Ratings News - 3rd May 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:
Hefty Victory for ABC; Year-to-Year Declines Elsewhere

Monday 5/02/11
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 12.7/19
CBS 5.3/ 8
Fox 4.9/ 7
NBC 3.0/ 5
CW 1.2/ 2

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Monday 5/03/10):
ABC: +21, CBS: -16, CW: -20, NBC: -23, Fox: -27

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

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Chuck (NBC), 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, May 2, 2011.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was another slam-dunk overnight Monday victory for ABC, which more than doubled the household rating of No. 2 CBS thanks to Dancing with the Stars. Third overall was Fox, which continues to see aging medical drama House deteriorate, followed by distant NBC and, of course, The CW.

Dancing with the Stars on ABC roared to the winning finish line with a 14.7 rating/22 share from 8-10 p.m., and the half-hour breakdown as follows: 13.6/21 – 14.7/22 – 15.6/23 – 15.0/22. That led into Castle, which benefited with a dominant 8.5/14 in the overnights at 10 p.m. (with retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing with the Stars of 57 percent).

CBS, no doubt, has felt the absence of original episodes of Two and a Half Men since the whole Charlie Sheen brouhaha. Demo friendly How I Met Your Mother kicked-off the night with a third-place 4.9/ 7 at 8 p.m., followed by recent failing entry Mad Love at a third-place 4.0/ 6 at 8:30 p.m. Considering HUT levels are higher at 8:30 p.m., Mad Love should not have dropped by 18 percent. Next was a repeat of aforementioned Two and a Half Men (#2: 5.0/ 7 at 9 p.m.), which dipped by 37 percent from a year-ago telecast of The Big Bang Theory (7.9/11 on May 3, 2010), followed by freshman entry Mike & Molly at a second-place 5.5/ 8 at 9:30 p.m. All things considered, growth of 10 percent out of the Two and a Half Men encore is a positive worth noting for Mike & Molly.

The Eye net’s sure-to-be renewed revival of Hawaii Five-O capped off the night with a second-place 6.4/10 at 10 p.m.

Over at Fox, House finished second with a 5.9/ 9 in the overnights at 8 p.m. But compared to one year earlier (7.0/11 on May 3, 2010), this was a loss of 16 percent. House led into on-the-fence freshman drama The Chicago Code at a third-place 3.9/ 6 at 9 p.m. (and retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of House -- 6.0/ 9 -- of 65 percent). Considering Fox has already committed to The X Factor and Steven Spielberg drama Terra Nova next fall, chances of The Chicago Code returning are slim.

Elsewhere, NBC had another dismal Monday showing care of Chuck (#4: 3.0/ 5), The Event (#4: 2.8/ 4) and Law & Order: Los Angeles (#3: 3.4/ 6) and will have to revamp the evening in its entirety next season. And The CW continues to lack with its line-up of 90210 (#5: 1.3/ 2) and Gossip Girl (#5: 1.1/ 2) despite already renewing both dramas for next season.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: pifeedback