Ratings: ‘Mockingbird Lane’ so-so on NBC, helps ‘Grimm’ win night; ‘Nikita’ falls

Someone should write NBC at this very moment with a simple message: do you see what happens when you actually give “Grimm” a good lead-in? Nice things happen, that’s what! Ultimately, what we have to celebrate here is one of the strongest Fridays for the peacock all season long, and a miserable outing for Fox as well as The CW.

Let’s start by saying that “Mockingbird Lane” fared decently for its one-off special, as it ended up posting a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic despite a relatively small marketing campaign. As for those of you wondering whether or not this is enough to actually get NBC to bite on this $10 million investment, it’s probably not. We would have thought that the show needed a debut of 2.0 or higher to get them to pull the trigger on a full series considering the budget, and their concerns about the ultimately tone of the show. This is really quite a show, though, especially when you consider all the work that went into making this show and the prestige that comes with Bryan Fuller’s name.

Thanks to this lead-in, though, “Grimm” posted its best Friday rating of the season in a 1.9. You have to be thrilled by that, right? At this point, this show is going to become a staple in the lineup for years to come.

Elsewhere, “Shark Tank” ended up in second place on the night with a 1.8 rating, and the real surprise for us on the night was “Kitchen Nightmares.” Why? We went into it with all of these expectations considering how popular Gordon Ramsay traditionally is on Fox, and it ended up instead scoring just a 0.9. We figure the move of “Shark Tank” next week will end up helping its ratings, and the truth about this show is just that it’s something that never really gets much of a surge for a premiere or really for even a new episode.

Finally, let’s start asking The CW why they renewed “Niktia” again. We’re not questioning the quality of the show or its loyal fan base, but how are you making money on something with a 0.2 rating? This is the lowest-rated show on any network this fall, and in renewing for a third season, you are leaving the door open to a fourth year for syndication reasons alone.

What did you watch on Friday?