2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19-Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Universal Makes Seven-Figure Deal For ‘The School For … 
Steven Soderbergh Will Interrupt Retirement To Direct And … 
Cannes: EOne Announces Itself As Player In U.S. … 
Will LIN TV Stations Go Dark On Time Warner Cable? 
Very Crowded Memorial Weekend Kick-Off: ‘Hangover … 
Shareholders Quiz Time Warner Chief On Political Ties And … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law … 
Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ … 
Cannes: J.C. Chandor Sets Next Project ‘A Most … 
Hannibal Classics Sets Cast For Nic Cage Pic … 
Hammond On Cannes: Robert Redford’s Brave New Role … 
Hot Trailer: Jennifer Aniston And Jason Sudeikis’ … 
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Banner Promotes Jeremy Kleiner To … 
Hot Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ‘Don … 
Billy Crystal-Starring Comedy From Matt Nix & Larry … 
There was a bit of Broadway in primetime last night with NBC’s Smash (1.1/3) returning for its second season. However, it was a hard landing for the musical drama: The two-hour premiere was down 71% from its Season 1 debut on February 6, 2012. That premiere got a 3.8/10 among adults 18-49. Granted, the show didn’t have the powerhouse lead-in of The Voice it had last year, nor the Super Bowl promotion, but it cratered to 4.47 million viewers from the 11.4 million who watched last year’s first episode. Hitting a series low, Smash was also down 39% from the 1.8 rating it got for its May 14 season finale.
Though it slipped 3% from last week, CBS’ NCIS (3.7/10) was still the most watched show of the night with 21.49 million viewers. The second most watched show, NCIS: LA (3.1/8), was flat with last week even though it garnered 16.57 million viewers. Vegas (1.6/4) on the other hand took a tumble, with the freshman Sin City drama down 16% from January 29’s show. With 16.092 million watching, CBS won the night among total viewers and among adults 18-49.
Before the Smash premiere, NBC kicked off the night with Betty White’s 2nd Annual 90th Birthday Special (1.5/4). With 6 million viewers, it gave the network its best overall audience in the 8 PM Tuesday time slot since December 18, but it was down 44% from last year’s show on January 16, 2012. Now in its third week, ABC’s The Taste (1.8/5) saw an upward swing of 13% from last week. The cooking competition show was followed by a two-hour episode of The Bachelor (2.6/7), which bopped up 8% from Monday’s season-low broadcast.
Fox had back-to-back episodes of Raising Hope. The 8 PM (1.6/5) was down a tenth from last week’s show, while the 8:30 PM (1.5/4) was even with its January 29 broadcast. New Girl (2.5/7) was also even with last week, while The Mindy Project (1.9/5) was up 12%. With an audience of 3.6 million, Tuesday’s Mindy was the new series’ most-watched show since its second airing October 2. Hart Of Dixie (0.6/2) was up 20% from last week to match its season high on the CW. The season finale of Emily Owens MD (0.4/1) was up 9% from its January 29 show.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
Loading ...
I watched last year. It was a guilty pleasure. But last night was just awful. I was laughing out loud at the terrible dialogue and on the nose drama. Wow, how did it get this bad? I smell a huge network influence. Probably why they got rid of the show’s creator.
That’s pretty much how I felt about the series preem of the show last year.
Perhaps you were just excited by the concept last year, and you let the same issues go.
OMG – I was so looking forward to this show returning last night. I was crazy excited! Last season had a rough start, but by the end it was truly a delicious pleasure. But – last night was just terrible. I mean I was cringing at the second hour. Felt like many different shows at once – and seemed like they really just could not agree on a direction. Don’t know what NBC and Greenblatt are doing here – but it looks like they’ve just completely ruined it. Can they fix it? Dont know. But the problem is that even if they fix it, nobody will be there to watch. Sad – very sad.
Joshua Saffran can’t write dialogue or character at all. NBC should have hired a strong writer who didn’t write Gossip Girl. The dialogue and emotional range of the characters ranged from insipid to stupid.
I loved the mess that Smash was last season. Did they have to fire Theresa Rebeck? How about bringing in a talented writer to run the room. I’m not sure NBC ever understood what made the show almost great. Sounds like Greenblatt was mesmerized by Saffran and didn’t look at his writing to see if it was any good.
Good writing is what makes a great TV show. Hire a good writer. Good writing. You can dress a show up and do all kinds of magic but if the writing isn’t there it’s not going to fly. The audience is smart. Sadly NBC is not interested in good writing but high concepts. That’s fine for a two hour movie. But a TV show is about character development. This new writer clearly can’t write for these characters. It’s all a lot of noise signifying nothing. Terrible waste because they should bring in a team to help him out but it’s probably too late. Audiences aren’t stupid. Robert Greenblatt and Jennifer Salke would never pick up 30 Rock today. The writing is sharp and clever. It’s “too inside, to old, too weird.” Too well written for the taste of NBC network.
