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TV ratings: 'Fringe' steady on Friday, CBS cruises to victory
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Fast National ratings for Friday, March 11, 2011There was little change in "Fringe" Watch 2011 on Friday: The show's total audience was down slightly from its last original episode two weeks ago, but its demographic ratings held steady.
Otherwise it was a pretty typical Friday, which means CBS led the night by a wide margin. The Eye averaged 10.6 million viewers and a 6.5 rating/10 share in households, grabbing far and away the most viewers for the night. NBC was the best of the rest with 5.8 million viewers and a 3.8/7. ABC (4.75 million, 2.9/5) came in third, followed by FOX (3.95 million, 2.3/4). A night of repeats on The CW drew 1.4 million viewers and a 0.9/2.
CBS also finished first in the adults 18-49 demographic with a 1.8 rating. The demo race was much closer, with FOX coming in second at 1.6. ABC and NBC tied for third at 1.4, while The CW scored a 0.5.
Friday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
CBS: "The Defenders" season finale (9 million viewers, 5.6/10 households)
FOX: "Kitchen Nightmares" (4.1 million, 2.5/4)
ABC: "Supernanny" (4 million, 2.5/4)
NBC: "Who Do You Think You Are?" rerun (3.9 million, 2.6/5)
The CW: "Smallville" rerun (1.6 million, 1.0/2)
18-49 leader: "Kitchen Nightmares" (1.7)
9 p.m.
CBS: "CSI: NY" (11 million, 6.8/12)
NBC: "Dateline" (6.4 million, 4.2/7)
ABC: "Primetime: What Would You Do?" (4.35 million, 2.6/5)
FOX: "Fringe" (3.8 million, 2.2/4)
The CW: "Supernatural" rerun (1.3 million, 0.8/1)
18-49 leader: "CSI: NY" (2.0)
10 p.m.
CBS: "Blue Bloods" (11.75 million, 7.2/13)
NBC: "Dateline" (7.1 million, 4.6/8)
ABC: "20/20" (5.9 million, 3.7/7)
18-49 leader: "Blue Bloods" and "Dateline" tied at 1.9
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/Video credit: FOX
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Wt the demo friendly 18 to 49 yo having a life and going out on a Friday night. It's a pleasure to see abc is the only smart network to not really program on friday nights and yet finish second in the demo. Poor thing CBS has shoes on Fridays that no one you g trendy ablnd educated would ever watch . We would watch kitchen nightmares , fashion police and the graT primetime live what would you do.
It's good that CBS's Friday shows draw solid numbers, but that doesn't do those shows any good with 18-49 numbers below a 2.0. Some 80% of the viewers of CSI:NY and Blue Bloods are at least 55 years old -- that's outside the age range advertisers care for. Remember: Viewers outside the 18 to 49 year olds account for absolutely no money to cover ads.
P.S. Don't trust the numbers you see above. There were several preemptions for basketball. Here in Knoxville for example, the CBS affiliate aired the SEC Tournament and delayed The Defenders and CSI:NY to late night (Blue Bloods aired at its normal time but was moved to the digital subfeed).
friday night tv, for me, is watching basketball, 'real time with bill maher' and, if im really bored, 'what would u do.'
Bill Maher??? Seriously you watch that idiot?!!!
The Defenders get NO RESPECT, and it`s a way better show then Blue Bloods or what i call it The Donnie Wahlberg Show. If Tom Selleck wasn`t on Blue Bloods there is NO WAY in hell that it would get good ratings and would even get a second look.Wahlberg is a brutal actor and himand Jennifer Espisito doing the cliched "burned out cop routine" is terrible.Every episode is the SAME.And he cracks me up every episode when he drinks out of the empty coffee cup but he`s mad man and he`s going to get his guy.What is there 13,000 cops in New York and only a "Regan" can bring down the bad guy.Bad show keep The Defenders CBS!!!!
Blue Bloods and CSI NY were excellent last night. Glad they did well.
I love Fringe its one of my favorite shows on Friday nights. I think with last night’s episode it opened a lot of doors again, so I think that will help with the ratings. I subscribe and work for DISH Network, so I am able to watch it in HD. I love that DISH carries so many channels in HD and it’s free for life. I can't wait to see next week’s episode.
ABC sucks and what would you know about programming *EOW? I'm surprised you can still spell your own name without the aid of a dictionary. Off to therapy!
The 18-49 year old demo is a myth. The simple fact is that millions of viewers are watching TV shows, and ALL of them have disposable income to spend on junk that advertisers want to sell. And if you think the baby-boomers who are 50+ suddenly lost interest in spending money, you're crazy!
The networks needs to wise up and start programming all 7 nights a week again. As they give up on Saturday and Friday nights, the cable channels move in and make a killing.
Blue Bloods was at it's best last night, one of the best shows on TV. Does anyone know what language M_eow speaks, I had a hard time understanding what she was trying to say. Something about CBS having a pair of shoes on Friday nights? could explain why the network walks all over the other networks. Or maybe she types with shoes on her hands.. Whatever the case, I am sure she had nothing intelligent to say.