Ratings: ‘Hart of Dixie’ season 4 drops slightly; ‘Blue Bloods’ season 5 rises

One thing that we always try to do when it comes to some of these ratings articles on CarterMatt is to make sure we don’t just blow something out of proportion because we are talking about one specific week. Ratings ebb and flow over time, and with that in mind, you really have to look for larger trends.

One trend that we are noticing at the moment is that given its Friday night timeslot this year, “Hart of Dixie” really has something to be proud of. A 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic may not be exemplary, but it is consistent. This is the same number that “Reign,” which has already been renewed, draws consistently on Thursday nights, and it has the luxury of airing after “The Vampire Diaries.” We still think the show has an uphill battle given that The CW has already renewed basically everything else, and they need to have the room to launch some new shows somewhere on their schedule.

Elsewhere, great news for “Blue Bloods”! With a 1.5 rating, the show has set its season high, and probably comes close to guaranteeing itself a renewal. We feel pretty confident that there is potential for at least one more season here, given that we cannot imagine another show doing this well or consistently drawing more than 11 million viewers. While we know that networks care most about the demo, there is a certain point where you have so many total viewers that they must matter to a great extent.

We figure that for many of these “bubble shows,” you may still need to wait for at least a little while to learn when they are coming back. Our guess? You will learn a thing or two more in May.

(Photo: CBS)