Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/9/12

WHAT MATTERS:

• As I said in the Power Rankings earlier this week, this was a great chance to see what CBS could do on Friday when they really attack the night. After not affecting the Thursday lineup, it was time for revenge of the basketball preemptions! The lineup looked pretty solid in the prelims, then the finals saw a 0.2 drop for each show that really changes the feel of the whole evening. At its preliminary 2.0, The Mentalist had a case as a viable Friday show. At 1.8, not really that far above the mostly-CSI: NY average in the timeslot, it suddenly looks like a worse idea. We do have to take into account that along with those preemptions also came a likely drop in CBS primetime's coverage figures, so it may have done better under totally normal circumstances. It was also a special one-shot airing, and those always seem to disappoint. But at now over a third below its Thursday average, it just doesn't look so good.

• ABC's reality lineup sagged multiple ticks across the board, while NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? dipped back to its number from two weeks ago (more evidence that last week's result was a Reba McEntire bounce).

FULL TABLE:

Info				Show				Timeslot		TRUE
	Viewers	A18-49	Skew	Last	LeLa	Avg	Rank	Tavg	Lead
Shark Tank	5.38	1.4	33%	-13%	n/a	-14%	8/8	+5%	n/a	1.61
Primetime: What Would You Do?	4.21	1.2	36%	-20%	-13%	-21%	7/7	-19%	-14%	1.20
20/20	4.55	1.3	37%	-13%	-20%	-8%	14/29	-5%	+8%	1.64
Undercover Boss	10.02	2.0	26%	+0%	n/a	-18%	5/7	+41%	n/a	2.44
The Mentalist	11.83	1.8	19%	-36%	-41%	-34%	18/18	+10%	-10%	1.81
Blue Bloods	11.27	1.6	18%	-6%	+20%	-11%	15/17	-10%	-11%	1.96
Who Do You Think You Are?	5.05	1.0	25%	-29%	n/a	-18%	4/5	-3%	n/a	1.07
Grimm	5.15	1.5	37%	-6%	-29%	-8%	10/14	-3%	+50%	1.64
Dateline Fri	5.03	1.3	33%	+0%	-6%	-4%	11/24	-3%	-13%	1.59
Kitchen Nightmares (R)	2.67	1.0	48%	-9%	n/a	+2%	3/6	-34%	n/a	1.07
Kitchen Nightmares (R)	2.99	1.2	51%	+20%	+0%	+22%	1/7	+1%	+20%	1.27
Nikita (R)	1.15	0.3	33%	+50%	n/a	+7%	1/6	-46%	n/a	0.30
Supernatural (R)	1.16	0.4	44%	+33%	-25%	+16%	1/10	-47%	+33%	0.43

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.