TV Ratings Thursday: 'Big Bang Theory' Edges 'Idol' but still sees Season Low, 'Touch', 'Person of Interest', 'Mentalist' 'Office', 'Missing', 'Awake', 'Parks & Rec' Also See New Lows

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FOX won the night with the 18-49 crowd but lost out to CBS for total viewers.

American Idol earned a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating, which was down from last week's 4.0.  Touch fell to a  new season/series low with a 1.9, down two-tenths from last week's  2.1 adults 18-49 rating.

CBS' The Big Bang Theory returned from two weeks of repeats this week and was the #1 show of the night, but only earning a 4.0, down four-tenths from the 4.4 its last original earned and a new season low.  Rules of Engagement drew a 2.5, three-tenths up from last week's series low 2.2 adults 18-49 rating. Person Of Interest and The Mentalist also returned from repeats this week, and earned a 2.4 and a 2.1, both down from the 3.0 and 2.4 their last originals earned and new series lows.

ABC's Missing was down again to a new series low 1.3 adults 18-49 rating vs. last week's season/series low-matching 1.4. Grey's Anatomy was down a tenth to a 3.2 compared to last week's 3.3 adults 18-49 rating, but Scandal was up a tenth to a 2.1 18-49 rating, after last week's a 2.0 rating.

On NBC, Community was up a tenth to a 1.4 from with last week's series low matching a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating. 30 Rock aired a live special and was up a tenth to a 1.6  adults 18-49 rating, vs. last week's 1.5. The Office was down again to a new series low 2.1 after last week's 2.2 adults 18-49 rating.  Parks and Recreation was down a tenth from last week's 1.7 adults 18-49 rating and is another series low.  Awake drew a 0.8 adults 18-49 rating, vs. last week's 0.9 18-49 rating and is a series low.

The Vampire Diaries was even with last week's series low 1.0 adults 18-49, and The Secret Circle was also flat compared to last week's season/series low 0.5 adults 18-49 rating.

Late-night ratings are below the primetime data.

Overnight ratings for Thursday, April 26, 2012:

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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.

Via NBC press notes:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.3/6; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.9/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.3/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.7/5. 

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

• At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.3/4 in metered-market households) trailed CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5).  In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.4/3 in 18-49) trailed "Late Late Show" (0.5/3).

• At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households and a 0.3/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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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. 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.