Ratings News - 2nd May 2014

Today's Early Overnight Ratings

This table shows the early overnight ratings. These ratings are normally adjusted later in the day when all the ratings have been consolidated to take into account any local preemptions and/or overruns. You can find all the final adjusted numbers in our Ratings Database. (See the About section below for details about ratings)

If you are new to ratings or still confused, we recommend you read this excellent Ratings FAQ.

Don't forget to follow our Ratings Only Twitter Account for the latest Ratings News

Can't see the tables? Check out our Troubleshooting Guide

Early Ratings Analysis

The analysis below is based on the early household numbers and are NOT the same as the numbers that will be posted in the above table later. (See the About section below)

For more information on the Nielsen Ratings see this Wikipedia Entry.

NOTE: The opinions expressed here are NOT those of SpoilerTV but of the Author of this Article, Marc Berman.

THURSDAY 5/01/14 OVERNIGHTS
CBS Leads: NBC Most Improved

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 6.2/10
ABC 4.6/ 8
NBC 3.6/ 6
Fox 3.4/ 5
CW 1.2/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 5/02/13:
NBC: +64, ABC: -10, CW: -14, CBS: -23, Fox: -41

—–

-Winners:
“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS), “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC)

-Fastest Fading Show in Primetime:
“American Idol” (Fox)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
“Surviving Jack” (Fox), “Black Box” (ABC)

—–

Ratings Breakdown:
CBS scored another typical Thursday overnight victory, but it was NBC that was most improved thanks to three-hour special “iHeart Radio MusicAwards.” The special averaged a 3.6 rating/6 share in households from 8-11 p.m., which scored NBC’s top non-Olympic Thursday average since Dec. 19, 2013, with a gain versus one week earlier of 71 percent. Comparably, this could be enough to finish second overall for the evening.

“The Big Bang Theory” on CBS, featuring the return of Bob Newhart, topped the night, with a 10.3/18 at 8 p.m. Next was “The Millers” at a dominant 5.9/10 at 8:30 p.m., which slipped by a hefty 43 percent from Sheldon, Leonard and company. In week two news, CBS comedy “Bad Teacher” dropped to a 4.3/ 7 (#2) at 9:30 p.m., which was a typical 16 percent below its debut 5.1/ 8 one week earlier. And the retention for “Bad Teacher” out of lead-in “Two and a Half Men” (#2: 5.9/ 9 at 9 p.m.) was 73 percent. In other words: could be better/could be worse.

Sophomore “Elementary,” which could be eyed for a move to Friday next season, led the 10 p.m. hour with a 4.5/ 9 in the overnights.

In other week two news, ABC drama “Black Box” dipped to a 3.9/ 7 at 10 p.m., which was 15 percent its week-ago debut (4.6/ 8 on April 24). One year earlier, “Scandal” was considerably stronger at a 6.1/11 and the retention for “Black Box” out of “Grey’s Anatomy” (#1: 6.8/11 at 9 p.m.) was sluggish last night at 57 percent. “Grey’s Anatomy” featured the return appearance of Isaiah Washington after a seven year absence and the departure of original series regular Sandra Oh.

Earlier in the evening on ABC was an encore of “Grey’s Anatomy” at a fourth-place 3.1/ 5 from 8-9 p.m.

Elsewhere, Fox dropped by eight percent week-to-week (and a hefty 41 percent from the year-ago evening) with its combination of “Hell’s Kitchen” (#3: 3.2/ 5), “American Idol” (#3: 4.8/ 8) and recent entry “Surviving Jack” (#4: 2.3/ 4), which from a creative standpoint is worthy of a second season. Year-to-year, rapidly fading “American Idol,” which is about to hit the 500-episode mark, dropped by 39 percent.

The CW capped off the night with its combination of “The Vampire Diaries” (#5: 1.3/ 2), which is showing its age with a loss of 24 percent from the year-ago evening, and freshman drama “Reign” (#5: 1.1/ 2).

Tops in late night, once again, was Jimmy Fallon on NBC at a 2.7/ 7 in the household overnights, which bested the competition – Jimmy Kimmel on ABC (2.2/ 6) and David Letterman on CBS (2.1/ 6) – by 19 percent and 22 percent, respectively from 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Seth Meyers on NBC led the 12:30-1:30 a.m. daypart with a 1.2/ 4, which was one-tenth of a rating point (or nine percent) above departing Craig Ferguson on CBS (1.1/ 4). And “Nightline” on ABC scored a typical 1.4/ 5 at 12:30 a.m. “Last Call With Carson Daly” closed the night on NBC with a 0.8/ 3 at 1:30 a.m.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source:

Marc Berman@tvmediainsights

About the Daily Ratings

Each day (except Sunday) during the main TV Season we post the TV Ratings for the previous nights primetime shows for the major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC). Cable Network ratings will be added to the Ratings Database.

The first item that gets posted (normally around 2pm GMT) is the early overnight analysis based on the early household numbers (these are not the same as the Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers that are posted later).

Next, if available, we will post the Top 25 Market 18-49 Ratings to give you a rough idea of the ratings to following.

Later on (normally between 4pm-5pm GMT) we post the official early overnight Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers in the table above.

Finally, later in the evening (10pm-11pm GMT) or the following day, the final adjusted ratings numbers are released, these are then posted in the Ratings Database. The Final Adjusted numbers are what we use for all our Renew/Cancellation Tables, Full Season Tables, Ratings Scorecards etc (see below). Friday's Final Adjusted Ratings are normally available on the following Monday.

Additional Ratings Resources

If you’re interested in Ratings/Renewals/Cancellations then we have a number of resources here at SpoilerTV that we recommend you check out.

Renew/Cancel

Our Cancellation/Renewal predictions for the current season.

Ratings Database

Historical Ratings Database for nearly all major US shows going back to their first episodes.

Full Season Tables

The current season full ratings tables for both Total Viewers and 18-49 Demos

Ratings Scorecard

See how all the shows stack up against each other in the Ratings Scorecard Table.