RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Touch’ Returns Down, ‘The Job’ Debuts Low, ‘CSI:NY’ & ‘Nikita’ Match Highs, ‘Last Man Standing’ Up
It was no staid Friday last night on television with two premieres and originals across all the networks. Fox’s night was dominated by the two-hour return of Touch (1.0/3). Moved from Thursdays to Friday, the twice-pushed season two premiere of the Kiefer Sutherland thriller drama was down 70% from its formal season one premiere on March 22, 2012. Pulling in 3.77 million viewers last night, Touch was also down 23% from the 1.3/4 of the series’ season one finale on May 31, 2012. Last night’s sophomore debut was actually not a series low for Touch as it bested by 43% the 0.7 of the show’s last original, which Fox aired September 14, 2012. All those Touch numbers need a bit of context however. Unlike its season one premiere, Touch does not have the benefit this year of American Idol as a lead-in to its 9 PM airing. Touch will settle into its regular one-hour 9 PM slot, following Kitchen Nightmare, next week. The storm in the Northeast lead to some weather update pre-emptions which could cause fast nationals to change more than usual in the final numbers. However, based on the fast nationals we have, CBS won the night among total viewers with 8.226 million watching but ABC was tops among Adults 18-49.
CBS’ new reality series The Job (0.9/3) made its debut Friday too. Hosted by Lisa Ling, the Mark Burnett and Michael Davis produced show pits contestants against each other to get – you guessed it, a job, their dream job actually. The first interview for The Job was not strong with viewers. The premere was down 53% from the November 9, 2012 premiere of Undercover Boss in the same time slot. CSI: NY (1.6/5) saw the conclusion of CBS’ two-part crossover with the franchise original that started on Wednesday. Up 7% from last week, Friday’s CSI: NY matched a season high for the series. CBS closed the night with Blue Bloods (1.5/5) Even with last week, the family police drama was the most watched show of the night with 11.12 million viewers.
On ABC, the night began with Last Man Standing (1.6/5), which rose 14% from its February 1 episode. Fellow comedy Malibu Country (1.3/4) was also up, 8% from last week. The top show of the night among Adults 18-49, Shark Tank (1.9/6) was flat with last week. ABC ended with 20/20 (1.3/4) which was down 13% from last week. NBC was all news last night with a two-hour Dateline NBC (1.5/5), which was up 36% from its regular 10 PM airing on February 1. The series garnered 7.237 million viewers, its biggest audience since September 23, 2011. Dateline was followed by a Rock Center With Brian Williams (1.3/4). Last night was the news magazine series’ debut in its new Friday slot after being shifted out of Thursday for the now already cancelled Do No Harm. Compared to its last Thursday airing on January 24, Rock Center was up 63%. The CW had a new Nikita (0.5/2) last night. Up 25% from last week, the series matched its season high. That was followed by an encore of The Carrie Diaries (0.3/1).
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