RATINGS RECAP: 12/5/13

ABC
8:00 Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 7.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Scandal
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 15.6 million, 18-49 demo: 4.8
8:30 The Millers
Viewers: 9.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:00 The Crazy Ones
Viewers: 7.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:30 Two and a Half Men
Viewers: 8.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 8.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8 

NBC
8:00 The Sound of Music Live!
Viewers: 18.6 million, 18-49 demo: 4.6

FOX
8:00 The X Factor
Viewers: 4.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 Glee
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1 

NBC's live event programming experiment paid off in a big way on Thursday night as its heavily promoted and buzzed The Sound of Music Live! delivered huge numbers that exceeded most all expectations. Despite mixed reviews, this is a huge win for NBC and its gamble with the first live made for television musical in decades. There will certainly be more of these in the future. It goes without saying that it was a huge improvement over usual Thursday numbers but it also was NBC's most watched Thursday night in nine years - yes, nine years, going back to May 2004 and the series finale of Frasier. The only question now is what will NBC do next and will other networks get in on this idea?

The competition held up pretty well despite massively improved NBC ratings, proving that the audience will expand on network TV if there's something worth watching. Despite the big Sound of Music numbers, The Big Bang Theory was still the top demo draw of the night though it was clearly impacted as it was down 3.3 million viewers and half a demo point. It was the only show to top Music at any point in the night. At 8:30pm, The Millers was down 2.6 million viewers and four tenths in the demo, posting only 50% retention out of Big Bang in the demo yet again. CBS can't stick with that type of retention. At 9pm, The Crazy Ones was down a million viewers but just a tenth in the demo which is good considering the 8pm hour was down much more significantly. Two and a Half Men was down two tenths in viewers but actually up two tenths in the demo. Then again, I wouldn't expect there to be much crossover between Two and a Half Men and The Sound of Music viewers. At 10pm, Elementary was down nine tenths in viewers but even in the demo.

Over on ABC, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland was down three tenths in viewers and even in the demo for a fourth straight episode. At 9pm, Grey's Anatomy was one of the harder hit shows by the competition as it was down 1.6 million viewers and three tenths in the demo for a series low. So now we know there's a crossover between Sound of Music fans and Grey's fans. Scandal proved to be unfazed by the Von Trapps as it was down six tenths in viewers but up a tenth in the demo for its best showing since October 17. The fall finale is next week and then ABC announced it will air only eight more episodes in the spring instead of twelve due to Kerry Washington's pregnancy. FOX was hit the hardest as both The X Factor and Glee were up from their Thanksgiving night airings but down big from their last regular Thursday airings. Of course both shows are so low at this point anyway, it hardly matters.