RATINGS RECAP: 9/25/12

ABC
8:00 Dancing with the Stars
Viewers: 11.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
10:00 Private Practice
Viewers: 6.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

CBS
8:00 NCIS
Viewers: 20.5 million, 18-49 demo: 4.1
9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
Viewers: 16.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4
10:00 Vegas
Viewers: 14.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5

NBC
8:00 The Voice
Viewers: 11.6 million, 18-49 demo: 4.2
9:00 Go On
Viewers: 6.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
9:30 The New Normal
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
10:00 Parenthood
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8 

FOX
8:00 New Girl
Viewers: 5.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
8:30 Ben and Kate
Viewers: 4.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 New Girl
Viewers: 5.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
9:30 The Mindy Project
Viewers: 4.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4

On Tuesday night, CBS's drama lineup returned and there continues to be amazing performances by TV's top drama NCIS. The show, now in its tenth season, returned as strong as ever and only slightly down from last fall's premiere. It got a 4.1 at 8pm against The Voice. There is no slowing this show down. At 9pm, NCIS: Los Angeles had a real solid premiere too though retention wasn't as strong as usual. This show should have moved to 10pm and CBS should have launched a new drama at 9pm. That's a missed opportunity there. They did launch a new drama at 10pm - period drama Vegas. While the show easily won the hour, it debuted with a relatively low 2.5 demo. People knew it would skew old but it skewed really old. By comparison, Unforgettable premiered to a 2.9 demo last year (and slightly less viewers). There was also a pretty sizable drop at the half hour which could spell trouble for the show but let's wait and see for now because the total viewer count was good. Still, I'm sure CBS was hoping for a bigger and younger sampling.

FOX had a soft debut for its comedy lineup. New Girl returned at 8pm & 9pm. The good news is both episodes were roughly even in the ratings and it was up from spring numbers. The bad news is it was way down from last fall's early episodes. It skews way young but it seems like FOX would like to get that demo above a 3. Two new series premiered after the two episodes. At 8:30pm, Ben and Kate didn't get much attention. In fact, considering how steady New Girl was, it basically looks like 1.2 million viewers turned off FOX at 8:30pm and a million of them turned it back on when Ben and Kate was over. The numbers might get ugly when Raising Hope is the lead-in. Mindy Kaling's new sitcom The Mindy Project aired at 9:30pm and had better retention out of New Girl but still low numbers for a premiere. The problem with broadcast TV this year is the new shows just aren't capturing casual viewers and nothing is even close to must-see.
 

In a week of premieres, it is NBC's The Voice that is the hottest ticket in town. The show was down 2 million viewers and half a demo point but it didn't have to face NCIS and it's 20 million viewers/4 demo last week either, not to mention new programming on ABC and FOX. It still did enough to win the night in the demo category, edging out NCIS. The new shows may not be clicking but two favorites pulled over a 4 in the demo in the 8pm hour. It was followed by the fourth episode of Go On which took a big hit against new programming - 2.4 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo. The drop is a little steeper than I expected but not entirely surprising. If it can level here or near here, it'll be fine. If the dropping is not done, that will be trouble. The New Normal had a better hold at 9:30pm as it was down a million viewers and two tenths in the demo. Finally at 10pm, Parenthood was down just a tenth in viewers and even in the demo. Though it still got third in both categories, it was a positive that it didn't drop against much stiffer competition.

Finally, ABC's fall is off to a terrible start as night two of Dancing with the Stars All-Stars averaged a low 2.1 demo for the two hours. Its demo was in the 1s for the 8pm hour which is its regular slot. That's unheard of for this show and a real bad sign for ABC. This show is dying quickly after being a top show for years and the all star edition hasn't helped the erosion. What is ABC going to do with Monday and Tuesday nights if it keeps dropping? At 10pm, the season premiere of Private Practice did about what it was doing in the spring on Tuesday nights. The show only has a 13 episode order and that might be it for the long running drama because the ratings could get a lot worse when the comedies come to 9pm. ABC is a mess on Tuesdays.