Ratings Clack – Grimm brings NBC a rare time-slot victory

NBC - Time-slot wins are a thing that the suits over at NBC rarely see. Sure, Sunday Night Football (20.92m/8.1) is good for one a week, but after that… In what could only be described as a shocking twist, last week brought three. Along with football, The Office (5.5m/2.9) and Grimm (5.41m/1.6) both finished first in the demo for their respective spots. The Office benefited from a special two hour Private Practice that put the Grey’s team on the sidelines. Grimm, on the other hand, was facing full competition and still managed to tie CSI NY for first place. That’s probably a good sign that the show will at least see one full season. The rest of the week was quite full of the usual disappointments.

CBS - I continue to marvel at just how strong the comedy block is on Monday night. All four shows are well over 4 in the demo – How I Met Your Mother (10.42m/4.6), 2 Broke Girls (11.77m/4.8), Two And A Half Men (14.77m/5.4), Mike & Molly (12.18m/4.4). If we add in NCIS (20m/4) and Big Bang Theory (15.05m/5.3), CBS has six scripted shows above 4. That becomes really fascinating when you consider that ABC has one (Modern Family), and Fox and NBC both have none. As Les Moonves might put it, “Winning!”

FOX - At this point, it’s become clear that X Factor (11.31m/3.9 – 9.71m/3.1) is not the show that FOX thought it was going to be where ratings are concerned. Yes, it does count as their #1 show this week, but any comparisons to Idol have long since gone by the wayside. There seems to be a lot of that sprinkled around the FOX schedule. Family Guy (6.01m/3.1), House (6.63m/2.5), Glee (7.08m/3), and Bones (8.76m/2.7) are all coming up short of expectations. They’re all still doing well enough, but more was expected.

On a more positive note, there are The Simpsons (7.5m/3.4) and New Girl (6.91m/3.5). With Family Guy falling to 3.1, I would have expected The Simpsons to sink right with it. The fact that it’s having a bit of a resurgence in season 23 is kind of amazing. And while New Girl has fallen from the lofty premiere numbers, if you would have said FOX was going to have a half-hour comedy capable of 7 million viewers and a 3.5 last summer, I’m sure everyone at the network would have taken it. Given their recent success, or lack thereof, with comedy, that’s a check in the win column. The rest of the week included Allen Gregory (4.24m/2), Cleveland (4.87m/2.4), Terra Nova (7.01m/2.3), Raising Hope (4.84m/2.2), Kitchen Nightmares (3.45m/1.4), and Fringe (2.87m/1.1).

ABC - Modern Family (12.91m/5.6) fell to a series low in the demo last week, which meant it was only the number one scripted show on television. That’s a nice problem to have. And while not at CBS Monday levels, The Middle (9.19m/3), Suburgatory (8.19m/2.9), and Happy Endings (6.94m/3.2) look to have built a very solid two hour comedy block on Wednesday. That might have something to do with Cougar Town not being on the mid-season schedule.

The other great bit of news was that Once Upon A Time (11.36m/3.8) continues to hold up. With Grey’s off for the week, OUAT was the number one drama for the network. Desperate Housewives (9.29m/3), Pan Am (5.64m/1.8), Body Of Proof (9.76m/2), and Revenge (7.98m/2.6) weren’t even really in the running. The rest of the week included Dancing With The Stars (17.95m/3.2 – 15.1m/2.7), Last Man Standing (9.06m/2.6), and Man Up (6.29m/1.7).

CW - With no Vampire Diaries, there isn’t a lot of good news to share. The interesting bits are that Gossip Girl (1.24m/.6) is now more than 300,000 viewers behind every other show on the network, and that Supernatural (1.52m/.7) looks to be taking a hit from Grimm. The rest of the results were as expected – Hart Of Dixie (1.62m/.7), 90210 (1.59m/.7), Ringer (1.83m/.7), Next Top Model (1.9m/.8), Nikita (1.81m/.6).

CABLE - It was a good week for FX. Sons Of Anarchy (4.23m/2.2) continues to lead the way for the network. And that demo was good enough to top the network competition from NBC (Parenthood) and ABC (Body Of Proof) at 10. What might be even better news though, is the result for American Horror Story (3.06m/1.8). That’s not as impressive as SOA, but it does mark a series high. Any time a new show bests its premiere numbers, it’s a very good thing.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Nov 21, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT