Ratings News - 20th October 2011 *Full Tables Added*

Wednesday 10/19/11 Overnights

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 9.5/15
CBS 7.4/12
ABC 6.4/10
NBC 5.1/ 8
CW 1.3/ 2

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 10/20/10):
Fox: +48, ABC: +25, CBS and NBC: - 4 each, CW: -32

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-Winners:
The World Series, Game 1 (Fox), Survivor: South Pacific (CBS), Modern Family (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS)

-Honorable Mention:
The Middle (ABC), Suburgatory (ABC), Harry’s Law (NBC), Revenge (ABC), CSI (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Happy Endings (ABC), America’s Next Top Model (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Game 1 of the Baseball World Series (Texas at St. Louis) led Fox to Wednesday overnight victory, with an estimated 9.5 rating/15 share for the primetime portion. While dominance is good, had one of the major markets been competing the results would have been stronger. Keep in mind, of course, that results for any live sporting event are estimated. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

The World Series, Game 1 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 7.8/13 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 9.6/15 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 10.1/16 (#1)
10:00 p.m.: 10.7/17 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.9/16 (#1)

CBS finished second overall with its solid combination of Survivor: South Pacific (#2: 7.0/11), which was close to year-ago levels, Criminal Minds (#2: 8.2/13), and relocated CSI (#2: 7.0/12), which is now losing original cast member Marg Helgenberger in midseason. Year-to-year, CSI was up by nine percent from failed year-ago occupant The Defenders (6.4/11 on 10/21/10) despite facing The World Series. Joining the cast of CSI later this season are Grant Show as Agent McQuaid and Matt Lauria as his partner Sac Pratt.

The standout on ABC of course, was Modern Family at a stellar (and second place) 9.2/14 in the overnights at 9 p.m. Once again, Modern Family should have no problem dominating the evening among adults 18-49. But the Wednesday problem on the alphabet net remains sophomore Happy Endings, which dipped to fourth at 9:30 p.m. with a 4.9/ 8. Comparably, that was down by eight percent from year-ago occupant Cougar Town (5.3/ 8 on 10/21/10), and the retention out of Modern Family was lacking at 53 percent. Why ABC ordered more scripts for Happy Endings, which has an initial 13-episode order, is a mystery.

Happy Endings led into week five of full-season renewed drama Revenge, which held up with a third-place 6.0/10 at 10 p.m. Compared to year-ago failed occupant The Whole Truth (3.3/ 6 on 10/21/10) this was an increase of a considerable 82 percent. Five-week overnight track for Revenge:

9/21/11: 7.0/12
9/28/11: 6.2/10
10/05/11: 5.8/10
10/12/11: 6.2/10
10/19/11: 6.0/10

Earlier in the evening on ABC was the successful combination of The Middle (#3: 6.4/10 at 8 p.m.) and recent (and full season renewed) entry Suburgatory (#3: 6.2/10 at 8:30 p.m.), which is a marked improvement over failed year-ago occupant Better With You (4.6/ 7 on 10/21/10).

Over at NBC, sitcom Up All Night was flat from one week earlier with a fourth-place 4.1/ 7 at 8 p.m. Next was a repeat of Whitney (#4: 3.1/ 5 at 8:30 p.m.), followed by older-skewing Harry’s Law (#4: 6.1/10) and veteran Law & Order: SVU (#4: 5.7/10) from 9-11 p.m. While Harry’s Law does not deliver among adults 18-49, it did built from the encore of Whitney by 97 percent in the overnights. And that makes it worthy of “honorable mention.”

The CW capped off the evening with an second-run telecast of Ringer (#5: 0.9/ 1 at 8 p.m.), followed by deteriorating America’s Next Top Model at a 1.8/ 3 (#5) at 9 p.m. One year earlier, America’s Next Top Model in the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour was notably stronger at a 2.7/ 4 on 10/21/10. Needless to say, Tyra Banks and company need a rest.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights