AFTERNOON UPDATE: All movements were of the 0.1 variety, with AMERICAN IDOL, BIG BANG THEORY, GREY’S ANATOMY, SCANDAL and PARKS & RECREATION getting the bump. That meant IDOL and PARKS tied their lows rather than setting new ones, but even though THE MILLERS also went down 0.1, IDOL still lost that competition (IDOL did nose out MILLERS in the 8:45-9PM 15-minute segment).
THURSDAY CABLE: VIKINGS (History) returned with a shift to Thursday, and its 1.3, while way down from last year’s series premiere, was in line with its numbers once it no longer had THE BIBLE as its lead-in. It was up a bit from its PAWN STARS lead-in (although both rounded to 1.3)–however, the latter show was considerably ahead in the older-skewing total viewer number. The only other original cable programming over 0.7 was 1.1 for the NBA game on TNT.
ABC was grateful once again for Shonda Rhimes last night, while American Idol hit another sad milestone.
ABC: Despite a lousy 1.0 lead-in from the filler COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS special, GREY’S ANATOMY returned with a strong 3.0, up 0.3 from its last airing in December. Helped, perhaps, by Grey’s clever choice not to resolve its fall cliffhanger until its last scene, SCANDAL was also in fine form, up 0.1 from December to 3.3.
FOX: It’s no longer news when AMERICAN IDOL loses to CBS in the 8PM half-hour; The Big Bang Theory, after all, is the biggest non-NFL hit on network television. But last night Idol lost to The Millers as well, with a new series low 2.3 that was down even from the episode last week that faced the Olympics. RAKE kept tumbling, down 0.2 to a new low 0.8.
CBS: THE BIG BANG THEORY, while dominant, dropped 0.3 from its last original episode to 4.9 (although it often comes up in adjusted numbers). THE MILLERS, on the other hand, was up 0.2 to 2.8 (which may come down this afternoon). The switch of sitcoms at 9PM worked well, as 2 1/2 MEN rose 0.6 to 2.5 and helped THE CRAZY ONES, up 0.2 to 1.9. ELEMENTARY, facing Scandal for the first time in months, slipped 0.2 to 1.6.
NBC: HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT was the highest rated show on NBC last night–even though it was down 0.3 to 1.2. The rest of the night was even more of a wreck than usual, as COMMUNITY (down 0.1) and PARKS & RECREATION (down 0.3) both tied their series low 1.0s, and PARENTHOOD (down 0.2) hit a new low 1.1.
CW: An off night, as THE VAMPIRE DIARIES only held even with its 0.9 series low, and REIGN dropped 0.1 to a new series low 0.5.
HANNIBAL returns to NBC’s air tonight, and all the other networks except CW offer fresh episodes.
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