TV Ratings: Miley Cyrus boosts 'Men,' helps CBS win Thursday
'Big Bang Theory' is Thursday's top show
Miley Cyrus and Ashton Kutcher of "Two and a Half Men"
Credit: CBS
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"Two and a Half Men" got a big week-to-week boost which either was or wasn't related to guest star Miley Cyrus. Either way, the venerable comedy combined with "The Big Bang Theory" to help kick-star CBS' easy primetime wins on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, after taking last week off for the Vice Presidential Debate, most of Thursday's dramas returned low, including "Grey's Anatomy," "Person of Interest," "Scandal" and "Elementary."
The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" and "Beauty and the Beast" were also down in their second airings.
And FOX continues to get very little value out of this baseball postseason, at least thus far.
[Before you get too excited about the "Last Resort" bump for ABC, keep in mind that the network's San Francisco affiliate was airing the Thursday Night Football game in that hour.]
On to the numbers...
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 3.1 rating for Thursday night, tops in the key demographic. ABC was second with a 2.4 rating, followed by the 1.4 key demo ratings for NBC and FOX. The CW averaged a 1.0 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 13.055 million viewers to go with an 8.2 rating/13 share on Thursday. There was a big drop to second place ABC's 7.74 million viewers and 5.2/8 and then to FOX's 3.4/5 and 5.42 million viewers. NBC was fourth with a 2.4/4 and 3.53 million viewers, beating the 1.5/2 and 2.38 million viewers for The CW.
8 p.m. - The night started with a CBS 8 p.m. rout led by "The Big Bang Theory" (15.395 million viewers and a 4.7 key demo rating) and "Two and a Half Men" (13.595 million and a 4.0 key demo). ABC's "Last Resort" was second with 7.32 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating, both up from last week, but remember the warning above. FOX's coverage of the NLCS average 5.32 million viewers and a 1.4 key demo rating in third, beating NBC's "30 Rock" (3.33 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo) and "Up All Night" (3.24 million and a 1.4 key demo). On The CW, "The Vampire Diaries" averaged 2.74 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating.
9 p.m. - Although it had a stronger lead-in than for its last airing, CBS' "Person of Interest" slipped a little to a still-strong 13.83 million viewers and a second place 2.8 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" won the hour with a 3.3 key demo rating and averaged 9.475 million viewers for second. FOX's baseball coverage was third with 5.53 million viewers and fourth with a 1.4 key demo rating. NBC was fourth overall and third in the key demo with "The Office" (4.27 million viewers and a 2.0 key demo) and "Parks and Recreation" (3.43 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo). The CW's second airing of "Beauty and the Beast" slipped to 2.025 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating, which The CW notes is in line with the second airing of "The Secret Circle" last year.
10 p.m. - "Elementary" won the 10 p.m. hour easily for CBS despite slipping to 10.84 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "Scandal" was second with 6.42 million viewers and a 2.0 key demo rating. NBC's "Rock Center" averaged 3.45 million viewers and a 0.9 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.
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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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBalaji K
October 19, 2012 at 12:29PM EST Reply to CommentLast Resort will adjust down as mentioned. ABC should swap Scandal with either Last Resort or Nashville to benefit from Grey's Anatomy.
Is that a good number for Elementary? I mean Mentalist is getting similar numbers with The Good Wife as a lead-in.
Sad for Parks & Rec. I doubt Community will do any better than 30 Rock or Up All Night on Thursdays.
dan Balaji - If you consider that "The Mentalist" is doing better than "CSI: Miami" was on Sunday, then probably it's all OK for CBS in the wash, but it's certainly not a great number for "Elementary" and it's in the process of actively falling still, so we'll have to see where it levels off. Like if "Elementary" slips to under 10 million viewers and under a 2 in the demo, that's obviously BAD. So either it levels fast or CBS gets concerned.
