TV Ratings: 'X Factor,' 'Teenage Daughter' carry FOX Wednesday win

'Harry's Law,' 'SVU' make NBC a close second overall

By Daniel Fienberg Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 12:03 PM

"The X Factor" host Steve Jones

Credit: FOX

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Fast National ratings for Wednesday, November 30, 2011.

Led by a strong 90-minute performance for "The X Factor" and somewhat-less-impressive retention from the series premiere of "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," FOX easily won Wednesday night among young viewers and was narrowly able to hold off a surprisingly robust NBC in total viewers.

Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 3.4 rating, far ahead of second place CBS' 2.3 rating in the key demographic. NBC's 1.8 rating and the 1.7 rating for ABC followed closely, while The CW averaged a 0.8 key demo rating for the night.

Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 9.91 million viewers in primetime, edging out NBC's 9.72 million viewers, although NBC's 6.5 rating/10 share beat the 6.0/9 for FOX, not that that means very much. CBS was third with a 5.2/8 and 8.03 million viewers, with ABC's 3.6/5 and 5.23 million viewers good for fourth. The CW averaged 1.4/2 and 2.15 million viewers for the night.

[Univision averaged 3.495 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 for Wednesday primetime.]

8 p.m. - CBS started primetime in first overall with 10.92 million viewers for "Survivor: South Pacific," which finished second with a 3.1 rating among adults 18-49. FOX's "The X Factor" was second with 10.33 million viewers and won the hour with a 3.5 rating in the key demographic. NBC's "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" was third overall with 9.415 million viewers and a distant third with a 1.8 key demo rating. ABC's repeats of "The Middle" and "Suburgatory" finished fourth with 5.63 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating. The CW's "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" averaged nearly 2.4 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating.

9 p.m. - Remarkably, NBC's "Harry's Law" actually won the 9 p.m. hour overall with 9.91 million viewers, though the legal drama was a distant fourth with a 1.4 key demo rating. "The X Factor" went up to 12.12 million viewers and a 4.1 rating among adults 18-49 and led into "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," which averaged 6.84 million viewers and a 2.8 key demo rating, obviously rating more admirably among young viewers than overall. CBS' "Criminal Minds" repeat averaged 7.55 million viewers for third. ABC was fourth overall and second in the key demo with repeats of "Modern Family" (7.16 million viewers and a 2.6 key demo) and "Happy Endings" (4.96 million viewers and a 2.1 key demo). The CW's "America's Next Top Model" averaged 1.93 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating.

10 p.m. - NBC won its second consecutive hour with 9.825 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49. CBS' "The Grammy Nominations Concert" was up a sliver from last year with 5.62 million viewers and a 1.9 key demo rating. ABC's "Revenge" repeat finished third with 4.01 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating.

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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Dryden

How did "Harry's Law" win the hour if "The X Factor" beat it by three million in both overall viewers and 18-49?
December 1, 2011 at 1:21PM EST Reply to Comment
- Dryden - As it says in the paragraph, "The X Factor" aired for only half of that hour and the second half was "Teenage Daughter," which lost a substantial portion of its overall audience, allowing "Harry's Law" to win that hour OVERALL. FOX still won the hour 18-49, but the individual hours are listed by overall performance.
  
  -Daniel
  December 1, 2011 at 1:55PM EST
meliot

I watched "I Hate My Teenage Daughter" and I have to say, I'm not a fan. I was uncomfortable with the red-head mom's insecurity and obvious eating disorder. The pie scene was very disturbing and completely unrealistic. Yes, we all have hold-over issues from when we were young, but we have mostly gotten past the horror of our high school years; if they wanted us moms with teenage daughters to connect with the material, they missed the mark completely.

Additionally, if my kid talked to me the way those girls talked to their moms, well...
December 1, 2011 at 6:07PM EST Reply to Comment