TV Ratings: CBS Tries Out 'The Mentalist' on Fridays, 'Undercover Boss' Tops

Richard Foreman/CBS

"The Mentalist"

With A Gifted Man done for the season, CBS slotted an original episode of The Mentalist in its place. How exactly did it do in the ratings?

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Though The Mentalist (11.8 million total viewers, 2.0 rating in adults 18-49 demographic), which regularly airs Thursdays at 10 p.m., saw a nearly 30 percent drop in the key 18-49 demo, the Simon Baker procedural was still a vast (translation: double-digit) improvement in the 9 p.m. time period from when A Gifted Man aired in the final weeks. The hourlong drama wasn't the top-rated program of the night, that honor went to its lead-in Undercover Boss (10 million, 2.2). Boss rose two-tenths from its previous original.

The improvement in the 9 p.m. time slot helped Blue Bloods (11.3 million, 1.8) garner higher viewership and a higher rating at 10 p.m., improving by one tenth. CBS topped the night with a 2.0 rating average, easily taking home the Friday victory.

The closest competitor was ABC, with a 1.4. The network saw dips in Shark Tank (5.4 million, 1.5) and newsmagazine What Would You Do? (4.2 million, 1.2) from their last originals. 20/20 (4.6 million, 1.3) also could not improve upon last week's performance.

NBC, placing third with a 1.3 primetime average, was the only other broadcast network to air new episodes of its Friday lineup. Who Do You Think You Are? (5 million, 1.0) lost more than 2 million viewers from last week's episode and dropped four tenths in the demo. That didn't help Grimm (5.2 million, 1.5), which posted lower ratings. Dateline (5 million, 1.4) managed to tick up slightly.

The CW and Fox aired repeats.