It was the battle of the American Idol alumni last night and Simon Cowell took Ryan Seacrest down. Beyond that, host Seacrest was probably just glad that a $2.6 million winner was declared on The Million Second Quiz (1.4/4) and the show’s time was up after 11 days. And compared to the week before and the night before, MSQ ended up. The live multi-night multi-platform ratings flop came to an end last night with a two-hour show that rose 27% from both its September 18 and its September 12 show last week. In preliminary numbers, Thursday’s result was the best the limp MSQ has done in since its second night on September 10. As an additional programing note, the Kansas City Chiefs match-up with the Philadelphia Eagles was shown on NBC’s KC affiliate and by an ABC station in the City of Brotherly Love so expect an adjustment in the final numbers later today. With those inflations likely going down, there’s going to be a lot of ground to cover. With The Big Bang Theory and Two and A Half Men encores double shots the top four rated shows of the night, CBS won Wednesday with a 1.6/5 among adults 18-49 and in 6.7220 million in total viewers.
With a former contestant auditioning anew and a tragedy turned into song, Week two of Season 3 of Cowell’s The X-Factor (1.9/6) saw the Fox show whoop MSQ by a 58% margin among adults 18-49 in their crossover 8 PM to 9 PM hour. Hour-to-hour with last week’s two-hour show, the one-hour X-Factor last night dipped 5% in the 8 PM to 9 PM slot. That result is an all-time series low for X-Factor among the demo and viewership with 4.46 million watching last night. Having said that, Fox projects that Thursday’s X-Factor will rise 20% to 25% to a 2.3 to 2.4 rating once the Live+7 numbers come in.
At 10 PM, NBC aired Valerie’s Story: A Meredith Viera Special(1.0/3) after MSQ’s finale. The one-hour documentary saw the former Today co-host talk with the Rhoda star and Dancing With The Stars contestant about her battle with cancer and her career history.
The season finale of Wipeout (1.2/4) was ABC’s only original of the night. Up 9% from its September 5 two-hour show, the one-hour obstacle course reality episode last night held even with its last finale on September 20, 2012 among the demo and up 13% in viewership to
The CW was all repeats on Thursday.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
Get Deadline news and alerts FREE to your inbox...
X-Factor is screwed next week when it faces the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory!
The last hour of MSQ was the best of the show…I watched it even though hadnt watched since episode 1. It did seem unfair that the lady won 2 rounds and got $267K and yet the guy who had been on winners row forever got nothing. During the show though NBC announced you could apply for S2. Are they going to do that again? I see Ryan got an EP credit too
Steve, no way this show is coming back after the horrible ratings it attained during its run. Even NBC of all networks can’t be that stupid enough to bring something back that nobody is watching, so I think this show is dead and buried after last night’s finale.
These talent shows always lose viewers as weeks go by. X-Factor might hit 0s later this fall. Especially with Big Bang in the mix. At what point does it stop being profitable for FOX?
NBC would have been better off to recast a familiar game show property — PYRAMID, PASSWORD — and given us solid fun competition in a tournament format. I am so over the lights, gizmos, and fast burnout game-show concepts.
I hope ABC gives WIPEOUT another summer. It is my guilty pleasure.
Meredith Viera could be NBC’s Barbara Walters. She does a good job on hard and soft news. I wish the Brian Williams show would have lasted. NBC News needs to have a better primetime presence that true-crime DATELINE, a show devoid of personality (though sometimes bordering on creepy) despite the strong anchor/reporting team.
That CBS comedy block seems strong even with NBC’s critical fave P&R, popular charmer Sean Hayes, and the return of Fox. Thursdays — let’s not count out ABC’s soapy dramas — are m ust-see TV on all the webs!
X Factor is terrible. Its just BORING. Seriously dull and formulaic beyond all reason. I gave it a shot but I think its unwatchable. Its such a replicant at this point. There is nothing that distinguishes it as its own thing. The Voice managed to have a few small changes that made the reality talent competition seem fresh and more entertaining at least in the beginning but X Factor has nothing going for it. Its just another Idol and no one really cares about Idol anymore.
X Factor should be canceled after this cycle concludes and so happy and glad that horrible Dweebcrest show is finally over and done with. What a trainwreck that show was on NBC and again, whomever allowed for this show to even be put to air should be fired immediately.