Ratings News - 6th October 2011 *Full Ratings Tables*

We'll have the full tables and updated Cancellation Chart online shortly. Check the Twitter feed for updates.



Wednesday 10/05/11 Overnights

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 7.3/12
Fox 6.7/11
ABC 6.2/10
NBC 4.9/ 8
CW 1.3/ 2

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday 10/06/10):
Fox: +56, ABC: +24, CBS: - 3, NBC: -14, CW: -35

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-Winners:
The X Factor (Fox), Survivor: South Pacific (CBS), The Middle (ABC), Suburgatory (ABC), Modern Family (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI (CBS), Revenge (ABC)

-Honorable Mention:
Harry’s Law (NBC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Free Agents (NBC), H8R (CW), America’s Next Top Model (CW), Happy Endings (ABC), Raising Hope (Fox)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS moved into the dominant spot in the Wednesday overnights, six-tenths of a rating point ahead of No. 2 Fox (which fell to second because it trimmed The X Factor to 90-minutes). The home of Modern Family, ABC, ranked a competitive third, followed by NBC and, of course, The CW. Minus a full night of The X Factor (which is no American Idol), leadership among adults 18-49 could fall in either ABC, CBS of Fox’s corner.

The X Factor scored a 7.6 rating/12 share from 8-9:30 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Here is the half-hour breakdown for The X Factor:
8:00 p.m.: 7.1/12 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 7.9/12 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 7.9/12 (#2t)

Compared to Hell’s Kitchen on the year-ago evening (4.3/ 7 on 10/06/10), The X Factor was an improvement of 77 percent. Next on Fox was a Wednesday 9:30 p.m. edition of Raising Hope, which slipped to fourth with an 3.8/ 6. That put retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of The X Factor of just 48 percent. While Raising Hope could move up one or two notches among adults 18-49 (ahead of Harry’s Law on NBC for sure), based on the overnights the lack of retention is a definite negative.

Survivor: South Pacific on CBS remained on the 8-9 p.m. map, with a second-place 6.3/10. One year earlier, Survivor: Nicaragua averaged a 7.2/12 (on 10/06/10) in the less competitive time period. The Eye net’s underrated Criminal Minds, as usual, picked up steam at 9 p.m., finishing first overall in the hour with an 8.3/13 in the overnights. One of the unsung heroes this season, meanwhile, is veteran CSI on CBS, which finished first at 10 p.m. with a 7.2/12. Compared to failed year-ago occupant The Defenders (6.2/10 on 10/06/10), this was an increase of 16 percent.

Over at ABC, the Wednesday standout, of course, was Modern Family at a 9.0/14 at 9 p.m. That was the highest rated show in the overnights for the evening, and it built from week two of lead-in Suburgatory (#3: 6.3/10 at 8:30 p.m.) by a hefty 43 percent. But worth positively noting for Suburgatory was:

-Growth of 37 percent from failed year-ago occupant Better With You (4.6/ 7 on 10/06/10).
-Growth of five percent from above-average lead-in The Middle (6.0/10 at 8 p.m.)
-A loss of only nine percent from last Wednesday’s well sampled debut.

Consider Suburgatory an early season “winner” for ABC. Unfortunately, the same word cannot be used to describe episode two of the sophomore season of sitcom Happy Endings. Happy Endings at 9:30 p.m. slid to third, with a 4.8/ 8 -- 47 percent below lead-in Modern Family. One year earlier, former time period occupant Cougar Town scored a 5.0/ 8 (out of an 8.0/12 for Modern Family). Needless to say, ABC should be doing much better here. Happy Endings is wasting a tremendous opportunity.

At 10 p.m. on ABC, week three of drama Revenge finished second behind CSI with a 5.7/10 in the overnights. Comparably, this remains a major improvement over short-lived year-ago occupant The Whole Truth (3.5/ 6 on 10/06/10), and retention from week two was very acceptable at 92 percent. Three-week overnight track for Revenge:

Revenge (ABC)
9/21/11: 7.0/12
9/28/11: 6.2/10
10/05/11: 5.8/10

Also worth noting was overnight growth for Revenge out of lead-in Happy Endings of 21 percent.

Over at NBC, the axe is ready to swing at any moment of sitcom Free Agents, which finished a distant fourth at 8:30 p.m. with a 2.4/ 4. Comparably, that dipped from lead-in Up All Night (#4: 3.9/ 6 at 8 p.m.) by 38 percent. NBC would be wise to move potentially promising Up All Night to Thursdays at 8 p.m. in place of deadly Community.

At 9 p.m. on NBC, older-skewing Harry’s Law finished tied for third in the hour with a 5.9/10. Comparably, that built by Free Agents by 146 percent. Law & Order: SVU capped off the evening for the Peacock net with a third-place 5.7/10 at 10 p.m. -- 21 percent below CBS’ competing CSI. Regardless, this is still enough to keep SVU on the air for at least another season.

The CW could not compete with its combination of cellar-dweller H8R (#5: 1.0/ 2) and tired America’s Next Top Model (#5: 1.7/ 3). One year earlier, Top Model opened the evening with a 2.5/ 4 on 10/06/10, leading to a 1.6/ 2 for short-lived drama Hellcats. No one ever said programming a network was easy!

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights