>As expected, it was an odd night on the broadcast networks. FOX’s Monday line-up was delayed 55 minutes by a very long (11 innings, 4 hours 25 minutes) ALCS Game 2 that started around 4 pm ET. The primetime portion of the game (8:00-8:55) did a solid 3.4 preliminary 18-49 rating, but it didn’t help FOX’s dramas. Terra Nova, which started at 8:55, logged a 2.6 rating (down from a 3.1 the first two weeks). House (which premiered last week with a healthy 3.9 rating) crashed to a 2.3 rating at 9:55. Add in all the upset FOX affiliates whose late local news had to face the ABC, CBS and NBC local newscasts, and the night was pretty much a disaster.
ABC averaged a 2.9 for the night, the same as last week. Dancing with the Stars has a fast national rating of 3.1 (same as last week) and Castle has a 2.4 (down 0.1 from last week). But when the official nationals come in around lunchtime, ABC should go down a few tenths since ABC’s station in Detroit carried the Bears-Lions football game locally in primetime — all of those Detroit rating points will be replaced by the tiny ratings Dancing received at 2 am in the Motor City.
CBS won the night with a 3.9, but that’s down from a 4.3 last week. By program: How I Met Your Mother (down 0.6), 2 Broke Girls (down 0.3), Two and a Half Men (down 0.4), Mike & Molly (down 0.3), and Hawaii Five-O (down 0.6). Other broadcasters weren’t up so CBS most likely lost some viewers to football on ESPN and baseball on FOX/TBS.
NBC took a big hit (falling from a dreadful 1.6 last night to a horrendous 1.2 on the night this week). The Sing-Off deflated from a 1.8 last week to a 1.4 last night, and the 10 pm time period absolutely cratered. Last week, the final episode of The Playboy Club turned in a 1.2, while this week’s Prime Suspect repeat went all the way down to a 0.7 rating. The time period will be stone cold for Brian Williams and Rock Center.
On The CW, Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie each dropped to 0.6.
A night to forget.
