Save for any special, well-promoted storylines for later in the season, MTV’s “Jersey Shore” might have reached its viewership peak for the current cycle. That is not, however, to say that there was not some good news in the ratings release for Thursday’s episode.
Though the show matched the prior week’s 4.5 adults 18-49 rating, its average viewership fell to 8.26 million. Last week’s airing registered an 8.83 million viewership average, down from the prior week’s series high number of 8.87 million.
This week’s “Shore” was nonetheless a massive success with women 18-34, scoring an 8.9 rating in the demo. That is actually higher than the show’s demo for its overall viewership peak on 1/20 (and a season high for the show), suggesting the show remains an enormous success with that target demo.
If there was one demo with which the show struggled this week (and “struggled” is used loosely for such a massive hit), it was the teens category. Thursday’s episode garnered a 6.2 rating for the teens 12-17 demographic, down from last week’s 8.1. The 1/20 show averaged a 7.6 in that demo, while the 1/13 edition averaged an 8.2. On January 6, “Jersey Shore” posted an 8.0 within that young demographic.
— While there remained some bright spots on NBC’s three-hour comedy block on Thursday (namely “30 Rock,” which continued to hold up well at 10PM, scoring a 2.4 in the adults 18-49 demo), the lineup was hit fairly hard by the re-introduction of competition from CBS and ABC. “Community” opened the night in its usual, but underwhelming territory (2.0 adults 18-49 rating with 4.37 million viewers), while 8:30PM entry “Perfect Couples” was barely on the radar (1.4 rating with just 3.06 million viewers). Flagship “The Office” lost all of the progress it had made over the past two weeks, dropping back to a 3.7 rating with 7.29 million viewers, while “Parks & Recreation” landed even below the level “Outsourced” had previously been maintaining in the 9:30PM slot (2.4 rating with 4.95 million). Following “30 Rock,” “Outsourced” delivered a soft 1.8 with 3.74 million.
