Ratings News - 30th September - How did Fringe, Bones, TVD, Nikita do?

Cancellation Table has been updated.

Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
CBS Wins; Freshman Series Erosion on the Big 3

Thursday 9/30/10
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only.

HH
Rtg/Shr
CBS 8.7/14
ABC 6.0/10
Fox 5.0/ 8
NBC 3.7/ 6
CW 2.2/ 4

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, October 1, 2009):
CW: +16, Fox: + 4, CBS: + 2, NBC: no change, ABC: -18

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), $#*! My Dad Says (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), CSI (CBS), The Office (NBC), The Mentalist (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
My Generation (ABC), Community (NBC), Fringe (Fox), The Apprentice (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS led the overnight troops on this second Thursday of the new season, with a healthy 45 percent advantage over second-place ABC. But it does not mean the Eye net is guaranteed victory among adults 18-49. Third overall was Fox, followed by NBC and The CW.

CBS’ relocated The Big Bang Theory is a success story, with a dominant 8.7 rating/14 share in the overnights at 8 p.m. But week two of lead-out $#*! My Dad Says dipped to a 6.7/11 at 8:30 p.m. -- tied for overnight dominance with the second-half of Fox’s Bones. While $#*! My Dad Says should have no trouble winning the half-hour among adults 18-49, comparably it dipped by 23 percent out of The Big Bang Theory. And it was down by 13 percent from last week’s 7.7/12 on Sept. 23. Two weeks in, $#*! My Dad Says is still a “winner,” but the jury is still out whether or not this can succeed.

Next on CBS was veteran CSI at a second-place 8.8/13 at 9 p.m. (behind a 9.1/14 for Grey’s Anatomy on ABC), followed by The Mentalist at a dominant 9.6/16 at 10 p.m. Given The Mentalist is the stronger of the two CBS Thursday dramas, I fully expect CBS to flip the two by midseason.

ABC has sprung a major leak at 8 p.m., with week two of relationship drama My Generation at a fourth-place 3.0/ 5 in the overnights. Comparably, that was down by 23 percent from last week’s series-opener (3.9/ 6 on Sept. 23), and a hefty 52 percent from failed year-ago occupant FlashForward (6.2/10 on Oct. 1, 2009). Needless to say, this is a major concern.

Next on ABC was aforementioned Grey’s Anatomy at a dominant 9.1/14 at 9 p.m., followed by spin-off Private Practice a distant second behind CBS’ The Mentalist with a 5.9/10. While The Mentalist did beat Private Practice by 63 percent in the overnights, expect the variation among adults 18-49 to be much smaller.

Over at NBC, the immediate problem is anchor Community and 10 p.m. occupant The Apprentice. Sophomore Community opened the evening with a mere 3.2/ 5 in the overnights at 8 p.m. (tied for No. 3 with the first half of ABC’ My Generation), followed by relocated 30 Rock (#3: 4.0/ 6), veteran The Office (#3: 5.0/ 8), week two of sitcom Outsourced (#3: 4.1/ 6) and The Apprentice (#3: 3.0/ 5). The Office gets accolades, of course, for the expected solid finish among adults 18-49 (and overnight growth of 25 percent out of 30 Rock). And 30 Rock is worthy of positive mention for also building by 25 percent out of Community. But Outsourced at 9:30 p.m. slid by 18 percent in week two (5.0/ 8 to 4.1/ 6), so we’ll have to wait and see what the demos look like before passing any negative judgment.

Moving to Fox, underrated Bones remained just that, with a solid (and second-place) 6.4/11 in the overnights at 8 p.m. But Fringe at 9 p.m. is an eyesore, with a distant fourth-place 3.7/ 6. Comparably, retention for Fringe out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of Bones (6.7/11) was only 55 percent.

Capping off the evening was The CW’s combination of reliable The Vampire Diaries (#5: 2.5/ 4) and week four of Nikita (2.1/ 3), which maintained 87 percent of 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries (2.4/ 4). Compared to year-ago occupant Supernatural (1.7/ 3 on Oct. 1, 2009), Nikita built by 24 percent.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback