'The Big Bang Theory' Outperforms 'American Idol'... With Repeats
by Shannon Keirnan
It may not come as a surprise to “Big Bang Theory” fans that the nerd comedy continues to outflank the once-great “American Idol” when it comes to viewership.
What may interest you is that even reruns of the CBS show are spanking Fox’s “Idol.”
The top five results show of “Idol,” which kicked off contestant Janelle Arthur, brought in 11.9 million viewers and a 2.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demo... which is certainly not a shabby rating, “Idol” fans, so no cause for alarm at this juncture.
The new episode of the CBS comedy "TBBT" brought in 11.2 million viewers, but scored an impressive 3.0 rating in the demographic group.
The repeat, episode, which aired an hour after, garnered 10.8 million viewers and a 3.2 rating in the demographic. Yes, the rerun trumped the new show’s interest in the key demographic.
During the overlapping half-hour time slot from 8-8:30 p.m., “The Big Bang Theory” won over “American Idol," stealing viewers with 11.2 million viewers and 11 million viewers respectively.
In other television news, “Glee,” which has just been picked up for two more seasons, experiences a 4 percent drop in viewership. However since the previous episode, which dealt with school violence, had numbers up, this was relatively expected. It still brought in 6.4 million viewers.
NBC’s crime drama “Hannibal” was down significantly with a drop of 20 percent, with 3.5 million viewers.
The CW’s cash cow “The Vampire Diaries” hit a series low in the key demographic with just a 0.9 with its prom episode. It drew just 1.9 million viewers.