http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Overni...ld_on_Wednesdays.aspABC firms up its
hold on Wednesdays
Easy win with a 3.9 in 18-49s, its third straight
By Toni Fitzgerald
Oct 11, 2007
Even with two of its new shows seeing week-to-week declines, ABC seems to have a firm hold on Wednesday night.
The network won its third straight Wednesday last night with a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating and 11 share, according to Nielsen overnights, 18 percent ahead of second-place CBS’s 3.3/9.
It stayed ahead despite a 14 percent week-to-week decline for the 8 p.m. drama “Pushing Daisies,” which slipped from a 4.2 in its premiere to a 3.6 last night. “Daisies” still won the timeslot and it did not lose any 18-49 audience from its first half hour to its second.
Whether those debut-week viewers were tuning out or simply time-shifting the show won’t be known for several weeks.
Media people have cautioned that until the DVR ratings are out, it’s impossible to get a full picture of how a show performed because Nielsen’s DVR household sample has more than doubled since this time last year.
ABC’s 10 p.m. show “Dirty Sexy Money” also slipped a tad in its third outing after staying even from its first to its second week. It fell from a 3.6 to a 3.4, taking second in the timeslot to CBS’s “CSI: NY,” though it was a solid first in 18-34s and rose 13 percent from last week.
The best news for ABC came at 9 p.m., where its “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff, “Private Practice,” bounced up 7 percent over last week’s 4.5 in 18-49s to a 4.8. That came after a 12 percent slide from its opener in week two.
“Bionic Woman” on NBC slipped again in the same hour, down 5 percent from last week’s 4.0 to a 3.8. It tied for second place behind “Practice” in the timeslot with CBS’s “Criminal Minds.”
Fox’s “Back to You” dipped for the third straight week at 8 p.m., from a 2.4 last week to a series-low 2.2. Meanwhile, second-year lead-out “’Til Death” managed to build on its lead-in for a second straight week, to a 2.4.
And CBS’s “Kid Nation,” the controversial new reality show, also hit a series low, dipping 17 percent from last week from a 2.4 to a 2.0.
For the night, NBC placed third behind ABC and CBS at 3.2/9, followed by Fox fourth at 2.6/7, the CW fifth at 1.9/5 and Univision sixth at 1.4/4. NBC was the only Big Four network to rise over the same night last year, though every network has overhauled their lineup.
ABC started the night in the lead with a 3.6 at 8 p.m. for “Daisies,” followed by NBC with a 3.1 for “Deal or No Deal,” the network's best rating in the slot in 10 months. CW was third with a 2.5 for “America’s Next Top Model,” Fox fourth with a 2.3 average for “You” (2.2) and “Death” (2.4), CBS fifth with a 2.0 for “Nation” and Univision sixth with a 1.o for “Amar sin Limites.”
At 9 p.m. ABC led again with a 4.8 for “Practice,” while NBC and CBS tied for second at 3.8, NBC for “Bionic” and CBS for “Minds.” Fox was fourth with a 3.0 for “Kitchen Nightmares,” Univision fifth with a 2.0 for “Destilando Amor” and CW sixth with a 1.3 for “Gossip Girl.”
CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 4.0 for “CSI: NY,” with ABC slipping to second with a 3.4 for “Money.” NBC was third with a 2.8 for “Life” and Univision fourth with a 1.4 for “Don Francisco Presenta.”
Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 7.4 average overnight rating and a 12 share. ABC was second at 7.0/11, NBC third at 6.5/11, Fox fourth at 4.1/7, CW fifth at 2.7/4 and Univision sixth at 1.9/3.
