71 percent last night. CBS can do better here.

Holiday repeats got some mileage on ABC in the 8 p.m. hour, with Shrek the Halls third with a third-place 4.5/ 7 at 8 p.m., followed by Prep and Landing at a 4.3/ 7 at 8:30 p.m., also No. 3. The first of two Barbara Walters Specials, Oprah, the Next Chapter, won the 9 p.m. hour with a 10.1/15 -- the highest rated show of the evening. Comparably, that built from the Prep and Landing encore by a whopping 135 percent. For my thoughts on Oprah, listen to today’s PIPodcast at www.marcberman.tv.

Next on ABC was Barbara Walters Presents The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010 at a dominant 9.2/15 at 10 p.m. One year earlier, the annual Barbara Walters special scored a 7.9/13 on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. The most fascinating person of 2010 was General David Petraeus.

Fox had nothing unusual to report with underrated Bones competitive at a second-place 5.9/10 at 8 p.m., followed by Friday bound Fringe at a fourth-place 3.4/ 5 at 9 p.m.. Airing out of returning Kitchen Nightmares in the Friday 9 p.m. hour will not be beneficial for Fringe.

NBC was also at typical Thursday levels, with the only positive of note the one-hour holiday-themed edition of The Office at a third-place 4.9/ 7 from 9-10 p.m. While that may not sound like much, The Office always scores among adults 18-49, and overnight growth out of lead-in 30 Rock (#4: 3.6/ 6 at 8:30 p.m.) was 36 percent. Earlier in the evening on NBC was struggling sophomore Community at a fourth-place 2.9/ 5 at 8 p.m. And The Apprentice closed its ratings-challenged season at a distant third-place 3.2/ 5 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Does anyone even care who won?

The CW’s highest rated show of the week, The Vampire Diaries, remained just that with a 2.4/ 4 at 8 p.m., followed by freshman Nikita at a last-place 1.5/ 2. Comparably, that put retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries (2.3/ 4) of a weak 65 percent.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback