Nellie Andreeva

One note on last night before we run the numbers: I found the contrast between 8 PM and 10 PM pretty astonishing. 51.1 million viewers showed up to watch broadcast TV at 8 PM, with all series in the hour drawing decent-to-outstanding numbers. At 10 PM, the total broadcast audience dropped in half, to 26.9 million. In adults 18-49, the decline was even more dramatic, from 16.2 combined rating at 8 PM to a 6.7 at 10 PM when no series came nowhere near a 3 demo rating. Yes, the Wednesday 8 PM hour is becoming a big hour of TV viewing with a lot of solid choices and yes, there is a lot of DVR viewing at 10 PM but still, losing half of the broadcast TV audience from 8-10 PM is a little disconcerting.

No Week 2 slump for Glee. The red-hot sophomore Fox dramedy drew a 5.8 rating/16 share in adults 18-49, 13.3 million viewers overall) with its Britney Spears-themed episode last night, up 4% from its season premiere and an all-time high. It also boosted the network’s new half-hour comedy Raising Hope (3.2/9), up 3% from last week’s premiere. The Greg Garcia sitcom is emerging as Fox’s best hope for a new fall series that could have legs, with Lone Star already gone and new comedy Running Wilde stumbling. In its second airing last night behind Hope, Running Wilde (2.1/5) fell down 13% from its unimpressive premiere and down 34% from its lead-in. BTW, the Fox research team dug up this factoid on Glee: it is the first show in 17 years to grow in Week 2 after finishing as the highest-rated entertainment program in premiere week. The last series to do that? Seinfeld in the fall of 1993. Fox won the night in adults 18-49 (4.2/12)

Launching in one of the most brutal time periods this fall, ABC’s new superhero family drama No Ordinary Family (3.1/9, 10.5 million viewers) became the highest-rated new series premiere on ABC this fall by a large margin. It finished third in the hour behind Glee and CBS’ NCIS and improved the demo performance of Shark Tank in the hour last fall by more than 100%. It was down 40% from the premiere of V in the same time slot last November, but, under the circumstances, it was an impressivle start for No Ordinary Family. At 9 PM, the Dancing with the Stars results show (3.7/10, 17.1 million) was down 16% from last week. New cop drama Detroit 1-8-7 (2.2/6, 9.2 million) was down a modest 4% from its premiere.

CBS’ veteran NCIS (4.0/11, 18.7 million viewers) proved once again that it is impervious to competition, keeping even with last week’s season premiere. Its spinoff NCIS: LA (3.7/10, 16.4 million) was up 9% from its two-hour season opener last week. The second season premiere of the network’s much-lauded drama The Good Wife (2.5/7, 12.9 million) was down 19% from the show’s debut last fall but still won the hour in total viewers and adults 18-49. CBS also won the night in total viewers (16 million).

NBC’s venerable reality series The Biggest Loser (2.7/7, 7.1 million) continues to struggle against the new Tuesday competition, down 7% from last week’s low season premiere. At 10 PM, Parenthood (2.0/6, 4.8 million) slid for a third consecutive week, down 20% from last week and posting its lowest-rated original ever.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.