RATINGS RECAP: 1/27/14

ABC
8:00 The Bachelor
Viewers: 8.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
10:00 Castle (Repeat)
Viewers: 6.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4

CBS
8:00 How I Met Your Mother
Viewers: 10.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.8
8:30 2 Broke Girls
Viewers: 10.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
9:00 Mike & Molly
Viewers: 10.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6
9:30 Mom
Viewers: 9.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
10:00 Intelligence
Viewers: 6.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

NBC
8:00 Hollywood Game Night
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:00 Hollywood Game Night
Viewers: 4.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
10:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 10.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5 

FOX
8:00 The Following (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
9:00 The Following
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0 

Monday night was stellar for CBS as the 200th episode of How I Met Your Mother powered the entire lineup to big gains. First up, Mother was up a huge 2 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo. The demo is the highest since February 4 while total viewers is the best since December 5, 2011. CBS is really going to miss this show when it goes off the air in two months but this bodes well for strong numbers to come leading up to the series finale. At 8:30pm, 2 Broke Girls was up 1.1 million viewers and three tenths in the demo for season highs. At 9pm, Mike & Molly was up 1.9 million viewers and half a demo point, tying a season high. At 9:30pm, Mom was up 1.3 million viewers and half a demo point. The demo is the best since the series premiere while the viewer total is a series high. The halo effect from Mother trickled all the way down to Intelligence, which was up a million viewers and four tenths in the demo for its best Monday performance. It also probably didn't hurt that Castle was in repeats. The numbers are still far too low but this performance probably saved it from any kind of early pull from the lineup.

FOX was the only network that didn't really have good news as the time period premiere of The Following hit a series low. It also lost a huge amount of the 4.4 demo that tuned in after the NFC Championship Game. It could go up next week as it will have a new lead-in (why did FOX choose to air a repeat of The Following instead of a new Almost Human?) and it will also have promotions during the Super Bowl on Sunday. However, this is troubling for a show that was a bright spot for FOX last year. If it slowly bleeds numbers over the course of the season as it did last year, this show could easily be facing cancellation. On NBC, two episodes of Hollywood Game Night performed the same as last week, just in reverse as the 8pm hour was stronger this week. At 10pm, the third week of The Blacklist without The Voice was up 1.4 million viewers and two tenths in the demo. It may have been helped by a repeat of Castle but it proved it can get 10+ million viewers and a 2.5 demo with a miniscule lead-in. This is a real hit for NBC and it will get some more chances to build an audience when it follows The Voice again starting after the Olympics. Finally on ABC, The Bachelor was up seven tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo.