'Skating With the Stars' Shreds 'Dancing' Fans
UPDATE: Dancing drew 23.7 million viewers and a 4.9 rating in the afternoon nationals, making it TV's most-watched entertainment telecast of the season -- plus it was the biggest Monday finale for the show since 2007. Skating didn't drop too badly from its preliminary rating this morning -- 9.4 million and a 2.4 rating -- but still fell a looong way from Dancing.
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The series premiere of ABC's Skating With the Stars performed decently for its time period, though shredded quite a few viewers from its Dancing With the Stars lead-in and throughout its telecast.
The nearly two-hour Skating opener had 11.1 million viewers and a 2.7 preliminary adults 18-49 rating ... except it actually didn't. Because the time period contained roughly 13 minutes of overrun from the surging Dancing finale (23.3 million, 4.7), which was up at least 18% from last week and surely more once the overrun is added in.
What this means: Dancing had a terrific night, which is no surprise given the controversy surrounding Bristol Palin's performance. But Skating's numbers fell pretty sharply from Dancing, and will fall even more once those 13 minutes are removed. Moreover, if you look at the half-hour ratings, Skating goes from a 4.4 during its first 30 minutes (which contains some Dancing) to 2.7 to 2.1 to concluding at a mere 1.7 at 10:30 p.m.
Elsewhere, Mike & Molly (13 million, 4.0) rose 8% to hit a series high, which helped CBS edge out ABC to win the night. How I Met Your Mother (9 million, 3.5), Rules of Engagement (8.1 million, 2.9) and Two and a Half Men (14.3 million, 4.5) were steady. Hawaii Five-0 (12.1 million, 3.2) grew 14% facing Skating instead of Castle.
Fox had House (9.2 million, 3.4), down 15%, and a soft Lie to Me (5.7 million, 1.8).
On NBC, Chuck (4.8 million, 1.7) fell 6% to an all-time low, followed by a stable The Event (5.2 million, 1.7) and Chase (5.3 million, 1.4), the latter rising 17%.
