Ratings News - 15th December 2011 *Full Tables Added*

Wednesday 12/14/11

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 7.6/12
Fox 6.5/10
ABC 5.6/ 9
NBC 2.8/ 5
CW 1.2/ 2

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday 12/15/10):
ABC: +60, Fox: +59, CW: +33, CBS: - 1, NBC: -47

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-Winners:
Survivor: South America (CBS), The X Factor (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
I Hate My Teenage Daughter (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS led this second Wednesday in December in the overnights with a first-place finish in each half-hour care of Survivor: South Pacific (6.9 rating/11 share), Criminal Minds (8.0/13) and CSI (8.0/14). Compared to short-lived year-ago 10 p.m. occupant The Defenders (6.7/11 on 12/14/10), veteran CSI built by 19 percent. As for Survivor last night, it looks like Brandon Hantz will go down in the record books for making one of the worst moves in the long-running reality competition’s history.

Next was Fox with a 90-minute installment of The X Factor (#1: 7.5/12 from 8-9:30 p.m.) and week three of uneventful sitcom I Hate My Teenage Daughter, which dipped to a third-place 3.6/ 6 at 9:30 p.m. Comparably, retention for I Hate My Teenage Daughter out of the 9 p.m. portion of The X Factor (7.8/12) was only 46 percent. Three-week overnight track for I Hate My Teenage Daughter: 4.8/ 7 – 3.6/ 6 – 3.6/ 6).

Over at ABC, a 90-minute installment of annual special Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011 was on the map with a 7.0/12 from 9:30-11 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011
9:30 p.m.: 6.7/11 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 7.3/12 (#2)
10:30 p.m.: 7.0/12 (#2)

One year earlier, the annual Barbara Walters special scored a heftier 9.2/15 on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2010. The most fascinating person of 2011 was Apple creator Steve Jobs. On a note to Simon Cowell (who is not all that “fascinating” in this person’s opinion): The X Factor will never reach 20-million viewers.

Earlier in the evening on ABC were encore telecasts of The Middle (#3: 4.3/ 7), Suburgatory (#3: 3.7/ 6) and the exceptional Modern Family (#3: 4.7/ 7) from 8-9:30 p.m. The highlight of last night’s Barbara Walters special was the segment with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet.

Elsewhere, NBC populated the evening with encore telecasts of Up All Night (#4: 2.7/ 4), Whitney (#4: 2.4/ 4), Harry’s Law (#4: 3.0/ 5) and Law & Order: SVU (#3: 2.9/ 5). And The CW aired repeats of America’s Next Top Model (#5: 1.0/ 2), which is taking a break in midseason, and CBS special Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (#5: 1.4/ 2).

As a reminder, NBC’s Whitney moves into the Wednesday 8 p.m. anchor position on Jan. 11, leading into new comedy Are You There, Chelsea? at 8:30 p.m. and relocated Rock Center with Brian Williams at 9 p.m. Inspired by Chelsea Handler’s autobiographical book, a highly opinionated single young female cocktail waitress in her 20s (Laura Prepon) is the focus of Are You There, Chelsea? On The CW, the final season of One Tree Hill opens on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m., leading into non-scripted Remodeled, which centers around modeling industry veteran Paul Fisher as he tries to bring together hundreds of small agencies around the world in a new venture called The Network.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights