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There was only one season premiere on television on Thursday and its ratings were way down. Falling 28% from last season’s January premiere, NBC’s 30 Rock (1.3/4) returned for its seventh and final season last night. That’s the lowest season premiere ever for the Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin show. Emphasizing the point, Thursday’s 30 Rock was also down 7% from its May finale and 24% from last fall’s September 22 season premiere of Community in the Thursday 8 PM slot. Two new series that debuted last week also saw slippage last night. ABC’s Last Resort (1.8/6) was down 18% from last week’s already modest premiere. With the second episode of its debut season, Elementary (2.6/7) slipped last night too. CBS’ Sherlock Holmes modernization was down 16% from last Thursday.
CBS did have a NFL pre-emption on its Phoenix affiliate, so fast nationals are approximated and could change in the finals. While down 2% from last week’s season debut, The Big Bang Theory (4.9/16) was the 
night’s most watched show overall with 15.38 million tuning in. After hitting its lowest rated telecast ever last week with its season debut, Two And A Half Men rose 6% on Thursday at 8:30 PM. Person of Interest (3.1/8) was up 7% from its premiere last week. One week into its new season, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (3.7/10) was down 16%. Its lead-out, Scandal (2.1/6) was even with last week’s season premiere. On NBC, Up All Night (1.4/4) followed 30 Rock. The show remained even with last week. The Office (2.1/6) was also the same as last week. Parks And Recreation (1.9/5) had a good night, up 19% from last week. Parks held on to 90% of its lead-in from The Office, up from the 76% it held last week. Rock Center With Brian Williams (1.1/3) was also up, a solid 38% from its September 27th show. Over on Fox, Boot Camp continued on The X-Factor (3.1/0) with the show on par with last week. With its “Break-Up” show last night, Glee (2.6/7) was up 8% from last week. The CW’s finale of The Next (0.3/1) was even with last week’s show.
With DVR penetration up 4% from the same period last year, fast nationals can reflect some distortion in accuracy. With that and the football pre-emption in mind, CBS won the night in the 18-49 and terms of total viewers, with an audience of 13.29 million. Fox was second in the demo and ABC was second in total viewership with 8.41 million.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
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No wonder NBC’s comedy lineup is getting low prem ratings – they’re barely advertising the debuts! There weren’t that many commercials and no print ads that I were aware of. I didn’t even know that 30 Rock and The Office (last week) were premiering until the day of. Hell, USA Network blasts their premieres why can’t it’s mothership?
Yeah, I’m sure that’s it. It can’t be because no one wants to watch it. What’s the excuse for the last seven years of bad ratings?
The poor performance can be blamed on the altitude.
They pushed 30 Rock too far up. I was ready to start watching it weeks ago but instead we got some crappy SNL Thursday special and whatever else I don’t remember. Not that it was ever a huge hit but I bet it would’ve performed better had it begun the same week as Revolution. Get ready for Chicago Fire to start slowly too? So happy Liz & Co are back though!
Pre-emption is not the only NFL issue. The game on NFL Network also siphoned off viewers to varying degrees depending on time zones and cable/satellite availability.
The game on the NFL network is not “an NFL issue,” it’s just simple competition, there will also be programs on other channels when the networks air their originals. It’s no excuse for weak ratings.
Think Last Resort is done. ABC publicity hanging on to the DVR bump forgetting that their sales people don’t sell the rating number, they sell the number of people who watch commercials. In a couple weeks, as they always do, they’ll see that most DVR watchers skipped the ads. And at close to $2million an hour, it’s a big money loser for the network.
This week’s Last Resort promo called it an “epic love story”. Translation: “PLEASE women come watch. It’s more than guys blowing shit up”
Desperation came early. Put a fork in it
Astonishing to me that a network that appeals primarily to women is programming this show. And at 8:00 on Thursday? Complete disaster. Miss “Missing.”
Last Resort…brings up the same complaint of most new network shows…
Too clean. Too pretty looking. All of that takes me out of the story. Too many hot chicks in fatigues. Most of the guys look like L.A. actors.
Please start casting real looking people. It grounds the story. Networks, take notes from The Voice. You don’t have to look like a model to have talent that people will respond to.
Cancelled soon. Waste of Andre Braugher. He deserves better.
Would have been nice to have been able to see Big Bang here in Arizona, football game must have ran long because everything else on the schedule was 45 minutes later than normal. Bang wasn’t going to be on till late, set DVR, ended up getting Craig Ferguson. Now Craig is alright, but not what I wanted recorded. So no Big Bang last night. Kind of defeats the purpose of the DVR if you set it as scheduled and then is pre-empted.
I suspect that the only programs, broadcast or cable, that beat the NFL Network’s football game last night (October 4th) were those shows on CBS between 8 and 10 P.m. EDT.
I suspect the football game was the most-watched program on either broadcast or cable after 10 P.M. EDT.
Such a shame for Last Resort. A good idea and premise, but everybody got it wrong on execution.
Shonda must be squirming in her seat a little after those paltry numbers for Scandal.
1.3? How is 30 Rock still on the air at this point?
“What’s on” Use to be a term our family used when we didn’t get what we wanted. When we wanted. The word, interrupted TV never entered our minds. Now we chose, what we want. When we want it and where we watch it. Broadcast scripted TV is dying and the Neilson system is speeding up the process.
