Nellie Andreeva

After a depressing Thursday ratings report riddled with declines and season/series lows, things looked much brighter on Friday with most shows posting week-to-week gains.

After two alarming drops, Fox’s sci-fi series Fringe (1.5/5, 4.1 million) rebounded, up 7% from last week. Its lead-in, Kitchen Nightmares (1.7/6, 3.9 million) was up 13% after slipping by about that much last week.

CBS’ The Defenders (1.3/5, 8.5 million) also reversed a down trend, up 18% in 18-49. CSI: NY (1.8/6, 10.6 million) was up 13%. Blue Bloods (1.6/5, 11.1 million) returned to its regular Friday slot close to the levels of its ratings performance there before it moved to Wednesdays for a trial run. In its last original airing on Fridays on Dec. 3. Blue Bloods drew  a 1.7/6 and 11.4 million. The cop/family drama failed to carry over a demo ratings bump from its extra exposure on Wednesdays where it averaged a 2.1/6 and 11.8 last week. However, it is clear the Tom Selleck drama has a strong base as its viewership numbers stay virtually the same no matter the time slot or the length of the hiatus. CBS and Fox finished tied in 18-49 (1.6/5) for the night, with CBS (10.1 million) dominating the total viewer race.

Supernatural (2.3 million, 1.0/4 in 18-34) was up 25% in 18-34 and 27% in total viewers from last week, while Smallville (2.2 million, 0.9/4 in 18-34) was up 13% in 18-34 and down a fraction in total viewers.

ABC’s Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.6/5, 4.7 million) was up 23% from its most recent original 2 weeks ago and improved significantly on its  Supernanny (1.0/4) lead-in. NBC’s two-hour Dateline (1.6/6) was up 14% from last week, while reality series Who Do You Think You Are? (1.2/4) was down 14%.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.