RATINGS RECAP: 12/4/11

ABC
7:00 America's Funniest Home Videos
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
8:00 Once Upon a Time
Viewers: 9.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
9:00 Desperate Housewives
Viewers: 8.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
10:00 Pan Am
Viewers: 4.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

CBS
7:00 60 Minutes
Viewers: 11.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
8:00 The Amazing Race
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
9:00 The Good Wife
Viewers: 9.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
10:00 CSI: Miami
Viewers: 10.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

NBC
7:00 Football Night in America
Viewers: 3.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
8:00 NFL Pregame
Viewers: 11.2 million, 18-49 demo: 5.1
8:30 Sunday Night Football
Viewers: 18.9 million, 18-49 demo: 7.4

FOX
7:00 NFL Overrun/The OT
Viewers: 29.8 million, 18-49 demo: 10.7
8:00 The Simpsons
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0
8:30 Allen Gregory
Viewers: 5.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:00 Family Guy
Viewers: 7.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
9:30 The Cleveland Show
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5

On Sunday night, huge football numbers powered FOX to better performances across the board. At 8pm, The Simpsons was up a big 3.4 million viewers and 1.4 demo points. At 8:30pm, Allen Gregory was up 2.1 million viewers and nine tenths in the demo. Though the total viewer count is a series high and the demo is the best since the premiere, it still lost a ton of its lead-in audience and probably didn't do enough to help itself from its fate. At 9pm, Family Guy was up 1.6 million viewers and eight tenths in the demo. It's weird that this is not outperforming The Simpsons in the demo. At 9:30pm, The Cleveland Show was up from both its 7:30pm showing last week and American Dad's 9:30pm showing. A Sunday Night Football game between the Saints and the Lions posted the lowest ratings since the last Saints Sunday night game - the Oct 23 massacre of the Colts.  

On CBS, no football overrun led to drops early in the night but gains at the end. At 7pm, 60 Minutes was down 5.1 million viewers and two demo points from its football-fueled lead-in last week. It's amazing the difference a football lead-in makes. At 8pm, The Amazing Race was down six tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. At 9pm, The Good Wife was up a tenth in viewers and even in the demo from its last airing two weeks ago. This show will likely hang on one more year for syndication and award purposes. At 10pm, CSI: Miami was up eight tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo from its last new airing for its best total viewer count since October 16. This show seems to benefit from starting on time, surprise surprise.

Over on ABC, numbers were down across the board. At 7pm, America's Funniest Home Videos was down 1.6 million viewers and four tenths in the demo. Once Upon a Time followed and hit series lows as it was down a million viewers and two tenths in the demo. December tends to be a slow month so I wouldn't be overly concerned unless the trend continues into January. For now, I don't think it's a sign of bad things to come. Desperate Housewives and Pan Am were new for the first time since November 13 but not impressive. Housewives was down 1.1 million viewers and three tenths in the demo while Pan Am was down nine tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo for a series low. This should be the final nail in the coffin for a show that only got one additional episode ordered.