Ratings Clack – Falling Skies ends on a strong note, SYTYCD doesn’t

by Brett Love

Another slow week on the broadcast networks was highlighted by a down finale for 'So You Think You Can Dance'. Over on cable, the future looks bright for TNT's 'Falling Skies', which ended just a tenth below its premiere result.

CABLE - Fortunately, we’re now only a month away from the kickoff of the 2011-2012 season on the networks. Until that happens, things are going to remain pretty dull there. In the meantime, we do have some interesting results over on cable. The big finale last week was from TNT’s Falling Skies (5.54m/1.9 – 5.7m/1.9). That 1.9 result in the demo is just a tenth off of the premiere, and bodes very well for the show’s return in 2012.

Basic
In Plain Sight (4.09m/.9) Drop Dead Diva (2.36m/.7) Breaking Bad (1.83m/.7) The Glades (2.26m/.7) Warehouse 13 (2.55m/.9) Eureka (2.25m/.7) Alphas (2.01m/.7) Memphis Beat (3.02m/.6) Hawthorne (2.35m/.6) Rescue Me (1.17m/.5) Suits (3.96m/1.2) Burn Notice (4.75m/1.2) Hot In Cleveland (2.03m/.5) Jersey Shore (7.37m/3.7)	Rizzoli & Isles (6.46m/1.3) The Closer (6.5m/1.1) Secret Life Of The American Teen (2.53m/1.1) Teen Wolf (1.74m/.7) Nine Lives Of Chloe King (1.27m/.4) White Collar (4.3m/1.5) Covert Affairs (4.7m/1.4) Pretty Little Liars (2.54m/.9) Royal Pains (5.16m/1.4) Necessary Roughness (4.14m/1.3) Futurama (1.46m/.7) Wilfred (1.23m/.7) Louie (.73m/.4) Project Runway (2.8m/1.1)
Premium
True Blood (5.14m/2.9) Entourage (2.36m/1.3) Curb Your Enthusiasm (2.05m/.9) Weeds (.69m/.3) The Big C (.49m/.2)

FOX - The week started on a good note, with some small gains for Hell’s Kitchen (6.35m/2.7 – 6.41m/2.8). MasterChef (5.52m/2.3 – 6.05m/2.5) was less impressive, but still managed to do ok. Unfortunately, the finale didn’t add much of a boost to what has been a rather up and down (but mostly down) summer for So You Think You Can Dance (5.76m/1.9 – 6.13m/2). Both of those results were down around half a million viewers and three tenths compared to last summer. The other offering from FOX was the Teen Choice Awards (3.17m/1.1)

ABC - With The Bachelorette gone for another summer, the replacements didn’t really measure up. Ty’s Great British Adventure (3.83m/1) wasn’t actually that great, and Bachelor Pad (6.5m/1.9 – 7.19m/2.4 – 6.93m/2.3) had a solid debut, but still lagged behind what The Bachelorette had been bringing in. That was followed by another iffy Tuesday of Wipeout (6.25m/2), Take The Money And Run (4.75m/1.8), and Combat Hospital (3.14m/.8). The news got worse with a Thursday that looks to have taken a hit from pre-season football. That included Wipeout (5.06m/1.4), Expedition Impossible (3.83m/1.1), and Rookie Blue (3.97m/1). And the week ended with Karaoke Battle USA (4.01m/1).

NBC - A double-shot of Marriage Ref (3.12m/.9 – 2.71m/1) made for a slow start to the week. Business picked up after It’s Worth What (4.42m/1.1) handed off to America’s Got Talent (11.46m/3 – 9.73m/2.5). There was nothing exciting to report from Minute To Win It (4.84m/1.2) or Love In The Wild (4.62m/1.4). Finally, two more episodes of Friends With Benefits (2.44m/.6 – 2.19m/.7) brought the expected results as they were burned off on Friday.

CBS - The good news came in the form of an up trend for Big Brother (7.76m/2.8 – 7.69m/2.8 – 7.12m/2.7). Flashpoint (7.38m/1.5) also looked to make some big gains, but that is a preliminary number which will likely shrink when the finals strip out the NFL shenanigans. The only other new entry was Same Name (5.05m/1.6).

Photo Credit: TNT