The Sked: Thursday Week 4 — Not a Pretty Picture

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The fourth Thursday of the season offered a big opportunity for ABC, CBS and NBC, as FOX had to pre-empt The X Factor for a postseason MLB game that no one cares about.  A lot of displaced X Factor viewers decided not to sample the other network fare and scattered to cable.  No broadcast network could claim  an uptick last night.  Compared to prior weeks (and throwing out last week’s abnormal VP Debate Thursday), CBS and NBC were fairly stable, while ABC Thursday actually continues to trend down.

Thursday Night Football (Seahawks at 49ers) on the NFL Network had limited impact on the fast nationals since two West Coast markets  were involved.  The game aired locally in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (the market’s official name) on ABC station KGO 7, but the game aired before prime time from 5-8 pm local time with a post-game show at 8 pm, so only Last Resort is subject to some ratings inflation in the fast nationals.  In Seattle, the game aired on independent station KONG 16 so no network programming was impacted in that market.  (A side note, KONG is the sister station to KING, the NBC station in the market — lamer call letters have never been approved by the FCC).

FOX ‘s coverage of a pivotal Game 4 in the NLCS scored a pathetic 1.4 Adult 18-49 rating in the fast nationals.  When the Bay Area viewing is factored in properly this afternoon, the game should rise to a 1.5 — maybe a 1.6 rating.  St Louis moved the series to 3 games to 1 last night, allowing the series to mercifully end tonight at Busch Stadium.  FOX execs must be elated San Francisco did not tie the series 2-2, which would only have dragged on the agony and continued the record low ratings.

The 8-9 pm comedies keep pounding away for CBS, Person of Interest is doing OK, but Elementary is not looking good (trending down and falling behind Mentalist‘s pace last fall).  Nonetheless, CBS remains the top network on Thursday.

Last Resort turned in a 1.7 last night in the fast nationals, but that number is probably inflated by NFL postgame coverage in the Bay Area on KGO.  Look for Last Resort to decline to a 1.6 in the officials (matching last week) or even to submerge to a 1.5 (resuming its gradual voyage to the bottom of the ratings).  Grey’s had a pretty rough night, but the show is erratic traditionally and could be back up in the high-3 ratings in just a few weeks as November sweep storylines kick in.

NBC’s Thursday — one of the few major network nights that makes baseball look attractive.