
With the Easter/Passover holiday approaching, adult 18-49 usage dropped 5% last night, with most series posting even bigger week-to-week drops. CBS’ The Big Bang Theory (4.2/14 in adults 18-49) was down 7% from last week’s fast national but still ranked as the top program of the night in 18-49, beating Fox’s American Idol. Rules Of Engagement (2.7/8) was down a tenth from last week’s fast national, flat with the final. Person Of Interest (2.9/8) was down 12% from last week but edged ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (2.8/8) for the first time. The Mentalist (2.4/7) was down 11% to tie its series low but still won the 10 PM hour.
Following Grey’s, which was down 7% from 3 weeks ago to a season low, the series premiere of Shonda Rhimes’ new drama Scandal pulled in a 2.1/6 in 18-49. That was in line with the fast nationals for ABC’s most recent drama premieres, GCB (2.2) and Missing (2.0) and the most recent Private Practice original in the Thursday 10 PM slot (2.2). While not a great number, given how poorly most 10 PM shows have been doing lately and the depressed levels last night, a 2.1 rating qualifies as a decent result. Speaking of Missing, the drama fell another 7% to a new low of a 1.4/5.
NBC’s Community (1.3/5) dived 24% from last week to a series low. Remarkably, the comedy still ranked as the NBC’s highest-rated program of the night for a third straight week with The Office in repeats. All of NBC’s originals were down double-digits from last week to series lows. 30 Rock (1.2/4) was down 20%, Up All Night (1.1/3) down 15% and Awake (0.9/3) down 10%. Fox’s American Idol (3.8/12) was down 10% from last week’s fast national. Touch (2.3/7) dropped 15% to a new low.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.


Looks like nobody watches TV when ‘they are supposed to.’ Start noticing that networks!
I think the reason Greys numbers are so low is the amount of reruns. On a week off for two ABC is encouraging people to look for alternative shows. When you have a continuous story, reruns are the death of any show, no need to rematch it unless the finale or season premiere. Thursday was must see TV for me, until this year, now I never know when it is a new episode and by moving PP to Tuesdays, probably won’t watch that live anymore either. I think network TV should be like cable, less shows but more viewings per week so you can catch up on a whole season at once.
It’s too bad. Community was great last night.
Scandal looks like a direct to dvd rental. ABC should cut their losses and sell it to Cinemax Late Night. It might get more interesting then.
Ironically, ABC has already scheduled the first season release of Scandal (along with GCB and Missing) to be released June 12th, 2012. I doubt it will get a second season.
whew! I was afraid that I might have been the only one who thought SCANDAL was the most ridiculous waste of an hour since Revenge!
I love Revenge ( love the Acting,writing, and scenery, fashion,.
But Imwas sooo turned off with Scandal.
hat crap, when will we get rid ofm’the fadt talking, fast moving, hard tomkeep up,with dialogue!
and the over acting,From who Impresume is Kerry
Ashington,,I don’t know her, whith that mouth movement and closeups,is sooo irritating.
Wanted to like it butnit sucks.
Its like Greys Anatomy meets Charlies Angles.
” Cracklinrosie”
@Cracklinrosie
Learn to type on your iPad or use your spellcheck!! Jeez.
Thanx 4 the numbers Nellie. Seriously,how pathetic has Nbc become? Community falls to an all-time low,and yet,still beats all other Nbc shows last night-amazing. Community fans may take those numbers hoping for another season-I guess. Those numbers may be a reflection of Nbc’s other shows-mostly. It’s a shame Awake fell to a low. I was planning to watch it when it first premiered,but,was worried about exactly what’s happening now. I knew if I got into it- Nbc might cancel it eventually,which,may still happen. Nbc finished behind a spanish telenovela recently-how discouraging is that? They are fast becoming another CW. They bring in new people who never learn & continually make the same programming mistakes. Hard to believe it’s the same network that many years ago finished first in ratings on a continual basis. We may never see that kind of Nbc dominance again.The days of Cheers,Cosby & others on Nbc are nothing more than a distant memory. It’s a shame. Thank you.
Awake was amazingly more twisted than last week. Keep it Alive poeple.