October 19, 2012 at 12:44PM EST"Scandal" obviously can't air at 8 p.m., so a "Last Resort" swap is out of the question. "Nashville" would be viable except for the challenges of promoting the move and whatnot...
-Daniel
Balaji K I guess FOX will do these swaps without blinking an eye. Last season, FOX was making scheduling changes till the end.
October 19, 2012 at 12:53PM ESTJeremy Is the fact that the final ratings for Last Resort were not adjusted down officially a good sign? I'm really enjoying this show and am looking for any good news for its future prospects, so I'm hoping this bump qualifies.
October 20, 2012 at 10:37PM ESTdan Jeremy - It's certainly not a bad sign and ABC has ordered a couple more scripts (not episodes yet), which also isn't a bad sign. There's no way to spin the numbers to make them sound "good," but there's plenty of ways to spin the numbers to make them "not awful." So there's that!
October 21, 2012 at 1:19AM EST-Daniel
Jeremy Thanks for the info, Dan. I hadn't heard about the new script orders, so that's good to hear as well. Here's hoping for another small bump next week to make them a little more "not awful." Haha.
October 21, 2012 at 10:52PM ESTJobin00
October 19, 2012 at 1:20PM EST Reply to CommentDaniel,
I know Parks and Rec is getting awful numbers, but with the Office/30 Rock both done, nearly all of their other comedies falling on their faces (maybe with the exception of GOON), NBC has to bring back SOME returning sitcoms right?
Does the new Michael Schur Fox comedy pilot with Andy Samberg mean that Parks and Rec is as good as done?
What is NBC doing btw? How do they let Schur AND Samberg take their pilot to FOX?!? Did they not learn from their mistake with Mindy?
dan Jobin00 - "Mindy" has delivered miniscule ratings for FOX, so NBC doesn't feel bad about that. And I assume that if Parks is picked up and the FOX cop comedy is picked up, Goor will run the Samberg thing and Schur will stay on Parks. In theory...
October 19, 2012 at 1:39PM EST-Daniel
Jobin00 Guess you are right about Mindy's awful ratings. I didnt realize they were that poor.
October 19, 2012 at 1:49PM ESTBut Samberg is a bigger more well known NBC-star (than Mindy was). Wouldn't you think it would make sense to try to launch a show around him? Easier to market to show as well?
It just seems odd that they would let Schur take his pilot to Fox too, since it's clear the guy knows how to make a funny show, and surely had a big hand in the Office's glory years.
dan Jobin00 - FOX got the pilot w/out Samberg, of course, and I guess NBC just didn't think the material was on-brand for its current comedy identity, whatever the heck that is. Would NBC *now* want a comedy featuring Andy Samberg? Yeah, probably... Probably a lot...
October 19, 2012 at 1:58PM EST-Daniel
Jobin00 Daniel,
October 19, 2012 at 2:42PM ESTWait I'm confused.
Fox picked up the Schur pilot or pilot idea when Samberg wasn't attached to it?
Then at some point Samberg signed on?
dan Jobin00 - The script was written on without a network home and then sold to FOX a few weeks ago. Samberg only signed on officially yesterday. So NBC would have had the chance to get a Schur/Goor police comedy, but they wouldn't have known a hypothetical star...
October 19, 2012 at 2:51PM EST-Daniel
Jobin00 That makes more sense on NBC's part. Since even though Schur has made critically acclaimed shows, they are clearly trying to distance themselves from their current comedies / ratings limitations.
October 19, 2012 at 2:59PM ESTSurprised NBC didn't have some sort of development deal to keep Samberg in house though.
watch_the_throne
October 19, 2012 at 2:44PM EST Reply to CommentTough fall for BaTB. I know most people didnt like it but it was fairly passable for a CW show and thought the next episode looked a little better.
Mostly feel bad for Kristin Kreuk because for all the criticism she got for this and Smallville, I still feel like she can do well in the right project. Saw flashes of that with her guest run in Chuck, which a lot of people seemed to like.
CW really kind of set her up to fail with the half baked idea of the Beast.