Ratings News - 26th April 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:
Huge Victory for Dancing-Ignited ABC; Soggy Freshman Returns

Monday 4/25/11
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT.

HH
Rtg/Shr
ABC 10.6/17
CBS 4.4/ 7
NBC 3.1/ 5
Fox 3.1/ 5
CW 1.3/ 2

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Monday 4/26/10):
ABC: + 4, NBC: -11, CBS and CW: -19 each, Fox: -56

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Mad Love (CBS), 90210 (CW), The Event (NBC), Gossip Girl (CW), Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC)

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Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Monday, April 25, 2011.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was no contest on this final Monday in April with the home of Dancing with the Stars, ABC, besting No. 2 CBS by a whopping 141 percent. With the exception of failing sitcom Mad Love, however, CBS aired all repeats. Tied for third overall was NBC and Fox, which bodes poorly for a night of all originals on NBC versus encores on Fox, followed by lacking The CW, which never resonates in the overnights.

Dancing with the Stars stood well above anything competitor last night, with a 15.1 rating/23 share in the overnights from 8-9:30 p.m. and growth by half-hour as follows: 14.1/22 -- 15.4/23 -- 15.7/23. My pick to big adieu tonight: Chris Jericho, who did not deserve the verbal thrashing he received from judge Bruno. A 9:30 p.m. edition of on-the-fence freshman comedy Better Than You, featuring a guest spot by Derek Hough from Dancing with the Stars, rose to a series-high 7.8/12 (#1) at 9:30 p.m. But before ABC issues a second season renewal, keep in mind that retention out of the 9:00 p.m. portion of Dancing with the Stars was only 50 percent.

At 10 p.m., a repeat of ABC’s Castle led with a 5.3/ 9 in the overnights.

Over at CBS, the network opened with a repeat of How I Met Your Mother (#2: 3.5/ 6 at 8 p.m.), followed by expected-to-be axed recent entry Mad Love at a second-place 3.6/ 5 at 8:30 p.m. Considering Mad Love cannot build out of an encore telecast of How I Met Your Mother in the higher HUT-level 8:30 p.m. half-hour, the end is definitely near. The remainder of CBS’ line-up -- The Big Bang Theory (#2: 5.1/ 8), Mike & Molly (#2: 5.1/ 8) and Hawaii Five-O (#2: 4.5/ 7) from 9-11 p.m. -- were encore telecasts.

Elsewhere, NBC needs to do a complete revamp on Monday next season. A repeat of needs-to-be axed Chuck limped out of the gate with a fourth-place 1.9/ 3 in the overnights at 8 p.m., followed by freshman occupants The Event (#3: 3.2/ 5), which does not live up to its title, and Law & Order: Los Angeles (#3: 4.2/ 7) from 9-11 p.m. LOLA, unfortunately, could not even outdeliver repeats of competing Castle and Hawaii Five-O, while The Event lost any momentum it had after taking an unnecessary three-month hiatus.

Fox populated the evening with repeats of House (#3: 3.5/ 5) and The Chicago Code (#4: 2.8/ 4), which is 50-50 for renewal. And The CW capped off the evening with 90210 (#5: 1.4/ 2) and Gossip Girl (#5: 1.2/ 2), which are both expected back in 2011-12 despite the lack of audience interest. While I do understand that young females are The CW’s target audience, overnights this low will not translate well elsewhere.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: pifeedback