UPDATE: The big change came early in the evening, as 60 MINUTES adjusted down 0.6 to 2.0, reflecting the deduction of the time zone viewers who were actually watching NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage. That overrun rose 0.1 to 4.0, and all the rest of the night’s changes were also a matter of 0.1 up or down. On the plus side: ONCE UPON A TIME, AMERICAN DAD, THE MENTALIST and AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS. Losing a tick: THE GOOD WIFE and REVENGE. There was no change for RESURRECTION, BELIEVE or CRISIS.
SATURDAY CABLE: The season premiere of DA VINCI’S DEMONS on Starz was at 0.2, not much to boast about but better than its 0.1 Season 1 finale (which aired on a Friday). Of course, Season 1 also started off high and then dropped, so we’ll see how it holds this time around.
SUNDAY CABLE: The season finale of GIRLS, without any original programming as lead-in, managed to hold last week’s 0.4, although it’s worth noting once again that HBO doesn’t care where or how its shows are watched as long as subscription fees are paid. Still, after 3 seasons it seems fair to say that GIRLS will always be a niche show. Decidedly non-niche: THE WALKING DEAD (AMC), up 0.3 from last week to an even more titanic 6.7 (plus 1.2 for the 11PM rerun), with next week’s season finale dead ahead. It was followed by 2.7 for TALKING DEAD, down 0.1, possibly because the episode left less to talk about than the previous week’s (maybe CBS should have considered preempting THE MENTALIST for a post-GOOD WIFE talk show on Sunday…). On Showtime, SHAMELESS was steady at 0.8, but HOUSE OF LIES fell to 0.2. LINDSAY (OWN) stayed within the 0.2 rounding, but was very slightly up, from 0.18 to 0.22. REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA (Bravo) slipped 0.1 to 1.9. NCAA TOURNAMENT games on the Turner networks were at 0.7-1.2, with the daytime games a tenth or two lower.
EARLIER:
The newcomers dipped last night.
CBS: Last night’s jaw-dropping episode of THE GOOD WIFE–proof, among other things, that even in a culture of spoilers and social media, it’s possible for a show to keep a very, very big secret–wasn’t the reason CBS won Sunday night. That was because of the overrun from the network’s NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage, which pushed the primetime schedule in most of the country by more than 40 minutes. The line-up is thus subject to change with final numbers tomorrow, but at the moment, the overrun is the highest-rated show of the night at 3.9, 60 MINUTES followed at 2.6 (up 0.9), THE AMAZING RACE was at 1.8 (even), that episode of THE GOOD WIFE had a 1.5 (up 0.2), and THE MENTALIST a 1.2 (down 0.1).
ABC: Although RESURRECTION remained the highest-rated scripted show of the night, it took another heavy drop in its 3d airing, down 0.6 from last week (which was down 0.7 from the week before) to 2.5 as viewers seem to be deciding, much as they did with ABC’s Agents of SHIELD, that the series isn’t living up to its premise. ONCE UPON A TIME was down 0.4 to 2.0, and REVENGE dipped 0.1 to 1.6.
NBC: AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS debuted at an ugly 0.9. BELIEVE looked very shaky at 1.2, down 0.3 from last week, and CRISIS fell 0.3 to 1.3. All 3 were in last place for their hours, although Crisis managed to edge out The Mentalist at 10:30PM.
FOX: COSMOS didn’t fare any better than its fellow new shows, down 0.3 to 1.7. Before that, BOB’S BURGERS was up 0.1 to 1.2, AMERICAN DAD slipped 0.1 to 1.3, THE SIMPSONS was even at 1.9, and FAMILY GUY fell 0.1 to 2.2.
All the networks are new tonight. On cable, ABCFamily has the season finales of SWITCHED AT BIRTH and THE FOSTERS.
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