'Glee' ties all-time ratings low
Glee brought out all the big diva guns Thursday night, with New Directions covering Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, plus Adam Lambert making his debut on the cast.
And yet: Ratings fell to tie the show’s all-time low, registering only 4 million viewers and a 1.5 rating in the adult demo. Glee has previously had this rating, but it was on the night before Thanksgiving last year, which in the TV ratings universe is a quasi-holiday. So this is the first time Glee has fallen this low during a non-holiday-week telecast.
Of course, baseball has pre-empted Glee in recent weeks, so the musical comedy is returning after a break. But its last episode was the highly rated Cory Monteith tribute, so last night’s episode was down 46 percent from that. Glee wasn’t helped by its lead-in: The X-Factor, was up from last week’s abysmally rated clip show, but fell to a new all-time low for a competition episode. Fox points out the episode was a “do-over” since Wednesday night’s episode had that on-screen graphics flub that messed up the voting.
Over on NBC, a special episode of The Voice swooped in to try and rescue the network’s 9 p.m. comedy block: Breathe! Breathe, damn you! It worked, at least for this week: Sean Saves the World jumped to a series high, The Michael J. Fox Show bounced to a five-week high and Parenthood hit a five-week high. Though an NFL game carried by NBC affiliate in one market could be boosting these numbers a bit. Triple-pumping The Voice this week to help the Thursday lineup impacted the musical competition series though — down 21 percent from Tuesday’s episode to rank as the show’s lowest-rated original telecast ever. Be careful NBC. Golden goose, etc.
ABC: Wonderland down 18 percent from its last original a couple weeks ago. Grey’s up 4 percent. Scandal down 7 percent to a season low. CBS: Big Bang season low, Millers and Crazy Ones both up since last week Big Bang was a repeat. Elementary down 6 percent. The CW’s Vampire Diaries jumped up 33 percent, while Reign held steady — you know, Reign‘s rating is pretty bad. But it’s freakishly consistent for a freshman drama.
NET/TIME/SHOW ADULTS 18-49 RATINGTOTAL VIEWERS (+000)FOX8-9PX-FACTOR-1.23,6369-10PGLEE-1.53,997ABC8-9PONCE-WONDERLAND-0.93,5369-10PGREY ANATOMY-2.78,55210-11PSCANDAL-2.78,586CBS8:00PBIG BANG-4.816,5888:30PMILLERS-2.710,6809:00PCRAZY ONES-2.18,0749:30PTWO&HLF MN-2.08,14410-11PELEMENTARY-1.78,757NBC8-9PVOICES2.710,2339:00PSEAN-WORLD-1.75,5839:30PMJ FOX SHW-1.34,24310-11PPARENTHOOD-1.54,530CW8-9PVAMPIRE DIARIES-1.22,5739-10PREIGN-0.61,696