Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 3/04/10

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 14.34 million, Fox: 13.70, ABC: 8.16, NBC: 7.19, CW: 1.62

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.9 rating/13 share, CBS: 3.6/10, NBC: 3.5/10, ABC: 2.6/ 7, CW: 0.7/ 2

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox), Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (CBS), CSI (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Office (NBC), The Mentalist (CBS), The Marriage Ref (NBC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Community (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Private Practice (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was a Thursday of mixed leadership, with CBS the most-watched network and the home of American Idol, Fox, No. 1 among adults 18-49. The live American Idol Results Stood well above anything else last night, with a hefty 19.31 million viewers and a 6.5 rating/19 share among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. As correctly predicted, John Park, Jermaine Sellers and Haeley Vaughn were sent packing last night, with unexpected Michelle Delamor the fourth to depart. American Idol led into Kitchen Nightmares, which squandered the lead-in support with a fourth-place finish in both total viewers (8.09 million) and adults 18-49 (3.3/ 9) at 9 p.m. Comparably, retention for Kitchen Nightmares out of the second half of American Idol (Viewers: 20.71 million; A18-49: 7.1/20 at 8:30 p.m.) was just 39 percent in total viewers and 46 percent in the demo.

Over at CBS, must see Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was on the map with a comfortable second-place finish in both total viewers (12.69 million) and adults 18-49 (3.8/11) at 8 p.m. Comparably, that outdelivered the year-ago edition set in Tocantins (Viewers: 11.85 million; A18-49: 3.8/10 on March 5, 2009) by 840,000 viewers (with no change in the demo). That was quite a satisfying Tribal Council last night, wasn’t it? Go Tom and Colby! Survivor led into CSI (Viewers: #1, 15.57 million; A18-49: #2, 3.7/10 at 9 p.m.), followed by compatible The Mentalist (Viewers: #1, 14.78 million; A18-49: #2, 3.2/ 9 at 10 p.m.).

A repeat of Grey’s Anatomy (Viewers: #3, 5.05 million; A18-49: #4, 1.2/ 3 at 8 p.m.) opened the evening for ABC, followed by the regularly scheduled edition of the aging medical drama (Viewers: #2, 11.79 million; A18-49: #2, 4.0/11) and spin-off Private Practice (Viewers: #3, 7.65 million; A18-49: #3, 2.7/ 8) from 9-11 p.m. Both Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice took a backseat to NBC among adults 18-49 (with Private Practice dipping to third in total viewers).

There was both good and bad news over at NBC. Sitcoms Community (Viewers: #3, 5.06 million; A18-49: #3, 2.3/ 7) and Parks and Recreation (Viewers: #4, 4.64 million; A18-49: #3, 2.3/ 6) continue to struggle in the 8 p.m. hour, but the birth of Pam and Jim’s baby on a one-hour edition of The Office perked up to 9.03 million viewers (#3) and a dominant 4.7/12 among adults 18-49 from 9-10 p.m. Even so, and speaking as a fan, last night’s episode was just plain annoying.

The Thursday 10 p.m. time period debut of NBC’s The Marriage Ref got off to a positive start, with 7.71 million viewers (#2) and a first-place 3.4/10 among adults 18-49. Needless to say, this was a vast improvement over recent time period occupant The Jay Leno Show. But after sitting through last night’s show, I have to wonder…are the celebrity guests injected with laughing gas given their obnoxious non-stop chuckling? And, just an opinion, but wouldn’t it be more interesting to see the audience vote for which member of the couple they agree with rather than host Tom Papa?

In the distant No. 5 spot for the evening were repeats of The Vampire Diaries (Viewers: #5, 1.69 million; A18-49: #5, 0.7/ 2) and Supernatural (Viewers: #5, 1.55 million; A18-49: #5, 0.6/ 2) on The CW.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Really good numbers for CSI. That may be the first time it did better than The Mentalist in quite some time.

The Marriage Ref is actually doing better than I thought. I think part of the appeal is the stunt casting as people watch for Tina Fey, Eva Longoria, Madonna, etc. I don't think it'll make it back Thursday at 10 PM next season but I wouldn't be surprised to see it on Fridays in the fall paired with two hour Datelines if NBC wants to go the cheap route for Fridays to focus on its other days.

Marc, what was the half-hour breakdown for Marriage Ref?

I think CSI was boosted by the appearance of Rascal Flatts, guest stars like them and Taylor Swift seem to attract an audience.

What happened to the 10pm shows as they all dropped in the second half hour, wonder if the season finale of Burn Notice affected them?

