TV Ratings Thursday: '$#*! My Dad Says,' 'The Mentalist,' 'Vampire Diaries' Hit Series Lows, Barbara Walters Steady; As CBS Tops The Night

Scoreboard
rating/Share: Adults 18-49	2.9/8	2.7/8	2.6/7	2.1/6	1.7/5	1.0/3
Rating/Share: Adults 18-34	1.8/6	1.9/6	2.9/9	1.7/5	1.8/6	1.2/4
Total Viewers (million)	12.434	10.834	5.693	7.016	4.056	2.714

We now have dedicated show pages for all broadcast network shows with the most recent Renew/Cancel report,  latest news/info and links to episodic videos.

The NFL Network's Colts/Titans game aired locally on the Fox affiliate in Indianapolis (#25 TV market) and the NBC affiliate in Nashville (#29 TV market). Because of that, these preliminary ratings for last night's Fox and NBC shows are more likely than usual to be adjusted down in the final ratings once the NFL game viewing is backed out.

CBS topped the night for adults 18-49 topping a mostly Barbara Walters ABC line up.

While on top of the night overall, every CBS show fell vs. its last new episodes on 11/18. The Big Bang Theory was down 12% to a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, while $#*! My Dad Says fell 10% to a series low 2.7 rating. CSI slipped 3% to a 3.0 rating, and The Mentalist was down 20% to a series low 2.4 rating.

ABC's Barbara Walters night was on par with the similar night last season. Barbara Walters: Oprah The Next Chapter drew a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating, while Barbara Walters: 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010 scored a 3.2 rating, even with last season's special on 12/9/09.

Fox's Bones was even with last week's 2.3 adults 18-49 rating, while Fringe was up 6% to a 1.9 rating.

NBC was up and down on the night. Community rose 5% vs. last week to a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating, while 30 Rock slipped 4% to a 2.2 rating. A special one hour episode of The Office was up 3% to a 3.8 rating. The Apprentice finale's 1.8 rating was up 29% vs. last week, but was its lowest rated finale ever.

The CW's The Vampire Diaries was down a tenth in the CW target women 18-34 ratings to a 2.1 rating. While I don't keep track of women 18-34 ratings long term, the The Vampire Diaries' 1.3 adults 18-49 rating was a season low.  Nikita rose 22% among women 18-34 to a 1.1 rating.

Late-night numbers are below the primetime data.

Overnight ratings for Thursday, December 9, 2010:

-
via NBC press note:

In Late-Night Metered Markets Thursday night:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.9/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 3.1/8; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 4.0/9; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.9/6.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 1.0/5; "Late Show," 0.8/4; "Nightline," 1.3/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.6/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.5/5). 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 0.9/4 in metered-market households with an encore 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.

NOTE: All national ratings are "live plus same day DVR viewing" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

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 baseball 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.