Fueled by an hourlong Christmas episode that featured the return of Amy Ryan’s Holly, “The Office” was one of the few Thursday night shows to hold reasonably steady in the ratings.
At a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating, “The Office” was within striking distance of new comedy king “The Big Bang Theory” (3.9 rating). The total viewer battle, as expected, was not quite as close, with “Big Bang” scoring 12.03 million viewers and “The Office” only at 7.18 million.
But many other shows shared in “The Big Bang Theory”‘s disappointment. NBC’s “30 Rock” was down to a mere 2.1 rating with 4.76 million viewers, leading out of a special stop-motion holiday episode of “Community” that saw no spike (1.9 rating, 4.29 million viewers). CBS’ other comedy “$#*! My Dad Says” was unimpressive with a 2.7 and 9.40 million viewers.
On the dramatic front, victims of the weakened December ratings included CBS’ “The Mentalist” (2.4 rating, 13.41 million), FOX’s “Bones” (2.2 rating, 8.36 million) and “Fringe” (1.7 rating. 4.74 million). Although the Barbara Walters’ Most Fascinating People special (3.2 rating, 12.22 million) should shoulder some of the blame for the weaker “Mentalist” rating, its demo performance was not excessively greater than the normal “Private Practice” peformance. Moreover, “CSI” (3.0 rating, 13.17 million) managed to hold up relatively well against the preceding “Oprah, The Next Chapter” special (3.0 rating, 13.27 million).
“The Apprentice” saw only a minor boost for its season finale; it averaged a 1.6 rating with 4.12 million viewers.