TV News: CBS Leads First Tuesday Night, FOX Plummets

Submitted by BrianTT on September 26, 2012 - 9:25am

CHICAGO – Network ratings continued to erode across the board on the first full Tuesday of the Fall 2012 schedule but the news is relatively good for fans of the new show “Vegas” and not so good for anyone who likes what FOX is doing on Tuesday nights with “New Girl,” “Ben and Kate,” and “The Mindy Project.” Meanwhile, NBC’s “Go On” and “The New Normal” appear to have stabilized to the point that they will likely stick around for awhile.

CBS continued its Tuesday night dominance with the massive hits “NCIS” (12.6 rating) and “NCIS: Los Angeles” (10.2) both returning at ratings level close to where they were a year ago. The new series “Vegas” with Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis took the spot that was occupied by “Unforgettable” last year and delivered numbers identical to that series (9.3 rating, 16 share), a hit by any metric except that CBS didn’t renew “Unforgettable.” So, will they be similarly dissatisfied with the arc of “Vegas”? Week two and three ratings will make a huge difference.

Both NBC and ABC were competitive with “The Voice” (7.9) and “Dancing with the Stars (8.9). The hit singing show on the Peacock led into “Go On” and “The New Normal,” which have stablized well with 5.0 and 4.2 ratings, respectively, and that’s against “Dancing with the Stars.” These are impressive returns and I wouldn’t be surprised to see both shows get full-season orders soon, especially given the network’s commitment to comedy. They renewed “Whitney” for God’s sake.

The situation is much more dire on FOX. “New Girl” opened a revised two-hour comedy block with a dismal 4.0 rating, down a stunning 46% from its series premiere last year. Yikes. And that number is not going to go up when “Raising Hope” slides into this slot next week. I don’t think it’s indicative of creative fatigue with the Zooey Deschanel show as much as a time slot that shares the highest-rated drama on TV and two of its biggest reality hits.

It got worse. “Ben and Kate” lost 28% of the “New Girl” audience. As much as I like the show, this does not bode well for its future. “New Girl” came back at 8pm and the night picked up a bit and “The Mindy Project” held more of the audience (87%) but still didn’t really perform, falling 30% below last year’s premiere of “Raising Hope” in the same slot. That’s not acceptable for a HIGHLY advertised series premiere. FOX may need to reconsider this comedy block sooner than later.

Source: TV Media Insights