The Programming Insider: Thursday 8/11/11

Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:

Fox Wins; America’s Got Talent on NBC the Standout

Ratings Box:

What’s Hot/What’s Not

On the Air Tonight:

Prime-Time Programming Options

TV Tidbits:

Notes of Interest

TV Trivia Time:

Bye, Bye Brenda

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PRIME-TIME METERED MARKET WEDNESDAY RATINGS:

Fox Wins; America’s Got Talent on NBC the Standout

Wednesday 8/10/11

All times are ET/PT.

Household Rating/Share

Fox: 4.5/ 8, CBS: 4.3/ 7, NBC: 3.8/ 6, ABC: 2.9/ 5, CW: 0.7/ 1

Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday 8/11/10):

ABC: + 4, CW: – 2, Fox: – 4, NBC: -19, CW: -22

-Yesterday’s Winners:

Big Brother (CBS), America’s Got Talent (NBC)

-Reliable Summer Player:

So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

-Yesterday’s Losers:

Love in the Wild (NBC)

Ratings Breakdown:

The two-hour final performance show of the season on So You Think You Can Dance led Fox to midweek victory, with a 4.5 rating/8 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m.  Here is the half-hour breakdown:

So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

8:00 p.m.: 4.5/ 8 (#2)

8:30 p.m.: 4.5/ 8 (#2)

9:00 p.m.: 4.4/ 8 (#2)

9:30 p.m.: 4.4/ 7 (#2)

Compared to the year-ago season-ending performance show (4.7/ 8 on Aug. 11, 2010), that was a loss of 4 percent. Next Wednesday, repeats of Mobbed and House will occupy the evening for Fox.

Second-place CBS opened on a winning note care of summer favorite Big Brother, which averaged a 4.7/ 8 in the overnights at 8 p.m.  As for uneventful Lawon volunteering to put himself on the block last night, why Lawon . . . why? That move made Marcellas’ classic blunder look like rocket science.

Big Brother led into repeats of Criminal Minds (#3: 3.7/ 7) and relocated CSI (#1: 4.6/ 8) from 9-11 p.m.  There is every reason to believe veteran CSI will win the Wednesday 10 p.m. hour next season in total viewers by a wide margin.

Over at NBC, the standout of course was America’s Got Talent, which finished first for the evening in the 9 p.m. hour with a 5.9/10 in the overnights. Comparably, that built from lead-in game show Minute to Win It (#4: 2.8/ 5 at 8 p.m.) by a hefty 111 percent. At 10 p.m., recent summer entry Love in the Wild sunk to a last-place 2.7/ 5, which dipped from the 9:30 p.m. portion of America’s Got Talent (6.1/10) by 56 percent.

Elsewhere, repeats of ABC sitcoms The Middle (#3: 3.1/ 5), two episodes of Modern Family (8:30 p.m.: #3, 3.1/ 5; 9 p.m.: #3t, 3.4/ 6) and Happy Endings (#4: 2.0/ 3) led into a second-place 3.0/ 5 in the overnights for Primetime: Nightline at 10 p.m. The CW capped off the evening with two encore telecasts of America’s Got Talent (#5: avg. 0.7/ 1), which will feature its first all-star edition this fall.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

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RATINGS BOX:

What’s Hot/What’s Not

Respectable Return for Bachelor Pad on ABC:

The second season opener of Bachelor Pad on ABC, a spin-off of the ongoing Bachelor franchise, led ABC to Monday night victory in total viewers on Aug. 8, with a second-place finish among adults 18-49 (behind Fox’s combination of Hell’s Kitchen and Masterchef). The three-hour installment averaged 7.00 million viewers and a 2.3 rating/6 share in the demo.

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