AFTERNOON UPDATE: Little change, as THE FOLLOWING lost 0.1 to tie last week’s series low, and THE BACHELOR found 0.1 (getting it slightly above a tied season low).
MONDAY CABLE: Rarely do audiences signal their instant rejection of a new series as clearly as they did for THOSE WHO KILL’s debut last night on A&E. The show lost 60% of its lead-in among 18-49s, and more than half the total viewers, starting with a lame 0.5/1.4M. The better news for A&E was that the drop-off was so high because the lead-in was as well, a Season 2 premiere for BATES MOTEL at 1.3/3.1M, even higher than last season’s finale. Interestingly, BATES was down in older viewers but up 20% in 18-34s (outrating THE FOLLOWING on FOX in that demo during the hour), perhaps reflecting the fact that over the course of Season 1, it became less of a PSYCHO homage and more of an engrossing teen-centered soap. (No numbers are available for the post-show BATES MOTEL: AFTER HOURS, although THOSE WHO KILL gave it a terrible-lead-in.) Meanwhile, DALLAS (TNT) plunged from last week’s season premiere, losing half its rating and crashing to a mediocre at best 0.4 (total viewers fell heavily too, although not quite as badly, from 2.7M to 1.9M). The younger-skewing trio of TEEN WOLF (MTV) and SWITCHED AT BIRTH/THE FOSTERS (both ABCFamily) were steady at 0.9/0.7/0.6. Overall, the night was led once again by WWE (USA), holding at 1.5-1.6 over its 3 hours. SWAMP PEOPLE (History) held at 1.0, and the VH1 pair of BASKETBALL WIVES and SINGLE LADIES stayed at 1.0/0.9. On Bravo, the 0.9 for REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS fell to 0.5 for SOUTHERN CHARM.
NBC’s tandem, while down, was still dominant.
NBC: THE VOICE slipped 0.2 to 4.5 from last week’s cycle premiere, and THE BLACKLIST was down 0.4 to 2.7–slightly more serious, but still way ahead of the competition.
ABC: An attempt to boost the flailing MIXOLOGY with a rerun of the pilot may have damaged the whole night, as THE BACHELOR was down 0.3 to 2.2 (tying its season low), the Mixology run had a tiny 1.1, and then CASTLE lost 0.1 to hit a series low 1.6.
FOX: The season finale of ALMOST HUMAN, which was barely promoted as such, dropped 0.1 to 1.5. However, THE FOLLOWING managed to climb off last week’s series low–if barely, by 0.1–to 1.7.
CBS: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER was down 0.3 to 3.3, then as usual the CBS sitcom line-up slanted downward (although in each case up 0.1), as 2 BROKE GIRLS was at 2.6, MIKE & MOLLY at 2.2, and MOM at 2.0. INTELLIGENCE held at 1.2.
CW: STAR-CROSSED gained 0.1 to 0.4, although last week it had been paired with a rerun BEAUTY & THE BEAST. This week, an original hour of the latter was at 0.3, even with its last new episode.
Everything is new tonight, and eyes will be on the numbers for the 2d episodes of ABOUT A BOY, GROWING UP FISHER and MIND GAMES.
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