TV Ratings: 'NCIS' dominates Tuesday as 'Smash' dips and 'Cult' stumbles
'Bachelor' special makes ABC a close second in the demo
Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee of "Smash"
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
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With "NCIS" leading the way, CBS swept each hour of Tuesday primetime and won the night easily overall and in a close rase with ABC among young viewers.
ABC was able to make things close in the key demo thanks to a strong airing for a "Bachelor" special.
On the negative side of the ledger, NBC's "Smash" slipped in its second airing of the spring, while The CW's "Cult" had an unimpressive debut.
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 2.6 rating to top Tuesday night in the key demographic. ABC was second with a 1.8 key demo rating, followed by FOX's 1.7 key demo rating. NBC averaged a 1.1 rating in the key demo, at least beating the 0.4 key demo rating for The CW.
Overall, CBS won primetime in a rout, averaging 15.65 million viewers and a 9.9 rating/15 share, far ahead of the 4.4/7 and 6.56 million viewers for ABC. NBC was third with a 2.4/4 and 3.68 million viewers, nipping the 2.1/3 and 3.48 million viewers for FOX. The CW averaged a 0.8/1 and 1.16 million viewers for Tuesday.
[Univision averaged 3.98 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 for Tuesday night.]
8 p.m. - "NCIS" controlled the 8 p.m. hour for CBS with 20.93 million viewers and a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "The Taste" was an uncompetitive second with 4.89 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo rating, just ahead of the 4.67 million viewers and 1.4 key demo rating for NBC's "Betty White's Off Their Rockers." FOX was fourth with a new "Raising Hope" (3.7 million and a 1.5 key demo) and a "New Girl" repeat (2.82 million and a 1.3 key demo). The CW's "Hart of Dixie" averaged 1.37 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating.
9 p.m. - "NCIS: Los Angeles" won the 9 p.m. hour for CBS with 16.34 million viewers and a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "The Bachelor: Sean Tells All" special was a close second with a 2.6 key demo rating and a distant second with 8.14 million viewers. FOX was third with "New Girl" (4.36 million and a 2.2 key demo) and "The Mindy Project" (3.04 million and a 1.6 key demo), beating NBC's "Go On" (3.32 million and a 1.1 key demo) and "The New Normal" (2.83 million and a 1.0 key demo). The series premiere of "Cult" averaged a not-long-for-this-Earth 941,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating, but The CW can take relative solace in the lack of major drop at the half-hour.
10 p.m. - "Vegas" averaged 9.67 million viewers and a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 to win the 10 p.m. hour in unimpressive fashion for CBS. The season premiere of "Body of Proof" averaged 6.66 million viewers, but only a 1.2 key demo rating. NBC's "Smash" dipped by 25 percent to a 0.9 key demo rating and averaged 3.29 million viewers.
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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February 20, 2013 at 2:02PM EST Reply to CommentSo what do you think will happen to Smash? Will NBC run it all the way through (maybe because of Spielberg?) or will it get yanked (or possibly shipped off to Saturday nights?) before the season is done?
dan M - I think they'll keep airing it. The network isn't awash in other options and they can pretend/hope that when "The Voice" comes back in five or six weeks it might lift the back half of that lineup. But mostly, they don't have anything else to go there, so it's either air low-rated reruns or try to get some value out of low-rated originals. And since Tuesday is less lucrative than Thursday, there's less urgency to make a change. Also, as you say... Spielberg!
February 20, 2013 at 2:18PM EST-Daniel
Stormshadow4life I assume this would be the last season for the show no matter what, though?
February 20, 2013 at 3:16PM ESTRicardo They could take Smash and give Hannibal a chance when The Voice comes back...
February 20, 2013 at 4:09PM ESTdan Ricardo - NBC announced a premiere for "Hannibal" and they've begun promotion with that premiere date. "Smash" is no more or less a disaster than it was two weeks ago when it premiered and they announced the "Hannibal" premiere a week ago, so NBC simply has no interest in "Hannibal" airing here...
February 20, 2013 at 4:18PM EST-Daniel
ChampSkins
February 20, 2013 at 2:18PM EST Reply to CommentSee ya later Smash, hello Parenthood renewal.
Joe Cheers to that!
February 20, 2013 at 3:58PM ESTmplsbill
February 20, 2013 at 2:50PM EST Reply to CommentI
mplsbill
February 20, 2013 at 2:56PM EST Reply to CommentI can't understand why Cult did so poorly, what an awesome premise for a show, and when I saw Rocken S Obannon was behind it, [the farsape dude], [my all time favorite show ever aired on tv], I had to check it out, and am I glad I did! Too bad its not on the Syfy channel where it would be king of the heep, but with better marketing this show shoulld be a hit! C'mon CW, get more behind your new show, Arrow is awesome, I know you've been trying, and this is show a real find, but nobody knows about it, I stumbled on it due to a web article, but never saw any ads abot, not one!
dan MPLSBill - The CW has been promoting "Cult" relentlessly, at least on-air and in different parts of the online space.
February 20, 2013 at 4:17PM EST-Daniel
Vince
February 20, 2013 at 3:41PM EST Reply to CommentWow, so Community in a more competitive time slot is now getting better ratings than its water-down, quasi-doppleganner 'Goon' (albeit 1.2 last week for Community vs today's 1.1 for Go On is no great triumph).