Fast National ratings for Thursday, May 31, 2012.
On a night when ABC’s “Duets” dipped only slightly from its unimpressive debut, while FOX’s two-hour “Touch” finale dipped significantly without “American Idol” as a lead-in, the ratings crown went to some good old-fashioned repeats on CBS.
For the night, CBS averaged a 1.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and 7.4 million viewers overall. ABC was second with a 1.5 and 5.9 million viewers, followed by FOX (1.3, 4.7 million), NBC (1.2, 3.7 million) and the CW (0.3, 714,000), which debuted its new summer reality show “Breaking Pointe.”
8 p.m. — Repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Rules of Engagement” combined for a 2.0 rating and 7.6 million viewers for CBS. The first hour of week two of “Duets” was down only about 12 percent from the debut for ABC, but that will only get you a 1.4 demo rating and 5.6 million viewers. The first hour of the “Touch” finale did a 1.3 rating and 4.6 million viewers, down 22 percent in young adults and 30 percent among all viewers from the last original episode to air after “Idol.” Back-to-back “Office” repeats combined for a 0.8 and only 2.3 million viewers for NBC, while the debut of “Breaking Pointe” averaged a 0.3 rating and 963,000 viewers.
9 p.m. — Hour two of “Duets” (1.7, 6.2 million) jumped enough to win the hour for ABC, followed by a “Person of Interest” rerun on CBS (1.4, 7.4 million), the conclusion of the “Touch” finale (1.3, 4.7 million), the first hour of an “America’s Got Talent” repeat on NBC (1.1, 3.9 million) and a replay of the CW’s “The Catalina” premiere (0.2, 466,000).
10 p.m. — The most-watched show of the hour was a “Mentalist” repeat on CBS, with 7.2 million viewers. But it’s 1.3 demo rating was actually a slight third for the hour, after more of “Got Talent” on NBC (1.5, 5 million), and ABC’s “Rookie Blue” (1.4, 5.8 million), which held onto virtually all of its audience from last week’s season premiere.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.