After wasting its “The Voice” lead-in on low-rated dating show “Ready for Love” the last few Tuesdays, NBC took no chances this week, expanding the music contest to two hours and winning the night in demos — with an assist from drama “Grimm,” which led primetime’s final hour.
CBS remained potent early with “NCIS” and won the night easily in total viewers, while ABC sunk further with “Splash.”
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “The Voice” averaged a 3.7 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and 11.6 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., down a little from its hourlong demo average of last week (4.0 in the prelims and 4.1 in the nationals). It won each half-hour in 18-49 and seemed to take some of the wind out of competing shows in the 9 o’clock hour that weren’t used to the stiff competition.
And moving over from Friday, “Grimm” carried the 10 p.m. hour in 18-49 (2.0/5) while drawing 6 million viewers overall; even if it is revised down a tick in the nationals, the drama inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairytales will have delivered NBC’s highest regular-program 18-49 score in the timeslot since “Parenthood” in December. And for the night, the two hours of “The Voice” and “Grimm” was roughly a 50% improvement over last week when the net aired “The Voice” and two hours of “Ready for Love.”
Elsewhere, CBS’ “NCIS” (3.0/10 in 18-49, 17.7 million viewers overall) was up from last week to place a solid second in 18-49 for the 8 o’clock hour while edging out “The Voice” in adults 25-54 (4.3 to 4.2) and dominating in total viewers. At 9, though, “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2.2/6 in 18-49, 12.9 million viewers overall) was down half a ratings point from last week to place second for the hour in 18-49 and 25-54. And at 10, “Golden Boy” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) was down a tick from last week and placed third in demos.
At Fox, “Hell’s Kitchen” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) was in line with last week kicking off the night, and was followed by comedies “New Girl” (2.0/6 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall) and “The Mindy Project” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 2.6 million viewers overall). “New Girl” was down 9% from its most recent original, and “Mindy” fell by 13%.
ABC’s “Splash” continued its downward spiral (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall), placing a distant fifth showing among the broadcast networks in the night’s opening hour. It certainly didn’t help “Dancing With the Stars,” whose results show hit a season low at 9 (1.5/4 in 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall). The net rallied some at 10 p.m. with a “20/20” special featuring a Diane Sawyer interview with Amanda Knox (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall), up a tick in 18-49 from last week’s “Body of Proof” for the net’s strongest showing in the hour in 12 weeks; it also won its hour in total viewers.
At CW, “Hart of Dixie” (0.5/2 in 18-49, 1.2 million viewers overall) was up from last week as it nears the end of its second season.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 3.1/9; CBS, 2.2/6; Fox, 1.8/5; ABC and Univision, 1.4/4; CW, 0.4/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 12.8 million; NBC, 9.7 million; ABC, 7.8 million; Fox, 3.9 million; Univision, 3.4 million; CW, 0.9 million.
