Ratings: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ likely inflated; ‘Last Resort’ continues to fall

No matter how hard that they try, ABC can just not find a way to air during that 8:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot on Thursdays that actually works. For the latest example of this, just take a look at what happened with “Last Resort.”

Overall, the military drama from ABC and Shawn Ryan this week scored a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic that is not only down three-tenths of a point from last week, but it also marks a new series low. As good as the show is, and it’s really rather good, we have to believe that the network is looking for something a little bit stronger to serve as a lead-in to “Grey’s Anatomy.” Unfortunately, they have not found it yet in between “Missing,” “Charlie’s Angels,” this show, or “My Generation.” None of the shows mentioned here lasted a full 22 episodes, and “Last Resort” will likely follow the lead unless the ratings pick up.

In some ways, it was an ugly night for the ratings, since even some of the good news cannot really be reported as such. Although “The Vampire Diaries” (1.6) and the series premiere of “Beauty and the Beast” (1.3) look great on paper, they’re hardly so special when you remember that some affiliates preempted The CW’s programming for an NFL football game. Therefore, expect these numbers to drop by a couple of tenths later in the day. Elsewhere, “30 Rock” posted an anemic 1.4 while “The X Factor” dropped to a 2.9 versus last week’s episode. Heck, even the ratings monster known as “The Big Bang Theory” lost seven-tenths of a point in route to scoring just a 4.2 rating.

Are there any numbers here that really surprised you above the others?