"Rock Center with Brian Williams" is off to a bad start, debuting 38 percent lower than the premiere of "The Playboy Club," the now-canceled drama it replaced in the Mondays-at-10 timeslot.
The news show had the disadvantage of premiering on Halloween, a night that usually has lower tune-in because of trick-or-treating and other festivities. Also in its defense: news shows are typically far cheaper to produce than dramas.
Because of Halloween, ratings were down almost across the board Monday. "Castle" managed the only improvement in prime time. CBS won the night overall, as it consistently wins Mondays, on the strength of its comedies.
At 8, "How I Met Your Mother" scored a 4.1 rating/13 share in the 18-49 demographic and 10.7 million total viewers. At 8:30, "2 Broke Girls" was down 7 percent to its lowest ratings yet, a still-impressive 4.2/12. It had 11.1 million total viewers. "Two & A Half Men" at 9 was down 15 percent for a 4.7/12 , a season low, and 13.8 million total viewers. At 9:30, Mike & Molly had a 3.8/9, down 10 percent, and 11.5 million total viewers. "Hawaii Five-0" at 10 had a 2.9/8 and 10.3 million total viewers.
ABC was the second-highest-rated network. At 8, the seasonal special "Scared Shrekless" has a 1.7/6, down 35 percent from its debut on NBC last year, and 8.7 million total viewers. From 8:30-10, "Dancing With the Stars" had a 2.8/7, down 13 percent from last week's 8-10 episode, and 16.3 million total viewers. It was its lowest performance ever. "Castle" at 10 posted the night's only gain: It went up 21 percent to a 2.9/7 and 12.9 million total viewers.
After a week off for the World Series, Fox's "Terra Nova" at 8 had a 2.1/6, down 25 percent, and 6.4 million total viewers. "House" at 9 had a 2.5/6, down 19 percent from two weeks ago, and 6.5 million total viewers.
NBC's "The Sing-Off" at 8 had a 1.4/4, its lowest rating ever, and 4.4 million total viewers. "Rock Center," featuring Williams' interview with Jon Stewart, had a 1/3 and 4.1 million total viewers. Its premiere rating was not only 38 percent lower than that of "Playboy Club," but NBC's lowest Monday debut ever.
Univision beat NBC for the night with a 1.3 overall rating, compared to NBC's 1.2. The CW ran back-to-back "Ringer" repeats.
More to come…
