TV Ratings: 'American Idol' leads Thursday, while 'Community' tops 'Missing' premiere

Ashley Judd drama falls below 'Charlie's Angels' among young viewers

By Daniel Fienberg Friday, Mar 16, 2012 11:59 AM

A scene from Thursday's "Community"

Credit: NBC

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Fast National ratings for Thursday, March 15, 2012.

The Spring Forward Bandit took a bite out of the "American Idol" Thursday results, but still helped FOX win the night both overall and among young viewers.

Meanwhile, among tidbits of interest to readers:

"Community" returned from its spring hiatus with improbably strong demo numbers without "Big Bang Theory" as competition, while sluggish basketball returns also helped NBC's "Awake" add viewers for its third episode.

Also, ABC's Ashley Judd drama "Missing" got off to a solid start overall, but lagged among young viewers, ranking behind "Community" among adults 18-49 and ranking behind The CW's "Vampire Diaries" return among adults 18-34 and with women 18-34.

And, finally, FOX's encore of the "Touch" premiere topped all recent airings of "The Finder" post-"Idol," presumably making FOX optimistic for the show's actual time period premiere next week.

[Reminder: In the aftermath of Sunday morning's time change, most primetime early-evening numbers will likely be lower-than-usual this week, a peculiar phenomenon that occurs every year.]

Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 3.4 rating for Thursday night, beating ABC's 2.4 rating in the key demographic. NBC was third for the night with a 1.9 rating, dropping CBS to fourth with a 1.7 rating. The CW averaged a 1.0 key demo rating for the night.

Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 12.09 million viewers and a 7.2 rating/12 share. ABC was second with a 6.0/10 and 9.08 million viewers. There was a big drop to CBS' 3.1/5 and 4.72 million viewers, with NBC's 2.8/5 and 4.59 million viewers taking fourth. The CW averaged a 1.3/2 and 2.12 million viewers.

8 p.m. - "American Idol" started primetime in first with 15.52 million viewers and a 4.5 rating among adults 18-49 for FOX. ABC's "Missing" premiere averaged 10.56 million viewers and a 2.0 key demo rating, actually coming in lower than the September key demo premiere for "Charlie's Angels." NBC was third with "Community" (4.89 million viewers and a whopping 2.2 key demo rating) and "30 Rock" (4.045 million viewers and a 2.0 key demo rating). CBS' NCAA Tournament coverage averaged only 4.27 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating. On The CW, "The Vampire Diaries" returned with 2.62 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating.

9 p.m. - ABC moved into first for the 9 p.m. hour with 9.67 million viewers and a 3.0 rating among adults 18-49 for "Grey's Anatomy." FOX was second with 8.67 million viewers and a 2.2 key demo rating for the "Touch" encore. CBS' basketball improved to 5.65 million viewers and a 2.0 key demo rating in its second hour. NBC's "The Office" (4.88 million viewers and a 2.3 key demo rating) continued to slide, while "Up All Night" (3.63 million and a 1.7 key demo) was steady from last week. The CW's "The Secret Circle" averaged 1.62 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating.

10 p.m. - "Private Practice" kept ABC in first for the 10 p.m. hour with 7.005 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's "Awake" rose to 5.05 million viewers and was flat with a 1.6 key demo rating in second. NCAA Tournament coverage averaged 4.24 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating for CBS.

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.

Related Searches: Nielsen ratings, TV Ratings, ratings, Thursday, American Idol, Touch, Community, 30 Rock, The Office, The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle

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Abed

Cool Cool Cool
March 16, 2012 at 12:18PM EST Reply to Comment
cmuram

Hey Dan,

How much of an impact did the absence of TBBT have on Community's strong numbers? Should we not get too optimistic about a fourth season renewal yet?
March 16, 2012 at 12:19PM EST Reply to Comment
- CMuram - The absence of even a BBT repeat had a HUGE impact on the ratings. CBS was stuck with lackluster NCAA coverage and that freed up a ton of viewers. That being said, this is obviously a signal to NBC that under SOME circumstances, "Community" is capable of drawing a number which, for NBC, is acceptable. And that may be all that matters to NBC, all things considered...
  
