| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating: Adults 18-49 | 3.1/8 | 3.0/8 | 3.0/8 | 1.8/5 | 1.5/4 | 0.5/1 |
| Rating: Adults 18-34 | 2.0/6 | 3.2/9 | 2.5/7 | 1.4/4 | 1.7/5 | 0.6/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 11.58 | 7.38 | 8.95 | 6.55 | 3.97 | 1.30 |
A very tight night with CBS winning with adults 18-49 over FOX and ABC by a very narrow margin. FOX ruled the night with adults 18-34, and CBS had the most viewers overall.
It was a good night for the comedies with Old Christine, The Middle, Gary Unmarried and Modern Family all improved versus their season averages. Only Cougar Town, with a 2.8 rating with adults 18-49 was down from its prior average. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY were also up a bit from season averages on CBS.
Glee's fall finale tied with last week's season high with a 3.6/9 rating/share with adults 18-49 and was Glee's highest-rated episode ever with teens. Though So You Think You Can Dance's numbers weren't as good as Glee's, SYTYCD's performance with Women 18-34 (3.4/10) was second on the night only to Glee's 5.4. A distant second to be sure, but ahead of everything else on the night in that demo.
At 10pm CSI: NY edged out the Barbara Walters Special on the "100 Most Fascinating People of 2009". The special was down 26 percent with adults 18-49 from last year's airing on 12/4/08.
Though we're no longer posting the individual show data for Univision, the blurb this morning from Univision PR was headlined "Univision has Mercy on NBC," En Nombre del Amor beat both of CBS' comedies and Mercy with adults 18-34 in the 8pm hour, and Sortilegio bested Law & Order: SVU with adults 18-34.
In Late-Night Local People Meters Wednesday night:
- Conan O'Brien (1.0/4 in 18-49 in local people meters) topped CBS's LATE SHOW (0.9/4) in Nielsen's 24 local markets with People Meters.
- At 12:35 a.m., Jimmy Fallon (0.5/3 in 18-49 in local people meters) tied CBS's LATE LATE SHOW (0.5/3).
Full Details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Share | Viewers (Millons) |
| 8:00 | CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine | 2.2/7 | 7.71 |
| ABC | Shrek The Halls (R) | 2.6/8 | 8.53 | |
| FOX | So You Think You Can Dance | 2.3/7 | 6.66 | |
| NBC | Mercy | 1.8/5 | 7.14 | |
| CW | Gossip Girl (R) | 0.3/1 | 0.91 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | The Middle | 2.5/7 | 7.67 |
| CBS | Gary Unmarried | 2.4/7 | 7.16 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | Glee | 3.6/9 | 8.10 |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 3.8/10 | 14.31 | |
| ABC | Modern Family | 3.8/10 | 9.62 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 2.3/6 | 7.97 | |
| CW | Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (R) | 0.7/2 | 1.68 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Cougar Town | 2.8/7 | 6.92 |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: NY | 3.2/9 | 13.00 |
| ABC | Barbara Walters Special | 3.1/9 | 10.47 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.3/4 | 4.53 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
the middle was great last night
good job across the board
Glad for Modern Family, great episode as usual, enjoyed Cougar Town as well.
Stupid Modern Family.
I hope it tanks in the spring.
YAY for THE MIDDLE!
ABC’s comedies did very well last night, although that Barbara Walter’s special seemed to have tanked from last year (didn’t it get above a 4 in 2008??)
Good for Glee and Modern Family.
Cougar Town might not make it to season 2 if the ratings keep going down. That’s a series low isn’t it?
I have to agree on the Middle last night! One of the few shows that I make a point of watching live (Lowers voice ) Live!
I think all the kids on this show are just great!
I actually laughed at modern family last night as well for the first time! These were the only two shows I watched of broadcast TV last night(Well except for my wife’s British soap Coronation Street during supper!)
I wondering me if The Middle airs after Modern Family?
Maybe gets more bigger results than Cougar Town..
Good Job, The Middle… Go!
The Barbar Walters’ Special may have “tanked” from last year, but Eastwick never did that well except for its premier.
walters ratings are disapointing considering that the woman plugged it TO DEATH…..anywhere and anytime she could.
she seems to have an air of desperation about her projects in general, lately.
Anon indeed, and I added some verbiage to the post. It was down 26% w/18-49 from last year’s airing on 12/4/08.
I like Modern Family a lot. Maybe i’m getting older, but I sort of enjoy that I’m finally into some ‘adult’ / ‘family’ type sitcom. I could never get into that laughtrack ridden craptacular 2.5 Men or How I Met your Mother…
What is your problem MichyGeary. You hope that modern family tanks in the spring. You dont like the show I get it but why would you hope that it fails. Obviously there are plenty of people that like it. Your a selfish Jerk!!
Cougar Towns lowest was 1.8, but that was Thanksgiving. CSI:NY should be able to keep more of the demo of CM that it is, they’re basically the same show..
BW aired after Grey’s lasat year
Good for ABC. It appears that both The Middle and MF have found their audience. Cougar Town is troubling. A 2.8 is not awful, but it really should not be dropping a full demo point of MF’s audience and almost a 1/3 of the viewers.
I think ABC knows where it needs to go on the night – more family oriented sitcoms, and less of the raunchier stuff like CT.
So proud of Glee, it was an amazing fall finale, I can’t wait for April! I hope the hiatus doesn’t hurt it too much, but I doubt it the show is too good to pass up on! Go Glee!
Well done to Modern Family and The Middle as well, both great episodes! Sad for Cougar Town, but it should be ok
GLEE–great numbers (wow to the 18-34!), great episode, great half season.
ABC has to be very pleased with the comedy block, they’re way up.
last year: Pushing Daisies (1.6), Private Practice (2.4), DSM (1.8), average: 1.9
Good ratings for Criminal Minds and another excellent episode.
Things are not so good for CSI:NY.