Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 2/22/12

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was another mostly down day on broadcast, which is pretty disheartening following last week's bloodbath. The only really big dropper was the two-hour American Idol, down a full point from last week's Wednesday telecast and, after no finals adjustment, down a rather staggering 35% year-to-year.

• Other notable bad news: The Middle and Suburgatory hit new season lows again; but the consolation for the latter is that it built on its lead-in for the first time since its sixth week on the air. Survivor lost 10% of its premiere rating and seems assuredly headed below the 3.0 plateau for the first time ever, Whitney came back to earth after its impressive resiliency last week, and Law and Order: SVU found yet another historic low and finished behind fellow NBC drama Parenthood this week. But it won't be Truly weaker because of its strides on that still-dreaded Rock Center lead-in.

FULL TABLE:

Info				Show				Timeslot		TRUE
	Viewers	A18-49	Skew	Last	LeLa	Avg	Rank	Tavg	Lead
The Middle	7.48	2.2	38%	-8%	n/a	-23%	16/16	-22%	n/a	2.36
Suburgatory	6.76	2.3	44%	-4%	-8%	-21%	15/15	-21%	+5%	2.32
Modern Family	11.54	4.8	53%	+2%	-4%	-13%	13/15	-12%	+109%	5.70
Happy Endings	5.45	2.4	56%	+0%	+2%	-20%	14/15	-25%	-50%	1.93
20/20	4.82	1.4	37%	-30%	+60%	-2%	10/26	-46%	-42%	1.20
Survivor	10.29	2.8	35%	-10%	n/a	-10%	2/2	-11%	n/a	3.03
Criminal Minds	12.78	3.1	31%	+0%	-10%	-13%	14/15	-14%	+11%	3.31
CSI	11.91	2.9	31%	+12%	+0%	+4%	4/15	+4%	-6%	2.79
Whitney	4.11	1.5	47%	-12%	n/a	-25%	15/17	-19%	n/a	1.50
Are You There, Chelsea?	3.38	1.3	49%	-7%	-12%	-22%	7/7	-14%	-13%	1.26
Rock Center	2.70	0.6	28%	-14%	-7%	-39%	16/16	-48%	-54%	0.52
Law and Order: SVU	5.99	1.6	34%	-6%	-14%	-21%	15/15	-19%	+167%	1.73
American Idol Wed	16.10	5.1	41%	-16%	n/a	-23%	7/7	+29%	n/a	5.71
One Tree Hill	1.43	0.8	72%	+0%	n/a	+7%	2/7	+22%	n/a	0.84
Remodeled	0.71	0.3	54%	+50%	-0%	+0%	2/6	-57%	-63%	0.23

KEY (click to expand)

Viewers - The total number of viewers (age 2+, in millions) that watched the program.
A18-49 - Adults 18-49 rating. Percentage of US TV-owning adults 18-49 watching the program.
Skew - Percentage of the total audience that falls in the 18-49 demo.
Last - A18-49 percent difference from previous episode.
Lead - A18-49 percent difference from lead-in program.
LeLa - A18-49 percent difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Avg - A18-49 percent difference from the show's average demo for previous original episodes this season.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes that have aired so far this season.
Tavg - A18-49 percent difference from its timeslot's previous original entertainment average this season.
TRUE - True Strength, a metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. (Note: these are PRELIMINARY TRUE calculations. Finals come next week.)

(R) - Repeat.

Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.