Spotted Ratings, Thursday 3/1/12: Drowsy

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC got another relatively "meh" premiere with Awake. The good: it did build noticeably from its Up All Night lead-in, and it's the biggest drama episode NBC has aired in the timeslot this season (and way bigger than the horrific The Firm/Prime Suspect averages). Even a 20%ish drop to settle at a 1.6ish could very well have it in the pathetic NBC conversation. The bad: there was no real competition, and it dropped in each fifteen minutes for no apparent external reason (2.1 -> 2.0 -> 1.9 -> 1.8). Not exactly DOA, but certainly nothing to cheer about. That's where we are. The rest of the NBC evening was rather underwhelming as usual, especially considering the repeats on ABC/CBS, but then again a growing American Idol did cover two hours.

• The other data point of interest to me (but probably not you) was Rob, which dropped by 0.3 in its finale as The Big Bang Theory went into repeats. The show did hold up a little better than $#*! My Dad Says in a similar situation last year (it went 2.8 -> 2.3 as its lead-in went 4.2 -> 2.3). And it Truly did about the same as Rules of Engagement's post-repeat episode on 12/15/11 (which got a 2.7 out of a 2.9, but against much less competition). Not sure how much stock CBS puts in this data point, but I put a lot, and the show basically held serve. My thinking coming in was that 2.5 or less makes it a  pretty clear cancel, 2.6 or 2.7 is a gray area, 2.8+ is a good point in its favor. So this one's in a gray area just like Awake.

FULL TABLE:

Info				Show				Timeslot		TRUE
	Viewers	A18-49	Skew	Last	LeLa	Avg	Rank	Tavg	Lead
Winter Wipeout (R)	4.54	1.3	37%	+63%	n/a	+42%	2/7	-20%	n/a	1.30
Grey's Anatomy (R)	3.44	1.1	41%	-15%	-13%	+19%	2/5	-68%	-15%	1.10
Jimmy Kimmel Oscar Special	3.03	0.9	38%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	-64%	-18%	0.86
The Big Bang Theory (R)	11.11	3.2	37%	+129%	n/a	+25%	4/11	-37%	n/a	3.72
Rob	8.99	2.6	37%	-10%	-40%	-24%	8/8	-23%	-19%	2.61
Person of Interest (R)	9.47	1.8	24%	+200%	+333%	+15%	3/12	-38%	-31%	1.72
The Mentalist (R)	8.87	1.7	25%	+89%	-18%	+22%	4/12	-37%	-6%	1.67
30 Rock	3.77	1.4	47%	-7%	n/a	-13%	8/9	-11%	n/a	1.43
Parks and Recreation	3.77	1.7	58%	+0%	-7%	-10%	13/17	-8%	+21%	1.85
The Office	4.95	2.5	65%	-4%	+0%	-16%	15/17	-14%	+47%	2.81
Up All Night	3.47	1.6	59%	-6%	-4%	-20%	16/18	-21%	-36%	1.43
Awake	6.24	2.0	41%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	+65%	+25%	2.06
American Idol Thu	18.27	5.4	38%	+20%	n/a	+2%	5/7	+51%	n/a	6.14
The Vampire Diaries (R)	1.11	0.4	46%	-20%	n/a	+12%	2/8	-70%	n/a	0.38
The Secret Circle (R)	0.95	0.3	40%	+0%	+33%	-4%	3/16	-64%	-25%	0.29

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.