The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS April 4

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>American Idol keeps falling, but the FOX singing competition series remains ahead of The Voice each week and continues to win Wednesday nights for FOX.  NBC premiered Betty White’s Off Their Rockers in its regular time period.  Usually a 1.8 rating is nothing to celebrate, but the hidden camera show was the highest-rated show on NBC’s night and good enough for a third-place finish in the half hour.  Compare this to the series finale of Bent at 9:30, which plummeted to a 0.7 rating — behind even The CW in the half hour. 

             Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday    FOX    CBS    ABC    NBC
04.04.2012   4.7    2.9    1.3    1.0    THIS WEEK 
03.28.2012   5.3    2.1    1.3    1.0    LAST WEEK
04.06.2011   6.4    3.0    1.5    1.4    LAST YEAR 

FOX’s American Idol declined again this week (to a 4.7 rating last night from 8-10 pm).  After a probable adjustment to a 4.9 rating in the official nationals later today, the show remains the class of Wednesday night and ahead of The Voice on NBC for the fourth week in a row.  Last year on this night, American Idol aired 90 minutes (7.3) followed by Breaking In (3.5).          

CBS returned to second place with a slate of original episodes.  Survivor is on track to set a new season low (or tie the previous low if it goes up one tenth in the official nationals), while Criminal Minds remains two tenths above its low and CSI is four tenths above its season low.  Last year on this night: Survivor (3.2), Criminal Minds (3.6) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.1).  

ABC struggled in third place with mostly repeats (except for the finale of Happy Endings, which leaves the scene on a new low: a 1.6 rating).  Another week with a repeat Missing at 10 pm posted a 1.0 rating, until Revenge finally returns to the time period next week with original episodes through the end of the season.  Last year on this night: The Middle repeat (1.3), The Middle repeat (1.3), Modern Family repeat (2.0), Mr Sunshine (1.6) and Off the Map (1.3).   

NBC tried yet another Wednesday configuration but received the same overall result as last week: a fourth-place 1.0 rating from 8-11 pm.  The 8:00 half hour was the high point: the return of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers turned in a 1.8 rating.  But after Betty White did her best with the hidden camera show of seniors pranking young adults (from the same producers as SyFy’s occasionally very funny Scare Tactics), the night rapidly deteriorated.  The series premiere of the comedy Best Friends Forever declined to a 1.2 at 8:30, and the final two episodes of Bent could only muster a 0.9 at 9:00 and a 0.7 at 9:30.  The 9:30 series finale of Bent, in fact, has the dubious distinction of losing to psuedo-network The CW, which aired the series finale of One Tree Hill, averaging a 0.8 in the 9:30 half hour (as well over the course of the two-hour 8-10 pm finale).  Rock Center ended the night with a typical 0.8 rating from 10-11 pm.  Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0), Law & Order SVU repeat (1.0) and Law & Order SVU (2.4).
         

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