Just Before Sweeps, Networks Hold Ground
State of the Union interrupts final week of January
Outside of "American Idol," the top 10 network shows for the week look a lot different than usual. But that might be because President Barack Obama chose to give his annual State of the Union address to a joint chamber of Congress on television's biggest night.
That meant some of CBS' big guns like "NCIS" and "NCIS: Los Angeles" were off the schedule. And until Fox showed its lower-rated Friday night block of "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Fringe," it was neck-and-neck for the top network spot, looking to deny CBS its 16th win in 21 tries.
But CBS held out, winning the week with a 7.3 rating/12 share, according to Fast National overnight average data from The Nielsen Co. Fox, which had a 7.1 household rating going into Friday, fell to a 6.3/10, but still good to maintain its second place finish ahead of ABC and NBC.
Without "NCIS" in the mix, "American Idol" didn't have to share the top 4, and instead, took the top 3. It seems fans may really like the new judges of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez -- or they are willing to give them some more time -- because the second week dropoff was minimal. This week's episodes averaged a 13.2/21, just a 3 percent slip from the 13.6/21 it scored in its 10th season premiere.
Last year, the second week fall was double that -- 6 percent -- and ratings were lower. After two weeks, "American Idol's" audience is 9 percent larger than last season's average.
"Hawaii Five-0" got into the top 4 thanks to a weaker schedule, but also a special tsunami airing on Sunday right after playoff football. It's the best outing by a new show this season, beating the previous best set by "Mike & Molly" on CBS, which scored an 8.0/12 on Nov. 15.
"Fringe" held steady for Fox on Friday with a strong outing in the key audience demographic of adults 18 to 49, but it had no scripted competition. While the network says it remains committed to the show, its new set of ratings -- which this week put it in the bottom three among the Big Four networks -- might be the real writing on the wall for that show.
Top Networks, Week of Jan. 23 -- [Audience Loyalty Index rating]
| 1. (1) | CBS | 7.3/12 | [76.6] |
| 2. (2) | Fox | 6.3/10 | [43.7] |
| 3. (3) | ABC | 4.6/7 | [75.6] |
| 4. (4) | NBC | 3.6/6 | [54.0] |
| 5. (5) | The CW | 1.4/2 | [67.5] |
Top 10 Network Shows, Week of Jan. 23 -- [ALI]
| 1. (1) | American Idol (Fox) | 14.4/22 | [99.0] |
| 2. (2) | American Idol (Fox) | 13.0/21 | [97.8] |
| 3. (4) | American Idol (Fox) | 12.3/19 | [99.6] |
| 4. (-) | Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) | 10.5/18 | [NA] |
| 5. (13) | Criminal Minds (CBS) | 7.9/12 | [94.7] |
| 6. (11) | Blue Bloods (CBS) | 7.5/13 | [99.3] |
| 7. (17) | Bones (Fox) | 7.2/11 | [95.1] |
| 8. (15) | Harry's Law (NBC) | 6.6/11 | [97.1] |
| 9. (25) | The Bachelor (ABC) | 6.1/9 | [94.3] |
| 9. (26) | The Bachelor (ABC) | 6.1/9 | [97.1] |
| 9. (24) | House (Fox) | 6.1/9 | [94.8] |
Top 10 New Shows, Week of Jan. 23 -- [ALI]
| 1. (-) | Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) | 10.5/18 | [NA] |
| 2. (2) | Blue Bloods (CBS) | 7.5/13 | [99.3] |
| 3. (3) | Harry's Law (NBC) | 6.6/11 | [97.1] |
| 4. (7) | The Cape (NBC) | 3.5/5 | [89.2] |
| 5. (8) | Off the Map (ABC) | 3.3/6 | [80.0] |
| 6. (9) | Live To Dance (CBS) | 3.1/5 | [79.0] |
| 7. (12) | Bob's Burgers (Fox) | 2.9/4 | [71.2] |
| 8. (13) | Chase (NBC) | 2.7/4 | [96.6] |
| 9. (14) | Outsourced (NBC) | 2.6/5 | [98.1] |
| 10. (14) | Perfect Couples (NBC) | 2.2/3 | [94.0] |
Bottom 10 Big Four Network Shows, Week of Jan. 23 -- [ALI]
| 1. | Perfect Couples (NBC) | 2.2/3 | [94.0] |
| 2. | Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) | 2.4/4 | [98.0] |
| 3. | Fringe (Fox) | 2.6/4 | [98.1] |
| 4. | Outsourced (NBC) | 2.6/5 | [98.1] |
| 5. | Chase (NBC) | 2.7/4 | [96.6] |
| 6. | Community (NBC) | 2.8/4 | [87.9] |
| 7. | Bob's Burgers (Fox) | 2.9/4 | [71.2] |
| 8. | 30 Rock (NBC) | 2.9/5 | [96.8] |
| 9. | Cleveland Show (Fox) | 3.0/4 | [85.4] |
| 10. | Minute To Win It (NBC) | 3.1/5 | [81.0] |
| 10. | Live To Dance (CBS) | 3.1/5 | [79.0] |
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that include both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. GenreNexus tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.
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