Ratings: Have ‘Hart of Dixie’ season 3, ‘Hannibal’ season 2 helped renewal odds?

We are finding a great deal of interest in Friday ratings these days, primary do to the fact that it is starting to feel a little more and more like this night is a television diamond in the rough. Thanks to the reduced competition, there are chances here for quality shows with fan followings to draw good ratings, and consequently stay on the air a while longer. A good example of that was “Bones” actually getting better numbers here than it has been on Monday night’s up against “How I Met Your Mother,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and “The Voice.”

“Hart of Dixie” – Since its move to Fridays, the show has not done any worse at all than it was on Mondays. A 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic is not amazing, but we still feel like it will be brought back and kept in this spot. It has been on the air long enough that there is an investment, and there may also be syndication potential here that needs to be considered.

Also, pairing it with “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” seems to be smart, given that it is probably the funniest one of The CW’s scripted shows out there.

“Hannibal” – This is an interesting show for NBC, mostly in the way that it is financed and the way that it is aired. We don’t think it needs to have the same sort of huge ratings that many of their other shows do, mostly because it is so well-done and it airs at a difficult time Fridays at 10:00. However, a 1.1 rating matches its season high, and its 3.5 million viewers are the best that its done all season. (It also is up over its season 1 average, and well over the season 1 finale.) We actually see this show sticking around, mostly because of its social-media presence, and it is good for a network to have something that at least draws awards buzz, even if it doesn’t earn nominations. (“The Good Wife” takes on that role over on CBS.)

There is one caveat in the ratings that we have posted above: The earthquake in parts of Los Angeles last night, while not severe or life-threatening, did cause preemptions of some local markets. If there were people scrambling to their local news, there could be slight adjustments coming. We’ll just have to wait and see, but since we cannot measure what is at this point immeasurable, we are treating the ratings as-is.

—

If you want to get even further news and updates from us at CarterMatt, our suggestion for you now is just that you sign up for our official newsletter. New stories arrive your way every Sunday!

Photo: NBC