Ratings News - 30th March 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Thursday Ratings
CBS Wins; NBC Cannot Compete

Thursday 3/29/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 8.5/15
Fox 8.3/13
ABC 3.6/ 6
NBC 2.3/ 4
CW 1.7/ 3

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 3/31/11
CW: +112, NBC: +35, CBS: + 6, Fox: -23, ABC: -45

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Person of Interest (CBS), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Disappointing:
Touch (Fox)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Community (NBC), 30 Rock (NBC), Up All Night (NBC), The Secret Circle (CW), Awake (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
The return of CBS’ regularly scheduled Thursday line-up after two weeks of basketball pre-emptions inched past American Idol-populated Fox by 0.2 rating points. In the distant No. 3 spot was ABC, which aired repeats from 9-11 p.m., followed by abysmal NBC and, as always, The CW.

American Idol won the 8 p.m. hour, with a 10.9 rating/16 share in the overnights. But the erosion remains steep with a loss of 26 percent from one year earlier (14.8/23 on 3/31/11). Next on Fox was episode three of Kiefer Sutherland drama Touch, which dipped to second with a 5.8/10 from 9-10 p.m. Comparably, that was down by 25 percent from its week-ago time period opener (7.7/13 on 3/22/12), with retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of American Idol (11.6/18) of just 50 percent. One year earlier, Mobbed with Howie Mandel was stronger at a 6.8/10 on 3/31/11 (which benefited by the then stronger American Idol lead-in).

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory scored a solid second-place 9.3/15 at 8 p.m., which increased by 15 percent from one year earlier (8.1/13 on 3/31/11). That led into the return of Rules of Engagement (#2t, 5.8/ 9 at 8:30 p.m.), which is just burning off its remaining original episodes at this point, followed by Person of Interest (#1: 9.2/15) and The Mentalist (#1: 8.7/15) from 9-11 p.m. The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest and The Mentalist have all been renewed for next season.

In week three news (and opposite The Big Bang Theory), older skewing ABC drama Missing finished third with a still respectable 5.7/ 9 at 8 p.m. Comparably, that dipped by 10 percent from one week earlier (6.3/10 on 3/22/12), with overnight growth from year-ago occupant Wipeout (3.8/ 6 on 3/31/11) of 50 percent. Three-week overnight track for Missing: 7.8/13 – 6.3/10 – 5.7/ 9.

Missing led into encore telecasts of Grey’s Anatomy (#3: 3.1/ 5) and Private Practice (#3: 2.1/ 3) from 9-11 p.m. As a reminder, Private Practice will move into the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour out of Dancing With the Stars for four weeks beginning on April 10. Stepping into the Thursday 10 p.m. hour effective next week is new Shonda Rhimes drama Scandal.

Elsewhere, NBC has nothing positive to report with its combination of Community (#4: 2.4/ 4), 30 Rock (#4: 2.5/ 4), a repeat of The Office (#4: 2.0/ 3), Up All Night (#4: 2.0/ 3) and Awake (#2: 2.5/ 4), which dipped by 32 percent from its improved 3.7/ 7 one week earlier. Both Up All Night and Awake were series lows. If sitcom Downwardly Mobile with Roseanne Barr and John Goodman does get picked-up, NBC should utilize it to anchor Thursday next season.

Over at The CW, healthy The Vampire Diaries scored a typical 2.1/ 3 (#5) in the overnights at 8 p.m. But lead-out The Secret Circle, which is not worthy of a second season, dropped to 1.2/ 2 (#5) at 9 p.m. Comparably, retention for The Secret Circle out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries (2.0/ 3) was 60 percent.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights