Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/14/12: Penny Can't

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC brought back Cougar Town for its third season, and the Tuesday run kicked off already at a new series low. It dropped 18% of its Last Man Standing lead-in, which is a slightly better picture than the HH-based overnights painted, but it still doesn't look good. It is Valentine's Day, though, so maybe it can hold up a little better than usual if the HUT increases in subsequent weeks.

• Some day I'll do a post about the general overratedness of breakdowns within the telecast. But as I acknowledged last week, The River was one time when they really did tell the tale. The show dropped a massive 29% in week two and is now behind year-ago canceled occupant V.

• The Valentine's effect was generally in play elsewhere, as almost everything was below average. ABC's Body of Proof rounded out a weak ABC evening way behind its previous results. Fox's Glee and New Girl both dropped noticeably and hit new season lows. NCIS and The Biggest Loser also lost a chunk (though the other CBS shows were slightly up). Ugliest of all had to be the CDub's Ringer, which got a mercy uptick in finals but was still at Remodeled-level numbers as its 90210 lead-in took the week off. (CW had a Hart of Dixie rerun in its place).

FULL TABLE:

Info				Show				Timeslot		TRUE
	Viewers	A18-49	Skew	Last	LeLa	Avg	Rank	Tavg	Lead
Last Man Standing	7.64	2.2	37%	-12%	n/a	-18%	14/16	-11%	n/a	2.46
Cougar Town	4.88	1.8	47%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	-12%	-18%	1.84
The River	4.96	1.7	44%	-29%	-28%	-29%	2/2	-36%	-6%	1.42
Body of Proof	6.26	1.2	25%	-25%	-19%	-33%	14/14	-40%	-29%	0.96
NCIS	19.59	3.9	25%	-7%	n/a	-3%	11/15	-3%	n/a	4.56
NCIS: Los Angeles	16.15	3.2	25%	+3%	-7%	-5%	12/15	-5%	-18%	2.58
Unforgettable	11.03	2.3	27%	+5%	+3%	-4%	9/15	-4%	-28%	1.85
The Biggest Loser	5.86	2.1	46%	-9%	n/a	-8%	5/7	-1%	n/a	2.07
Parenthood	4.48	1.6	46%	+0%	-9%	-19%	15/16	-22%	-24%	1.27
Glee	6.99	2.8	51%	-15%	n/a	-15%	13/13	-16%	n/a	3.19
New Girl	6.47	3.1	61%	-11%	-15%	-17%	13/13	-18%	+11%	2.73
Raising Hope	4.58	2.1	59%	+0%	-11%	-13%	11/14	-23%	-32%	1.61
Hart of Dixie (R)	0.73	0.2	35%	-33%	n/a	-46%	8/8	-72%	n/a	0.14
Ringer	1.10	0.4	47%	-20%	-71%	-47%	13/13	-39%	+100%	0.37

KEY (with much more detail at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page):

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.

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.