‘Ellen’ Stays Above Its Average

So, how well did ABC’s “Ellen” do one week after scorching the Nielsen ratings with its controversial coming-out episode?

Well, obviously there was a big falloff, but the show still drew ratings decidedly higher than what it had been averaging this season before last week’s bonfire of the Nielsens.

“Ellen,” which stars recently out comic Ellen DeGeneres, not only won its time slot Wednesday - beating a hyped “Knots Landing” reunion on CBS it did so with ratings 33 percent higher than its season average.

According to Nielsen, the show, in which Ellen Morgan told her parents she was gay, scored a 12.7 rating (percentage of the nation’s 97 million TV homes) and 20 share (percentage of the sets in use).

Its season-to-date average is a 9.6 rating/16 share.

Wednesday’s show averaged 17.9 million viewers. The coming-out episode attracted 36.1 million setsiders, with a show record 23.4 rating/35 share.

“Any time you get that many new viewers to a show, some of them will stick around,” said Steve Sternberg, a senior partner at BJK&E Media.

“The next episode will probably drop another share point. Next season will be the problem.”