Not going head to head against Survivor at CBS, Fox rolled into the victory slot.
Last night, Thursday – 01/21/10, FOX’s BONES/FRINGE combo led the network to a strong second-place finish for the night while several other popular shows hit season and series lows:
BONES:
BONES posted a 3.5/10 among Adults 18-49, its highest Thursday rating ever and its highest on any night of the week in over a year (since Wed., 11/12/08). BONES also delivered its highest rated Adults 18-34 in over one year (since 11/12/08) and its highest Total Viewers in nearly three years (since 2/14/07).
Last night is the first time an original BONES has ever out-rated an original CSI. In addition, BONES was also the highest rated procedural of the night, beating both CSI (3.1/8) and The Mentalist (3.1/8) among Adults 18-49.
Last night’s BONES outperformed last week by +6% among Adults 18-49 and it grew +30% over its prior season average among Adults 18-49, +32% among Adults 18-34 and +28% in Total Viewers.
BONES won its 8p hour among Adults 18-49, Total Viewers, Adults 18-34/25-54 and virtually all key demos.
FRINGE:
At 9p FRINGE delivered a 2.6/7 among Adults 18-49, flat versus last week’s performance, but up versus its prior season averages by +24% among Adults 18-49, +38% among Adults 18-34 and +21% in Total Viewers.
Last night’s FRINGE posted its highest rating of the season among Adults 18-34 and tied as its second highest of the season in Adults 18-49.
Last night was FOX’s highest rated Thursday night of the season among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Total Viewers (excluding sports).
So far this season FOX’s regular Thursday programming outperforms last year’s regular Thursday programming for the same weeks, increasing +26% among Adults 18-49, +18% among Adults 18-34 and +71% in Total Viewers.
Competition
New ABC drama The Deep End premiered with a 1.8/5, down -38% from Flash Forward’s first-run average in the time period earlier this season (2.9/8). Grey’s Anatomy (4.6/12) delivered its lowest original rating ever, falling -16% from its prior original average (5.5/14). Private Practice (3.6/10) was on par at 10p.
On CBS, back-to-back repeats of Big Bang Theory (2.1/6 and 2.4/7) were followed by the lowest original episodes of CSI (3.1/8) and The Mentalist (3.1/8) ever, down -16% and -14%, respectively, from their 2009/10 first-run averages.
NBC’s Community (2.1/6) and Parks & Recreation (2.0/5) were both in line with their prior averages while The Office (3.7/9) matched its lowest original rating of the season, down -12% from its previous performance with first-run episodes (4.2/11). 30 Rock (2.8/7) and The Jay Leno Show (1.4/4) were on the low side.
Live+Same Day Nielsen Ratings
(source: data and information provided by FOX)