NBC - With the NFL heading into playoffs, the weekly boost from Sunday Night Football was gone, replaced with the premiere of The Firm (6.32m/1.4). Needless to say, that’s quite a downgrade. Of course, The Firm doesn’t have to measure up to football. Unfortunately, it does have to measure up to something, and whatever that is probably sits somewhere above the numbers for Thursday’s second episode (4.23m/1). Put another way, this case will likely be settled out of court rather quickly.
Also premiering for NBC were Are You There Chelsea (6.18m/2.3) and 30 Rock (4.47m/1.8). Those are both iffy, but could be worse, results. Not a great premiere number for Chelsea, but it did build out of Whitney (5.79m/2). It was also ahead of Harry’s Law (8.39m/1.2) and SVU (8.4m/2) in the demo. And while 30 Rock was seven or eight million viewers south of the Big Bang competition, it is certainly an upgrade from Community. The rest of Thursday was made up of Parks & Rec (4.09m/1.9), The Office (5.9m/2.9), and Up All Night (4.24m/2.4).
Earlier in the week you’ll find a typical Monday of Who’s Still Standing (6.19m/1.6), Fear Factor (5.53m/2.3), and Rock Center (3.04m/.7). That was followed by the by-the-numbers duo of Biggest Loser (6.65m/2.4) and Parenthood (4.7m/1.7) on Wednesday. The week wrapped up with Chuck (3.24m/.9) and Grimm (4.62m/1.4) on Friday.
CBS - The week started with a bit of a boost for The Good Wife (11.65m/2.7) and CSI Miami (10.46m/2.6) thanks to playoff football. On Tuesday, Gibbs didn’t need football to knock down 21 million viewers for NCIS (21.03m/4.1). NCIS LA (16.6m/3.3) and Unforgettable (11.2m/2.1) finished the night. Wednesday brought the People’s Choice Awards (8.88m/2.5).
The best news for the week came on Thursday, where Big Bang Theory (16.13m/5.3) took the demo crown for the week. That led to a solid premiere for Rob (13.47m/4.1). That sounds good now, but let’s wait for a few more numbers. For perspective, that is very close to where $#*! My Dad Says (12.58m/4) premiered following Big Bang, but worlds ahead of where How To Be A Gentleman (8.98m/2.7) began. Another positive Thursday note – Person Of Interest (14.86m/3.2) returned with highs in viewers and demo, while facing Grey’s and The Office. The Mentalist (13.65m/2.7) finished the night. And the week wrapped with the usual Friday of A Gifted Man (8.67m/1.3), CSI NY (10.47m/1.7), and Blue Bloods (11.87m/1.8).
ABC - The big news was the series finale of Work It (4.9m/1.5). News, of course, because it turned out that episode two was the series finale. The rest of Tuesday included Last Man Standing (7.57m/2.1), Wife Swap (5.21m/2.1), and Body Of Proof (6.9m/1.6). Earlier in the week, Once Upon A Time (10.35m/3.7) continued its strong first season while Desperate Housewives (8.84m/3) continued to do well in its last. Pan Am (3.96m/1.3), for its part, is just running out the string at this point. Monday was down, but not out, with The Bachelor (7.31m/2.2) and Castle (9.76m/2.3).
Wednesday continues to be successful all around thanks to the steady comedy block of The Middle (9.45m/2.9), Suburgatory (8.75m/2.9), Modern Family (12.12m/5.1), and Happy Endings (6.68m/3). Revenge (7.58m/2.4) is accounting for itself well also, finishing as the top 10 PM drama in the demo for the network. Thursday was uneventful, with Wipeout (7.12m/2.2), Grey’s Anatomy (10.71m/3.8), and Private Practice (6.55m/2.3). And the week finished with the series finale of Extreme Makeover Home Edition (6.46m/1.7).
FOX - Ok, now here’s the one I just don’t get. FOX unveiled The Finder (5.55m/1.7) to what could best be described as disappointing numbers. And I have no idea what they were thinking. That was on the heels of a down Bones (8.64m/2.4). Here’s the sticky wicket. The second episode of The Finder is going to be following American Idol. So… why not just put the first episode there? Put on your junior programming executive cap and take a guess at which spot would make for a better premiere. This might be the unheard of case where episode two doubles the premiere number. Rather, this better be the case where episode two doubles the premiere number, or The Finder might be searching for a new job.
Earlier, The Simpsons (5.07m/2.3), Cleveland (4.48m/2.2), Family Guy (6.23m/3.1), and American Dad (4.79m/2.2) got the week off to a bit of a slow start. And really, there was nothing exciting coming in its wake. Mobbed (3.42m/1.3), Kitchen Nightmares (3.8m/1.7), and Fringe (2.89m/1.1) made up the rest of the schedule.
CW - One Tree Hill (1.72m/.9) returned to a solid number. That’s well above the 1.48m/.7 of the last season finale, and enough to make it the highlight for what was an otherwise down week, including Vampire Diaries (2.86m/1.2), Secret Circle (1.93m/.8), Nikita (1.46m/.5), and Supernatural (1.5m/.6).
CABLE - The story of The Game (5.29m/2.8) continues to be a fascinating one. It’s amazing enough that it actually managed the nearly impossible jump from network to cable and gained a second life. But it’s even more amazing that it’s bringing in such great numbers on cable. It’s probably impossible to quantify which show actually has the most loyal fans, but The Game would be in the conversation.
| Basic | |
|
|
| Premium | |
|
|
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jan 16, 2012 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
FOX held this episode of Bones from December to be a lead-in for The Finder’s premiere which makes it even weirder. They should have just aired that episode in December.
I don’t get that either.
Should have just had Bones fall finale in the fall. (Shocking thought!) and just waited a week and shown The Finder after AI. It just seems very very weird to me. Even “bad” AI ratings would get double that of Bones. It’s not like any of the Bones characters were even in the pilot of The Finder.
I hope Person of Interest and Revenge can retain this momentum through the spring. So many other new shows are dying that I haven’t even had the time to sample yet.
*POST AUTHOR*
I suspect that the arrival of Idol means the growth will be short-lived for Person of Interest. Unless The Finder implodes unimaginably, the boost it receives from Idol will take a bit of the wind out of PoI‘s sails.
Ha, I was right there with you in agreement up until you mentioned The Finder. Any other Idol-boosted FOX hour-long I can imagine taking down Person of Interest, but if that show manages to do so, PoI will have deserved to die.
Is my memory faulty, or is The Finder already doing Human Target levels of ratings suckage?