TV Ratings: 'Mentalist,' 'X Factor' drive CBS, FOX Thursday split
'Charlie's Angels,' 'How To Be a Gentleman' are in jeopardy
"The Mentalist"
Credit: CBS
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Fast National ratings for Thursday, October 6, 2011.
It was another steady night for FOX's "The X Factor," which continues to slip at such a slow rate the network is unlikely to care, especially when it keeps delivering Thursday wins among young viewers. While FOX maintained its comfortable grip on the key demo, CBS still won the night overall, though "How To Be a Gentleman" may not be long for its cushy time slot.
Also living on borrowed time is ABC's "Charlie's Angels," which looks like a strong candidate to be the season's next casualty after another big drop. Then again, it was another night when declines were nearly across-the-board, leading us to blame baseball playoffs or whatever it is we usually blame.
Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 3.7 rating for a convincing win in the key demographic. CBD finished second with a 2.9 rating, while ABC's 2.1 rating and the 1.9 rating for NBC followed. The CW averaged a 1.0 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, though, it was CBS coming out on top with an estimated 11.69 million viewers in primetime along with a 7.4 rating/11 share. FOX's 7.0/11 and 11.205 million viewers finished a close second, far ahead of the 4.9/7 and 6.88 million viewers for third place ABC. NBC averaged a 3.1/5 and 4.66 million viewers, while The CW's 1.6/2 and 2.26 million viewers trailed.
[For the night, Univision averaged 3.34 million viewers and a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49.]
8 p.m. - CBS started primetime in first overall with "The Big Bang Theory" (13.63 million viewers and a 4.4 key demo rating) and then a large drop to "How To Be a Gentleman" (7.82 million and a 2.5 key demo rating). FOX's "The X Factor" averaged 10.59 million viewers and a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49, easily winning the 8:30 half-hour. "Charlie's Angels" averaged 5.93 million viewers for third overall and a 1.2 key demo rating to tie for fourth. NBC's "Community" (3.37 million and a 1.5 key demo rating) and "Parks and Recreation" (4.13 million and a 1.9 key demo rating) struggled through a tough week. The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" averaged 2.55 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating in fifth.
9 p.m. - FOX moved into first for the 9 p.m. hour with 11.82 million viewers and a 4.1 key demo rating for "The X Factor." CBS' "Person of Interest" was second overall with 11.46 million viewers and fourth with a 2.5 key demo rating. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" suffered big declines to 8.5 million viewers and a 3.0 key demo rating. NBC's "The Office" (5.71 million viewers and a 3.1 key demo) and "Whitney" (4.88 million and a 2.3 key demo) were also down, with the newly picked up "Whitney" looking extra-wobbly. The CW's "The Secret Circle" averaged 1.96 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating.
10 p.m. - CBS won the 10 p.m. hour with one of the few shows to rise week-to-week, as "The Mentalist" averaged 12.89 million viewers and a 2.7 key demo rating. It was a big drop for ABC's "Private Practice" in second with 6.21 million viewers and a 2.2 key demo rating. While NBC's "Prime Suspect" was down to 4.93 million viewers, it was flat with a 1.5 key demo rating, which isn't good, but suddenly seems less bad.
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, 2011 at 12:14PM EST Reply to CommentReading the rating news for Friday through Wednesday is a totally different experience than for Thursday. Why? Because only the Thursday numbers can get me bummed out about how few people watch Parks and Recreation.
Tim I feel the same way.
October 7, 2011 at 12:26PM ESTLJA It's shocking that Parks doesn't get the love it deserves.
October 7, 2011 at 12:37PM ESTEAS It's the one show I don't understand. I've come to learn that Chuck and Community are a different kind of show that only appeal to a certain crowd, but Parks and Rec is a mass appeal comedy with funny characters, sweet romances, and hilarious, quotable dialogue. It's really bizzare.
October 7, 2011 at 3:59PM ESTpjn Parks and Rec is a funny show but I don't care about any of the characters and I watch too much TV as it is, I can't watch every show.
October 7, 2011 at 4:55PM ESTRLH NBC only promotes The Office and Whitney for Thursday nights, that's why.
October 8, 2011 at 1:08PM ESTAcey
October 7, 2011 at 12:22PM EST Reply to CommentIs Charlie's Angels really that bad? It's just chilling on my DVR, but man those ratings are horrific. ABC's situation isn't much better than NBC if you ask me.
October 7, 2011 at 1:05PM EST-Daniel
LJA
October 7, 2011 at 12:36PM EST Reply to CommentIs it my imagination, or is The Office *way* down?
jcpdiesel21 I think it is, too. Didn't it used to pull closer to 10 million viewers in previous seasons?
October 7, 2011 at 12:59PM EST
October 7, 2011 at 1:04PM EST-Daniel
M Just out of curiousity, what is NBC's highest rated show right now and what kind of numbers does it pull? Because if they're letting Community and Parks & Rec stay on the air with the same numbers that just got Free Agents and Playboy Club cancelled, clearly the line between failure and success on NBC is pretty thin.
October 7, 2011 at 1:34PM EST
October 7, 2011 at 1:52PM ESTBut yeah, "Community" and "Parks and Rec" keep surviving for the same reason "Chuck" kept surviving: NBC has too many comparably rated shows, so you might as well keep the shows that a few people LOVE, at least til something better comes along. Meanwhile, we're into the third or fourth consecutive season of something better not coming along...
-Daniel
Stacy M, both Community & Parks are doing way better then Free Agents did in the demo. Free Agent’s had a 1.0 rating in its last airing. So Community is doing 50% better and Parks is 90% better.. Yes, those are still very bad ratings, but they are not exactly the same as Free Agent’s numbers.
October 7, 2011 at 2:24PM ESTAndrew Parks suffers from never holding a solid timeslot and other mismanagement, such as poor promotion after S1 and the long delay after S2.
October 8, 2011 at 3:42AM ESTI wish they'd either cancel Whitney or move it to Wednesday and give Parks the 9:30 post-Office slot again. When it had that slot last year, ratings weren't that bad.
Kevin
October 7, 2011 at 12:43PM EST Reply to CommentIt looks pretty clear that whatever ratings Whitney gets are due to people not flipping after The Office, though more people are changing the channel each week. Makes you wonder why NBC was so quick with the pick up, unless they just wanted some "good" news to balance the cancelations. Every ad for that show makes me cringe.
John
October 7, 2011 at 1:29PM EST Reply to CommentI have crunched the numbers, and if Community, Parks and Rec, and Whitney follow the trajectories they are on through three weeks (they won't) then Parks will overtake Whitney in both total viewers and key demo next week, Community will overtake Whitney the week after that, and then the week after that it will overtake Whitney in both total viewers and key demo. So I guess we still have impractical mathematical models (and hope) that tell us Parks and Community stick around while Whitney crashes and burns.
Andrew They won't cancel Parks at this point. They're close to syndication, and even if viewership doesn't improve it probably has 1-2 more seasons left besides this one.
October 8, 2011 at 3:38AM ESTWhich actually may be all for the best. I'd much rather have a show with 4-6 great seasons than one that drags on well past its prime simply because of its ratings.
M
October 7, 2011 at 7:23PM EST Reply to CommentHave you watched anymore Charlie's Angels after the pilot, Dan? It's actually improved a lot since the first episode. I wouldn't exactly venture to call it good just yet, but this week's episode showed a dramatic improvement in the writing and chemistry between the actors. It's sort of too bad, though, that the overall vision for the show is so generic. If they'd added some sort of season long story arc and turned into a three lead version of Alias it could have had some potential. Oh well.