TV Ratings: 'Glee' down but still dominant enough to get FOX Tuesday win

"Glee" was down but still strong last night in the ratings.

Credit: FOX

Turns out not even the white-hot phenomenon known as "Glee" is immune from the spring ratings doldrums that have been affecting much of primetime since the clocks sprang forward.

Last night's episode was the FOX hit's first new one since the time change, and first in more than a month, and the ratings were unsurprisingly down a bit from the previous one (which was itself down from the week before).

Still, "Glee" was enough to carry FOX to a nightly win the 18-49 demographic, though "NCIS"-driven CBS was Tuesday's most-watched network, with ABC and "Dancing with the Stars" nipping at its heels.

For the night, FOX averaged a 2.8 rating in 18-49, and 7.1 million viewers overall. NBC was actually second in the demographic race (2.4, 6.5 million), thanks to "The Biggest Loser" and a very strong "Parenthood" finale, followed by CBS (2.2, 11.2 million), ABC (2.1, 10.7 million) and the CW (0.6, 1.3 million).

8 p.m. -- "Glee" (3.7 demo rating, 9.7 million overall viewers) won the hour in 18-49, but was down from the 4.0 rating and 10.8 million viewers for the last original episode a month ago. An "NCIS" repeat (2.2, 13.3 million) was easily the most-watched show in the hour. The first hour of "Biggest Loser" got NBC a 2.1 rating and 6.4 million viewers, while ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" continued to flail (1.1, 4.7 million) and "One Tree Hill" (0.7, 1.4 million) was irrelevant as always.

9 p.m. -- ABC's "Dancing" results show won the hour in both demos and viewers (2.9 rating, 15.8 million overall), followed by CBS' "NCIS: LA" repeat (2.4, 11.2 million), the second hour of "Biggest Loser" (2.5, 6.8 million), FOX's uneven combo of renewed "Raising Hope" (2.2, 5.7 million) and dead show walking "Traffic Light" (1.4, 3.3 million), and the CW's "Hellcats" (0.5, 1.1 million).

10 p.m. -- With "The Good Wife" off the schedule for the week (CBS didn't even bother airing a repeat, instead plugging in another "NCIS: LA" rerun), the "Parenthood" finale surged to a 2.5 demo rating (and 6.4 million viewers overall), winning the hour over "Body of Proof" (2.2, 10.7 million) and the aforementioned "NCIS: LA" (2.0, 8.7 million).

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

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com