WHAT MATTERS:
- The summer season was in need of some good news, and NBC was happy to provide it with another very strong premiere for America's Got Talent (3.0). It nearly matched last year's post-The Voice premiere (3.1) and was noticeably above it in total viewers. That helped new drama The Night Shift (1.6), even with barely 50% retention, to inch past NBC's biggest drama premiere of last summer (Camp, 1.5).
- Even opposite a strong NBC, ABC had a pretty good night with the return of Extreme Weight Loss (1.3), which was a tick above last year's premiere. And Celebrity Wife Swap (1.2) jumped to a new season high with its most compatible lead-in yet.
- Then... there was Fox, and the trainwreck we all knew was coming. It started with episode two of Riot (0.6), which was actually a tenth above the post-Glee premiere from two weeks ago. But dating show I Wanna Marry Harry (0.4) dropped huge from the measly 0.7 posted after American Idol last week. Networks usually do away with these "affront to humanity" kinds of shows pretty quickly unless the ratings are outstanding. Since this one's in the complete opposite direction, don't expect it to stick around for long.
I Wanna Marry Harry
Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox
WHAT MATTERS:
- A head-to-head duel between two big music-themed finales was bound to limit casual finale tune-in somewhat. But it's extra-disappointing that it seems to have eliminated it entirely. The Voice (3.3) and Dancing with the Stars (2.4) didn't adjust up, so they actually ended up below their combined deliveries from Monday's performance finales. Both were down from last spring's finales, with The Voice at a whooping -25%. We may well see one of these shows blink and move its finale again next season. (Perhaps NBC will launch The Voice the day after the Super Bowl and wrap up earlier.)
- Opposite Voice (1.9) and DWTS (1.7) recap specials, Fox had a rough Tuesday performance finale from American Idol (1.7), which has always done poorly on this night since the show started regularly airing on Wednesday/Thursday. And summer newbie I Wanna Marry Harry (0.7) was soundly rejected from there. To make matters worse for Fox, next Tuesday we'll see Harry team up with Riot (which premiered to 0.5 last week).
- With literally every single scripted option on the big four sitting out, the stage was set for the season finale of Supernatural (1.1) as a great counter-programming option. It zoomed to its biggest number since January and edged last season's finale (1.0). Even the repeat at 8/7c (0.5) did good business.
- CBS went abnormally low with a Judge Judy special (0.9) and a two-hour Academy of Country Music (0.9) special, but the ACM special may have stolen at least a viewer or two from the ABC/NBC finales.
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