Shows like the Last Resort deserve a better shot than they are getting. This may go down as one of the most expensive failures in TV history and it’s all because 16,000 people are still trying to control what we watch. The problem is, they don’t anymore. But there is no system in place to save it. What the Neilson is doing fantastically well, is destroying the jobs of hundreds of crew members. And getting paid millions to do it.
I gave up on two shows after their premiere episodes; The Last Resort and Elementary. Like previously listed, Last Resort looks to slick, and poor Andre, he does deserve better. And, Elementary, just another CBS procedural. The Sherlock connection is just a gimmick. Last night watched BBC version instead, WOW, what a difference. Also, Lucy and Jonny Lee have zero chemistry.
“And, Elementary, just another CBS procedural. The Sherlock connection is just a gimmick.”
As well, the ELEMENTARY folks somehow missed the fact that Holmes’ cases were often just as fascinating/weird as his character. What they are giving up so far are like LAW AND ORDER: CI eps. rewritten to be way less interesting.
“Last night watched BBC version instead, WOW, what a difference.”
Yeah, when it comes to real chemistry and intriguing murders, SHERLOCK has this beat…
“Also, Lucy and Jonny Lee have zero chemistry.”
Miller is extremely good; Liu is okay. But they don’t really seem to click.
30 Rock, a relentlessly cynical comedy about repulsive characters that has been a ratings failure for many years, but is a critical darling. The sooner it is sponged off our screens, the better.
Take Up All Night with it – the show is atrociously unfunny. Who could have thought it would get worse from last year?
Like “Elementary”. But the problem and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s an issue with older viewers, is Johnny Lee Miller’s heavy British accent and his rapid speak. It’s hard to understand him at times especially when he’s speaking softly. I know it’s Sherlock and part of the character but CBS either has to adjust the audio or slow it down.
Fake accent. Yes he’s British but he does not speak with such a heavy accent. That’s Jonny’s version of a British accent. Horrible! And so is the show.
I hope CBS will give person of interest post super bowl slot. If person of interest take post super bowl slot CBS can order spin-off with female lead(hope for keira knightley). After Mr. Reese(hero in suit) or Jack(24) its time to see female hero in dress.
Person of interest will be with the best retention ever after super bowl in history of that slot. No one other tv show(sitcom or drama) on broadcast network is so much male skewed. After football was over(last season) all shows start droping in the spring only PoI start hit its best ratings. Super Bowl will make PoI 4+ in demo hit drama. From there CBS can move PoI in wednesday at 8 as new anchor drama(like NCIS) after it POI spin-off(with female lead) and in 10 CM. Move survivor in sundays with one cycle per year and CBS sill have both old reality shows(TAR) for few more years.
Ah, yes because I’m sure a spin-off show is the direction Keira Knightley wants her career to take.
Last Resort is a victim of scheduling. I seriously wanted to check it out, but we DVR too many things in that slot we already know & like and our DVR only let’s us record 2 programs so Last Resort got bumped.
Haven’t watched it On Demand because we’re backed up with shows right now and baseball.
The premise doesn’t feel 8pm Thursday to me. Just from what I could see it had a 9 or 10pm feel.
the premise of last resort was ludicrous. period.
You hit the nail on the head-great observation. Someone please pass this info to Mindy Kaling also post haste!
To understand her I have to run the subtitles during the show.
’30 Rock’ is the most overrated sitcom of the century so far. It is impossibly antic (to a headache-inducing degree), glib, flip, facetious, self-satisfied and superficial. I will nver understand its appeal.
NBC has to better market their shows if they want to gain any traction with them, or else they are going to sink quicker than the Titanic did. Glad this is 30 Rock’s final season as it was just time to end the show. Can’t see Elementary lasting too much longer.
What a shame, NBC’s Thursday night comedy block used to be the only thing on network TV work watching.
They let ‘The Office’ and ’30 Rock’ go on too long, neglected ‘Community’, and ‘Parks and Rec’ can’t have much left in the tank.
It’s a shame that none of their comedies delivered great ratings because they were the only ones that were actually funny. Now broadcast comedy will be reduced to Chuck Lorre shows and ‘New Girl’ clones. Lucky us.
As the director of 30 Rock’s premiere episode, and one who has directed five 30 Rock season premieres, I can say without hesitation that this was the least promoted season start yet. We have never been a ratings champ, but our fans are solid and most of them didn’t know we were returning. It was a classic, hilarious episode. This is our last season; only 13 episodes, and each one will be wilder than the last. I urge our fans to catch them all.
Don, I’m one of those loyal viewers and you’re right – I had absolutely no idea that it was on. I thought SNL was going to be in that slot until election day. It’s a shame that this season is only 13 episodes. An Emmy winning sitcom deserves more respect in its final season.
elementary must be cancelled…even the fine brit actor jonny lee miller can’t save this piece of trash…absolutely no chemistry between him & the asian female watson…chemistry between cumberbatch & freeman (as well as a stellar ensemble cast & superb writing) made PBS/BBC Sherlock so riveting…elementary = bore…
everytime on tune in abc7 lately, i see braugher’s face…are they running it in a loop??? truly, the last resort is just that, period…