ratings

Most shows in syndication were flat or down in the week ending April 22. Coverage of Dick Clark’s death boosted Entertainment Tonight’s numbers, however.

ABC’s Castle surged to its best rating in weeks last night as a number of other popular Monday shows took hits. Castle averaged a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., up 14% over its most recent original episode two weeks ago.

ESPN drew 6.66 million total viewers for Thursday’s first-round coverage, according to Nielsen, up 16 percent over last year and the second-best tally ever, behind only 2010.

With the night’s No. 1 show, ABC finished first on another low-rated Sunday night. It was the only network to earn above a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating, averaging a 2.2 rating/6 share in primetime, 16% ahead of No. 2 Fox at 1.9/5. ABC’s first-year fairytale drama Once Upon A Time was the evening’s No. 1 show, averaging a 2.9 at 8 p.m. That was slightly ahead of Fox’s Family Guy, the night’s No. 2 show with a 2.8 at 9 p.m.

A three-week break may have hurt CBS’s Thursday schedule. Last night three of four shows on the network fell to season lows, although, in a tribute to the network’s strength on the night, it still finished a close second to Fox on the first evening of the May sweeps. Fox averaged a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating and 8 share in primetime, with CBS second at 2.6/7.

One week after ABC’s Good Morning America snaps Today‘s 852-week winning streak, the NBC show is back on top.

The network was the only one of the Big Four to average above a 2.0 in adults 18-49 for the evening. Fox averaged a 4.6 rating and 13 share in the demo in primetime, more than double No. 2 CBS, which averaged a 1.9/5. Of course Fox had American Idol, easily the night’s No. 1 show with that 4.6, down slightly from a 4.7 last week.

Fox’s Glee and ABC’s Private Practice both rebounded nicely on a night where rival CBS was in reruns. Glee averaged a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., up 13% over last week, when the show set a record low with a 2.4. Practice saw an even bigger bounce than Glee, up 29% from last week’s 1.7 to a 2.2.

Ratings were up in the week ending April 15 following downticks in the week leading up to Easter and Passover. Among the beneficiaries were most of the talkers, Judge Judy, magazine shows and off-net sitcoms and weekly hours.

With CBS’s strong Monday lineup in reruns last night, the competing networks all saw gains. Fox’s House was up the most, 15%, to a 2.3 in adults 18-49 at 9 p.m., rebounding from a season-low 2.0 last week.

The NBA lockout delayed the opening of the playoffs by a few weeks, but that may be the only lingering effect of the five-month work stoppage. With the postseason beginning Saturday, the three NBA playoff carriers seem poised for very strong ratings after yet another record-setting season.

You know it’s a slow night for broadcast when no network can even break the 2.0 mark among adults 18-49 for the evening. ABC and CBS tied for No. 1 last night with a 1.9 18-49 rating and 5 share apiece, just ahead of third-place Fox with a 1.7/5. In fact, only two shows on the night drew more than a 2.0 rating, and they both aired in the same hour. ABC’s Once Upon A Time was the evening’s top-rated show with a 2.9 at 8 p.m., with the competing The Amazing Race on CBS logging the night’s second-best rating, a 2.5.

Viewership for the first eight days of the playoffs, the latest numbers available from Nielsen, is up 31% versus last year on NBC Sports Network. NBC has also seen a big kickup in viewership for its three playoff games, averaging 2.3 million viewers, 44% better than last year.

ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy continued to rebound from its series low two weeks ago, growing for the second straight week. Grey’s was last night’s No. 1 scripted series with a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating, up 10% over last week and hitting a 10-week high in the demo.

The final score is in for last week’s ratings race between NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America, and the winner is ABC. ABC’s morning program surpassed NBC’s by 31,000 total viewers for the week, marking its first full-week victory over NBC since 1995.

ABC’s new comedy Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 declined but still put up a solid number in its second week, and it was hardly the only show to fall last night. Trust averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating at 9:30 p.m., down 10% from last week’s 2.9 debut. The new show’s lead-in, Modern Family, was down a bit, too, which certainly accounted for some of Trust‘s decline. Family averaged a season-low 4.0 at 9 p.m., off 0.1 from last week.

ABC’s Private Practice may not be the answer to the network’s Tuesday night problems. The long-running drama, which moved from Thursday to Tuesday last night, was unimpressive in its debut, posting a season-low rating in the 10 p.m. timeslot, where ABC has struggled for several years. Practice averaged a 1.7 among adults 18-49. That was first in the timeslot ahead of a rerun of CBS’s Unforgettable and NBC’s new reality show Fashion Star.

Most shows turned in lower performances in the first week of April. Among the few in first run to better their week-earlier numbers were Ellen DeGeneres, Judge Joe Brown and Extra Weekend.

Last week CBS’s Two and a Half Men fell to a series low just months after hitting a series high. Last night it rebounded a bit to finish with a better rating than NBC’s The Voice for the first time this season. Men averaged a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., up 6% over last week, when it averaged a 3.5.

