RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Amazing Race’ Hits Premiere Low, ‘Revenge’ Rises, ‘Good Wife’ Hits Series Low, ‘Dateline’ & ‘Mentalist’ Down
The new season of The Amazing Race (2.4/6) started off at LA’s Griffith Observatory however the series itself did not get off on its best footing. Down 14% from last year’s February 19, 2012 Spring premiere, Sunday’s season 22 debut was the lowest debut ever for the long running CBS series. Not that it was that much of a slide. The September 30, 2012 season 21 premiere of the global competition series garnered a 2.5/6 matching a previous Race series low debut. With CBS’ primetime Sunday delayed 5 minutes in the Eastern and Central times zones due to an overrun from PGA Tour Golf, last night’s ratings could see a greater than usual adjustment in final numbers.
As The Amazing Race hit a low, ABC’s Once Upon A Time and Revenge (1.8/4) rose from one last night. Without facing off against the Grammys, the fantasy drama was bopped up 5% and the late night soap jumped 29% from last week’s series low for both shows. CBS’s dramas however did drop on Sunday. Back after three weeks, The Good Wife (1.4/3) was down 7% – hitting a series low for the show. The Mentalist (1.5/4) was also down, falling 21% from its last original on January 27.. Both network news magazine shows also took a hit last night. Airing just after 7 PM, CBS’ 60 Minutes (1.3/4) was down 28% from its February 10 show while Dateline NBC was down 33% from its last Sunday original back on January 6. Otherwise NBC showed back-to-back repeats of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers at 8 PM (0.9/2) and 8:30 PM (1.0/2) and a Saturday Night Live In The 90s: Pop Culture Nation (1.4/3) special. Starting the night with America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.5/4), which was down 17% from last week, ABC ended Sunday with a repeat of its new Anthony Edwards conspiracy drama Zero Hour (0.9/2)
Fox’s Animation block was full of ups and down last night. Starting with an encore of The Simpsons (0.9/2), the network’s Sunday saw a new The Cleveland Show (1.1/3) fall 21% from last week. An original Simpsons (2.0/5) was flat with its February 10 show while Bob’s Burgers went up 6%. Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy (2.4/6) dipped 4% from its last show last week while the Oscar host’s other series American Dad slipped 5%. CBS won the night in total viewers with 9.17 million watching. Fox topped Sunday among Adults 18-49.
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