The Sked: MONDAY RATINGS October 31: Rock Center Bombs & Sweep Update

Five days into the November sweep, FOX is still in the lead but its percent increases over 2010 are coming back down to Earth, as expected, as the impact of Thursday and Friday's Games 6 and 7 recedes.  Last night was a down night for FOX (2.3 for Terra Nova and House versus a 4.1 for the World Series on 11.1.2010).  CBS won last night with a 3.8 (though that could go down to a 3.7 when KFMB San Diego's coverage of the end of the Monday Night Football game is removed).  Either way, it would be up slightly over the 3.6 rating CBS turned in on the first Monday of the 2010 November sweep.  ABC scored a 2.7 last night in the fast nationals (again, probably a 2.6 because of KMBC Kansas City's local coverage of the game), either way a collapse from a 3.6 for its regular schedule this night last year.  NBC averaged a 1.3 rating Monday night, down from a 2.1 this night last year.  Note: NBC is still showing an uptick in the sweep to date versus last year because of a spectacular performance by Sunday's football game, which went up to a 9.3 rating in the official nationals versus a 7.3 for the same game last year.  Read about the premiere of Rock Center on NBC and the other network ratings after the jump.

           NOVEMBER SWEEP SCORECARD
          2011 vs 2010 Through Day 5 of 28

                 2011    2010
          FOX     4.4     3.9     +14%
          CBS     2.6     2.4     + 6%
          ABC     2.3     2.5     -11%
          NBC     2.7     2.5     + 4% 

NBC premiered Rock Center with Brian Williams at 10 pm last night and could only scare up a 1.0 Adult 18-49 rating in the hour, below the 1.2 that Playboy Club had settled into.  Making matters worse, the news program declined from a 1.1 from 10:00-10:30 to a 0.9 from 10:30-11:00, leading into late local news.  We haven't seen the quarter-hour ratings yet, but given the content (a particularly awkward and unfunny live interview with Jon Stewart), the 10:45-11:00 quarter hour could be below a 0.9.  NBC had assiduously lowered expectations for this show in the press while at the same time spending many millions over the week before launch in a digital and radio campaign for the show.  No matter what the expectations, these numbers are brutal.  Sing-Off rated a 1.4 from 8-10 pm, marking a new low for the show.



CBS is leading Monday night in the fast nationals with a 3.8 rating for the night.  How I Met Your Mother (4.1), 2 Broke Girls (4.2), Two and a Half Men (4.7) and possibly Mike & Molly (3.8) are most likely inflated by San Diego's pre-emption of the comedies for the Monday Night Football Game.  In any case, the numbers are soft for the CBS comedies -- not unexpected because Halloween hits young adult TV usage levels fairly hard, particularly in the early half of prime time.