Ratings News - 9th December 2011 *Full Tables Added*

Note: CBS and FOX numbers may be slightly inflated due to the Football



THURSDAY 12/08/11 OVERNIGHTS

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 8.2/13
Fox 6.5/10
ABC 3.6/ 6
NBC 3.1/ 5
CW 0.8/ 1

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 12/09/10):
Fox: +38, CBS: + 2, NBC: -18, ABC: -54, CW: -58

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-Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), The X Factor (Fox), Person of Interest (CBS), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Wipeout (ABC), Community (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), America’s Funniest Home Videos Christmas Spectacular (ABC), Whitney (NBC), The Great Big American Auction (ABC), Grimm (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was another overnight Thursday victory for CBS care of its combination of The Big Bang Theory (#1: 9.3 rating/15 share at 8 p.m. – top-rated for the evening), soon-to-depart Rules of Engagement (#2: 6.3/10 at 8:30 p.m.), recent entry Person of Interest (#1: 8.3/13 at 9 p.m.), which was equal to year-ago occupant CSI, and The Mentalist (#1: 8.5/15 at 10 p.m.). While the norm for most shows is some degree or erosion from one year earlier, The Big Bang Theory increased by 11 percent from the year-ago telecast (8.4/13 on 12/10/10). Next week, laugh out loud The Big Bang Theory tapes its 100th episode.

As a reminder, upcoming CBS sitcom Rob!, which features the former Saturday Night Live star as a lifelong bachelor who marries into a tight-knit Mexican-American family, inherits the Thursday 8:30 p.m. time period on Jan. 12. Rules of Engagement, which had its episode order slashed from 18 to 13 (not counting the two left-over episodes from last season) will return at a later date.

Second-place Fox was on the map with its combination of The X Factor (#2: 7.2/12 at 8 p.m.), which increased by 22 percent from year-ago occupant Bones, and the now 9 p.m. installment of veteran Bones (#2: 5.8/ 9). Year-to-year, Bones built by 71 percent from former time period occupant Fringe (3.4/ 5 on 12/10/10). As a reminder, American Idol returns to Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Fox effective on Jan. 19 and into Bones spin-off The Finder (which debuts out of Bones one week earlier). Based on The Locator book series, an outspoken former military man (Geoff Stults) who can find anyone is the focus of The Finder.

Over at ABC, the winter season-premiere of Wipeout (which would be more of an attraction if the network aired it in the summer only) finished a distant third at 8 p.m. with a 3.8/ 6 in the overnights. Wipeout led into a holiday themed installment of long-running America’s Funniest Home Videos (#3: 3.7/ 6), which paled in comparison to regularly scheduled 9 p.m. occupant Grey’s Anatomy, followed by 10 p.m. special The Great Big American Auction, hosted by Ty Pennington, at a not so great 3.2/ 6 at 10 p.m. Ty Pennington will be one of the hosts of new ABC daytime talk show The Revolution, which opens on Monday, Jan. 16 (in place of ousted serial One Life To Life).

NBC had more disappointing news, meanwhile, care of the Thursday 10 p.m. time period test for regularly scheduled Friday 9 p.m. occupant Grimm. Grimm finished third in the overnights with a lackluster 3.1/ 5. One week earlier, canceled Prime Suspect (which skews considerably older) was stronger at a 3.7/ 6.

Earlier in the evening on NBC, lackluster sitcoms Community (2.6/ 4) and Parks and Recreation (2.7/ 4), which are not the type of comedies capable of attracting a mass audience, finished a distant fourth in the 8 p.m. hour. The Office at 9 p.m. did perk up to a third-place 4.0/ 6, but year-to-year it was still down by 18 percent (4.9/ 7 to 4.0/ 6). Whitney, which moves into the Wednesday 8 p.m. anchor position on Jan. 11, dipped to a fourth-place 3.1/ 5 at 9:30 p.m.

Thursday on NBC beginning on Jan. 12 will consist of the following:

8:00 p.m. 30 Rock (season premiere)
8:30 p.m. Parks and Recreation
9:00 p.m. The Office
9:30 p.m. Up All Night (new day and time)
10:00 p.m. The Firm (two-hour premiere on Sunday, Jan.

Three year-old Community, which should never have made it into a second season, will be going on hiatus.

Elsewhere, The CW populated this second Thursday in December with encore telecasts of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 0.9/ 2) and The Secret Circle (#5: 0.7/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights