Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/8/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Premiere night for NBC's thrown-together Friday night lineup was just as eclectic ratings-wise as it was show-wise. The second season premiere of Fashion Star managed just half of last year's Tuesday premiere number, while Grimm came back in typically good-for-Friday fashion, though it did tie its season low point and was a tick below the fall finale.

• Shortly after I departed for vacation on Thursday afternoon, CBS surprisingly opted to leave Golden Boy on Tuesday, ruining this post that I'd scheduled for Friday morning. (Though I'm still predicting a cancel!!) But they did throw me a bone by airing the third episode on Friday anyway, so we got a little window into what the Friday run might have looked like. And, as the Tuesday ratings suggested, it wasn't good. It came in below the already very low CSI: NY finale from two weeks ago, and it was 38% behind Tuesday's result. CBS also continued to struggle with Undercover Boss, which has posted two relatively weak outings since The Job fiasco. And since CBS has just two left, it won't air another original till May sweeps.

• Unsurprisingly, the Cult move to Friday was a wash. Cult Tuesday (0.3) + Friday repeat (0.2) = Tuesday repeat (0.3) + Cult Friday (0.2).

FULL TABLE:

Info			Show				Timeslot		True2
	Viewers	A18-49	Last	LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
Last Man Standing	6.96	1.5	+0%	n/a	4/16	n/a	+0%	+7%	1.76
Malibu Country	5.92	1.3	-7%	+0%	10/16	n/a	-7%	-7%	1.64
Shark Tank	6.89	2.0	+5%	-7%	3/19	+43%	+5%	+67%	2.49
20/20	5.55	1.6	+14%	+5%	3/27	+23%	+14%	+23%	1.85
Undercover Boss	7.33	1.4	-7%	n/a	11/11	-30%	+33%	-32%	1.70
Golden Boy	7.41	1.0	-38%	-50%	3/3	n/a	+33%	-44%	1.28
Blue Bloods	10.72	1.4	+0%	-17%	9/17	-13%	+47%	-15%	1.80
Fashion Star	2.96	0.8	n/a	n/a	1/1	-50%	-30%	-20%	0.98
Grimm	4.90	1.5	-6%	+14%	11/13	+0%	+0%	+0%	1.99
Rock Center	3.75	0.9	-10%	+7%	15/21	-10%	-5%	-33%	1.12
Kitchen Nightmares	3.31	1.2	-8%	n/a	3/12	n/a	-8%	+14%	1.46
Touch	2.60	0.7	-13%	-8%	4/6	n/a	-7%	-42%	0.95
Nikita	1.37	0.3	+0%	n/a	6/12	n/a	+20%	+0%	0.38
Cult	0.68	0.2	-33%	-50%	3/3	n/a	+0%	-50%	0.27

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.
Last - A18-49 percent difference from previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 percent difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes that have aired so far this season.
y2y - The show's A18-49 rating compared to its rating a year ago.
TLa - The show's A18-49 rating compared to the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - The show's A18-49 rating compared to the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True2 - The second edition of True Strength, a metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.

(R) - Repeat.

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

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.