Season finales (some of them) shake things up.
NBC: THE VOICE finale was up almost 40% from last week’s episode, to a 4.3 that handed NBC the night. The only stumble came from moving FASHION STAR from its usual 10PM slot to 8PM, where instead of taking advantage of the Voice lead-in, it plunged to a new low 1.3. (However, the high-rated Voice final half-hour gave the network’s local stations a boost for their 11PM news shows–particularly important during May Sweeps, when ad rates are set–that they haven’t seen much this season.)
FOX: It still isn’t clear what happened to NEW GIRL last week, when against normal competition it dived down to a series low 2.2. Whatever that glitch was, though, it was more than reversed by last night’s season finale (our review is here), up 0.6 from last week to a solid 2.8 even against NBC’s unusual strength in the hour–New Girl‘s best score in a month. GLEE‘s prom episode, though, got little benefit from the absence of Biggest Loser at 8PM, and climbed a barely-perceptible 0.1 to 2.6.
CBS: NCIS was barely down at 8PM to 3.0. NCIS LA shared that number, but its context was much more impressive, because it matched last week’s Hawaii 5-0 crossover episode, which had been its highest rating in a month (and this time did it against much stronger competition on NBC). The UNFORGETTABLE season finale was only up 0.2 from last week, to 2.0.
ABC: The LAST MAN STANDING season finale (our review here) was up slightly to 1.7, and the suddenly not-so-dead COUGAR TOWN (if the TBS rumors prove true) was likewise up to 1.5. DANCING WITH THE STARS results show was essentially even with recent weeks at 2.3. PRIVATE PRACTICE, though, bore the brunt of the Voice finale’s impact, and cratered to an awful series-low 1.5. (It would be interesting to see if Practice benefits more than usual this week from DVR-delayed watching over the next few days.)
CW: No movement, with 90210 and THE LA COMPLEX both even at 0.5 and 0.3, respectively.
Tonight is fairly slow for season finales, with only the mothership CSI taking its final bow of the season before Thursday’s rush.
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