Ratings Race: ABC and CBS Split Victory With 'Primetime' and 'Flashpoint'

Friday continues to sputter and fail for the broadcast networks, with ABC (1.4/5, 4.53 million) claiming the crown in the adults 18-49 demographic on the power of a 'Primetime: What Would You Do?' repeat. Newsmagazines dominated the night in the demo, while CBS (1.0/4, 5.18 million) found the most viewers on the strength of back-to-back new episodes of 'Flashpoint.'

While fans of 'Friday Night Lights' may feel vindicated that Emmy finally paid attention to their show, with four nods, it has to be frustrating that it didn't raise the ratings for NBC (1.1/4, 4.64 million). Maybe if it scores a few key wins this year, that final season will finally score some much-deserved attention.

Fox (0.7/3, 2.33 million) continues to struggle on the night, with 'House' performing horribly and not getting any help from repeats of 'The Good Guys.' Meanwhile, The CW is actually growing slightly on Fridays with their one-two punch of 'Smallville' and 'Supernatural.' They even managed to tie a Fox show last night -- one guess as to which one it was.

8PM

Apparently, everyone was eating dinner at 8 o'clock, as these were the lowest numbers of the night, in both viewers and the demo, with one exception. ABC burned off a new installment of the now-canceled 'Wife Swap' (1.1/4, 3.52 million), which edged out NBC's 'Friday Night Lights' (1.0/4, 3.66 million) in the demo, while the latter claimed the total viewers title for the hour. Neither, however, are numbers to get too excited about.

CBS almost tied that new 'Friday Night Lights' in total viewers with a repeat of 'Medium' (0.6/3, 3.62 million), which slipped a tenth in the demo while gaining nearly 10 percent in viewers. 'House' (0.9/4, 2.92 million) repeats continue to perform poorly for Fox on Friday nights, while 'Smallville' (0.5/2, 1.4 million) is actually growing its audience, up a tenth in the demo and 22 percent in viewers.

9PM

The 18-49 demo were all tuned into ABC's repeat of 'Primetime: What Would You Do?' (1.6/6, 4.72 million), which was up 31 percent in viewers and a staggering 57 percent in the demo over last week's disastrous July 2nd airing of 'America Celebrates July 4th at Ford's Theater.' The demo is 12 percent higher even than the Michael Jackson-themed '20/20 two weeks ago. Clearly, putting people into tricky situations via hidden camera to see how they react is alluring to the "right" viewers.

The "wrong" viewers were all soaking in the first of two new episodes of 'Flashpoint' (1.1/4, 5.81 million) over on CBS, as they were the top two shows in total viewers. 'The first hour of a fresh 'Dateline NBC' (1.1/4, 4.825 million) tied in the demo, while Fox's disappointing 'The Good Guys' (0.5/2, 1.4 million) did the unthinkable with a rerun.

It may have beaten 'Supernatural' (0.4/2, 1.18 million) in the hour, but it tied in both viewers and the demo with 'Supernatural' on the night, and you don't tie with The CW if you're one of "The Big Four." Even if you were just throwing a repeat out there on a Friday as filler.

10PM

A new '20/20' (1.4/5, 5.35 million) on ABC took the hour in the demo, rebounding nicely from last week's holiday woes to what it was two weeks ago. CBS's 'Flashpoint' (1.2/4, 6.1 million) came in as the top show of the night in total viewers, though it is up as well from last week's holiday hit, the series is still trending gently downward this summer.

The second hour of 'Dateline NBC' (1.3/5, 5.435 million) improved on the first hour; the show was up 14 percent in viewers from its last original airing on June 27.


Adults 18-49


Viewers + SD