TV Ratings: CBS wins Wednesday as 'Undercovers,' 'Defenders,' 'LOLA' fall
FOX ties for first in the demo with a 'Hell's Kitchen' rise
Jeff Probst of 'Survivor: Nicaragua'
Credit: CBS
Another day, another slew of new fall programs continue to plummet post-premieres. In the case of Wednesday, that means declines for "Undercovers," "The Defenders" and "Law & Order: Los Angeles." The night's other new shows had mixed results, with "Better with You" falling overall, but rising in the favored demographic, "The Whole Truth" doing the same and "Hellcats" falling overall, but remaining steady in the demographic.
It's been that kind of season so far. [Yes, baseball postseason probably played at least some role in this Wednesday's drop, with the game between the Yankees and Twins remaining competitive.]
Want to know what went up on Wednesday? That would be "Hell's Kitchen," which explains why FOX was able to split the night with CBS, at least in the all-important demographic. Overall? The night was all CBS.
Among adults 18-49, CBS and FOX tied with a 3.1 rating. ABC's 2.5 rating was good for third in the key demo. NBC's 2.1 rating and the 1.1 rating for The CW followed.
Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 11.62 million viewers to go with a 7.0 rating/12 share, comfortably ahead of he 5.1/9 and 7.71 million viewers for NBC. ABC's 4.4/7 and 7.08 million viewers finished third, beating the 6.62 million viewers and 3.9/6 for FOX. The CW was fifth with a 1.7/3.
8 p.m. -- "Survivor: Nicaragua" started the night in first with 11.83 million viewers and a 3.6 demo rating, down in viewers from last week, but up in the demo. ABC's "The Middle" and "Better with You" averaged 7.43 million viewers between then for second overall, though the comedies were third for the hour in the demo. NBC's "Undercovers" fell for its second straight week, averaging 6.24 million viewers for third overall and a 1.5 demo rating for fourth on the hour. FOX's 6.215 million viewers finished fourth overall, but the 2.9 demo rating for "Hell's Kitchen" was second. The CW's "America's Next Top Model" averaged 2.85 million viewers for fifth.
9 p.m. -- CBS stayed in first in the 9 p.m. hour with 13.74 million viewers, though the procedural's 3.5 demo was second. ABC was second overall and first in the demo with "Modern Family" (11.345 million and a 4.5 demo) and "Cougar Town" (7.2 million and a 3.1 demo). NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" was a close third with 8.66 million viewers, but fourth in the demo. FOX's "Hell's Kitchen" had 7.03 million viewers and finished a close third with a 3.3 demo rating. The CW's "Hellcats" averaged 2.16 million viewers for fifth.
10 p.m. -- After losing to NBC's "Law & Order: Los Angeles" last week, CBS' "The Defenders" won the 10 p.m. hour overall with 9.29 million viewers, though the first-year drama continued to dip in the demo with a 2.1 rating. The second week of "Law & Order: Los Angeles" averaged 8.23 million viewers (down from 10.5 million in last week's Fast Nationals) and a 2.4 demo rating. ABC's "The Whole Truth" continued to flirt with cancellation with a near-stable 4.53 million viewers and a 1.4 demo rating, up 0.1 from last week's Fast Nationals.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.
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.
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October 7, 2010 at 12:34PM EST Reply to Commentyikes, thats my only thoughtful comment of the day
Dillan
October 7, 2010 at 12:36PM EST Reply to CommentHellcats is slowly going down. I hope it goes up!
Rob
October 7, 2010 at 1:06PM EST Reply to CommentThe Nielsen Ratings Systems sucks. With only 25,000 Nielsen "metered market" households representing nearing 98% of all Americans. Can you imagine all the shows that have been cancelled due to guesswork? I hope Google TV puts those clowns at Nielsen out of business.
dan Rob - This seems to really bother you. And, again, I'm not saying the Nielsen system is any good. But it's the same system for every show on TV, so all anybody can do, for now at least, is succeed or fail within the confines of that system...
October 7, 2010 at 1:35PM EST-Daniel
October 7, 2010 at 6:54PM EST Reply to CommentHow can you call The Defenders a fail when it won its timeslot?
Stacy It only won overall not in the demos which is much more important.
October 7, 2010 at 7:08PM ESTdan Gerrit - Mostly, its ratings went down dramatically for the second consecutive week. And what I actually said was that it fell. Which... it did.
October 7, 2010 at 7:18PM EST-Daniel