  -Daniel
  March 16, 2012 at 1:36PM EST
- Brock Daniel Feinberg seems to have a short memory when it comes to the history of ratings of Community vs TBBT. People have looked out keenly to see how much Community changes when TBBT runs a repeat and the impact has always been fairly negligible, a rise by 0.1 in the demo at most and sometimes no change. Trying to explain a 46% rise (of 0.7 points in the demo) because TBBT was a repeat is completely ridiculous and its by no means a major contributer to the huge jump.
  March 16, 2012 at 3:10PM EST
- Brock - "Daniel Feinberg" (not to be confused, I guess, with my actual last name) has a pretty solid memory for the history of Community vs TBBT. And, in this particularly case, TBBT *didn't* run a repeat. CBS ran an NCAA Tournament basketball game that drew less than half of the audience of a TBBT repeat. So attributing a 46 percent rise to "Community" because TBBT was in a repeat *would* be "completely ridiculous." Attributing a 46 percent rise to CBS not airing "TBBT" in any way, shape or form and thus eliminating even a modicum of audience overlap isn't ridiculous at all.
  
  The fact that you see not to have even been aware of what CBS was airing only confirms the complete and total lack of overlap between Community and the NCAA Tournament.
  
  But thanks for playing, Brock.
  
  -Daniel
  March 16, 2012 at 3:17PM EST
- Brock Yep so I forgot that TBBT wasn't on and it was the basketball. But the fact remains, attributing Community's 46% rise to the absence of Community is silly, there were clearly other factors at play
  March 16, 2012 at 3:44PM EST
- Brock - I assume you're a "Community" fan, right? You *want* that 46% rise to be directly attributable to the absence of TBBT competition. *That* tells NBC that the show can succeed if it's put in a place without competition that direct. Attributing that bump to a briefly mobilized fan base makes a far less convincing case, because mobilized fan bases became demobilized with ridiculous ease. NBC definitely could make a renewal decision based on "If we move 'Community' some place better, this is an audience we can expect." That's theoretically repeatable. NBC won't make a renewal decision based on, "If we pull 'Community' for three months, get the fans stirred into a frenzy and promote the show fairly extensively, this is the audience we can expect." You can't count on repeating that.
  
  -Daniel
  March 16, 2012 at 3:57PM EST
Joel

GO GREENDALE!
March 16, 2012 at 12:29PM EST Reply to Comment
Sara

Woohoo community!
March 16, 2012 at 12:50PM EST Reply to Comment
Captain Hammer

Even with TBBT off, that's a pretty huge gain for Community. Hopefully at least a part of it is a result of the attention received during the hiatus, and the numbers will still be higher than they were before even when TBBT returns.
March 16, 2012 at 1:10PM EST Reply to Comment
Dave I

I know it is not the focus of this article, however I am curious how the possible shift of The Office played (or will play) out. Both number-wise (not that it made any impact last night) and viewer satisfaction-wise.

-Cheers
March 16, 2012 at 1:41PM EST Reply to Comment
Alan

Dan,

I know your a sports fan, so I'll ask you - do you think it was the boring games last night that attributed to the lackluster NCAA ratings or the games being available on 4 networks?
March 16, 2012 at 4:25PM EST Reply to Comment
- Alan - Much more the latter. Apparently the ratings across the four networks were up, so CBS just ends up getting a bit hosed by the circumstances.
  
  -Daniel
  March 16, 2012 at 4:42PM EST
Sir Ingenious

I'll go ahead and predict a Fringe cancellation, a probable Parenthood renewal but I'm somewhat on the fence about Southland. Does anybody think that show will return next year? Well, I sure hope so.

Are there any other low/mediocre-rated favorites that I should mention that's up against the chopping block?
March 16, 2012 at 6:28PM EST Reply to Comment
- George TNT is happy with the ratings as stated in article below. Season 5 renewal is likely.
  
  http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050948
  March 16, 2012 at 7:14PM EST

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TV Ratings: 'American Idol' leads Thursday, while 'Community' tops 'Missing' premiere

Ashley Judd drama falls below 'Charlie's Angels' among young viewers