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Thursday Nights Sure Aren’t What They Used to Be: New Shows Premiere to Feeble Numbers … and a 1.7 Rating Wins the Night

May 24, 2013  •  Post A Comment

On a night when shows on three different broadcast networks premiered to weak viewer numbers — two series debuts and a season premiere — a network that averaged a lowly 1.7 rating in the key 18-49 demo won the night, based on Nielsen overnights.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that Fox easily won Thursday night in the demo with its 1.7 average for prime time, beating out CBS (1.4 average), Univision (1.3), ABC (1.2) and NBC (0.8). CBS, meanwhile, aired mostly repeat programming and still won total viewers, averaging 6.6 million to top ABC (5.3 million), Fox (4.3 million), Univision (3.4 million) and NBC (2.6 million).

The top show of the night was a CBS repeat of “The Big Bang Theory,” which delivered a 2.2 average in viewers 18-49 at 8 p.m.

Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” was close behind with a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo, rising 17% from the show’s previous original. But Fox’s series premiere of “Someone’s Got to Go” was part of a bad night for premieres, managing only a 1.3.

Also making its series premiere was NBC’s “Save Me,” which racked up a dismal 0.7 in 18-49. A second episode followed, delivering another 0.7. NBC’s only other original was “Hannibal,” which equaled its series low with a 1.0, slipping 9% from a week ago.

ABC’s season premiere of “Rookie Blue” notched a 1.2 in adults 18-49, its lowest-ever season premiere and down 14% from its third-season premiere a year ago — but it did manage to win the 10 p.m. hour against “Hannibal” and CBS’s rerun of “Elementary” (0.9).

Elsewhere on ABC, both “Wipeout” and “Motive” matched “Rookie Blue’s” 1.2 average in 18-49. “Wipeout” was up 20% from last week’s all-time low, while “Motive” slipped 8% from its airing Monday.

5 Comments

  1. Hannibal is a great show!! NBC, do not cancel it!!! I am currently purchasing each episode on Vudu!! Makes me wonder how many people watch shows in this fashion that are not probably monitored by the Nielsen ratings.
    I also watch Rookie Blue and Elementary on my DVR.
    The way people watch TV today is constantly evolving and sometimes I wonder if Nielsen has all the bases covered.

  2. Since when was The Big Bang Theory new? The season finale for it was last week Thursday. So since when is a repeat a fresh episode?

  3. I was skeptical about “Save Me” from the way it was described, but I watched the first episode, and was hooked into the second one too. I think the show is original, well done, and the cast seems to be good, too. I liked it, so I assume it will be canceled….

  4. I knew NBC would flop and they always will they never learn!!

  5. Thanks, Mr. Video. “The Big Bang Theory” was a repeat. We have changed the copy of our item to reflect that.

    Chuck Ross

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