Ratings News - 8th March 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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METERED MARKET WEDNESDAY RATINGS
Idol Leads Fox to Victory; Stunning Tribal Council on CBS’ Survivor

Wednesday 3/07/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 12.4/19
CBS 5.4/ 9
ABC 3.9/ 6
NBC 2.8/ 4
CW 1.2/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Wednesday 3/09/11
ABC: + 5, NBC: - 3, CBS: -10, CW: -14, Fox: -22

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox)

-Honorable Mention:
Survivor: One World (CBS)

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

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Two-hours of American Idol led Fox to a significant Wednesday victory, with more than double the overnight average for second-place CBS (which included encore telecasts of Criminal Minds and CSI). But the still very solid 12.4 rating/19 share for Idol in the metered markets from 8-10 p.m. was actually 22 percent below the 15.9/25 on March 9, 2011. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 11.5/18 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 12.3/19 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.7/20 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 13.0/20 (#1)

Over at CBS, Survivor: One World finished a comfortable second at 8 p.m. with a 6.4/10. Comparably, that was right on par with the Redemption Island edition one year earlier. SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen last night’s episode of Survivor: One World, scroll past the following paragraph. It isn’t that often where I am at a loss for words, but I am both disgusted by and sadly entertained over the men’s decision to give back the immunity idol in favor of going to Tribal Council to vote off Bill, who evil Colton wanted out. Why the Manono team continues to cater to “King Colton,” who makes Russell Hantz look like a true hero, is beyond this puzzled viewer. For Survivor expert Douglas Pucci’s latest review, click on the following: http://tinyurl.com/86aepjw.

Survivor: One World led into repeats of Criminal Minds (#2: 4.7/ 7) and CSI (#1: 5.2/ 9) from 9-11 p.m.

ABC dipped to just under a 4-rating in the overnights, and that was a result of encore telecasts of The Middle (#3: 3.9/ 6), Suburgatory (#3: 3.3/ 5) and Modern Family (#2t, 4.6/ 7) from 8-9:30 p.m. Minus the lead-in support, Happy Endings dipped to a season-low 3.5/ 5 (#3) at 9:30 p.m., followed by the debut of non-scripted Revenge for Real (“Murder in the Hamptons”) at a second-place 4.2/ 7 at 10 p.m. One week earlier, the scripted Revenge, which is a shoo-in for renewal for season two, was notably stronger at a 5.7/10 in the overnights on Feb. 29. But worth positively noting for Revenge for Real was the overnight growth of 20 percent out of Happy Endings.

As a reminder, upcoming ABC sitcom Don’t Trust the B____ in Apartment 23 debuts in the Wednesday 9:30 p.m. time period on April 11.

Elsewhere, NBC has another abysmal midweek showing with its line-up of sitcoms Whitney (#4: 3.1/ 5) and Are You There, Chelsea? (#4: 2.7/ 4) from 8-9 p.m., a repeat of Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. (#4: 2.6/ 4), and the time period debut of Rock Center With Brian Williams at a distant third-place 2.8/ 5 at 10 p.m. To forge ahead, NBC must eliminate the low-rated baggage and that includes Whitney, Chelsea and Brian Williams.

Coming up on NBC: Bent, which features Amanda Peet as a recently divorced lawyer, will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. out of Are You There, Chelsea? (and opposite Modern Family on ABC) effective on March 21. Back-to-back episodes will populate the hour for two weeks. Off Their Rockers With Betty White, which was amply sampled in its Monday, Jan. 16 preview, will inherit the Wednesday 8 p.m. half-hour on April 4, leading into Best Friends Forever at 8:30 p.m., the comedic tale of a woman (Jessica St. Clair) who moves in with her best friend (Lennon Parham) after her husband files for divorce. Off Their Rockers With Betty White and Best Friends Forever replace Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea?, which will have completed their first season runs.

Last, and very least, were CW duo One Tree Hill (1.3/ 2) and America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion (1.3/ 2) from 8-10 p.m. One Tree Hill will finish its nine-year run with a two-hour series finale on Wednesday, April 4 from 8-10 p.m. Included will be interviews with the show’s stars.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights