The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS February 22

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

>American Idol continue to flounder.  Just when we thought the Wednesday edition could hold the line at a 6 rating, it now appears that a 5 rating could be the benchmark.  Idol is no longer hearing the footsteps of The Voice; it is watching Adam, Cee Lo, Blake and Christina definitely leaping ahead.  But before NBC gets too excited about its Monday night, it has a series of trainwrecks on other nights, including a disastrous Wednesday.

             Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday    FOX    CBS    ABC    NBC
02.22.2012   5.1    2.9    2.4    1.2    THIS WEEK
02.15.2012   6.1    2.9    2.8    1.3    LAST WEEK
02.23.2011   7.9    2.9    2.3    1.5    LAST YEAR

FOX’s American Idol took a big hit, tumbling a full rating point from last week to a 5.1 preliminary 18-49 rating.  (In the official nationals Idol will probably go up up to a 5.2 — but still a pretty serious drop.)  Idol started slowly at 8:00 and built at 8:30 but didn’t continue the growth much in the 9:00 and 9:30 half hours: 4.5… 5.2… 5.2… 5.4.  Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (7.9), starting at a 6.9 in the 8:00 half hour and peaking at an 8.5 in the 9:30 half hour.        

The second episode of Survivor fell three tenths of a rating point from the premiere, not a great trend so far compared to the first two episodes of last winter’s cycle (3.2 premiere and 3.1 in week two).  Last year on this night: Survivor (3.1), Criminal Minds (3.2) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.4).  

ABC’s comedies were similar to last week’s depressed levels, but the night was really damaged by replacing Revenge with a 20/20 special “Before They Were Famous”, a familiar formula of early footage of the Oscar nominees from childhood and early career.  But the Robin Roberts-hosted special didn’t work (1.4 rating), plunging the network into third place for the hour (behind a weakened SVU on NBC) and down one full rating point from last week’s Revenge episode.  Not a lot of Oscar fever evident out there.  Last year on this night, ABC averaged a 2.3 rating: The Middle (2.4), Better with You (1.8), Modern Family (4.1), Mr Sunshine (2.2) and Off the Map (1.7).   

NBC sunk all the way down to a 1.2 from 8-11 pm.  The shows in the very weak lineup were generally down another tenth of a rating point from last week, with Rock Center all the way down to a CW-like 0.6 rating.  The news magazine featured a long piece about illegal rhino hunting in Africa, which would be fine to run among other stories but the network chose to promote that story over the past few days.  In a future post, we will discuss the elements of news stories that resonate with viewers.  For now, suffice it say rhino hunting in Africa has none of these critical elements.  Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0) from 8-10 pm and Law & Order SVU (2.5).         

###