More than a billion is spent going to musicals every year in NYC alone. People love musicals and they will pay a boat load of money to see them. This show can be done and people will watch but they may have blown it. When I heard Steven Spielberg’s big note as producer was to fire Megan Hilty that told me a lot.
Well said….and not surprised at Spielberg’s comment…he’s not an actor’s director….he’s too heavy handed and controlling to trust anyone but himself.
The pilot was great. Unfortunately, the writing took a wrong turn. (Last night’s episode was ludicrous – it was 50′s melodrama. I can’t watch this show anymore – it’s painful.)
They should never have treated Theresa Rebeck in such a cruel manner. This new Showrunner writes dialogue like he just left a cheesy soap opera for this job. He clearly has ambitious ideas. Let him produce and hire a talented staff. Clearly Graig, Neil, Spielberg have nothing to offer as producers. They abandoned they show and played male politics. Greenblatt is so in over his head.
This is really unfortunate news, considering that the show seems to be on the right track with its writing, finally. The writers almost seemed to be taking notes from all the fan outrage last season.
Megan Hilty singing “They Just Keep Moving The Line” was the only time I was glad I was still watching
This is a rich person’s show. America isn’t rich.
wise comment — wiser, probably, than most people would like to admit (especially inside the industry)
Rich people enjoy terrible television?
I, too, was one of the faithful and suffered through all of last season. After watching last night’s premier of the final season of Smash I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. It was truly awful….how could so much ‘talent’ create something so bad. Perhaps those involved are not as talented as their awards and accolades suggest? Time will tell…and after last night, I don’t believe there’s much time left for this stinker.
How disappointing….
Rob and Jen wouldn’t even read all their pilot scripts last year. And the ones they picked all had to have magic powers. The audience doesn’t want a whole line up like that. Biggest mistake was dissing Peter Bergs show and development. Prime Suspect should have been left on to develop an audience because it would have. This is where they are short sighted as execs. Film 44 had a Liz Helden script at NBC that was superb. Vegas Baby was another great piece of development. But they were punishing Film 44. What stupid behavior. So much ego involved. Greenblatt and Salke were smart they would be digging through every piece of development they own and not creating bad blood. The problem is they’re lazy and they make decisions like insecure middle schoolers. They have no real taste. You have to be in their little club to make them feel safe. They are narcissists to the core. If they buckled down and did their actual job and showed some real solid character in the process they might be farther along.
I want a Peter Berg network. Let me have all the pilots they didn’t make from his company, Prime Suspect and a few Friday Night Lights episodes in reruns and we’d be in business.
Something everyone would want to watch and kind of a no brainer.
Your comments nailed those two. Bob And Jen are the definition of HUBRIS! They will only add further ruin to a once great network.
Poor Smash deserved better. So much charisma with Megan Hilty, Jennifer Hudson and Derek the director. The writing was like a Telemundo soap opera. Even the brilliant Margo Martindale was stranded with bad dialogue and terrible blocking. Why didn’t Smash producers actually do what they were paid for last year and help Rebeck make a great show?
All of a sudden, NBC is like a boat taking on water left right and centre. The Monday line up is MIA, the Tuesday line up, and especially the comedies are DOA and Thursday is in shambles. Give it a week or so and Sunday will flat-line as well.
Boy you said it. Once football and the Voice is off the schedule. NBC is left with pure crap. Comedy was their bread and butter and there isn’t one comedy really worth watching. Community and parc’s and rec have their small followings and you’re supposed to believe they’re funny. They’re NOT. And of course tonight’s 1600 Penn is supposed to be the best one yet as the three before were. NBC needs to get rid of all these terrible comedies and rebuild from scratch. Nothing they put on can do worse and at least have a shot to do better. if they can rebuild the comedy brand they may have a shot.
Over the past 2 seasons, NBC has had the high-profile comedy launches of Whitney, Up All Night, Free Agents, Are You There Chelsea?, 1600 Penn, Guys With Kids, Animal Practice, Go On and The New Normal.
Every single one has ultimately done worse than their veteran comedies, proving that shows can perform worse than them.
And yet people, including NBC’s own execs, continue to insist it’s somehow Parks and Community’s fault that NBC has been unable to develop something more successful than them. It’s perverse.
The real problem is that NBC’s comedy development is a shambles. Their shows suck. Cancelling everything and ‘rebuilding’ won’t magically make their new shows any less crappy and stop them from failing.