Marriage Ref really skewed young. 3.4 demo with only 7.7 million viewers means most of its viewers were young.

quote:

Originally posted by Twins12:
Really good numbers for CSI. That may be the first time it did better than The Mentalist in quite some time.

CSI probably got a boost from Rascal Flatts who guest starred in the episode and was pretty well promoted.
Congrats to The Office. I enjoyed the episode, but felt that an hour was too long. I thought Jim and Pam were great, especially the whole breast feeding scenario (the male lactation nurse and the wrong baby-hilarious!); pretty much went down hill after that though. I like Dwight, and Angela, but the last scene was weird.
I sampled the Marriage Ref again. Clearly the guest couples were not as good and the stories not very funny. I did enjoy Eva Longoria Parker. I kind of wish Tina Fey had been on last week with Alec Baldwin. I can't wait for Gervais and Madonna and Larry David!

Quite surprised that The Office did just about as well last night as the wedding ep from the fall. I didn't think the spike would be that big. It seemed like the wedding ep actually brought the ratings up a couple ticks for several weeks following (from a 3.9ish into the low 4's), so I hope it happens again. And I really liked the ep, Marc!

Noting that "losers" Community/P&R pulled 2.3's against Idol & Survivor while "non-losers" Gary and The Middle were at least a couple ticks lower than both. I don't think it's an anti-NBC bias like AL does, I just think it's Marc putting more stock in total viewers than I do, but I feel those two shows have done OK considering where they were when they first started airing together.

The Office did well, as expected, but the episode was a huge disappointment. There wasn't even enough good material for a solid half-hour episode, so stretching it to an hour was a very, very bad idea. They squandered a lot of good potential. Anyone else think the whole season has been off?

Private Practice really has trouble holding an audience without the Grey's crossovers, which annoy Grey's viewers. I hate being forced to watch a show I don't enjoy just so I can follow developments on one I do like.

I really thought Todrick was going home last night, I'm pretty disappointed that I have to watch him perform again, I'd rather see Tim Urban perform twice, and I am not a fan of him either. It was nice to see Haeley go home, proving that those vote for the worst people are practically irrelevant nowadays, my worst fear is that Lacey will be around for weeks now.

The plan was perfect on Survivor last night. Split the vote 3-3-2. The idol would have been worthless if not for JT. It was interesting how the Heroes split up and searched for the idol while the villains decided to target anyone who searched for it. None of those villains except Russel have ever come close to a HII.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dale Key,

quote:

Originally posted by Anna:
The Office did well, as expected, but the episode was a huge disappointment. There wasn't even enough good material for a solid half-hour episode, so stretching it to an hour was a very, very bad idea. They squandered a lot of good potential. Anyone else think the whole season has been off?

Private Practice really has trouble holding an audience without the Grey's crossovers, which annoy Grey's viewers. I hate being forced to watch a show I don't enjoy just so I can follow developments on one I do like.

PP actually holds the Grey's audience pretty well usually. They just advertised both shows as sex romps this week so I guess people didn't see much reason to tune in.

I really enjoyed the Office last night. I thought there was some big laugh moments. Only the Dwight getting the mold out of the kitchen line was a little weak. But other than that. Pretty good. Kevin was especially funny. I loved his suggestion on doing the opposite of eating spicy foods.

quote:

Originally posted by Anna:
The Office did well, as expected, but the episode was a huge disappointment. There wasn't even enough good material for a solid half-hour episode, so stretching it to an hour was a very, very bad idea. They squandered a lot of good potential. Anyone else think the whole season has been off?

Private Practice really has trouble holding an audience without the Grey's crossovers, which annoy Grey's viewers. I hate being forced to watch a show I don't enjoy just so I can follow developments on one I do like.

Once it loses The Office lead-in, Marriage Ref will come crashing down to earth in no time. I'd actually be very surprised if it can even maintain 30 Rock's lead-in, which isn't saying much.

As for Kitchen Nightmares on the loser list, understandable, but I think that may be a bit harsh considering the competition across the board in that hour, especially in the demo.

That was probably one of the most exciting tribal votes in a long time.
On idol, it is nice to know that votefortheworst.com is not having much of an influence but I have to wonder why the minorities r the ones going, granted some r not that good but Joe,Ashley and especially michelle deserved to stay. This is why I dislike Kara she seems two faced and will kick u while u r on the ground--her take back of michelle was cruel.

If I were on "Idol" this year, I'm not sure which I'd dread more...


a) having to go second in the semi-finals
b) being a hot chick
c) being a minority


And don't even get me started on d) being a hot chick minority who has to go second in the semi-finals.