Fast National ratings for Thursday, February 19, 2015.
A decent premiere for “The Odd Couple” and a solid series finale bump for “Two and a Half Men” helped carry CBS to a Thursday rout overall and to a tie with “Scandal”-driven ABC among young viewers.
With “Odd Couple” outdrawing last week's “Mom” in the 8:30 slot, “American Idol” took a drop for FOX, which in turn led to a drop for “Backstrom,” which gave up last week's small gains.
Also looking ugly was the second week of “The Slap,” which dipped below The Mulaney Line for NBC. Also staying below a 1.0 in the key demo was the third week of the struggling “Allegiance.” Wedging between those two drama duds, “The Blacklist” hit a series low in viewers, but remained flat in the key demo.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC and CBS both did a 2.8 rating for Thursday night, tops in the key demographic. FOX was a distant second with a 1.5 key demo rating, followed by NBC's 1.1 key demo rating. The CW averaged a 0.5 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 12.1 million viewers and a 7.6 rating/12 share for Thursday primetime, comfortably topping the 8.81 million viewers and 5.9/10 for ABC. FOX's 6.19 million viewers and 3.8/6 beat the 4.94 million viewers and 3.1/5 for NBC. The CW averaged a 0.8/1 and 1.22 million viewers for the night.
8 p.m. – CBS started primetime in first with “The Big Bang Theory” (a primetime-best 17.17 million viewers and 4.4 key demo rating) and the premiere of “The Odd Couple” (13.57 million and a 3.1 key demo). FOX's “American Idol” was second overall with 8.87 million viewers, but third with a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49, compared to the 8.07 million viewers and 2.5 key demo rating for ABC's “Grey's Anatomy.” On NBC, “The Slap” slipped to 3.93 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating, nipping the 0.7 key demo rating for “The Vampire Diaries,” though the CW drama was well behind with 1.41 million viewers.
9 p.m. – The “Two and a Half Men” finale averaged 13.2 million viewers to win the 9 p.m. hour and finished a close second with a 3.1 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “Scandal” was second with 9.53 million viewers and won the hour with a 3.2 key demo rating. NBC's “The Blacklist” averaged 7.49 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating for third followed, at a great distance, by the 3.51 million viewers and 0.9 key demo rating for FOX's “Backstrom.” The CW's “Reign” averaged 1.03 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – “How To Get Away With Murder” pushed ABC into first for the 10 p.m. hour with 8.84 million viewers and a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49, beating the 8.05 million viewers and 1.5 key demo rating for CBS' “Elementary.” NBC's “Allegiance” averaged 3.38 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating.
[UPDATE: Final Live+Same Day figures moved ABC up to a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49, edging out the 2.8 rating for CBS to win Thursday in the key demo. “Scandal” and “How To Get Away With Murder” both ticked up in the key demographic to a 3.3 and 2.9 rating respectively. The whole thing is a bit of a mystery, though, because “Big Bang Theory” inched up to a 4.5 key demo rating and the “Two and a Half Men” finale went to a 3.2, but ABC still moved ahead. Everything else remained unchanged in the key demo.]
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.