The Resurgence of NBC

By far the biggest surprise this year is NBC's dominance on broadcast television. It is the only network to increase it's viewership (up 14%)  while all the other networks are seeing double digit drops. It has finished at #1 (or tied for #1) of all the networks for all eight weeks of this TV season so far. Last year (and for about half a decade before that) NBC was a solid 4th among the networks,  so what is responsible for this jarring and abrupt change?

The Voice. It's all about The Voice. In the spring of 2011, NBC hit gold with the Voice, and nurtured it as it became a monster last spring. NBC took a gamble by organizing a second cycle of the show in the fall, similar to what ABC does with "Dancing With The Stars", but it's clear the move has payed off. The Voice is providing an anchor for NBC's Monday and Tuesday nights, and has helped launch Revolution as the to new drama this fall.

NBC's weak spot ironically was it's best night last year. The NBC Thursday night comedies have gone from NBC's shining hope to unwanted step child. With both 30 Rock and The Office in their final seasons, Up All Night de-facto cancelled, and Community being banished to February, NBC seems to be gearing up for a clean slate of their comedy lineup, likely led by The New Normal.

NBC has gotten off to a great start this year, and seem to be finally moving past the mess that was started when the old regime thought it was a good idea to put Jay Leno at 10pm and set this whole fiasco into motion.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2012/11/20/nbc-finishes-number-1-or-tied-for-number-1-during-seven-of-the-seasons-first-eight-weeks-for-the-first-time-in-10-years-999204/20121120nbc02/

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Remember when Glee was a juggernaut? When it was all everyone would talk about or watch on TV? Neither do I. Times have changed and Glee has rapidly fallen from it's mighty pedestal in the past few years.

In it's first year, Glee averaged 9.77 million viewers.
In it's second year, Glee averaged 10.11 million viewers.
In it's third year, Glee averaged 8.71 million viewers.

How is it doing now? Last week, Glee received 4.62 million viewers. Since it was during Thanksgiving, that number can be excused, so lets look at the episode from 2 weeks ago: 5.28 million viewers. That is nearly half the viewership of Glee from 2 seasons ago, and over 3 million less from last season. In it's prime, it was pulling a 4.0+ 18-49 demo point. Now, it's hovering around 2.0. Glee is shedding viewers left and right and fast. The train is slowing down, or rather, speeding up as it heads down the mountain.

Glee 2 years ago: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/05/25/tuesday-final-ratings-american-idol-dancing-with-the-stars-adjusted-up/93910/
Glee last week: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/11/27/thursday-final-ratings-the-x-factor-adjusted-up-final-football-numbers/158882/
Glee 2 weeks ago: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/11/16/tv-ratings-thursdaybig-bang-theory-two-a-half-men-person-of-interest-hit-season-highsgreys-anatomy-vampire-diaries-down/157997/

Three Forks In The Road

At the beginning of the TV season, I gave my predictions for three new shows of the Fall 2012 season. Now as we end November sweeps month, the destinies for Revolution, Last Resort, and Elementary have become very clear.

Revolution, which debuted as the top new rookie drama this Fall, has lost about 25% of it's viewership since it's premier, but remains NBC's top new drama and one of the top new shows this year. In it's Fall finale last night, Revolution received 8.7 million viewers, winning it's timeslot. NBC has decided to put Revolution on an extended vacation until March, where it will run new episodes until May. Personally, I disagree with this move. A few years ago, NBC tried the same tactic with "The Event", which flopped in the ratings after it's return from absence for months.

Last Resort on ABC has been cancelled. It will produce all 13 of it's ordered episodes, but no more after that. It's last new episode received 5.8 million viewers and was third in it's timeslot, which aren't good numbers. There are plenty of reasons why Last Resort has failed. It aired in one of TV's toughest time-slots (Thursday at 8pm) against The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, and The X Factor, all ratings powerhouses. Last Resort has been given enough notice to wrap up it's story within 13 episodes, but that's all that will come out of this critically acclaimed show.

Elementary on CBS has been a great success with viewers, with the latest episode having 10.72 million watchers. However, with only around 2.5 million of them being between 18-49 year old males, it ranks low in the advertisers demographic. Still, it is doing well enough for CBS to grant it a extra-large 24 episode season, and it is also getting the holy grail of TV time-slots: The post Super Bowl slot. Elementary will gain exposure most shows dream they could get this February.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/11/16/tv-ratings-thursdaybig-bang-theory-two-a-half-men-person-of-interest-hit-season-highsgreys-anatomy-vampire-diaries-down/157997/
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/11/27/tv-ratings-monday-revolution-the-voice-2-broke-girls-mike-molly-hawaii-five-0-hit-season-highs/159016/