Why doesn’t NBC give Community a shot at 9 p.m., especially while The Office is in reruns? It would at least be away from Big Bang and Idol there.
Looks like ‘Whitney’ just got renewed!
Isn’t that a new series low for ‘American Idol’? I don’t remember ever seeing the show in the 3s. Yes, FOX won the night, but Idol has now dropped almost 3 rating points this season, after premiering in the mid 7s in January (and that was down double digits from last season).
I don’t think it really matters anymore what networks put on. 2010s will be known as the decade when broadcast TV finally lost its superior position in the ratings and gradually got to the same level as cable networks. They’re almost there already. There are just too many shows and too many channels today.
I would think for all the promoting they did for ‘Scandal,” this would be considered a fail. I couldn’t turn on an ABC show without being bombarded by promos for it.
Have to agree with a previous post, about Grey’s, too many reruns and you lose interest in the overall story.
Now, do i stop watching “Missing” now that it seems to be a ‘dead show walking’ as I’ll never find out if she saves her son, and find out that , my theory, the husband is alive.
Community was extra bad last night. What the hell? It’s like they lost themselves, or they just dont care anymore. When in doubt, roll out Allison’s or Joel’s tits. Talk about a lack of confidence in the writing, and well deserved. On top of that, it’s got a pretty stupid title considering its now anything but…
ABC needs to stop letting Shonda do whatever she wants. She’s off the map… And gilding the Lilly with these projects.
I noticed that too, Jake. Idol is down huge, percentage wise, from last season and that 3.8 has to be a series low. And 13.8 million viewers- LOL. WoW! Remember when these numbers were unthinkable for Idol. Surprised that didn’t make the headline because that’s the real shocking story this week. Grey’s getting beat by a tenth of a point after being off the air forever- please; pathetic headline.
I agree with Dana. Musical TV stinks!!! Take me back to the good ‘ol days before MTV’s faux world ruined TV, when reruns only happened during the Christmas Holidays and summer. I’ve been waiting a month for REVENGE to come back. I love Ashley Judd, but Missing is a dud! And I miss PP, which I will continue to watch live. But, as Dana, said, who can — or wants to — try to keep up? Sheeesh!!! Talk about giving me a headache.
Can NBC get any worse off than they were with last night’s programming? I mean, a show that was 24% in decline in Community was their top-rated show while everything else just tanked? I’m guessing the brass at Comcast are not too happy about this and they’re cutting Greenbladt some slack until next season, when he finally can get rid of all of Zucker’s garbage shows and begin to air his own programming. If the ratings tank again next year, it’s good-bye Bob and his staff members. Maybe NBC should have moved the network to cable after all.
Kerry Washington deserves better material.
Agree that Kerry W. deserved a better script…too “Mission Impossible” to be taken seriously, dialogue is ridiculous, as is the way they have her striding from one situation to another. If they said, “Gladiators…in suits” one more time, I was going to throw something at the TV…and the “no crying” scene in the bathroom was absurd. Was hoping this show would be more like The Good Wife, but the story lines weren’t compelling, made me feel silly for watching.
Maybe the rabid-but-delusional Community fans, who go mental when NBC even thinks about pulling it off the air (even temporarily!) will finally start to realize that NBC isn’t in the charity business when they cancel this loser. Its seven fans can feel free to light candles.
Wow, I was surprised how truly bad Scandal was. I could not watch the entire show…Shonda choked…no ABC did.
So is it the fact that Scandal was created and written by a black woman, or the fact that a black woman starred in it? Hearing a teensy-weensy bit more venom than the usual network show re: Scandal. And on Deadline, that’s saying something.
Love the show scandal come on people watch this kerry washington shes brilliant
I couldn’t even get through the whole Scandal episode…turned it off halfway – the premise was promising but the execution, and ultimately the writing, were too far gone to be believable. Shonda is over…
I absolutely loved Scandal. I also can’t wait to see Revenge again. Idol sucks while the Voice is great and real.
I loved Scandal! It is not another one of those hospital/CSI dramas. I have been waiting for something new and this was it!
I loved scandal can’t wait to see the next episode
Missing is definitely worth keeping. Only Ashley Judd can make a show like this work. Haven’t made up my mind about Scandal.