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FRINGE leans way out over the edge of the cliff.
FOX: FRINGE is one of the few shows on television that could claim with a straight face that its audience overlaps with The Hunger Games so strongly that the ratings might actually have been affected by that movie’s opening night. Plus last night was its first time on the air in a month. Also, its KITCHEN NIGHTMARES lead-in was horribly down 0.5 from its own last new episode. (Foodies saw the word Hunger in the title and felt it was a movie they had to run out and see?) But still… it’s hard to imagine a scenario where FOX brings back a series that can only score a series-low 0.9 rating (and that’s against a repeat Grimm on NBC). Fringe is going to have to show some signs of life if it’s to survive past May. ABC: A steady second place to basketball all night, although SHARK TANK was down a bit from last week. PRIMETIME inched up, and 20/20 walloped NBC in the battle of newsmagazines at 10PM, winning by 0.7.
NBC: The night’s highest rating was a 1.0 for WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? featuring Helen Hunt. The GRIMM rerun lived up to its title with a 0.7, and then DEADLINE was a low 0.9.
CBS: NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage of the Round of 16 was up around 0.3 from last week’s first round, but the 2.2 wasn’t very impressive. This might have been because TBS ended up with the night’s good games, where Ohio and North Carolina State made it close.
CW: SUPERNATURAL fell to 0.6 (more Hunger Games fans?), and NIKITA was up a bit to 0.5.
Tonight’s 2d NCAA game will overrun into primetime for CBS. NBC will offer an episode of sister network’s FAIRLY LEGAL in network primetime (not that NBC should be boasting about its ratings compared to cable’s these days), followed by yet another burn-off episode of THE FIRM. On Sunday, all the networks offer new programming (except, oddly, a repeat SIMPSONS on FOX), but the action is really on cable, where–the wait is over!–AMC brings back, with a luxurious 2+ hour season premiere, the one and only MAD MEN.
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