Ratings News - 29th March 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Wednesday Ratings
Fox Wins; Struggling NBC Off The Charts

Wednesday 3/28/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 11.8/19
CBS 5.4/ 9
ABC 3.2/ 5
NBC 2.5/ 4
CW 1.3/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Wednesday 3/30/11
ABC and CW: no change each, CBS: -22, Fox: -24, NBC: -31

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox), Survivor: One World (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Whitney (NBC), Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC), One Tree Hill (CW), Bent (NBC), Happy Endings (ABC), America’s Next Top Model – British Invasion (CW), Rock Center With Brian Williams (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Mirroring all first quarter, American Idol on Fox is still a dominant player, leading the network to an easy midweek overnight victory (opposite predominantly repeats on ABC and CBS). But year-to-year, the aging singing competition dipped by 24 percent (15.6 rating/24 share to 11.8 rating/19 share). And there is every reason to believe the erosion will continue next season. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 10.8/18 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 11.9/19 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.2/19 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 12.3/19 (#1)

Survivor: One World on CBS was on the map with a second-place 6.5/11 from 8-9 p.m., which was on par with the year-ago edition of Survivor: Redemption Island. As much as I personally complained about evil Colton (as many of you did as well), his absence last night coupled with too much attention to bizarre Tarzan was a bit dull. For Douglas Pucci’s review of this episode titled “The Beauty in a Merge,” click on the following: http://tinyurl.com/7e5tout.

Survivor: One World led into encore telecasts of Criminal Minds (#2: 4.7/ and CSI (#1: 5.1/ 9) from 9-11 p.m. All three CBS Wednesday night series have been renewed for next season.

NBC had another abysmal Wednesday showing last night with its combination of the season (or series) finales of Whitney (#3: 3.3/ 5) and Are You There, Chelsea? (#4: 2.6/ 4) from 8-9 p.m., two more episodes of sitcom Bent (#4: avg. 1.8/ 3) from 9-10 p.m., and Rock Center With Brian Williams (#3: 2.6/ 5 at 10 p.m.). Bent actually dipped by 14 percent, on average, from last Wednesday’s already DOA two-episode debut (avg. 2.1/ 3 on March 21). More specifically:

Bent (NBC)
9:00 p.m. – March 21: 2.2/ 4; March 28: 1.9/ 3
9:30 p.m. – March 21: 2.0/ 3; March 28: 1.7/ 3

Thankfully for NBC, the final two episodes of six-episode Bent will conclude next Wednesday (out of the revamped combination of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers and new comedy BFF from 8-9 p.m.). As for the chances of either Whitney or Are You There, Chelsea? returning next season, Chelsea is a goner and is could come down to either Whitney or Up All Night competing for a pick-up. They are unlikely to both return.

Elsewhere, only sophomore Happy Endings on ABC was original last night and it averaged a third-place 3.1/ 5 in the overnights at 9:30 p.m. (out of a third-place 3.9/ 6 for a repeat of Modern Family at 9 p.m. and into a second-place 3.1/ 5 for an encore of drama Missing at 10 p.m.). Since young skewing Happy Endings is about to be renewed for season three, why would ABC waste another original episode?

Earlier in the evening on the alphabet net were repeats of sitcoms The Middle (#4: 3.2/ 6) and Suburgatory (#3: 2.8/ 4) from 8-9 p.m.

Over at The CW was veteran One Tree Hill (#5: 1.3/ 2), which concludes with a two-hour installment next Wednesday, and tired America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion (#5: 1.3/ 2).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights