CBS was out of the blocks first this year, with a line-up of all-new episodes for the usual Thursday shows, while the other networks ran repeats, with most of their shows returning next week. Despite this, The Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest recorded series high numbers for their first episodes of the new year, as I'll detail below
At 8pm, ABC ran a repeat of Nashville, NBC a repeat of 30 Rock, The CW a repeat of The Vampire Diaries, and FOX a new episode of reality show Mobbed. Mobbed enjoyed the best ratings of this lot with a 1.1 18-49 rating and 2.72 million viewers, but Nashville enjoyed the largest audience of this lot with a 0.7 rating and 3.23 million viewers
The biggest bang was yet to come though, with The Big Bang Theory scoring series high ratings and audience numbers, with a whopping 6.1 rating and 19.25 million viewers. What's more, these numbers were both adjusted up from the preliminary broadcast ratings of 6.0 rating and 18.98 million viewers.
The previous ratings record for The Big Bang Theory was achieved in the 15th episode of Season 3 on February 8 2010 where a 6.0 18-49 rating was recorded. The previous audience record was set on November 15 last year, where 17.63 million viewers tuned in. This means that The Big Bang Theory beat its previous ratings record by 0.1, and its previous audience record by 1.62 million viewers
Meanwhile at 8:30pm, CBS aired a new episode of Two and a Half Men, which recorded season highs, with a 4.5 rating and 15.41 million viewers. Alongside, NBC repeated an episode of Up All Night
To the 9pm timeslot now, where ABC and NBC ran repeats of Scandal and The Office respectively, while The CW repeated an episode of Beauty And The Beast. A second new episode of Mobbed aired on FOX and enjoyed the best ratings and audience numbers of this bunch with a 1.2 rating and 3.14 million viewers.
Still at 9pm, on CBS, comedy made way for electrifying drama with the return of Person of Interest, which earned a series high equaling 3.4 rating, and a series high audience of 16.23 million viewers. For a show that has enjoyed incredibly consistent ratings this season, an increase like this is a fantastic result. The last time a 3.4 rating was earned was the 17th episode last season which aired on March 8 2012. This episode also held the previous audience high of 15.67 million viewers. Last nights episode beat the previous audience high by 560,000 viewers
At 9:30pm, NBC repeated an episode of Parks and Recreation, while at 10pm, ABC repeated another episode of Scandal, and NBC repeated an episode of Rock Center. Of this bunch, Scandal drew the highest ratings and audience, with a 0.9 rating and 3.64 million viewers.
Also at 10pm was a new episode of CBS's freshman crime drama Elementary. It recorded a series equal second best rating of of 2.6, and a series second best audience of 11.44 million viewers
I'll leave you with the the audience season comparison graphs of The Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest. These graphs show how the audience has increased for these shows since they premiered. To see the ratings season comparison graphs, check out my website, www.seriesmonitor.com, click on the show, and then on Graphs. There you will also find the all time ratings and audience graphs
Thanks for reading my first article of 2013! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below
Jimmy
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| The Audience Season Comparison graph for Person of Interest. Note that every episode this season has a drastically higher audience than its predecessor last season |
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| The Audience Season Comparison graph for The Big Bang Theory. Note the last few episode of this season have been above all the others in previous seasons |
