Programming Buzz from Zenith: Monday 9/26/11 – CBS Wins Monday Night in Week 2, Terra Nova's Debut Soft

Monday 9/26/11 – CBS Wins Monday Night in Week 2, Terra Nova's Debut Soft

Steven Spielberg’s much-hyped Terra Nova finally debuted on FOX Monday night with a two-hour premiere episode. Averaging a 2.43 A18-49 Live Rtg, audience levels were relatively soft as expectations for the show were high. With a Monday combined premiere benchmark of House and failed Lonestar on 9/20/10, the show did improve by 20% across A18-49.

Driven by its comedy block, CBS took first place in prime among A18-49. As sampling subsided, Two and a Half Men suffered a 30% drop in the demo from last week, however earned the greatest A18-49 audience of the night (5.76 A18-49 Rtg). Leading out, season 2 of Mike & Molly premiered with a strong 4.05 A18-49 Rtg, retaining 70% of Two and a Half Men, while up 18% from last year’s debut. How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls each declined in the 8 o’clock hour versus last week, though still earned solid ratings in the demo. Rounding out the night, Hawaii 5-0 remained flat from premiere week, holding onto first place among A18-49 in the 10pm hour.

In week 2, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars lost some ground from premiere week (-16%), posting a 2.87 A18-49 Rtg, followed by Castle at 10pm, which suffered only a single-digit dropoff from last week (-7%).

NBC’s Monday line-up was less than stellar as both the two-hour Sing-Off (-7%) and Playboy Club (-15%) declined from last week's small audience base.

Last to debut on The CW, Gossip Girl moved to 8pm to anchor the night followed by the network's newest drama, Hart of Dixie, starring Rachel Bilson. The season 5 premiere of Gossip Girl had difficulty attracting an audience, averaging a 0.53 A18-49 Rtg, off 29% from last fall's 9pm premiere. Hart of Dixie fared better, improving over its lead-in by 30%, though fell 8% from the same Gossip Girl season 6 premiere.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

posted by Strategic Resources @ Zenithmedia at 5:52 PM

via zenithbuzz.blogspot.com