Weekend TV Ratings: 'Virtuality' tanks on Friday

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of FOX's 'Virtuality'

Credit: FOX

For the sake of sci-fi fans (and because we actually liked the movie), we'd love to be able to sugarcoat the ratings for FOX's Friday (June 26) night telecast of "Virtuality." Unfortunately, there are only so many nice ways to say "Really bad."

The bottom line is that over its two-hour running time, "Virtuality" averaged a 1.2 rating/2 share and 1.796 million viewers, according to Fast National ratings. 

As your easy point of comparison, "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and a repeat of "Mental" averaged 3.15 million viewers and a 1.0 demo rating for Friday, June 19.

Yes, "Virtuality" beat repeats of "Privileged" and "Everybody Hates Chris" and "The Game" on The CW, but only by a little. In fact, "Virtuality" averaged a 0.5 rating for the night in the key 18-49 demographic for the night and tied The CW's comedies with a 0.4 demo rating for the 9 p.m. hour.

"Virtuality" started primetime with 2.31 million viewers, but lost audience and 18-49 ratings' points with each half-hour. For the 9:30 p.m. half-hour, the show averaged an estimated 1.51 million viewers.

It's a safe bet that the show's ratings will improve dramatically -- at least on a percentage-basis -- when DVR figures are factored in, but these weren't the figures FOX was looking for when considering the future of the Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor sci-fi epic.

The best thing we can say about the "Virtuality" ratings is, "Well, at least it didn't do 'Kings' numbers."

NBC's oft-shifted, quasi-Biblical series averaged 1.54 million viewers on Saturday night, with a 0.4 rating in the key demo, making it the least watched of three new dramas airing on the night. Second place went to ABC's "Eli Stone," which averaged 2.69 million viewers and a 0.5 rating among adults 18-49. 

Saturday's most-watched new scripted programming was CBS' "Harper's Island," which averaged 3.54 million viewers and a 0.8 demo rating. That mean that unlike the other two scripted shows, "Harper's Island" didn't finish last in its hour, taking third overall and second in the 18-49 demo.

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