Series finale nabs best numbers in two years
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the 2 1/2-hour conclusion to "Lost" averaged a 5.8 rating/15 share in adults 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers overall, with its final half-hour -- which won't count in the net's averages because it aired outside of primetime -- averaging a 6.4/19 in the demo and 15.3 million viewers overall. These are the best scores for the island adventure mystery since February 2008, and reps a roughly 30% gain over its fifth-season finale a year ago. It was also up 35% from the series' penultimate episode last Tuesday.
Kicking off the night in fine fashion for the Alphabet was the two-hour retrospective "Lost: The Final Journey" (4.0/13 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall), which won its final half-hour by 6 shares in 18-49. Excluding the Academy Awards, ABC hasn't done better in the 7-9 p.m. slot on a Sunday since November 2007.
At NBC, "Celebrity Apprentice" (3.4/9 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) grew by nearly 50% week to week to place a potent second to "Lost" from 9 to 11. It came in about 10% above last season's finale and delivered the show's best demo score since last season's premiere in March 2009, and its largest overall audience for an episode since the previous season's finale in March 2008. The reality show jumped sharply from its "Minute to Win It" lead-in (1.7/5 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall), which itself built from newsmag "Dateline" in the 7 o'clock hour (1.1/4 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall).
Fox seemed affected by the "Lost" programming, as the finales of "Family Guy" (3.2/8 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall in a special 9:30 p.m. firstrun timeslot and 3.0/8 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall in its regular 9 p.m. time period), "The Simpsons" (2.5/8 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) and "The Cleveland Show" (2.3/7 in 18-49, 4.9 million viewers overall) were all down by double-digit percentages vs. the previous week.
CBS started slowly with "60 Minutes" (1.0/4 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall) and then did OK with its two-hour special "Academy of Country Music Presents Brooks & Dunn: The Last Rodeo" (1.8/5 in 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall), which the net clearly positioned as an alternative on the busy night.
Also a factor on the night was TNT's coverage of Game 3 of the NBA's Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns -- although in the host cities, the game was over prior to the start of the night's top entertainment series. Ratings for the game will be released by Nielsen on Tuesday.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 4.8/15; NBC, 2.4/7; Fox, 2.2/6; CBS, 1.5/4.
In total viewers: ABC, 11.4 million; CBS, 9.1 million; NBC, 7.4 million; Fox, 4.7 million; Univision, 3.1 million.
Source: Variety
