Ratings News - 28th October 2011 *Full Tables Added*

Thursday 10/27/11

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 12.6/20
CBS 8.0/13
ABC 5.5/ 9
NBC 3.1/ 5
CW 2.1/ 3

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 10/28/10):
Fox: +34, CW: - 5, ABC: - 8, CBS: - 9, NBC: -21

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-Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), The World Series, Game 6 (Fox)

-Honorable Mention:
Person of Interest (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Community (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Whitney (NBC), The Secret Circle (CW), Prime Suspect (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox took center stage on this sixth Thursday of the 2011-12 season as a result of game six of The World Series. The lengthy delayed match-up between Texas and St. Louis scored an estimated 12.6 rating/20 share in the overnights for the primetime (8-11 p.m.) portion, with a 13.9/24 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Needless to say, this was a series-high. As a reminder, results for any living sporting event are always approximate. Here is the half-hour breakdown.

World Series, Game 6 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 9.0/15 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 11.1/18 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.4/19 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 13.8/21 (#1)
10:00 p.m.: 14.1/22 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 15.5/25 (#1)
11:00 p.m.: 14.4/25 (#1)
11:30 p.m.: 16.2/30 (#1)
12:00 a.m.: 16.3/33 (#1)
12:30 p.m.: 15.8/34 (#1)

Comparably, Game 2 of The World Series on Fox on the year-ago evening (San Francisco vs. Texas) averaged an estimated 9.4/15 in primetime on 10/29/10.

Despite facing The World Series, CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory reigned supreme at 8 p.m., with a 9.6/15 in the overnights. Comparably, this was nine percent above the 8.8/14 on 10/29/10. Next on the Eye net was episode two of the new season of Rules of Engagement (#2: 6.7/10 at 8:30 p.m.), which is a vast improvement over short-lived recent occupant How To Be a Gentleman, followed by scripted dramas Person of Interest (#2: 7.7/12 – down 14 percent from year-ago occupant CSI) and The Mentalist (#2: 8.3/13). Year-to-year, The Mentalist also slipped by 14 percent (9.7/16 to 8.3/13). One week earlier, Rules of Engagement returned with a 7.1/11 in the overnights.

Despite their older skews, both Person of Interest and The Mentalist remain competitive options on CBS.

Over at ABC, a repeat of annual animated holiday special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, opened with a third-place 4.4/ 7 in the overnights at 8 p.m. That led into aging Grey’s Anatomy (#3: 7.3/11 at 9 p.m.), which dipped by eight percent year-to-year, and spin-off Private Practice (#3: 4.8/ 8 at 10 p.m. – down 16 percent from 10/29/10).

On NBC, the added encore telecasts of recent entry Prime Suspect has not proved beneficial. Prime Suspect finished a distant fourth in the 10 p.m. hour, with a 3.0/ 5. One year earlier, the failed regular edition of The Apprentice was equal in the overnights. While Prime Suspect did maintain overnight levels for lead-in Whitney (3.0/ 5 at 9:30 p.m.), the audience skew will be considerably older. Year-to-year, meanwhile, laugh challenged Whitney dropped by 23 percent from former time period occupant Outsourced (3.9/ 6 on 10/29/10).

Earlier in the evening on NBC were limited sitcoms Community (#4: 2.7/ 4) and Parks and Recreation (#4: 2.9/ 4) from 8-9 p.m., which should not be anchoring this evening. Although veteran The Office perked up to a 3.9/ 6 (#4) at 9 p.m., one year earlier the overnight average was a 5.2/ 8. Unfortunately, James Spader is no Steve Carell and the sitcom is lacking a strong center.

The CW capped off the evening with its most-watched show, The Vampire Diaries (#5: 2.5/ 4 at 8 p.m.), which was on par from one year earlier, and recently entry The Secret Circle (#5: 1.7/ 3 at 9 p.m.), which is not the perfect fit the network was hoping for. One year earlier, disappointing Nikita averaged a 1.8/ 3 in the Thursday 9 p.m. hour on 10/29/10.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights