In a different timeline, Community’s doing much better

By Erik Adams | February 15, 2013 | 6:00pm

TV Features TV

Even when the system is skewed to give Community a boost, it’s still impossible for the show to get past The Big Bang Theory: It could never draw a viewership to best its timeslot rival, but “History 101” leapfrogged over most of the TV Club Power Rankings competition thanks to strong numbers among A.V. Club’s readers. 985 readers clicked on the episode’s “I Watched This” button confirming suspicions that we’ve fostered quite the following for the show on this here site. That’s a 37 percent increase from the previous high in this category, notched by the series finale of 30 Rock. So hey, “History 101” shows improvement in some areas. (Preliminary ratings for the season’s second episode suggest that this trend won’t continue—though maybe it’s all Cupid’s fault.)

Community’s delayed fourth-season première also made a stronger showing than that of the previous season, but its year-to-year growth in the Nielsens has nothing on the way The Walking Dead seems to gain more strength every time it goes away, possibly due to a strenuous hiatus routine of blasting its decaying delts while shoving the faces of newcomers into old episodes on Netflix. Putting its latest bit of record breaking into perspective: Within the power rankings top 10, only that immovable object, The Big Bang Theory, did better than “The Suicide King”’s 6.2 rating among adults under 50; among hour-long offerings, only Person Of Interest outdrew The Walking Dead’s 12.3 million viewers. AMC also invites you to consider the midseason première’s encore airings, which boost its total viewership to a CBS procedural-level 16.6 million. But that would be spinning the numbers to make a show you like look like it’s more popular than it actually is, and what type of deplorable monster would do something like that?