Maybe nothing magical, but something new might have a shot. These shows have zero shot of doing well. The comedy development obviously has been terrible, but Michael J Fox and Sean Hayes are talented enough pros to help right the ship. But to do that, they can’t be caught in the middle of a sea of crap. Except for Matthew Perry and Go On, none of the above shows you mention had the caliber of the likes of Fox and Hayes. Perry’s show is awful and it is still baffling why he chooses to do single cam and not get in front of a live audience.
Said the same thing since I read the pilot script. This should have been a multi. Would it have been a runaway success then? Probably not, but I suspect it would have done better. America wants it’s Chandler character clone with four cameras if they want him at all.
They need to get rid of Katharine McPhee. She’s a terrible actress. Why did they cast her in the first place?
Seriously. Its astonishing just how bad she is & why she wasn’t ditched in the revamp. I can’t help rolling my eyes every time the show tries to convince me that Karen’s better at anything than Ivy.
I totally agree with you both….Megan Hilty (Ivy) makes ‘Karen’ look like a complete amateur and on the ‘real Broadway’ Katherine wouldn’t even make the first cut.
Completely disagree. She’s why I watch. Amazing voice, and she’s turning into a solid, nuanced actress. There’s just something very compelling watchable about her….
I’ve a mad crush on McPhee, but I have to agree that in the 2 episodes I watched last year, it was clear the blonde actress who she’s supposed to out-do is just a better performer all around.
McPhee – is gorgeous, a great singer, terrific dancer, and gorgeous. Her acting is good. If they lose McPhee, they lose this viewer.
I thoroughly enjoyed last season, flaws and all. But last night was a disappointment. What happened?
Although I will say, Kat McPhee looked damn good….
So let me get this straight – NBC president Robert Greenblatt fires season 1 showrunner, part of the cast and most of the writers and Smash season 2 premiere get the WORST ratings the series has ever gotten! Most of the blame has to be placed at NBC’s feet, but Josh Safran, the writer who ruined Gossip Girl must be blamed too. NBC is a joke!
AGREED! She tuned me out of the show from the get-go. Megan Hilty is the real talent and to be made to believe they are in the same league is ridiculous!
You obviously don’t watch the show. THEY ARE NOT in the same league, one is a seasoned Broadway actress and the other one is just starting out.
I love how terrible this show is, and the changes made behind-the-scenes had virtually no impact on the product – except perhaps to make it a little duller.
But it doesn’t matter! America doesn’t give a shit about Broadway musicals. Most Americans will never see a Broadway musical. Anyone see how much they care when the ratings for the Tony Awards come out each year?
The lives of those behind-the-scenes isn’t relevant to them nor relatable for the most part. This would never have been a success on a broadcast network, and it’s stupid for NBC to think otherwise.
Wow really surprised at the ratings, although maybe its not so surprising given how badly all other midseason premiered shows are also doing. NBC without The Voice and football just has no momentum to promo stuff. And I really thought the first 2 eps were a massive improvement as well – really enjoyed them. And I like McPhee in the show. I feel like the actors were all let down last season by terrible writing that has clearly not helped s2.
That four month hiatus for Revolution and Grimm is beginning to look like a major tactical error for NBC.
Well not really, Grimm & Revolution both finished their winter runs with high viewing levels and viewers want to watch new episodes of them. I think the only person waiting for new episodes of Smash was Debra Messing’s Agent.
Grimm began its season early, on August 13, so I can see it going on a long hiatus now. But Revolution? No way. It premiered on September 17. No reason it should take a lengthy break now. And worse, NBC has reduced the season order for Revolution to 20 episodes after they initially announced a back 9 pick up! It’s their highest rated scripted show and they cut the season order by 2. Idiots!
How long will it be before NBC starts airing The Voice 7 nights a week all year long?
How will Greenblatt qualify this success today?
Do No Harm, Deception, Animal Practice, New Normal, Guys with Kids.
Bye bye Bobby.
The reason Smash crashed in the ratings has more to do with the fact that it was off the air for far too long, nearly a year. NBC should have debuted season 2 back in September. Any goodwill the audience felt for this new series was whittled away by the gap in new episodes plain and simple.
On the money! People are looking in all sorts of nonsense directions to cast blame when the real evil is just scheduling. Whatever good will and interest existed for this show at the end of last season is long since gone following an interminable delay. The network should be quite clear that viewers will lose interest following such a lengthy absence.
Blaming it on Mcphee? Why??? She’s fine. She’s easily as good as any number of actors in TV soap operas that find an audience and last. And she has her fans from the Idol days. I don’t think she deserves blame unless NBC really needs a scapegoat. It is also just as unsatisfactory calling this a “rich person’s show”, as I noticed above. So was Dallas! Did that relegate to failure?
