It’s been so long since there’s been a stable Sunday, what with preemptions and competition from football playoffs, the Super Bowl, the Golden Globes, and the Grammys (with the Oscars still to come), that it’s hard to know what “normal” looks like–but last night, for the most part, wasn’t good.
ABC: Last night’s REVENGE was meant to be an event episode, bringing the series back full circle to the season premiere and revealing who had died at sea (the least surprising character, as it turned out). Its 1.8 rating was up 0.4 from last week, when it faced the Grammys, but down 0.6 from January 8, the last relatively ordinary Sunday. Similarly, ONCE UPON A TIME was up 0.1 from last week to 2.3, but down 0.8 from January 8. After its disastrous launch on Thursday, ABC rushed a rerun of the ZERO HOUR pilot into the 10PM slot, but found few takers at 0.9.
CBS: There may be some shuffling of CBS’s numbers due to a fairly brief golf overrun, but as of now, THE AMAZING RACE had its lowest cycle premiere ever at 2.4, down 0.4 from last Spring’s start. Despite an excellent episode that ramped up the storylines as the season (series?) moves into its home stretch, THE GOOD WIFE hit a series low 1.4, down 0.4 from January 8. THE MENTALIST was little better at 1.5, down 0.6 from January 8.
FOX: The January 8 comparison doesn’t work for FOX, because that night it had a lengthy football overrun that extended slightly past 8PM. Compared to January 28 (when the only disruption was a Hallmark Hall of Fame on ABC that probably didn’t affect its animated shows much), THE CLEVELAND SHOW was down 0.1 to 1.1, THE SIMPSONS was down 0.3 to 2.0, BOB’S BURGERS slipped 0.1 to 1.9, FAMILY GUY was off half a ratings point to 2.4, and AMERICAN DAD fell 0.3 to 1.9.
NBC: Still 2 weeks away from launching its Spring Sunday, last night followed an 0.9/1.0 hour of OFF THEIR ROCKERS reruns with a repeat SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE IN THE 90s clip show at 1.4.
As February sweeps continue, all the networks feature new episodes of their regular programming tonight.
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