RATINGS RECAP: 2/6/12

ABC
8:00 The Bachelor
Viewers: 8.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6
10:00 Castle
Viewers: 8.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0

CBS
8:00 How I Met Your Mother
Viewers: 10.0 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0
8:30 2 Broke Girls
Viewers: 11.5 million, 18-49 demo: 4.3
9:00 Two and a Half Men
Viewers: 13.0 million, 18-49 demo: 4.3
9:30 Mike & Molly
Viewers: 11.0 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4
10:00 Hawaii Five-0
Viewers: 10.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7

NBC
8:00 The Voice
Viewers: 17.8 million, 18-49 demo: 6.7
10:00 Smash
Viewers: 11.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.8

FOX
8:00 House
Viewers: 7.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
9:00 Alcatraz
Viewers: 6.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3

All hail The Voice! NBC needed its reality show to be a big hit in season two given the dire straits of their lineup and so far, it has delivered. After a mammoth post-Super Bowl debut, the time period debut was absolutely dominating and it gave NBC its best numbers for a regularly scheduled series in years. It also skewed very young and grew in big ways over the two hours. It is probably still feeling some of the Super Bowl halo effect but this was a great start and it looks like NBC finally has a bonafide hit this season. The Voice led into the series premiere of the highly anticipated Smash and it delivered too, easily giving NBC its best series premiere numbers this season. While the retention out of The Voice wasn't great and there was erosion over the hour, it was still a good number. This will be a real interesting show to watch over the coming weeks. It could see some big drops for week two but I think the audience it got at 10:30pm (10.2 million, 3.4 demo) might be close to what it gets next week. We'll see but for now, NBC's incessant promotion paid off in a big way. 

CBS shows certainly took a hit from the competition in their first new episodes in three weeks but they still posted good numbers overall. At 8pm, How I Met Your Mother was down a tenth in viewers and four tenths in the demo. 2 Broke Girls was actually up a tenth in viewers but down three tenths in the demo, though it tied Two and a Half Men for the demo lead again. One of these weeks, it will pass it and I think that will be soon. At 9pm, Two and a Half Men was even in viewers but down three tenths in the demo for a season low. Mike & Molly was down a tenth in viewers and four tenths in the demo for a season low. This show seemed to be hit the hardest but The Voice picked up strength over time. Finally at 10pm, Hawaii Five-0 was down seven tenths in viewers for a season low and a tenth in the demo, tying a season low.

It seemed like ABC might be the hardest hit by NBC's big night as it might appear to have the most cross-over audience, but instead The Bachelor held up great as it was actually up two tenths in viewers and even in the demo. If it can hold up this week, it seems likely to rise in the coming weeks as it often does. At 10pm, Castle was down 1.4 million viewers and a tenth in the demo, finishing last in the demo among the big four network shows. This show is quietly slipping this season and if Smash can hold on to most of its audience, this show could be a distant third.

Surprisingly it was FOX that was the most impacted by the competition even though it seemed to offer very different entertainment than the other three networks. At 8pm, House was down 1.6 million viewers and four tenths in the demo, tying a season low in the latter category. Alcatraz followed and was down 1.5 million viewers and a big half a demo point. Maybe Terra Nova has some life after all because these two dramas did not hold up very well when the competition arrived.