RATINGS RECAP: 5/16/13

ABC
8:00 Wipeout
Viewers: 3.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1
10:00 Scandal
Viewers: 9.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 15.5 million, 18-49 demo: 4.8
8:30 The Big Bang Theory (Repeat)
Viewers: 11.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.3
9:00 Elementary
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0 

NBC
8:00 The Office Retrospective
Viewers: 4.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 The Office
Viewers: 5.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
10:15 Hannibal
Viewers: 2.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1 

FOX 
8:00 American Idol
Viewers: 14.3 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6

The competition was fierce on Thursday night. NBC aired the final episode of The Office after nine seasons. It was up 1.1 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo for its best numbers in a year and a half. While it didn't spike a huge amount, there are a couple things to consider - there was a ton of competition and the show has been floundering in the high 1 demos in recent weeks. So this was still a solid sendoff for the groundbreaking and popular sitcom. A retrospective at 8pm did pretty well too but Hannibal at 10:15 was down a tenth in viewers and even in the demo. With no decision made yet on a renewal, this was not a good performance and might tip the scales against the show.

Over on FOX, the finale of American Idol aired. It was up 2.7 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo to its best numbers since early March. However, it was down nearly 50% from last year (and last year was down nearly 50% from the year before). This show is sinking faster than your average show and the year-to-year numbers are pretty horrific for the second half of the season. FOX will likely re-tool the show again and bring in more new judges but I'm not sure anything is going to change at this point. The show was so dominant for so long and it is wearing down. That's a natural thing to happen. The problem is if FOX keeps acting like things are going to suddenly go up again. They are making a mistake by devoting so many hours to this and The X Factor because it seems like they don't see the writing on the wall.

Over on ABC, Wipeout was obliterated by the competition and down six tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. At 9pm, the season finale of Grey's Anatomy was dead even with last week while Scandal was up two tenths in viewers and even in the demo. These shows may have spiked more with less competition but that's still a good showing for the finales. It's also worth noting that Scandal got a 2.1 for the season premiere so that's a lot of growth. Finally on CBS, The Big Bang Theory season finale was down eight tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo but still the top performer on a crowded night. A two hour finale for Elementary was down three tenths in viewers but up a tenth in the demo. It was last in its time period for the 9pm hour but I still think this is a decent performance with all the competition.