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CBS Season Finales: ‘Big Bang’ Goes Out With a Bang, But for a CBS Drama Series, the Season Ender Is a Ratings Dud

May 16, 2014  •  Post A Comment

CBS aired a number of season finales Thursday night, and the ratings results were mixed, to put it mildly. Based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo, CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Millers" both surged 26% from last week, while the finale of the drama series "Elementary" slipped 7% and notched a new all-time low for the series.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that CBS won the night overall, both in the 18-49 demo and in total viewers, with "Big Bang Theory's" 4.8 average rating in 18-49 far and away the best number of the night — almost double the rating for its closest competition. "Theory" also drew a whopping 16.29 million total viewers — the only broadcast show in prime time to hit double figures in the millions.

The season finale of CBS's "The Millers" surged to a 2.4 average in 18-49 after sinking to a series-low 1.9 last week. "Bad Teacher" ticked up 8% to a 1.4 — the same number delivered by the season finale of "Elementary." The "Elementary" closer was off 30% from the show's previous season finale.

Second-place Fox was paced by "American Idol," which climbed 25% from a week ago to a 2.0 in viewers 18-49, while "Hell's Kitchen" rose 13% to a 1.7.

ABC aired a mix of repeats and originals, highlighted by the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy," which equaled last week's number in the 18-49 demo with a 2.5 average. "Black Box" fell 8% to a 1.1. ABC led in to "Grey's" with a repeat of the series, which managed only a 0.6 in the 8 p.m. slot.

NBC didn't get much out of Part 2 of "Rosemary's Baby," which slipped 9% from the 18-49 delivery for Sunday's Part 1, settling for a 1.0 average for Thursday's two-hour broadcast. The network opened prime time with a 1.1 for "Hollywood Game Night," which was a 22% improvement from a week ago.

For prime time overall, CBS led the way in the 18-49 demo with a 2.2 average rating, followed by Fox (1.9 average), ABC (1.4), and NBC and Univision (both 1.0). CBS won total viewers with 9.0 million, topping Fox (6.7 million), ABC (5.5 million), NBC (3.5 million) and Univision (2.5 million).

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