There they were…two networks going head to head with reality during the first two hours of the evening, with both presenting intriguing dramas in the end. NBC with ‘The Voice’ delivering an evening high of 13.87 million viewers (down 6.25% vs comparable time and day last year) but slipped ahead of ABC at 8P where ‘Dancing with the Stars’ slipped in close behind with 12.99 million, even with last year’s performance. Then at 10P, ABC’s ‘Castle’ edged ahead with 11.11 million viewers (up 10% over last year in this same time and day) while NBC’s new hit drama, ‘The Blacklist’ finished with 10.93 million, 5.88% down from this time and day last year. All of this of course was indicated in fast overnights. What was of maximum interest, ‘The Blacklist’ in the 10P first half hour was the leader with a strong 12.09 million viewers. ‘Castle’ was #2 at that time with 11.44 million. Then at 1030P, the game changed. ‘Castle’ dropped a tad to 10.73 million but ‘The Blacklist’ fell to 10.79 milion and continued dropping viewers, probably due to four things: not a lot of people wanted to see more chemical baths and one of the stars hung in the balance of life or death; folks love Richard and Kate and when they are together, there was applause everywhere when it was announced that ‘they’ were coming back full time to the NYPD; a bunch were watching the San Diego Chargers knock off the Indianapolis Colts and then there was baseball. The magic of the Cardinals and Dodgers with the Legend of Puig a draw for the ages, finishing with a Los Angeles win.
The winner was…good question. As you can see below, ABC won the ratings/share race while NBC had more total viewers. The winner will be proclaimed later. For the meantime, it was a very good night for both networks.
FOX at 8P had another good Monday with veteran ‘Bones’ which drew 7.3 million up 53.85% over last year on this day. At 9P, their new drama ‘Sleepy Hollow’ grew a little with ‘Bones’ lead in with 7.59 million viewers. But the real story here is that it was up 100% over last year in this same timeslot.
At CBS, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ began at 8P with 7.98 million, obviously not many cared how that happened as it finished down 6.25% compared to a year ago. ‘Two Broke Girls’ at 830P drew 7.99 million, up 19.05% from last year. Then at 9P, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was put into the lineup to bump up the numbers over the cancelled ‘Men’ as it drew The Tiffany Network’s largest numbers of the evening with 8.54 FOR A RERUN. Finally, and with mercy, the horrible ‘Hostages’ drained every bit of gain when it could only muster 5.16 million at 10P. This show was down 40% compared to what ‘Hawaii Five-O’ did in this same timeslot last year.
TBS featured the Cardinals at the Dodgers in Game #3 of the MLB NLCS. It drew 4.8 million viewers and a 3.1 household rating. But in Los Angeles, the game earned an 11.4 household rating while it smashed records in registering a 28.9 rating in St. Louis.
The CW had ‘Hart Of Dixie’ lead off at 8P and drew 1.06 million (down 33% from last year) while ‘Beauty & the Beast’ (down 25% from last year) fell to 900,000 viewers.
For the record, in households, ABC with 8.0 rating and a 12 share boosted The Alphabet Network to #1 but finished behind NBC in total viewers at it drew 12.221 million viewers. NBC was a close #2 in ratings and share (7.9/12) but was #1 with total viewers as it delivered 13.004 million viewers. ESPN was third with 11.95 million viewers; FOX was fourth with 7.318 million viewers and a 4.5/7 while CBS was #5 with 7.020 million and registered a 4.4/7. TBS finished #6 with 4.8 million viewers (3.1 rating). Univision #7 with 3.6 million viewers and a 1.8/3 and Telemundo finished #8 with 1.1 million viewers (0.7/1) and The CW #9 (997,000 viewers 0.7/1).
In late night, NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ finished on top with 2.9/8 while CBS’ ‘David Letterman’ finished tied with FOX’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel’s 2.2/6. ‘Jimmy Fallon’ (NBC) won late, late night with a rerun drawing 1.4/5. CBS’ ‘Craig Ferguson’ while with an original episode could only muster 1.1/4. ABC’s ‘Nightline’ averaged a 1.3/4. In late, late, late night, NBC’s ‘Carson Daly’ drew an average 0.8/4 at 0135 in the morning.
One thing was for sure on Monday, A & N BC’s were in great battle form. And, people were…
Switching Channels!
OVER THE POND: ‘Crimewatch’ had a record rating on Monday in England. The BBC1 crime program pulled in 6.7 million viewers, the largest in its 11 year history for the one hour program. This week it focused on the search for Madeleine McCann. It more than doubled its average audience of 3.1 million at 9P.
OVERTHESHOULDERMEDIA 