The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS March 21

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>FOX declined again last night as American Idol continues to erode.  However, viewers didn’t shift to the network competition as CBS was down a touch and ABC, as expected, was down significantly (repeats this week versus original episodes last week).  NBC premiered the comedy Bent with two episodes from 9-10 pm.  While they improved the time period from recent SVU repeats, the new comedy pulled a disastrous 1.0 rating at 9:00 and 0.9 at 9:30. 

             Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday    FOX    CBS    ABC    NBC
03.21.2012   4.9    2.8    1.5    1.1    THIS WEEK
03.14.2012   5.4    2.9    2.3    0.9    LAST WEEK
03.23.2011   7.9    2.5    2.2    1.7    LAST YEAR

FOX’s American Idol had a chance for an easy victory in its weekly battle with NBC’s The Voice (which sunk to a season low 4.6 against the premiere of Dancing with the Stars Monday).  Idol averaged a 4.9 last night, managing to stay ahead of The Voice this week but down another half a rating point from last week.  Last night’s performance show of Idol scored a 4.5 in the 8 pm hour and 5.3 in the 9 pm hour.  Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (7.9) — so this week’s Wednesday episode is down 38% from last year (compared to -30% last week).          

CBS was down a tenth of a rating point from last week from 8-11 pm: declines from Survivor and CSI (each down three tenths from last week) were offset by an increase by Criminal Minds (up four tenths from last Wednesday).  Last year on this night: Survivor (3.1), Criminal Minds repeat (2.1) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.2).  

ABC had a forgettable night with three comedy repeats from 8:00-9:30 pm and a repeat of the Missing pilot at 10 pm (1.3 rating).  Last year on this night: The Middle (2.0), The Middle repeat (1.7), Modern Family (4.4), Mr Sunshine (2.1) and Off the Map (1.5).   

NBC moved to a four-comedy block from 8-10 pm with the premiere of Bent (two episodes at 9:00 and 9:30).  This latest program line-up was not the answer.  Facing mostly repeat comedies on ABC, NBC bounced back a bit from 8-9 pm, with Whitney and Are You There Chelsea up from last week’s season lows.  But still, they only could muster a 1.6 and 1.4 rating, respectively.  But then the bottom fell out at 9 pm, with the Bent pilot averaging a pitiful 1.0 rating and the second episode at 9:30 sinking to a 0.9 rating (only three tenths ahead of The CW’s 0.6 rating in the hour for America’s Next Top Model debacle).  The seemingly never-ending quest for NBC to make David Walton a comedy star continues.  Read Mitch Salem’s review of Bent — it’s more entertaining than the show.  Rock Center rounded out the night with a reliably soft 0.7 rating.  Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.2), Law & Order SVU repeat (1.1) and Law & Order SVU (2.6).
         

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