TV Ratings Thursday: 'Big Bang Theory' Dips But Dominates,'Community' & 'Glee' Rise, 'American Idol' & 'Person of Interest' Down, 'Two and a Half Men' Flat

FOX won the night in adults 18-49 while CBS was on top with Total Viewers.

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory earned a 5.4 adults 18-49 rating down 4 percent from a 5.6 for its last original episode on February 21.Your predictions were too optimistic.  Two and a Half Men scored a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating even with its performance for its most recent new episode on February 21. Person Of Interest garnered a 2.8 among adults 18-49, down 3 percent from a 2.9 on February 21.

On FOX, a 90 minute American Idol scored a 3.5 adults 18-49 rating down 8 percent from last week’s 3.8. Note:  The show ran over two minutes, so both it, and Glee are likely to be adjusted in the final ratings. At 9:30, Glee earned a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating up 47 percent from a 1.7 its last episode on February 14 when it aired at 9PM.

On NBC, Community garnered a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating up 25 percent from last week’s 1.2. 1600 Penn tied its series low with a 0.9 among adults 18-49, even with last week.

Overnight ratings for Thursday, March 7, 2013:

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via press note:

In Late-Night Metered Markets Thursday night:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.2/6 with an encore telecast; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.5/7 with an encore; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 2.3/6.
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> * In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 Wednesday results were: > "> The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,> "> 0.6/3 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.6/3 with an encore; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.8/4.
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> * From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET Wednesday night, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.4/5 in metered-market households and a 0.5/3 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.
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> * From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.1/4 in metered-market households with an encore) trailed CBS's first-run "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.4/3 in 18-49 with an encore) tied "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).
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> * At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.3/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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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.