RATINGS RECAP: 10/2/12

ABC
8:00 Dancing with the Stars Special
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 Dancing with the Stars Results
Viewers: 12.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
10:00 Private Practice
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6

CBS
8:00 NCIS
Viewers: 18.9 million, 18-49 demo: 3.7
9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
Viewers: 14.9 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1
10:00 Vegas
Viewers: 12.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0 

NBC
8:00 The Voice Clip Show
Viewers: 8.5 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
9:00 Go On
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:30 The New Normal
Viewers: 4.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
10:00 Parenthood
Viewers: 4.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6

FOX
8:00 Raising Hope
Viewers: 3.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
8:30 Ben and Kate
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
9:00 New Girl
Viewers: 5.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
9:30 The Mindy Project
Viewers: 3.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

The lost season for broadcast TV continued on Tuesday night with horrible numbers that are usually seen until post-daylight savings Spring. At 8pm, the season premiere of Raising Hope continued to prove that this show cannot lead off a night. It will forever be a niche show. At 8:30pm, week two of Ben and Kate had a much lower lead-in and did not hold up well as it was down nine tenths in viewers and half a demo point. It's down to a 1.6 after two weeks which would be DOA in any other season but who knows with the way the new shows are crumbling this year. The best news on any network came at 9pm where New Girl was down just two tenths in viewers and even in the demo. To be even in the demo when every other broadcast show dropped is a significant accomplishment. At 9:30pm, The Mindy Project didn't benefit from the steady lead-in as it was down a million viewers and half a demo point to a weak 1.9 demo. Yikes. 

NBC started off with a clip show of The Voice. It was way down from last week's regular episode but not bad for a clip show. The bad news is that the drop really hurt the two comedies that followed on the same day they were picked up for a full season. Go On took a terrible dive as it was down 1.1 million viewers and a rough six tenths in the demo. NBC can't have imagined that it would drop this much. Many, including myself, thought it might start to stabilize. This begs the question, is it done dropping? At 9:30pm, The New Normal was down six tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. It was a less severe drop but a 1.7 demo does not warrant a full season. At 10pm, Parenthood also dipped four tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo, tying a series low. 

CBS's dramas were all down with varying severity as the night went on. At 8pm, NCIS was down 1.6 million viewers and four tenths in the demo. Just by comparison, NCIS didn't drop below a 3.8 until November 22 last year. And this was with The Voice way down. At 9pm, NCIS: Los Angeles was down 1.8 million viewers and three tenths in the demo. The three tenths drop was the best of the three dramas. The worst news came at 10pm where Vegas was down 2.8 million viewers and half a demo point. Even for new shows, this is a heavy week two drop and it's skewing ancient. CBS can't be happy with these numbers but I think they will be patient.

The news was brutal also for ABC. A Dancing with the Stars special did very little at 8pm. These sorts of specials used to be much stronger but then again, so did the show. The results edition at 9pm was basically even with last week's two hour show which means the 9pm hour was weaker. Private Practice crashed at 10pm as it was down half a million viewers and three tenths in the demo to a low 1.6. There's no way ABC should extend this show beyond the 13 episodes it's ordered for. This is a real bad start for the broadcast networks in general this season and I don't blame DVR usages, the trend, etc. I blame a real lack of excitement for the new shows that is permeating throughout lineups.