Since last Thursday, many television shows have been suffering notable, yet inexplicable ratings drops. Valentine’s Day might explain away some of the disappointment on Monday, but between the low numbers for various high-profile series last week and trouble for numerous shows this Tuesday, television is definitely suffering a bit in this Sweeps period.
FOX’s Tuesday lineup was definitely a victim of the ratings decline.
Flagship series “Glee” dropped to its second-lowest rating of the season, posting just a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating with 10.46 million viewers. Insofar as many believe the season low for a November episode was spurred by its close proximity to Thanksgiving, one can argue that this is the show’s worst performance of the season.
And it probably should have been expected. After delivering mediocre ratings after the Super Bowl, “Glee” saw no spike above its normal levels for last Tuesday’s episode, which ideally would have received a “return from hiatus” spike in addition to bleed-over interest from the record post-Super Bowl audience. Insofar as there was no gain, it is clear that “Glee” has softened a bit in the interest department.
Of course, “Glee” still won its timeslot, besting an episode of “NCIS” that was also down from its recent levels (3.7 rating with 19.47 million).
The real victims for FOX instead came in the 9PM hour. Having displayed many weeks of stability, if not slight growth, in the post-“Glee” slot, “Raising Hope” absolutely crashed Tuesday, dropping to a mere 2.2 rating with 5.57 million viewers. That did little to help “Traffic Light,” which fell to a cancellation-worthy 1.5 with 3.57 million for its second episode.
