Without football to give it a lead-in cushion, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” fumbled nearly half its debut audience in its second outing, though still performing well for Fox in a timeslot where the network had struggled this year.
“Connor” averaged a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m. last night, according to Nielsen overnights, down 45 percent from Sunday’s 7.7 debut rating.
That number came airing after Fox’s NFC playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, the highest-rated program of the season.
With a considerably lower-rated lead-in, “Prison Break,” “Connor” managed to build 27 percent on “Break” and double the ratings for Fox’s most recent 9 p.m. timeslot occupant, “K-Ville.”
"Connor" posted a season high for the timeslot and also boosted Fox to its best Monday of the season (excluding sports programming) with a 3.8 average rating.
“Connor” finished second in its timeslot behind NBC’s “Deal or No Deal,” which posted its highest rating in months, a 5.0. And “Connor” wasn’t the night’s highest-rated new show – that honor belonged to NBC’s “American Gladiators,” which “Connor” surpassed Sunday for the highest-rated new show debut this season.
NBC led the night among 18-49s with a 4.3 average overnight rating and an 11 share. Fox was second at 3.8/9, CBS third at 3.5/9, ABC fourth at 2.4/6, Univision fifth at 1.4/4 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.
At 8 p.m. NBC led with a 4.6 for “Gladiators,” followed by Fox with a 3.3 for “Break.” CBS was third with a 2.9 for repeats of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Big Bang Theory,” ABC fourth with a 2.7 for “Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann,” Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Amar sin Limites” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Aliens in America.”
NBC led again at 9 p.m. with a 5.0 for “Deal,” with Fox second with a 4.2 for “Connor.” CBS was third with a 3.3 for repeats of “Two and a Half Men” and “Rules of Engagement,” ABC fourth with a 2.4 average for its last half hour of “Dance” and “Notes from the Underbelly” (1.7), Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Pasion” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “The Game.”
CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 4.2 for “CSI: Miami,” while NBC slipped to second with a 3.3 for “Medium.” ABC was third with a 2.0 for “October Road” and Univision fourth with a 1.2 for “Cristina.”
Among households, NBC led the night with a 7.1 average overnight rating and an 11 share. CBS was a close second at 7.0/11, Fox third at 5.6/8, ABC fourth at 5.2/8, Univision fifth at 1.8/3 and CW sixth at 1.1/2.
