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ABC Series Going Out With a Whimper; NBC and CBS in Hard Fight for Tuesday Ratings

Nov 14, 2012  •  Post A Comment

On a night when NBC and CBS went at it tooth and nail for ratings supremacy, an ABC series that is playing out the string sank to an all-time low Tuesday, based on Nielsen overnights.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that NBC eked out a narrow win over CBS in the key demo of viewers 18-49 for prime time as a whole, while CBS more than doubled its closest competition in total viewers. Meanwhile, the ABC drama “Private Practice” — which got notice a few weeks ago that it wasn’t being picked up for a back nine episodes — sank to a series-low 1.1 average rating in the 18-49 demo, plummeting 21% from the 1.4 it delivered Oct. 23 for its previous original episode.

Paced by a 3.8 average for “The Voice” in 18-49 — down substantially from the 4.6 delivered by the most recent Tuesday episode but 27% better than last Thursday’s out-of-pattern results show — NBC won prime time with a 2.6, just ahead of CBS’s 2.5 and well ahead of Fox (1.7 average), Univision (1.6) and ABC (1.4). CBS had a landslide win, however, in total viewers, averaging 14.3 million to 7.1 million for NBC, 6.5 million for ABC, 4.0 million for Univision and 3.5 million for Fox.

NBC also had a 2.3 in the 18-49 demo for “Go On” — down 4% from its most recent original — a 1.8 for “Parenthood” — down 5% — and a 1.8 for “The New Normal” — up 6%.

CBS was mostly down, with “NCIS” settling for a 3.0 in adults 18-49 — down from a 3.4 for its previous original — and “Vegas” dipping to a 1.6 — down from a 1.7 — while “NCIS: Los Angeles” held steady with a 2.8, tying its season low.

Fox got good news from “The Mindy Project,” which rose 13% to a 1.7 in 18-49, but the rest of the lineup was down: “Raising Hope” fell 6% to a 1.6; “Ben and Kate” was off 21% to a 1.1; and “New Girl” dipped 4% to a 2.2.

ABC had mixed results, with “Don’t Trust the B—-“ slipping 8% to a 1.1 in viewers 18-49 while “Dancing with the Stars” rose 6% to a 1.9 and “Happy Endings” held even with a 1.4.

One Comment

  1. I watch New Girl and happened to catch an episode of Ben and Kate during some hiatus in a Fox baseball game due to rain. Since then, I have watched every episode of Ben and Kate and caught up on the first few episodes on Hulu Plus. Actually, I like Ben and Kate better than New Girl now.
    Please don’t cancel Ben and Kate!!

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