TV Ratings: 'NCIS' tops Tuesday 'American Idol,' but FOX splits night
'Smash' droops to yet another series low for NBC
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"NCIS" dominated "American Idol" overall in their first head-to-head meeting of the season and also eked out a victory in the key demo, but "Idol" still cruised past "NCIS: Los Angeles" to help FOX win Tuesday among young viewers. CBS dominated the night overall, of course.
Among other notables, "Celebrity Wife Swap" plunged in its second airing ("Idol" may have had something to do with that), "Smash" keeps finding ways to sink lower, "Golden Boy" dropped some in its second week and NBC's 9 p.m. comedies kept struggling, particularly "The New Normal."
For the night, FOX averaged a 3.4 rating among adults 18-49, beating CBS' 2.6 rating in the key demographic. There was a big drop to ABC's 1.3 rating and to the 0.9 key demo rating for NBC. The CW averaged a 0.4 key demo rating.
Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 15.19 million viewers to go with a 9.6 rating/15 share for Tuesday night. FOX's 6.9/10 and 11.49 million viewers finished far back in second, but still well ahead of the 4.58 million viewers and 3.1/5 for ABC. NBC's 2.0/3 and 2.99 million viewers and The CW's 0.7/1 and 1.1 million viewers trailed.
[Univision averaged 4.335 million viewers and a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49 for the night.]
8 p.m. - "NCIS" led the 8 p.m. hour with 20.345 million viewers and a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49, basically flat with last week for CBS. "American Idol" drew 10.89 million viewers and a 3.2 key demo rating for the first hour of a special Tuesday performance episode. ABC's "Celebrity Wife Swap" averaged 4.07 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating, down by 38 percent from last week. NBC's "Betty White's Off Their Rockers" repeat averaged 3.625 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, delivering the network's best numbers of the night. On The CW, "Hart of Dixie" matched last week's solid numbers with 1.44 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating.
9 p.m. - "NCIS: Los Angeles" still won the 9 p.m. hour overall for CBS with 15.95 million viewers, but dropped to second with a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49. FOX's "American Idol" rose to nearly 12.1 million viewers and won the hour with a 3.5 key demo rating. ABC's "The Taste" dropped from last week, but still finished third with 3.17 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating. NBC was fourth with new episodes of "Go On" (3.04 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo) and "The New Normal" (2.44 million and a 0.9 key demo). The CW's repeat of "Beauty and the Beast" averaged 753,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
10 p.m. - "Golden Boy" won the 10 p.m. hour with 9.27 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS and will now prepare to head off to Fridays. ABC's "Body of Proof" was up slightly with 6.5 million viewers and flat with a 1.2 key demo rating. And NBC's "Smash" hit another series low with 2.61 million viewers and only a 0.7 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 SignupDan
March 6, 2013 at 1:08PM EST Reply to CommentDaniel, what are the chances that Idol gets cancelled this year? Considering the also mediocrely rated X factor just got renewed, it doesn't make a ton of sense to have two shows like this.
dan Dan - Cancelled this year? Zero chance. FOX doesn't have enough programming depth to cancel its highest rated show, a show that takes up between 3 and 5.5 hours in the spring. "X Factor" will undergo some changes before next season and "Idol" will probably get retooled a tiny bit post-season. But til FOX has anything better, which isn't all that easy, "Idol" isn't going anywhere...
March 6, 2013 at 1:22PM EST-Daniel
Dan Thanks for the reply!
March 6, 2013 at 1:25PM ESTJim
March 6, 2013 at 2:20PM EST Reply to CommentDan, but how can Idol continue to pay mulit-million for the judges with these ratings?
dan Jim - It's still one of the five highest rated shows on TV and one of most watched for three+ hours per week of programming. And although several of the judges and Ryan have fairly costly contracts, it's not like it costs more than a drama. It's not like "Idol" has become some sort of horrifying albatross. It's a reality show in its 12th season and its ratings are down. And last night's show was an out-of-time-period airing against TV's most popular show.
March 6, 2013 at 2:48PM EST-Daniel
Heisenberg
March 6, 2013 at 2:31PM EST Reply to CommentSmash's ratings were down, Katharine McPhee looked so super pretty last night. What gives!
J
March 6, 2013 at 4:25PM EST Reply to CommentEveryone is pretty much taking it as a given that Smash is done after this year. But what about Go On and The New Normal? Do you think NBC will give them another shot? I've really grown to like both of them and would be really sad to see them go. I know "NBC can't cancel everything" but these ratings are really pretty terrible even by NBC standards
dan J - The odds get longer and longer each week for "Go On" and "New Normal." I think "Go On" still has a better chance, but if "New Normal" doesn't bump those numbers up, it's unrenewable even if NBC loves Ryan Murphy to death...
March 6, 2013 at 4:28PM EST-Daniel