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TV ratings: 'Idol,' 'CSI,' 'Office' baby lead Thursday
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Fast National ratings for Thursday, March 4, 2010Thursday night's ratings were a bit of a hodgepodge: "American Idol" was the night's top show, but CBS led the network race in viewers. "The Office" scored strong demo numbers with its baby episode, but "The Marriage Ref" took a big tumble from its debut on Sunday. Both "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" struggled some.
CBS won the night in viewers, drawing 14.35 million people and an 8.7 rating/14 share in households. FOX (13.7 million, 8.0/13) was not far behind in second. ABC (8.2 million, 5.5/8) beat out NBC (7.2 million, 4.3/7) for third place, and The CW trailed with 1.6 million viewers and a 1.1/2.
FOX le the adults 18-49 demographic with a 4.9 rating. CBS came in second with a 3.6, just ahead of NBC's 3.5. ABC averaged 2.6 and The CW 0.7.
Thursday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
FOX: "American Idol" results (19.3 million viewers, 11.1/18 households)
CBS: "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" (12.7 million, 7.2/12)
ABC: "Grey's Anatomy" rerun (5.05 million, 3.5/6)
NBC: "Community" (5.1 million, 3.0/5)/"Parks and Recreation" (4.6 million, 2.9/5)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1.7 million, 1.1/2)
18-49 leader: "American Idol" (6.5)
9 p.m.
CBS: "CSI" (15.6 million, 9.4/15)
ABC: "Grey's Anatomy" (11.8 million, 7.7/12)
NBC: "The Office" - two episodes (9 million, 5.2/8)
FOX: "Kitchen Nightmares" (8.1 million, 4.8/8)
The CW: "Supernatural" rerun (1.55 million, 1.0/2)
18-49 leader: "The Office" (4.7)
10 p.m.
CBS: "The Mentalist" (14.8 million, 9.3/16)
NBC: "The Marriage Ref" (7.7 million, 4.8/8)
ABC: "Private Practice" (7.65 million, 5.2/9)
18-49 leader: "The Marriage Ref" (3.4)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.
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Photo credit: CBS
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ABC in last place seems to be the new normal, but with such bad shows that appeal to old people and desperate cougars its no suprise.
Those are some of the best numbers for the Office this season. I'm sure that cut into Grey's and even CSI. Notice how PP numbers have slipped since the cross-over with Grey's has faded. It's time for Grey's to get their Sunday timeslot back and stop propping up PP.
It was a dial turning nightfor me too. I did not watch Idol,as I wanted to watch Community and Parks & Rec instead. To me they are very funny. OTOH I do not like The Office at all. I tried to watch Grey's Anatomy, but lost interest in that and turned it off. I didn't watch any network shows at 10 pm.
It really is meaningless for The Office to hype itself with Demo numbers.
The bottom line is that it had yet another highly hyped episode and still didn't manage to gather 10 million people round the tube to watch it.
Speaking of NBC empty hype, it is now getting articles written about how Parenthood is really not all that disappointing (even though it really is quite disappointing).
It's amazing to me that the press still responds positively to the endless spinning machine that is NBC.
CSI did surprisingly well given the lower lead-in. Is the show getting better this year?
Private Practice's numbers should be unacceptable and ABC should be scrambling to find a replacement post haste. However, I'd bet money that it'll come back as ABC has redefined success downwards so much this season that it will rationalize PP as a "hit" with its paltry 7 million viewers.
Interestingly, with all this bad news, overall ratings are not plunging, mostly due to the shot in NBC's arm that was the Olympics and the increased presence of football in prime-time (ABC must really regret letting ESPN have MNF).
Journalists will thus ignore the sad fact that scripted programs have had a horrid year on all networks, with CBS shining by being merely adequate in comparison to the rest of the pack.
CW in particular is still losing viewers even after taking out its losing Sunday lineup. It takes quite a set of skill to manage results like these! :(
ABC continues its slide into 4th...my Cablevision company may even stop broadcasting ABC due to a contract dispute. Not that it would bother me one bit..the only show they have that is Must See is LOST. Nice to see Survivor pulling in good numbers and even NBC had a strong night..go figure.
In the Demo's ABC really did poorly. 4th? wow...at least they beat the CW HA!
@Rena
it must be so nice to know absolutely everything about evertything
The problem with most shows are they are on for a few weeks and then repeats. I have on demand and DVR to watch shows I missed(except for ABC and Fox), although I do tape several fox shows and zero ABC shows. HR for the office writers, great episode.
Jerry Seinfeld's influence is gone. It's dead. He is no longer the biggest person in the room. His Letterman appearance was beat by Leno. His show lost half its ratings.
http://mankabros.com/onmedea/2010/03/rip_jerry_seinfelds_influence.html
My TIVO jumps over to Project Runway during Marriage Ref's time slot. That could have a lot to do with the drop off. Thursday is majorly infested with tried and true reality shows, so maybe Jerry should move to Fridays.
i can't say i'm surprised by the numbers last night.
i watched community, the office (only because of how it was hyped; i'm not a frequent viewer) and the mentalist (which is really beginning to disappoint and frustrate me this season, so i'll probably end up no longer watching it soon enough). community was the only thing i actually really enjoyed last night. huh.
maybe i should switch to some cable shows instead...