TV Ratings: CBS' 'NCIS' dominance continues on Tuesday as everybody droops

'Go On,' 'New Normal,' 'The Mindy Project,' 'Vegas,' 'Ben and Kate' all dip

By Daniel Fienberg Wednesday, Oct 3, 2012 12:06 PM

Pauley Perrette of "NCIS"

Credit: CBS

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Fast National ratings for Tuesday, October 2, 2012.

The networks are going to have to look hard to find reasons for optimism after a Tuesday night that saw across-the-board drops for basically everything.

With "The Voice" airing a clip show, CBS was able to sweep primetime with "NCIS," "NCIS: Los Angeles" and "Las Vegas," though all three dramas fell from their premieres.

Meanwhile, NBC can't be pleased with steep drops for "Go On" and "The New Normal," which were both picked up for full seasons just hours before faltering with a weaker-than-normal "Voice" lead-in. FOX, similarly, can't be pleased with miniscule overall audiences and tepid demos for its non-"New Girl" comedies.

And "Hart of Dixie" returned to The CW with a "Hart of Dixie"-esque audience.

On to the numbers...

For the night, CBS averaged a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49, easily tops in the key demographic. NBC averaged a 2.2 rating, followed by FOX's 2.0 key demo rating. ABC was fourth with a 1.7 key demo rating, while The CW averaged a 0.5 key demo rating.

Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 15.145 million viewers and a 9.4 rating/15 share for Tuesday primetime. ABC was a distant second with a 6.0/9 and 8.71 million viewers, comfortably topping NBC's 6 million viewers and 3.9/6. FOX averaged 3.99 million viewers and a 2.4/4 for the night, while The CW averaged 1.095 million viewers and a 0.7/1.

8 p.m. - "NCIS" averaged 18.5 million viewers to win the 8 p.m. hour for CBS and with reduced competition, its 3.6 rating among adults 18-49 also won the hour. NBC's "The Voice" clip show averaged 8.22 million viewers and a 2.9 key demo rating. ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" clip show averaged 8.21 million viewers, but a dismal 1.3 key demo rating. FOX was fourth overall and third in the key demo with the premiere of "Raising Hope" (3.89 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo) and the second episode of "Ben and Kate" (3.255 million and a 1.6 key demo rating). The CW's "Hart of Dixie" averaged 1.535 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating, basically exactly what you would have expected it to do.

9 p.m. - CBS stayed in first for the 9 p.m. hour with 14.87 million viewers and a 3.1 rating among adults 18-49 for "NCIS: Los Angeles." ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" was second overall with 11.8 million viewers and was third with a 2.1 key demo rating. NBC's "Go On" (5.99 million and a 2.2 key demo) and "The New Normal" (4.61 million and a 1.7 key demo) were both way down from last week. FOX's "New Girl" (5.07 million viewers and a 2.8 key demo) was steady from last week, but "The Mindy Project" (3.75 million and a 1.9 key demo) fell hard. The CW averaged 655,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating for "The Next."

10 p.m. - "Vegas" averaged 12.065 million viewers and a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS. [And yes, both numbers are below Week 2 for "Unforgettable" last fall.] ABC's "Private Practice" averaged 6.12 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo rating, compared to the 4.48 million viewers and 1.7 key demo rating for NBC's "Parenthood."

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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Balaji K

I'm sad about Raising Hope. It was a fine start (comedy-wise) to the season.

Ouch for NBC comedies. May be, the should have waited before giving the back-9 order.

Finally, I'm scared for Happy Endings and Apartment 23.
October 3, 2012 at 12:28PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan Balaji - Even with those low numbers, "Goon" and "New Normal" *still* would have gotten back-nines. Just maybe not so early. Similarly, FOX can't do much about 3/4ths of those shows. They're there for a while.
  
  And don't worry about "Happy Endings" and "Apt. 23"... they'll be low, too!
  
  -Daniel
  October 3, 2012 at 12:36PM EST
- Balaji K Well, I hope FOX will keep this comedy block for the rest of the season. I think it's one of the better 2-hour comedy block on TV right now. It's not like they have plenty of options in any case.
  October 3, 2012 at 10:44PM EST
ChampSkins

First thing I thought when I saw this... RIP Happy Endings. How in the world will it be able to pull in even halfway decent numbers?
October 3, 2012 at 12:52PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan ChampSkins - Nobody expects it to. But "Apartment 23" will pull in lower numbers, which'll make ABC happy with "Happy Endings" by extension.
  
