AFTERNOON UPDATE: There was no joy for FOX in the day’s adjusted numbers, as AMERICAN IDOL stayed at what is now its official all-time low 1.9 and SURVIVING JACK remained at 1.3. Adding insult to injury, the only FOX show to climb was HELL’S KITCHEN, which tied IDOL at 1.9. The NCAA TOURNAMENT numbers for CBS went to 2.0 for the early game (Dayton/Stanford) and 2.6 for UCLA/Florida. The now officially cancelled ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND grew by 0.1 to 1.0, and GREY’S ANATOMY was also up 0.1. One of the HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT reruns went down 0.1. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES went up 0.1, but was still oddly low at 0.8.
THURSDAY CABLE: The TBS NCAA TOURNAMENT games led cable at 1.0/1.4, but it was the post-late game (Arizona/San Diego State) coverage that was actually on top with 1.9. Otherwise the night belonged to History, which had 1.3/1.1 for PAWN STARS (up 1.0) and 1.2 for the newly-renewed VIKINGS (also up 0.1). SUITS (USA) was steady at 0.7, and there was (modestly) good news for SIRENS, which popped up 0.2 to a rounded-up 0.5–particularly surprising since one would have expected the basketball games to be strong competition for that show. On FX, SAINT GEORGE keeps heading down, now at 0.3.
FOX’s Thursday night maneuver didn’t work.
FOX: The theory seemed sound. Since the Thursday edition of AMERICAN IDOL typically perks up in its back half (when the results for the week are actually announced), squeeze the show into a single half-hour and the numbers will go up. But the newly compressed Idol could only match the 1.9 series low from last week’s Thursday overnights (which went up to 2.0 in final numbers, as may well happen today). SURVIVING JACK premiered with very little pulse at 1.3. The night started at 1.8 for HELL’S KITCHEN, steady with last week.
CBS: Preliminary ratings for NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage were at 2.5/2.5 for the 2 games, which was up 0.2 from last year’s regional semifinals, but those numbers may change this afternoon.
ABC: After 0.9 for the next-to-last ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND (up 0.1), GREY’S ANATOMY was up 0.1 to 2.5, and SCANDAL rose 0.2 to 3.1.
NBC: Back-to-back reruns of HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT (1.2/1.1) led into a PARENTHOOD that was up 0.1 from last week to 1.4.
CW: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES took an odd 0.4 dive to a series low 0.7, for no clear reason. That made the 0.1 slip for REIGN (to 0.6) look not so bad by comparison.
NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage continues on CBS tonight, and NBC is preempting Grimm for a 2-hour DATELINE. SHARK TANK is a rerun. Also, tonight probably marks the last episode of ENLISTED on FOX, which is being pulled from the schedule with no date set for the burn-off of its remaining inventory.
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