| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-49: Rating/Share | 3.9/11 | 2.6/8 | 2.2/6 | 2.0/6 | 1.7/5 | 1.6/5 |
| Adults 18-34: Rating/Share | 3.0/10 | 1.6/5 | 1.8/6 | 1.5/5 | 1.8/6 | 1.7/6 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 12.12 | 10.39 | 5.98 | 6.45 | 3.75 | 3.83 |
As usual, an hour of American Idol led FOX to an across-the-board win for the night (18-49, 18-34 and viewers). CBS was second with adults 18-49 and viewers and ABC and CW tied for second with adults 18-34.
NBC's Minute To Win It took the 8pm hour. Idol dominated the 9pm hour, but Modern Family tied its series highs with adults 18-49 with a 4.2 rating and was up 8% versus last week. It was Modern Family's best-ever performance against Idol with both adults 18-49 and total viewers.
Cougar Town was up slightly from last week as well to a 2.6 rating with adults 18-49. Mercy hardly registered on the radar.
At 10pm Law & Order: SVU again defeated CSI: NY with adults 18-49, though both shows were up more than 5% versus last week. CSI: NY again won with total viewers. Happy Town was flat with a 1.2 rating with adults 18-49 and it now goes on the bench for the remainder of May Sweeps before returning on June 2 to burn off its remaining episodes.
CW had the two hour finale of America's Next Top Model which averaged a 1.7 rating with adults 18-49 between 8p-10pm. With CW's target of women 18-34, it averaged a 2.7 rating for those two hours, tying with ABC between 8p-10p in that demo. It was the CW's best Wednesday with women 18-34 in over a year and a half -- since the September 2009 premiere of ANTM.
Nielsen overnight ratings for Wednesday, May 12, 2010:
Late night results are below the primetime table
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Sh | Viewers (Millions) |
| 8:00 | NBC | Minute To Win It | 2.2/7 | 6.72 |
| CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine | 1.9/6 | 7.19 | |
| CW | America's Next Top Model | 1.7/6 | 3.93 | |
| ABC | The Middle (R) | 1.6/5 | 5.69 | |
| FOX | Lie To Me (R) | 1.4/5 | 5.14 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | The Middle | 2.4/7 | 7.51 |
| CBS | The Big Bang Theory (R) | 2.0/6 | 6.65 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 6.4/17 | 19.10 |
| ABC | Modern Family | 4.2/11 | 10.10 | |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 3.4/9 | 12.88 | |
| CW | America's Next Top Model | 1.6/4 | 3.57 | |
| NBC | Mercy | 1.1/3 | 4.11 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Cougar Town | 2.6/7 | 6.13 |
| 10:00 | NBC | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | 2.8/8 | 8.51 |
| CBS | CSI: NY | 2.5/7 | 11.36 | |
| ABC | Happy Town | 1.2/3 | 3.21 |
-
Late night results via NBC press blurb:
- In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 3.8/10; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.7/7; and ABC's "Nightline," 2.8/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.4/4.
- In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 1.2/5; "Late Show," 0.7/3; "Nightline," 1.2/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.
- At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.6/6 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.7/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.5/3).
- At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 1.0/4 in metered-market households and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 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.
Mercy is beyond dead. It lost to the CW badly.
Great numbers for Modern Family!! Excellent episodes of both The Middle and Modern Family. Cougar Town, just wow. losing 4 million viewers in a half hour, u know ur show is bad.
Modern Family and Criminal Minds were getting similar 18-49 ratings at one point this season…
Jonas Brothers on Minute To Win It. Is that a season high for the show?
Not only was Mercy's finale incredibly depressing, but it ended on a big hanger. The stupidity at NBC never ceases to amaze me… only a few people have stuck around till the end, why slap them in the face since the show is obviously not coming back?
I think it was because Mercy was against the finale for America's Next Top Model. I am still holding out hope!!!!!!!
