TV Ratings: 'Undercover Boss,' Whitney Houston '20/20' help CBS, ABC split Friday

'Fringe' is flat, 'Shark Tank' drops and 'A Gifted Man' and 'Nikita' rise

By Daniel Fienberg Saturday, Feb 18, 2012 12:05 PM

This man looks like a Checkers employee, but he's actually the CEO. Oh, "Undercover Boss"... You've done it again!

Credit: CBS

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Fast National ratings for Friday, February 17, 2012.

CBS may finally have found its Friday 8 p.m. solution after "Undercover Boss" delivered the network's best time period ratings in some time. However, despite starting the night strong, CBS had to settle for a Friday split, as ABC's "20/20" special dedicated to the late Whitney Houston dominated the late evening among young viewers.

Meanwhile, with your Friday bubble favorites, "Fringe" was flat, "Nikita" was up slightly and "Grimm" took the evening off for NBC to get low ratings for the NAACP Image Awards.

Among among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 1.9 rating, edging out CBS' 1.8 rating in the key demographic. FOX was far back in third with a 1.2 rating, with NBC's 0.9 rating and The CW's 0.6 rating lagging.

Overall, though, CBS won the night easily by averaging 10.29 million viewers and a 6.5 rating/11 share. ABC was second with a 4.6/8 and 7.13 million viewers. NBC's 2.3/4 and 3.43 million viewers edged out the 1.9/3 and 3.05 million viewers for FOX. The CW's 1.0/2 and 1.64 million viewers trailed.

8 p.m. - "Undercover Boss" delivered 10.73 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 for its Friday premiere, doubling recent key demo averages for "A Gifted Man" and adding a couple million viewers to boot. Of added interest to CBS, "Undercover Boss" didn't just deliver good numbers, but it also seemingly trimmed young viewers from its Friday reality competitors. ABC's "Shark Tank" slipped a little to 5.66 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating, while FOX's "Kitchen Nightmares" was also down a little with 3.11 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo rating. NBC's NAACP Image Awards coverage drew 2.84 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating. On The CW, "Nikita" averaged 1.6 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating.

9 p.m. - Getting a 9 p.m. tryout, CBS' "A Gifted Man" averaged 9.51 million viewers and a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49, both better than the drama had been doing at 8 p.m., but both lower than what "CSI: NY" has been doing in the slot. ABC's "20/20" averaged 7.1 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.8 key demo rating. NBC's NAACP Image Awards coverage averaged 3.08 million viewers for third and a 0.8 key demo rating for fourth. FOX's "Fringe" averaged 2.99 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, unimpacted by the drop from its lead-in and basically flat with last week. The CW's "Supernatural" lost a few viewers to 1.68 million and stayed flat with a 0.7 key demo rating.

10 p.m. - "Blue Bloods" won the 10 p.m. hour overall with 10.63 million viewers and finished second with a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49, both numbers down from last week. ABC's Whitney Houston-centric "20/20" improved to 8.62 million viewers and an hour-winning 2.3 key demo rating. NBC was third with the 4.37 million viewers and 1.1 key demo rating for NBC.

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.

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February 20, 2012 at 7:43PM EST Reply to Comment

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TV Ratings: 'Undercover Boss,' Whitney Houston '20/20' help CBS, ABC split Friday

'Fringe' is flat, 'Shark Tank' drops and 'A Gifted Man' and 'Nikita' rise