I just received an email from the folks at NBC with a breakdown of the latest ratings. And things don't look too bad for "The Office."
Especially among the male audience. In the incredibly tough time slot it's in, "The Office" was the No. 1 network show among men 18-49 and 18-34 -- yup, beating out "Grey's Anatomy" and "CSI" in those demographics. Among adults 18-34, "The Office" is the No. 4 show on TV, ranked behind only "Grey's Anatomy" and two episode of "American Idol."
And this one caught me by surprise: The show had its biggest overall viewership since Oct. 30. (That was the "Employee Transfer" episode -- aka "The episode with the really funny Halloween opening, but nothing else about Halloween in the entire show".) I think it caught me a little off guard because A) what the heck were people watching after the Super Bowl?!? I thought for sure those ratings would have been near top for the season; and B) the reviews of the "Lecture Circuit" episodes have really been mixed. On the tv.com ratings, they're among the lower ratings for the series.
Don't forget, we still have a couple of weeks until the next new episode: March 5!! Ugh.