Ratings News - 16th September - Full Ratings Tables Added

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Metered Market Ratings Results – Thursday 9/15/11
CBS Wins; Adequate Sampling for The Secret Circle on The CW

Thursday 9/15/11

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 5.5/ 9
ABC 3.3/ 6
Fox 2.9/ 5
CW 2.3/ 4
NBC 2.2/ 4

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 9/16/10):
Fox: +61, CBS: - 2, CW: - 8, ABC: -15, MNBC: -37

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-Winners:
The Big Bang Theory R (CBS), The Mentalist R (CBS)

-Respectable Sampling:
The Secret Circle (CW)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Nothing – 69 percent of the schedule were encore telecasts.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
A night of repeats kept CBS on top in the Thursday overnights, with a hefty 67 percent advantage over second-place ABC. Third overall was Fox, followed by The CW and back-to-back repeats of Bones on Fox.

In series-premiere news, The Secret Circle on The CW, as expected, was perfectly compatible out of The Vampire Diaries. The Secret Circle opened with a 2.3 rating/4 share at 9 p.m., which held 100 percent of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries. Compared to former time period occupant Nikita on the year-ago evening (2.6/ 4 on 9/17/10), this was down by 12 percent. Ringer on Tuesday opened slightly higher at a 2.5/ 4. Given the lack of original competition in the time period, the initial overnight results for The Secret Circle could actually have been better.

Overall, the third season-premiere of The Vampire Diaries kicked-off with a 2.4/ 4 from 8-9 p.m., which was down by four percent compared to the year-ago evening (2.5/ 4 on 9/17/10).

Over at CBS, two repeat episodes of The Big Bang Theory averaged a first-place 5.7/10 in the overnights from 8-9 p.m. That led into back-to-back encore telecasts of The Mentalist, which finished first in both hours as follows:

The Mentalist R (CBS)
9:00 p.m.: 5.2/ 8 (#1)
10:00 p.m.: 5.7/10 (#1)

Although NBC is introducing new crime solver Prime Suspect in the Thursday 10 p.m. hour next week, there is every reason to believe The Mentalist will remain the top choice in total viewers (with Private Practice first among adults 18-49 if fading lead-in Grey’s Anatomy holds up). But if new highly touted CBS Thursday 9 p.m. entry Person of Interest does not work, the long-running rumor of moving The Mentalist up one hour could finally become a reality.

In season-finale news, Wipeout on ABC concluded with a second-place 3.8/ 6 in the overnights at 9 p.m. An 8 p.m. edition of overused Wipeout, which should air in the summer only, finished No. 2 in the time period as well with a 3.9/ 7. ABC capped off the evening with a repeat of Grey’s Anatomy at a last-place 2.4/ 4 at 10 p.m.

Elsewhere, NBC populated this third Thursday in September with repeats of Community (#5: 1.8/ 3), the pilot episode of Up All Night (#5: 2.2/ 4), The Office (#4: 2.5/ 4), the pilot episode of Free Agents (#5: 2.0/ 3) and Law & Order: SVU (#2: 2.5/ 5). Up All Night and Free Agents will also repeat in the Saturday 9-10 p.m. hour tomorrow.

Two encore telecasts of aforementioned Bones on Fox finished third overall for the evening with a 2.9/ 5 from 8-10 p.m.

Next Thursday, Sept. 22, will feature the series premieres of Charlie’s Angels (ABC), Person of Interest (CBS), Whitney (NBC) and Prime Suspect (NBC); the season opening episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, two episodes), The Big Bang Theory (CBS, one hour), The Mentalist (CBS), Community (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC) and The Office (NBC); and the time period premiere of The X Factor on Fox.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights