In Fox’s continual search for a lead-out that will hold more of “American Idol’s” sizable audience, it looked as though it had found a winner in the oddball reality game show “Unan1mous.” But after a strong premiere, the show has begun falling off noticeably.
“Unan1mous” last night posted a 5.4 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, down 23 percent from the 7.0 its premiere earned three weeks ago. It lost about 50 percent of “Idol’s” 10.7 lead-in audience at 9:30 p.m., even with a bit more help than usual from “Idol,” which didn’t end until 9:32 p.m. Overnights measure timeslot, not actual show, data.
Among total viewers the dropoff was even more pronounced. Fox averaged 26.4 million total viewers during that last half hour of “Idol,” but then slipped 54 percent to 12.2 million viewers for “Unam1mous.”
The show has a unique concept. Players’ task is to decide who will take home the cash grand prize. One contestant is eliminated each week, but the show won’t end until they’ve decided on a winner. In the meantime, the cash prize diminishes each week.
“Unan1mous” did finish No. 2 in its timeslot among viewers 18-49 and No. 3 among total viewers. But at this point it’s not doing much better than past post-“Idol” experiments like “Stacked” or “Wanda at Large.”
Elsewhere, NBC’s “Heist” showed exactly why the network has decided to remove it from the schedule. The final episode of the yanked show posted a 1.9 overnight rating among 18-49s and averaged just 5.5 million total viewers, both a distant fourth in the 9 p.m. timeslot.
On the strength of “Idol,” Fox took the night among 18-49s with a 6.3 average rating and a 17 share. ABC was second at 3.7/10, CBS third at 3.3/9, NBC fourth at 2.9/8, Univision fifth at 1.4/4, UPN sixth at 1.3/4 and WB seventh at 1.0/3.
At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 4.5 average rating for “The Loop” (2.1) and the first half hour of its special hour-long “Idol” results show (7.0). NBC was second with a 4.0 for “Deal or No Deal,” CBS third with a 2.5 for “The Amazing Race” and ABC a disappointing fourth with a 2.2 average for the season finales of “George Lopez” (2.3) and “Freddie” (2.1), both below their season averages.
UPN was fifth with a 2.0 for “America’s Next Top Model,” Univision sixth with a 1.2 for “Barrera de Amor” and WB seventh with a 1.1 for “One Tree Hill.”
Fox led again at 9 p.m. with an 8.1 average for the last half of “Idol” (10.7) and “Unan1mous” (5.4). ABC moved to second with a 6.0 for “Lost,” with CBS third with a 3.3 for “Criminal Minds” and NBC fourth for “Heist.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 1.8 for “Alborada,” with WB sixth with a 0.8 for “Bedford Diaries” and UPN seventh with a 0.7 for a repeat of “Veronica Mars.”
At 10 p.m. CBS took the lead with a 4.2 for “CSI: NY.” ABC was second with a 2.9 for “The Evidence,” NBC third with a 2.7 for a repeat of “Law & Order” and Univision fourth with a 1.1 for “Don Francisco Presenta.”
Fox also led the night among households, averaging a 9.2 rating and a 15 share. CBS was second at 7.3/12, ABC third at 6.1/10, NBC fourth at 6.0/10, UPN fifth at 2.3, Univision sixth at 1.9/3 and WB seventh at 1.5/2.
