The Bachelor dominates the night. (Also, a housekeeping note: as you’ll see below, we’ve now including not just nightly and year-ago charts in these daily reports, but also the 6-week track of all the night’s shows, showcasing how each network series has been trending.)
ABC: THE BACHELOR is the rare network franchise these days on an upswing: last night’s finale 3.3 wasn’t just up half a ratings point from the previous week, it had a healthy 0.4 rise from 2012. More than anything, this was probably due to the fact that it wasn’t facing The Voice this time around, but these days networks will take what they can get. Similarly, the post-finale AFTER THE ROSE special was up 0.5 to 3.8. It’ll be interesting to see if ABC’s announcement today that Bachelor‘s titular star is joining the cast of Dancing With the Stars will have any positive effect on that show’s numbers.
NBC: With increased competition from ABC, THE BIGGEST LOSER fell to a new low 1.9, although DECEPTION had a slight uptick to 1.2. Also worth noting: with Biggest Loser instead of The Voice on the night, the evening was down a whopping 61% from last year.
FOX: A rerun BONES gave THE FOLLOWING a much lower lead-in than it’s had in previous weeks to the tune of a full ratings point, and the Kevin Bacon thriller slipped 0.2 to 2.6.
CBS: Surrounded by reruns, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT hit a new low 2.0. The best number pulled by the night’s repeats was 1.7 for 2 BROKE GIRLS.
CW: THE CARRIE DIARIES has been indifferently rated but consistent, with its 4th 0.4 in a row. 90210 can’t get to the glue factory fast enough with an 0.2.
Tonight FOX gives HELL’S KITCHEN a 2-hour season premiere, and ABC is all new. Meanwhile, CBS will see if its decision to leave GOLDEN BOY on Tuesdays pays off, and NBC will find out how SMASH does when it’s preceded by reruns. (Probably not well.)
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