TV Ratings Wednesday: 'Idol' Dominates; 'Happy Endings' Premieres Below 'Sunshine'; 'CM: Suspect Behavior' Rises; 'Better With You' Hits Low, 'Breaking In' Falls

Scoreboard
Adults 18-49: rating/Share	6.0/17	3.0/8	2.3/6	1.3/4	1.2/3	0.8/2
Adults 18-34: Rating/Share	4.4/14	1.8/5	2.0/6	1.3/4	0.9/3	0.8/3
Total Viewers (million)	18.892	11.305	6.353	3.260	4.000	1.820

ABC's double episode premiere of Happy Endings, with 2.7 and a 2.3 adults 18-49 ratings, wasn't as happy in the ratings as the earlier premiere of Mr. Sunshine (3.7 rating). That's so far a swing and a miss for our polled readers. Earlier in the evening, The Middle's 1.8 rating was a season low down 10% from its last new episode, and Better With You fell to a series low 1.5 rating, down 12% from its last new episode. Modern Family fell 14% to a 3.8 rating, its lowest this season except for the Thanksgiving Eve show).

American Idol's 7.1 adults 18-49 rating was down 3% vs. last week, but final adjustments have been increasing the preliminaries in recent weeks, so it will likely end about even. So much for those expecting a decline after Pia was kicked off. The second episode of Breaking In took a dive (commenters may argue whether it was expected) down 20% to a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating.

Of course, Fox topped the nights adults 18-49 ratings. While in the "almost not news anymore" department, Univision topped NBC yet again.

CBS's Survivor: Redemption Island's 2.9 adults 18-49 rating was another series low, down 9% from last week. Criminal Minds 3.4 rating fell 6% from last week, but Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior bucked the early CBS trend, rising 19% to a 2.5 rating. So much for those fans of other CBS marginal dramas hoping it would die to help their favorite shows live.

Minute To Win It, the only NBC original on the night, had the same series low 1.0 adults 18-49 rating as last week.

On the CW, America's Next Top Model rose 11% vs. last week to a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating, and the season finale of Shedding For the Wedding hit a series high 0.6 adults 18-49 rating, and the PR minded will note that 100% above last week!

Shedding for the Wedding finale

Late-night results are below the primetime data.

Overnight ratings for April 13, 2011:

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via NBC press note:

In Late-Night Metered Markets Wednesday night:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.8/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.8/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.0/7; 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,” 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.8/4; "Nightline," 1.0/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households with an encore) beat CBS's first-run "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.3/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.7/4 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/2).

At 1:35 a.m., Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.9/4 with an encore in metered-market households and a 0.5/4 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated. Starting with data for Mon 3/28/11, all program ratings will now include multiple viewings of a telecast on a DVR. Previously only the first viewing was counted. HUT/PUT will now consist of Live TV viewing and DVR playback at time of play. Previously, HUT/PUT consisted of live viewing and DVR playback credited to time of live telecast.

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2011 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.