  Maybe.
  
  -Daniel
  October 3, 2012 at 1:11PM EST
John

If I were FOX, I would be concerned with The Mindy Project. Ben and Kate fell a similar amount, but that was at least commensurate with the drop in its lead in. Mindy's lead in was virtually unchanged, but it delivered NBC-sized numbers.
October 3, 2012 at 1:09PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan John - Oh, FOX definitely wanted better from "The Mindy Project." We'll see how the Live-Plus-Three numbers look, because that's what everybody is touting this season. Regardless, FOX only has one half-hour fill-in set for midseason, so most of this stuff is gonna get to stick around, ratings-be-darned...
  
  -Daniel
  October 3, 2012 at 1:12PM EST
- John I know it isn't a direct competition per se, but given how Go On and The New Normal performed so far this season time shifted (+17%, +40% respectively I believe), I can't imagine Mindy looking like anything but an NBC sitcom. Which isn't good unless you're NBC, and even then...
  October 3, 2012 at 1:24PM EST
- dan John - "Raising Hope" has gotten three seasons by never being anything more, ratings-wise, than NBC-level. FOX has different standards when it comes to live-action comedy. Of course, obviously they hoped that "Mindy" would be more "New Girl" and less "Raising Hope."
  
  -Daniel
  October 3, 2012 at 1:33PM EST
ty

I'd be interested to see what would happen to Revolution's ratings without a high rating "The Voice" behind it. Seems like it's the only way for NBC to get decent figures these days. Surprised still by the "Go On" and "New Normal" drops. I didn't expect them to go down so much :( Dan, do you think NBC will stick with Revolution on Monday's for the rest of the season, or maybe move it to another night mid-season and try and launch a new show, or put "Smash" back there? I would have thought "Smash" might be a good bet for Tues once Parenthood has finished its run.
October 3, 2012 at 1:14PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan Ty - That's pretty much the Question of the Spring. My instinct is that NBC would want to move "Revolution" into a 9 p.m. hour at some point. But they probably don't want to do that until they're 100 percent certain it won't fall off a cliff w/out "The Voice," which they DEFINITELY can't be sure of yet...
  
  The "Parenthood" slot is one potential home. NBC could always try again on Thursdays at 10 p.m. after they see what happens with "Elementary" and "Scandal" as their ratings progress... And then there's always "Hannibal."
  
  -Daniel
  October 3, 2012 at 1:40PM EST
Donnie

I'm interested in how long FOX will keep its comedy Tuesday. I have no idea. Ben & Kate did horrible, but it held quite a chunk of its lead-in. Raising Hope did the same numbers in spring, I believe. Therefore FOX cannot have expected much from either show. With Raising Hope's numbers in spring there, they certainly didn't expect Ben & Kate to be a hit out of the bat, right? The Mindy Project however did badly for the buzz and the lead-in it had going for it. Too bad, this is probably the best live-action-comedy-line-up FOX has ever had.

I'm also watching "Go On" and "New Normal". I wish they would just drop the workplace environment on "Go On". The show is a snooze fest whenever they get away from the therapy members scenes. I'm almost ready to erase "New Normal" from my schedule, only problem is that I find Andrew Rannells really charming.

Too bad this will be even more of a comedy massacre once the ABC comedies come in. Because I think all Tuesday 9pm/9.30 shows on all three networks are watchable, even though I'm certainly cancelling a few of them due to time.
October 3, 2012 at 4:32PM EST Reply to Comment
cody

Please don't get rid of Vegas. Such a good new show.
October 19, 2012 at 12:28PM EST Reply to Comment
cody

Please do not get rid of Vegas. Such good new show.
October 19, 2012 at 12:29PM EST Reply to Comment

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TV Ratings: CBS' 'NCIS' dominance continues on Tuesday as everybody droops

'Go On,' 'New Normal,' 'The Mindy Project,' 'Vegas,' 'Ben and Kate' all dip