Rating News - 29th April - Fringe Rises

-Friday’s Winners:
The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS)

-Friday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Shark Tank (ABC), Friday Night Lights (NBC), Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), Smallville (CW), Dateline (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Supernatural (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS, which benefited by the Royal Wedding, led this final Friday in April, with a first-place finish in both total viewers and key adults 18-49. An 8 p.m. special, The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty, lifted the Eye net to a dominant finish in both total viewers (8.59 million viewers) and adults 18-49 (1.7 rating/6 share). Tied for the distant No. 2 spot in the time period was Shark Tank on ABC (Viewers: #2, 4.59 million; A18-49: #3, 1.2/ 4) and Kitchen Nightmares on Fox (Viewers: #3, 3.29 million; A18-49: #2, 1.3/ 5). But both non-scripted hours have nothing to boast about, needless to say.

Rounding off the 8 p.m. hour was the final season of NBC’s low-rated Friday Night Lights (Viewers: #4, 2.99 million; A18-49: #5, 0.6/ 2), which sunk to a series low, and soon-to-conclude Smallville on The CW (Viewers: #5, 1.94 million; A18-49: #4, 0.8/ 3), which officially wraps up with a two-hour episode on May 13.

At 9 p.m., CBS’ veteran CSI: NY won the hour with 9.19 million viewers and a 1.7/ 5 in the demo. But since CBS is unlikely to schedule three hours of the CSI franchise in the fall, the best CSI: NY can probably hope for is a midseason return. On ABC, the first hour of an expanded edition of 20/20, A Modern Fairytale, finished second with 6.65 million viewers and a 1.5/ 5 in the demo. Tied for No. 3 was the first hour of another two-hour edition of NBC’s Dateline (Viewers: #3, 4.79 million; A18-49: #4, 1.1/ 4) and already renewed Fringe on Fox (Viewers: #4, 3.49 million; A18-49: #3, 1.3/ 4). My prediction for ratings-challenged Fringe, which has certainly not benefited since moving to Friday, is a return in midseason.

Capping off the 9 p.m. hour was The CW’s just-renewed (and last-place) Supernatural, which left little-to-be desired with 1.94 million viewers and a 0.9/ 3 in the demo. With Smallville exiting, chances are Supernatural will move into the 8 p.m. time period on Friday.

CBS’ sure-to-be picked-up Blue Bloods finished first in the 10 p.m. hour in total viewers (9.77 million – most-watched show of the evening), while tying the second hour of ABC’s Royal Wedding-themed 20/20 in the demo (each with a 1.6/ 5). 20/20 averaged 6.74 million viewers, which brought the 9-11 p.m. finish to a respectable 6.69 million viewers and a 1.5/ 5 in the demo. The second hour of NBC’s Dateline lagged at 4.94 million viewers and a 1.3/ 4 among adults 18-49. Overall, tired Dateline could only muster 4.87 million viewers and a 1.2/ 4 in the demo from 9-11 p.m. In a perfect world, NBC would remove Dateline from troubled Friday next season, but the best we can hope for is paring it down to one hour.

Source: Marc Berman