*Note: we need a sarcasm emoticon, I don't want to get flamed by people for thinking I was serious.
Not sure, but excluding the Olympics, it was the best NBC has done at Wednesday at 8p since November.
That's not really NBC's fault. The blame for that goes to the showrunners/writers. They had to know they weren't coming back and had a chance to wrap things up but didn't.
Sure. It was easier to write NBC than 'showrunners/writers' and I'm aware of whose fault it is, but it seems the only network that has made dumb move after dumb move this season is NBC.
Oh Lord have mercy on Mercy!
awesome for modern family! i wonder if it can reach 4.5 next week for the finale
as for cougar town, sucks that it didn't retain as much as usual.. last night's episode was my favorite of the whole season.. it's really developed from a predictable chick sitcom to a funny ensemble cast of silly characters in funny situatons
there was even an article i read recently where the creator admitted the title wasn't the best and that there was some test screening or whatever and people said they'd never watch a show called cougar town, but when they saw the episode, they said yes they would watch THIS show. so yeah, name change ASAP please. although that article also said there are no immediate plans to change
Exactly. They've already conducted a study that more than a few people haven't watched the show simply because of its title, and the show isn't even remotely like that anymore, save a few Barb one-liners including the epic one last night.
I think it also has to be paired with a different comedy. I'd have MF lead off Wednesday nights, keep The Middle at 8:30, move CT to 9 and put in a new comedy at 9:30. Then perhaps put a new show at 10 or move Private Practice to that night to retain your mostly-female audience that ABC has on Wednesdays.
god i know it's so lame. cuz it's truly a great show 'cougar town' it's freaking done by the dude who made scrubs how can you not like it? crazy people.. dude..
does anyone know what criminal minds did, ratings-wise, between 9:30 and 10? i switched from ABC to CBS when cougar town came on and i wondered if others did the same.
Is there a bigger success story this season than Modern Family? It debuted on a completely brand new night for ABC as the third show out of four and has had to grow against American Idol of all shows in the second half of the season. And yet it continues to grow.
With so much heartache for the networks (ABC in particular), Modern Family is like a desert oasis.
I love Cougar Town. It's a refreshing, breezy half-hour of comedy. Courtney Cox is a bit much sometimes, but her supporting cast (though now it's an ensemble) holds her up well. Modern Family is a different type of show from CT. They really have nothing in common. Similar to how FOX fails to realize that Bones/Fringe are not compatible. If a new name brings more viewers to this great show, then go for it! As long as the writing and acting stays fresh, then I'm all for it.
A name change for Cougar Town wont do anything. The show premiered a 4.4 and 11 million viewers with the title Cougar Town. Almost half of those people are gone and they watched it despite the name of the show.
showrunners/writers on Mercy did an amazing and impressive job
Watch the very fist and the lasts episodes : what an evolution !
Cougar Town features some of the most irritating characters in the history of sitcoms. I want to strangle the lot of them, all they do is whine whine whine and engage in the most inane and trivial chatter that no one gives a damn about. I gave up on this show after 12 episodes. Does it get any better?
some others, perhaps, but if so they were more than offset by the theoretical people who tuned over to watch CM once Modern Family ended. CM had a 3.3 rating its 1st half hour and a 3.5 its second.
Hard to believe that with three comedy hits, ABC is still in major need of retooling its Wednesday lineup. Same goes for Sunday.
Nice to see the family in MF actually in Hawaii, it's a nice continuation from last time and aside from HIMYM sitcoms generally don't care about continuity, which is why this was a welcome change of pace.
I hope The Middle can get to 3.2 next week with Betty White and Modern Family to 4.5; would be a nice way to finish the season.
Last night's episode of Old Christine was pretty good, though it definitely didn't feel like a season finale, much less series finale. On the other hand, no loose ends, no cliffhangers… It could be the show just running its course. At this point, I'm not holding out for a renewal.
In other news, Mercy went up!