After returning to the 5.0 18-49 mark in the final data for last week’s episode, “Glee” sank 20% for its “Furt” episode.
The episode, which featured a guest appearance from Carol Burnett and the wedding between Carole Hudson and Burt Hummel, tumbled to a 4.0 adults 18-49 rating. Far and away the lowest-rated episode of the season, the episode managed a viewership average of 10.38 million.
“Glee” still won its timeslot, but given the fact that everything else on broadcast performed in its usual territory, there is no obvious excuse for the big decline. Even if last week’s rating was indeed inflated by Gwyneth Paltrow’s well-reviewed guest arc, there would be no built-in explanation for why this week’s episode fell so far below the season average.
Interestingly, FOX lead-out “Raising Hope” held fairly steady, dipping less than 10% to a 2.4 rating with 5.65 million. The fact that it held steady against the mammoth “Dancing with the Stars” results finale (5.3 rating, 24.13 million viewers for the two hour broadcast; 4.8 with 22.78 million in the 9PM timeslot). The 9:30PM “Raising Hope” re-run scored a 1.8 with 4.28 million.
Prior to “Dancing,” ABC’s “No Ordinary Family” continued its struggle with a 1.8 and 7.03 million viewers.
CBS aired “NCIS” (3.9 rating, 18.80 million), “NCIS: LA” (3.2 rating, 14.86 million) and “The Good Wife” (2.1 rating, 10.02 million).
NBC aired “The Biggest Loser” (2.4 rating, 6.80 million) and “Parenthood” (1.9 rating, 4.50 million).