The week’s sudden emergence of ratings woes plagued Thursday as well, with most shows–including powerhouses like “American Idol” and “The Big Bang Theory”–dipping significantly from their prior airings.
The “Idol” number is particularly troubling given the fact that Thursday’s episode was a two-hour telecast. Typically fueled by very strong growth in the 9PM hour, the longer “Idol” telecasts historically perform much better than the one-hour ones, and so it is certainly concerning that the show posted a season low for a two-hour broadcast.
In this case, “Idol” did not see the usual uptick at 9PM. It opened with a 4.6 half-hour, before moving to a peak of 5.4 at 8:30. At 9PM, it fell to a 4.9, before closing the night at a 5.2.
The show averaged 16.5 million viewers.
Over on CBS, “The Big Bang Theory” dropped to a 5.0 rating with 15.5 million viewers. It led into “Rob,” which averaged a 3.2 with 10.9 million, “Person of Interest,” which scored a 2.9 and 13.2 million and “The Mentalist,” which was responsible for a 2.8 with 13.6 million.
