Last week’s “How I Met Your Mother” ratings surge unfortunately might have been a flash in the pan; the show was back down to a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating with 8.58 million viewers this week.
Though a strong performance for an 8PM comedy, the 3.4 rating marks a decline of more than 10% from last week’s showing. Given that last week’s episode, which dealt with Barney’s relationship with his family and the still-unanswered question about his father’s identity, was so widely praised, it would be hard to attribute the decline to disappointment with the prior week’s episode. As the episode marked a return to the sentimentality of the show’s first few seasons, it also seems unlikely that those new fans who were recently introduced to the series in syndication would have been put off by the episode’s sappy elements.
“Rules of Engagement” continued to perform competently, but not glowingly, with a 3.0 and 8.45 million viewers.
The later hours were more successful for CBS. Flagship comedy “Two and a Half Men” posted a solid 4.5 with 14.24 million viewers, while freshman lead-out “Mike & Molly” was actually up over last week with a 3.8 and 12.29 million. “Mike & Molly” appears to have officially stabilized, and a full season renewal seems quite likely.
The same goes for “Hawaii 5-0,” which scored a 3.5 and 12.03 million viewers. Although the remake did not explode the way many thought it would, in showing three weeks of consistency, the show has demonstrated its value to CBS’ Monday night lineup.
