Ratings News - 6th January 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Thursday Rating Results
ABC Inches Past Repeat Populated CBS

Thursday 1/05/12

Household
Rating/Share
ABC 6.3/10
CBS 6.1/10
Fox 3.1/ 5
CW 2.3/ 4
NBC 1.8/ 3

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 1/06/11):
CW: +130, Fox: + 7, ABC: -11, NBC: -14, CBS: -32

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-Winners:
The Big Bang Theory R (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)

-Honorable Mention:
The Vampire Diaries (CW)

-On the Fence (excluding repeats):
The Secret Circle (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
An evening of all originals inched past repeat-populated CBS for overnight Thursday dominance, but year-to-year ABC remains on the downside. In the distant No. 3 spot were two repeat episodes of Bones on Fox, followed by The CW, which benefited by a new episode of The Vampire Diaries, and all encore NBC.

Repeats of The Big Bang Theory (7.7 rating/12 share) and soon-to-exit Rules of Engagement (5.5/ 9) won the 8 p.m. hour on CBS, followed by encore telecasts of older-skewing dramas Person of Interest (#2: 5.7/ 9) and The Mentalist (#1: 6.1/11) from 9-11 p.m. As a reminder, upcoming sitcom Rob!, headlined by former SNL star Rob Schneider, debuts in place of Rules of Engagement on Jan. 12.

In season-premiere news, Wipeout on ABC, once a summer favorite only, was on the overnight map with a second-place 4.9/ 8 at 8 p.m. Next were the return of original episodes of long-running Grey’s Anatomy (#1: 8.4/13 at 9 p.m.), which was the top-rated show of the evening, and spin-off Private Practice (#2: 5.6/ 9 at 10 p.m.), which dipped by 34 percent from the 9:30 p.m. portion of its parent show (8.5/13).

The CW had positive news care of aforementioned The Vampire Diaries at 8 p.m. (#4: 2.8/ 4), which remains the network’s top-rated entry. But freshman drama The Secret Circle, which was aired in a nine-episode weeklong repeat marathon in the hopes of generating new viewers, dipped to fifth at 9 p.m. with a 1.9/ 3. Comparably, retention for The Secret Circle out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries (2.7/ 4) was 70 percent.

Elsewhere, the back-to-back encore telecasts of Bones on Fox averaged a 3.1/ 5 from 8-10 p.m. And fourth-place NBC filled the evening with repeats of Community (#5: 2.0/ 3), Parks and Recreation (#5: 1.9/ 3), The Office (#4: 2.0/. 3), Whitney (#4t, 1.8/ 3), another episode of The Office (#3: 1.3/ 4) and Up All Night (#3: 1.4/ 2). As a reminder, Community at 8 p.m. is taking a break to make room for the return of multi-honored 30 Rock beginning on Jan. 12. Parks and Recreation and The Office remain intact, leading into relocated Up All Night at 9:30 p.m. Canceled Prime Suspect will be replaced by new 10 p.m. legal drama The Firm, which is based on best-selling book from John Grisham.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights