Fox’s The Finder refuses to die a quiet death on graveyard Friday. In its third Friday airing last night, the Bones spinoff posted a 1.2/4 in adults 18-49, up 33% from last week and a Friday high. But there is a caveat – The Finder aired against all-repeats on the other major networks last night vs. mostly originals the previous two weeks, including Friday’s top-rated series, CBS’ Undercover Boss, which was replaced by comedy reruns last night (Mike & Molly, 0.9/4, Rules Of Engagement, 0.8/3). Finder‘s mate Fringe (1.0/3) inched up a tenth from last week’s series low.
Can someone explain to me ABC’s scheduling strategy for Shark Tank? Against all odds, the low-key reality series came back strong this season and has done well against fierce unscripted competition in the Friday 8 PM hour: Undercover Boss and, until recently, Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares. But ABC sidelined the show for almost a month, airing repeats, then brought it back last week with an original only to switch to a rerun again this week. Even in repeat, the series did OK, pulling in a 1.2/4 to tie The Finder as the highest-rated program at 8 PM last night.
With CBS’ lineup and ABC’s 20/20 and Shark Tank in repeats, NBC’s Dateline (1.4/4) was the highest-rated program of the night in 18-49. NBC and ABC were tied for first place among the English-language broadcast networks with a paltry 1.2/4 in the demo. They were eclipsed by Univision, which won the night with a 1.4 demo rating.
The other two originals on the Big 4 last night were NBC’s Grimm (1.3/6), which was down 19% from last week, and ABC’s Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.3/4) down 7%. On the CW, both Nikita (0.4/2) and Supernatural (0.6/2) matched their series low in their return to originals last night. Nikita was even with its last fresh episode three weeks ago, Supernatural was down a tenth.
