RATINGS RAT RACE: ’30 Rock’ Series Finale Ends Up, ‘Do No Harm’ Lowest Debut Ever
After seven seasons NBC’s 30 Rock (1.9/5) ended its run last night with a one-hour special, another Conan O’Brien cameo, a snow globe and some stiff competition. “Our finale is on this Thursday at 8 PM, up against The Big Bang Theory, so just tape The Big Bang Theory for once, for crying out loud!,” Tina Fey said at the SAG Awards last weekend as she accepted the trophy for best female actor in a comedy series. Someone must have been listening because last night’s finale was up 36% over last week’s show and hit its highest viewership total in more than two years with 4.796 million watching. That’s almost 2 million more than the 2.843 million who watched 30 Rock’s Season 6 finale on May 17, which got a 1.4/4 in Live+Same Day ratings.
Related: How Tina Fey’s ’30 Rock’ Lasted Seven Seasons And Changed The Game For Female Comedy Creators
As one show ended on NBC on Thursday another began with the 10 PM premiere of Do No Harm (0.9/3). Though it might not be around for long. Starring Rescue Me alumni Steve Pasquale, the contemporary Jekyll and Hyde was the lowest rated in-season premiere ever of any scripted show on the any of the Big Four networks. Down 55% from last spring’s Awake premiere, Do No Harm pulled in 3.13 million viewers in the slot usually occupied by Rock Center.
Of course, despite Fey’s SAG Awards pleas, The Big Bang Theory (5.3/15) didn’t exactly roll over on Wednesday. While BBT was down 17% from its last original on January 10, which was also its all time viewership high, the show was still was the most watched show of the night and tops in key demos. The science geek sitcom pulled in an audience of 17.51 million. Back after three weeks of repeats, it was a full slate of originals on CBS on Wednesday with some slight slippage. Two And A Half Men (3.9/11) was down 7% from its last original. Person Of Interest (3.2/9) dipped 3% from its January 10 show and Elementary (3.3/8) was down 8%. With 14.01 million watching, CBS won the night in terms of total viewers and among adults 18-49.
With the last of its audition shows, American Idol (4.5/13) wrapped up the third week of its 12th season. Wednesday’s one-hour episode was down 12% from last week show. Following Idol on Fox, Glee (2.1/6) took a hit, falling 19% from its strong winter break return on January 24. Besides 30 Rock, NBC last night had back-to-back episodes of The Office, its next comedy to come to an end this year. The 9 PM (2.1/5) broadcast bopped up 5% from last week’s show. In the slot usually occupied by freshman 1600 Penn, the 9:30 PM (1.9/5) Office special airing tied a series low for The Office.
ABC started the night with a repeat of Shark Tank (1.1/3). That was followed by an original episode of Grey Anatomy (2.8/7), which dipped 7% from last week. Back after last week’s repeat, Scandal (2.7/8) rose 4% from its January 17 show. The Vampire Diaries (1.3/4) kicked off the night on CW, followed by Beauty and the Beast (0.7/2). Both were even with last week’s shows.
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