| Scoreboard |  |
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 |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.5/10 | 2.9/8 | 2.9/8 | 2.0/5 | 1.3/4 | 0.6/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 3.4/10 | 2.4/7 | 1.7/5 | 1.9/6 | 1.4/4 | 0.7/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 9.721 | 8.637 | 13.431 | 4.829 | 3.590 | 1.493 |
A crossover episode with Grey's Anatomy boosted Private Practice ratings to their second highest level this season as ABC won the ratings race on Thursday. But Grey's itself fell to an all time low for a new episode. With limited broadcast competition, Bones ratings hit a season high. No controversy boost evident for Leno as The Jay Leno Show hit its lowest Thursday ratings ever.
While ABC won the night, its ratings success was all backloaded as the crossover episode boosted Private Practice ratings 31% from its last original episode on 12/1/09 to a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating. But a repeat Grey's an ABC News Haiti Earthquake Special at 8pm may have dragged down Grey's the regular episode at 9, as the regular timeslot Grey's Anatomy fell 8% from its last original episode on 11/19/09 to a 4.7 rating, its lowest original episode rating ever.
Fox enjoyed an up night, as Bones was up 6% from its last original episode (12/10/09) to a 3.3 rating, a season high, and its highest rating since 11/12/08. Fringe may have benefited from its post-House episode on Monday as it rose 13% from its last original Thursday episode to a 2.6 rating, its highest since the season premiere.
Considering it went with a repeat at 8pm, CBS didn't fall that far, but CSI was already trending down this season and falling 6% from its last original episode (12/17/09) put it at a series low original episode rating of 3.3. The Mentalist was down 3% from its last original (12/17/09) to a 3.4 rating.
The limited 8pm broadcast competition seemed to help NBC too, as Community was up 10% from its last original episode (12/10/09) to a 2.3 rating and Parks & Recreation held steady (vs. 12/10) with a 2.1 rating. 30 Rock proved to be not such a good lead in for itself, as the regular timeslot 30 Rock fell 30% from its last original episode (12/10) to a season low 2.3 rating. No controversy boost evident for The Jay Leno Show, as it fell 7% from last Thursday to a 1.3 rating, its lowest Thursday ever.
Conan's Tonight Show (1.9 adults 18-49 rating) crushed Letterman's Late Show (1.1 rating) again on Thursday night.
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (Millions) |
| 8:00 | FOX | Bones | 3.2 | 10 | 10.260 |
| NBC | Community | 2.3 | 7 | 5.418 | |
| CBS | The Mentalist (repeat) | 1.8 | 5 | 9.093 | |
| ABC | Haiti News Special | 1.3 | 4 | 5.517 | |
| CW | Vampire Diaries (repeat) | 0.7 | 2 | 1.730 | |
| 8:30 | FOX | Bones | 3.4 | 10 | 11.079 |
| CBS | The Mentalist (repeat) | 2.1 | 6 | 10.178 | |
| NBC | Parks and Recreation | 2.1 | 6 | 4.593 | |
| ABC | Haiti News Special | 1.4 | 4 | 5.303 | |
| CW | Vampire Diaries (repeat) | 0.7 | 2 | 1.626 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | Grey's Anatomy | 4.7 | 12 | 12.588 |
| CBS | CSI | 3.2 | 8 | 14.978 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 2.5 | 7 | 6.679 | |
| NBC | 30 Rock | 2.3 | 6 | 5.122 | |
| CW | Supernatural (repeat) | 0.6 | 2 | 1.364 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Grey's Anatomy | 4.8 | 12 | 12.871 |
| CBS | CSI | 3.5 | 9 | 15.787 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 2.6 | 7 | 6.529 | |
| NBC | 30 Rock | 2.3 | 6 | 5.014 | |
| CW | Supernatural (repeat) | 0.5 | 1 | 1.253 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | Private Practice | 4.3 | 12 | 11.343 |
| CBS | The Mentalist | 3.4 | 9 | 15.336 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.4 | 4 | 4.507 | |
| 10:30 | ABC | Private Practice | 4.2 | 12 | 10.703 |
| CBS | The Mentalist | 3.4 | 9 | 15.213 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.3 | 4 | 4.317 |
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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.
YAY for Private Practice! Very great result!
Wow a 2.3 for 30 Rock is bad! Well the ratings carnage at NBC continues I guess.
Damn. 30 Rock got the same rating (both episodes!) as Community. Daaaaaamn
Woah what a low rated night over all. The ratings of 30 Rock without The Office is just on par with Parks and Community.
Seems like the special Monday Fringe episode actually paid off a little. The show went from it’s usual 2.3 to a 2.5 and 2.6 in the second half hour (isn’t it the first time Fringe actually gets up from the first hal hour to the second?)
Bones was also boosted.
I guess the Fringe Lie to Me fight becomes more interesting. Let’s see now if Fringe will come back has “strong” has it is now after it’s next hiatus
Die Jay Die!
Go Team Conan!
Wow, without The Office as a lead-in 30 Rock bombed!
I would have thought it would at least get high 2′s. That is incredible though, and really disappointing. I thought it had a bigger following than a 2.3. Considering it remained steady across the hour, perhaps 2.3 is its entire core following.
On a slightly different note, is Community slowly edging its way up again though? Parks and Recreation and Community if I recall correctly were neck-and-neck for quite a while but now Community has pulled away a bit. And was NBC’s highest performing show on Thursday…
By the way, according to The Live Feed an ABC News special on the Haiti earthquake aired at 8PM instead of a Grey’s rerun
When does The Office return?
Whoa…30 Rock did awful last night
30 Rock is so weak without The Office. I bet Parks would be a better fit because they have similar styles.
Bones did very well. I think it would be a better fit with House than Lie to Me or Fringe.
The Mentalist shouldn’t be a 10pm show. It did a lot better after NCIS. It always had the same or more viewers and demo and it would be a better lead-in to The Good Wife. NCIS LA loses a lot.
Those ratings for 30 Rock are why NBC doesn’t move it to 8:00 and use The Office to launch a new show. It simply can’t stand on its own.
Good for Private Practice. I think Greys will go back up next week to its normal 5s demo. It was just on a long break so it should bounce back next week.
Wow so thats what 30 Rock gets without Office lead-in. WOW. Its sad a show in its 4th season needs a big lead-in. Leno just keeps going lower and lower.
Nice! Community beat 30 Rock in viewers and tied 2.3 with them.
WOAH BONES!!!
How the mighty have fallen
So much for the ideas of putting 30 Rock at 8 to start off the evening. Without The Office in front of it, it sinks.
CSI was good last night. According to those numbers, I’m glad a whole lot of people agreed with me.
People seem to be boycotting Leno…
I think both Parks and Recreations and 30 Rock benefit from preceding/following The Office.