Nielsen says Good Morning America drew 5.147 million viewers last week, beating Today by a narrow margin of 13,000 viewers. Those are the preliminary figures released today. The final audience numbers are out Thursday.

On a generally low-rated night, CBS’s new procedural NYC 22 debuted to unimpressive numbers. NYC averaged a 1.5 in adults 18-49, off 32% from the 2.2 that CSI: Miami has averaged in the same slot. The latter went on hiatus for NYC‘s trial run. The new show held 83% of lead-in The Good Wife‘s audience, a decent retention rate, but Wife only averaged a 1.8.

With CBS in reruns, the other networks all saw gains last night, including several new shows hoping to gain spots on next fall’s schedule. Fox’s Touch, ABC’s Scandal and NBC’s Up All Night, all first-year programs, were all up over last week in total viewers or adults 18-49.

Don’t Trust the B—– in Apartment 23 had a decent debut last night behind ABC’s hit show Modern Family. Trust averaged a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating at 9:30 p.m.,retaining 70% of Family‘s 4.1 lead-in. That was slightly above the 2.8 rating that Happy Endings drew in the same timeslot last year, though it was well below the 3.7 that another post-Family comedy, Mr. Sunshine, bowed to in February 2011.

CBS’s comedy The Big Bang Theory had its smallest audience of the season for a new episode. ABC’s Missing had a series low. All the originals on NBC’s lineup — Community, 30 Rock, Up All Night and Awake — had season lows.

In the week ending April 1, Dr. Phil scores the biggest week-to-week gain among the talkers; Anderson leads the first-run newcomers; Wheel rules the games again; ET tops the magazine rack; and Big Bang is the big leader of off-net sitcoms.

NBC won another Monday night, but top show The Voice fell to a Monday season low, as did several other shows on a generally slow evening for broadcast. Voice averaged a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., topping Two and a Half Men as the night’s No. 1 show. It once again more than doubled NBC’s previous season average in the timeslot.

April’s morning showdown concludes with Good Morning America shrinking the gap and the final tally standing in Today‘s favor, with four days of victories among total viewers and a sweep with adults 25-54.

Masters overrun lifted CBS to victory last night, inflating ratings for 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race as the tournament went to a two-hole playoff. At 7 p.m., when the final hour of coverage aired along with the beginning of 60 Minutes, CBS averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating. That was easily the best rating of the night for the Big Four networks, with Fox entirely in repeats and ABC airing two reruns. Easter is traditionally a slow night for TV viewership.

Al Gore’s Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann — namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings.

CBS and Fox split the night with respective wins among viewers and the demo, while ABC’s new Shonda Rhimes drama gets numbers familiar to its timeslot.

The showdown this week between the Today show and Good Morning America tilted in ABC’s favor for the first time on Wednesday, when GMA beat its NBC rival in the ratings by 87,000 viewers.

The series finale of One Tree Hill gave the CW a lift last night. The show, which aired from 8 to 10 p.m., averaged a 1.4 among the network’s target women 18-34, the CW’s best Wednesday rating since February of last year. It also matched the network’s season highs among adults 18-34 (0.9), 18-49s (0.8) and women 18-49 (1.1).

Local ratings in the markets of the schools in the NCAA semi-finals were huge. In fact, in Louisville, they topped those of the Super Bowl.

The Voice topped the competition on a new night yesterday. The singing show, airing its first Tuesday results show of the season, was the No. 1 program on a slow night and clearly had an impact on the competition, with ABC’s Dancing with the Stars Results and Fox’s New Girl both sliding from last week. Voice averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., with Stars drawing a 2.7 in the same one-hour timeslot, down 13% from last week’s 3.1 in its season premiere. Stars was the night’s No. 2 show.

Besides scoring with March Madness and other special programming last week, the network had a monopoly on dramas and sitcoms in the top 10, including NCIS and The Big Bang Theory.

More March Madness preemptions and nice weather conspired again to keep syndication viewing down in the week ending March 25. The biggest gainer from the prior session was The Insider.

Both ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and NBC’s The Voice slid to season lows last night, but that was hardly a surprise. They faced the NCAA men’s basketball tournament title game on CBS, which was up versus last year, based on early numbers. Kentucky beat Kansas 67-59. Voice averaged a 4.1 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 9% from last week, while Stars fell 13%, to 2.8, in the same timeslot.

The Academy of Country Music Awards led CBS to an easy first-place finish last night, despite the fact that it dipped slightly from last year’s ceremony. The ACMs averaged a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m., off 6% from a 3.3 last year. But that was still easily the night’s top-rated program, with the No. 2 show, ABC’s Once Upon A Time, managing a 2.7. It was a rather slow evening otherwise on broadcast.

Saturday’s national semifinals pitting four powerhouse programs earned a 9.0 overnight rating and a 17 share, an increase of 1% over last season’s Final Four, which featured upstarts Butler and VCU along with Kentucky and eventual national champion Connecticut.