NBC just didn’t have their act together with Smash and rescue missions don’t always succeed. That’s it in a nutshell. It’s a shame. The idea was an interesting one, but now it will be a long, long time till anything like it will be tried again. When it goes I will miss it. It had its fun.
Great comment. Last night the writers had to get rid of old characters and story-lines and introduce new ones. Now that that’s done, the show will settle down and be great. Some things just take time…
Yes, Smash is cheesy, and last night’s episode seemed like a lost episode of SCTV at times, but it’s still more fun than Castle, Hawaii 5-0, Deception, Betrayal, NCIS, CSI, UTI, and most of the other network shows that air at 10pm.
You obviously haven’t seen ‘Scandal’…easily the best 10 pm show on any network. Kerry Washington Rocks!
Scandal is the monster hit of the year in terms of growth. Curious ,to see how big this week’s stunner will hit. ABC seems to be on a good roll right now or maybe it’s because they don’t have the dead weight trashcomedies dragging down the entire schedule. The Taste is up 13% now that the auditions are over and the blind cooking challenges are happening. Looking for those numbers to continue to grow just like The Bachelor. That show packed a wallop last night- up 8% from Monday’s show. You can tell this year’s Bachelor is building to another one of those infamous huge rated finales for whatever reason is going on that show. I wonder if ABC has enough footage taped to go 2hours a night on both Mondays and Tuesdays until DWTS returns?
If Shonda came and pitched Scandal to the networks without her history they would never buy it and that’s the problem. Great writing is not being bought at any of the four networks. They have to have names and package and a penalty and as a result we the viewer get lousy shows. Shonda is a great writer and that’s how she got onto ABC 8 or 9 years ago. If she tried today she wouldn’t be able to get there. Greenblatt, Moonves, Reilly, Lee… that’ a lot of men, aren’t will to read the scripts. They want to know if they have an overall deal and a penalty. It’s a shame because we keep getting junk because these network heads won’t do their job. Great addictive TV is all about the creators writing talent. Networks should be going through every closet and talking to every agent trying to find great writing.
Last season was alright, I watched, but I forgot it even existed what with the prolonged absence. Who cares?
What a disaster! It’s like 7 different show happening all at once. What is up with the new bar and the random teenie bopper playwright/composers – BORE! Julia – do people really try to save their marriages these days? Move on girl. WHY are they wasting Angelica Houston & & & her character needs Ellis. They’re interaction was more interesting than Karen and Ivy Lynn. Jennifer Hudson – well let’s just say this episode alone places her an Emmy nomination front-runner. She was terrific. Too bad JHud and Hilty’s performances were about 10 minutes out of a anti-engaging 120 minutes. LESS IS SO MUCH MORE.
Poor Smash
They had it all wrong from the very beginning with McPhee’s BLAND lead set-up as this dull as dishwater “good girl” and the more talented Hilty as the “don’t root for her because you’re supposed to root for McPhee!” vixen. One dimensional snoozers.
The music is the big problem on this show. The original songs are refresher but lets be real…the reason “Glee” does well is because of the great covers! Smash has done a few but they’ve been mediocre at best and it leaves the audience with unknown songs and characters they don’t want to get to know.
NBC should start billing this as “Smash: The Final Season”
DOA list for Greenblatt in just the past few weeks:
Smash, Do No Harm (lowest rated drama premiere ever), Deception.
Go On and The New Normal do no business without a voice lead in.
The greatness of 30 Rock and The Office departing with nothing even remotely close in quality to take their place.
Instead, we’re saddled with Whitney, Chelsea, Animal Practice, and other comedy mediocrities from the reign of Greenblatt.
NBC’s only success is football (which actually loses money for them) and the Voice (all Paul Telegdy, not Greenblatt) with some residual positive impact for what follows the voice (we’ll see how Revolution does in its return).
Bonnie Hammer took over the cable portfolio this week. She needs to take over for Bob and replace the weak team he brought in.
So Bob Greenblat is just going to continue to make flops with his friends and shove them down our throats. Jen Salke is a complete no talent and shpuld not be the president of anything, but this is Bobs FLOP all the way! It is worse than Showgirls on the camp meter! I am actually shocked at how BAD it is! Thhey have to go! And “Do no Harm” the lowest rated of all time! And Whitney ..Horrilbe show..it makes me sad and its a ? comedy! Greeenblat “The man that saved NBC..MY AZZ!
This show must be a money drain of epic scale, can’t imagine the above the line costs with all those pricy non-writing producers, and the production values top notch and spendy looking too. All this and they forgot what they often do – the writing. Was ok last season, horrible now. Greenblatt and team have their no-taste fingerprints all over this. How long does Comcast stick with this obviously disastrous regime.
AMEN.
I’m a Broadway show junkie, and I am seriously bummed about all of this. So sorry, Smash. I’m going to keep watching/taping though.