Ratings News - 17th February 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Thursday Ratings
Fox’s American Idol Down but Still Dominant

Thursday 2/16/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 11.1/17
CBS 8.4/14
ABC 5.0/ 8
NBC 2.4/ 4
CW 1.9/ 3

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 2/17/11
Fox: + 8, CW: no change, CBS: - 1, ABC: -12, NBC: -17

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

-Fading Fast:
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Office (NBC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Wipeout (ABC), 30 Rock (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Up All Night (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Two-hours of American Idol led Fox to Thursday overnight victory with an 11.1 rating/17 share from 8-10 p.m. But one-hour of Idol on the year-ago evening was considerably stronger at a 14.0/22 on 2/17/11.

Second overall for the evening was CBS with its combination of red-hot The Big Bang Theory (#2: 10.1/16), which built by 17 percent year-to-year, recent entry Rob! (#2: 6.4/10), Person of Interest (#2: 8.5/13) and The Mentalist (#2: 8.8/ 6). Like former Thursday 8:30 p.m. occupants Rules of Engagement and $#*! My Dad Says, CBS will need to decide if time period dependent Rob! is worth keeping on the air. One year earlier, the series-finale of $#*! My Dad says scored a similar 6.2/10 on 2/17/11 (out of an 8.6/14 for The Big Bang Theory).

Over at ABC, diluted Wipeout, which has not benefited airing outside of the summer, opened with a distant third-place 3.3/ 5 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Year-to-year, that was down by 13 percent. At 9 p.m., tired Grey’s Anatomy slipped to third with a 6.3/10, which was off by 19 percent from one year earlier (7.8/12 on 2/17/11). That led into spin-off Private Practice, which had better retention this week (87 percent) at a second-place 5.5/ 9 at 10 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy, no doubt, was negatively impacted opposite American Idol. As a reminder, Private Practice will move into the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour out of Dancing With the Stars for four weeks beginning on April 10.

Elsewhere, The Vampire Diaries on The CW continues to resonate at a 2.4/ 4 (#5) in the overnights at 8 p.m. But lead-out The Secret Circle, which should be a better fit, slipped to a 1.5/ 5 (#5) at 9 p.m. Comparably, that was equal to former occupant Nikita on the year-ago evening, with retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries (2.3/ 4) of 65 percent.

NBC capped off this third Thursday in February with its low-rated line-up of 30 Rock (#4: 2.9/ 5), Parks and Recreation (#4: 2.7/ 4), The Office (#4: 3.4/ 5), Up All Night (#4, series-low 2.2/ 3) and a repeat of Grimm (#3: 1.7/ 3). Particularly worrisome is year-to-year overnight slippage of 21 percent for The Office. That said, NBC should not move forward on a proposed spin-off headlined by Rainn Wilson as oddball Dwight. That type of character works better in a secondary role and not the lead. Remember Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights