Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 5/14/09

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 13.18 million, CBS: 13.10, Fox: 8.06, NBC: 5.12, CW: 3.03

-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 4.5 rating/13 share, CBS: 3.4/ 9, Fox: 2.8/ 8, NBC: 2.3/ 6, CW: 1.3/ 4

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Survivor: Tocantins (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), CSI (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
My Name is Earl (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Southland (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
ABC won this final Thursday of the May sweeps, inching past second-place CBS by 80,000 viewers (with a 32 percent advantage among adults 18-49). Third over was Fox, followed by NBC and the CW.

CBS’ Survivor: Tocantins opened the evening first in the 8 p.m. hour, with 12.03 million viewers and a 3.7 rating/12 share among adults 18-49. SPOILER ALERT…stop reading if you have not seen the episode yet. But if you have, all I can say is so long to one of the most obnoxious characters in the history of Survivor…Coach. The “Dragon Slayer” got slayed! Don’t forget that the two-hour season-ender airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the live reunion show at 10 p.m. ET.

Second from 8-9 p.m. was Fox mainstay Bones, which also closed the season, at 8.70 million viewers and a 2.5/ 8 in the demo. Rounding off the time period was Ugly Betty on ABC (Viewers: #3, 6.83 million; A18-49: #3t, 2.0/ 6), the season-ending episodes of NBC’s My Name is Earl (Viewers: #4, 4.79 million; A18-49: #3, 2.0/ 6) and Parks and Recreation (Viewers: #4, 4.25 million; A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 6), and the season-finale of the CW’s veteran Smallville (Viewers: #5, 3.15 million; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 4). Had the CW been in better shape, this may have been the series-finale for Smallville. As for My Name Is Earl, keep an eye on Fox potentially keeping it alive when (and if) NBC cancels it.

The first of two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC won the 9 p.m. hour, with 15.58 million viewers and a 5.5/14 among adults 18-49. Second was the season-finale of CBS’ CSI with 14.42 million viewers and an alarmingly low 3.4/ 9 among adults 18-49. Also in the time period was the season-finale of Hell’s Kitchen on Fox (Viewers: #3, 7.42 million; A18-49: #3t, 3.1/ 8), followed by the season-ending episodes of NBC’s The Office (Viewers: #4, 6.72 million; A18-49: #2, 3.5/ 9) and 30 Rock (Viewers: #4, 5.66 million; A18-49: #4, 2.8/ 7), and the season-finale of the CW’s Supernatural (Viewers: #5, 2.90 million; A18-49: #5, 1.3/ 3). Stanley Hudson finally seen laughing on The Office last night was one of the funniest moments on TV this season.

A second episode of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, the season-finale, finished first at 10 p.m., with a healthy 17.12 million viewers and a 6.2/17 among adults 18-49. Second was a Thursday edition of CSI: NY (Viewers: #2, 12.84 million; A18-49: #2, 3.0/ 8), which also closed the season, followed by NBC’s quickly fading Southland (Viewers: #3, 4.64 million; A18-49: #3, 1.7/ 5 -- both series lows). What started out promising for NBC has quickly diminished.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

quote:

A second episode of Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, the season-finale, finished first at 10 p.m., with a healthy 17.12 million viewers and a 6.2/17 among adults 18-49.

WOW!!! According to TV-aholic's season data, that would make it the best ratings/viewers/demo since the season premiere, back in September!! Even combining the data for both hours of Grey's, that's the best since the Fall. Grey's is definitely trending up, going up by at least a million viewers each episode this May.

quote:

Originally posted by TV-aholic:
2008 - 09 Weekly Ratings Data Trends

Grey's Anatomy
Thursdays 9:00pm on ABC & CTV

                                                                                   Canada's
Date              Live+SD Viewers       18-49 Rating         Live+7 Viewers          CTV
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
09/25/08(SP-2hr)      18.47 M              7.4/18               21.16 M (8.7)       2.383 M
10/09/08              14.80 M              5.6/13               17.22 M             2.574 M
10/16/08              14.80 M              5.9/15               17.06 M             2.563 M
10/23/08              14.45 M              5.4/13               16.85 M             2.567 M
10/30/08              15.32 M              5.7/14               17.61 M             2.249 M
11/06/08              15.74 M              6.0/14               18.17 M             2.255 M
11/13/08              14.90 M              5.7/13               17.46 M             2.387 M
11/20/08              15.91 M              6.2/15                                   2.373 M
11/27/08(R-2hr)        4.12 M              1.3/4
12/04/08              15.28 M              5.5/14                                   2.295 M
12/11/08(R)            6.26 M              2.1/5
12/18/08(R)            5.61 M              1.8/5
12/25/08(R)            3.37 M              1.0/3                 3.51 M
01/01/09(R-9:30)       3.90 M              1.3/3
01/08/09              13.87 M              5.2/12               16.71 M             2.160 M
01/15/09              13.10 M              5.3/12               15.73 M             2.201 M
01/22/09              14.43 M              5.7/14               17.03 M             2.233 M
01/29/09(R)            5.59 M              1.7/4
02/05/09              15.27 M              5.8/14               17.82 M             2.306 M
02/12/09              15.16 M              5.9/15               17.72 M             2.300 M
02/19/09              15.57 M              5.9/15               17.81 M             2.352 M
02/26/09(R)            6.80 M              2.2/6
03/05/09(R)            5.70 M              1.6/4
03/12/09              13.64 M              5.0/12               16.17 M(6.3)        2.120 M
03/19/09              14.61 M              5.0/13               17.25 M(6.5)        2.321 M
03/26/09              16.10 M              5.6/13               18.71 M(7.0)        2.375 M
04/02/09(R)            4.90 M              1.6/4
04/09/09(R)            5.12 M              1.4/4
04/16/09(R)            5.06 M              1.4/4
04/23/09              13.51 M              5.0/13
04/30/09              14.12 M              5.1/13

To find out how this program ranks among the other programs on Canadian television each week, go to the Weekly Results discussion threads.

Grey's Anatomy really finished the season on an upswing - both creatively and ratings-wise. Good for them... they deserve it. Shonda Rhimes pulled the season out of its tailspin and got it back to the highs of seasons 1 and 2.

All those naysayers who explained away Grey's now-dominance of CSI (in both viewers and demo)because of curiosity over a wedding (and expected the audience to drop off dramatically this week) will have to look for another excuse...

Marc, do you think NBC should give Leno a primetime slot every single day? I've been following these reports for some time now, and my prediction is that NBC is going to crash and burn next season. Don't you agree?

i loved the shocking ending of grey's. great ratings too.

ouch for csi. those numbers are horrible. the office even managed to score 3.5 in the demos.

Wow with Grey's!

The Daily Games for May 7-9 are completed.
Waiting on FINAL numbers for Saturday, May 2

Top 5 standings for the 2009 Spring Session are:

• WlcmLAPD - 1750
  
• Obveeus - 1344
  
• vlis - 1282
  
• CaseyM - 1098
  
• lopez - 900

Today's Daily Games features Ghost Whisperer, Prison Break, AFV, NBC News. How well will they do in the 18-49 demo and how many total viewers will they get?




For complete final 2008 Medal count and winners, visit the PIFC Daily Game Medal Site. There, you will view all-time winners, current medal standings and Daily Game milestones.

If it was ABC or CBS, I would have said no. NBC is in such bad shape, I think it is worth a shot. But if it does not work, the network cannot decide to trim the number of telecasts per week because that would signal the end.

quote:

Originally posted by tvfan182002:
Marc, do you think NBC should give Leno a primetime slot every single day? I've been following these reports for some time now, and my prediction is that NBC is going to crash and burn next season. Don't you agree?

Big jump between hour 1 and hour 2 of Greys. Looks like people just tuned in for the conclusion of the season.

GA's problem is all the episodes in between the premieres and the finales that they lose a large chunk of viewers.

Demos vs. year-ago evening

Ugly Betty -26%
Grey's Anatomy (9-10pm) -7%
CSI -28%
Smallville -18%
Supernatural +8%

Grey's Anatomy (10-11pm) vs. year-ago Lost +24%
CSI: NY vs. year-ago Without a Trace -17%
Bones vs. year-ago 5th Grader +14%
Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Lyrics +35%
(My Name is Earl 8-8:30 pm vs. year-ago My Name is Earl 8-9pm) -33%
(The Office 9-9:30 pm vs. year-ago The Office 9-10pm) -15%
Southland vs. year-ago ER -48%

The Grey's comparison is to a non-finale last year. This year's Grey's two-hour finale is down 16% from last year's two-hour 6.9 finale, which occurred outside of sweeps.

quote:

Originally posted by a-mad:
Grey's Anatomy really finished the season on an upswing - both creatively and ratings-wise. Good for them... they deserve it. Shonda Rhimes pulled the season out of its tailspin and got it back to the highs of seasons 1 and 2.

All those naysayers who explained away Grey's now-dominance of CSI (in both viewers and demo)because of curiosity over a wedding (and expected the audience to drop off dramatically this week) will have to look for another excuse...

Nobody was expecting GA to do worse than last week given it was a season finale.

NBC must be regretting the hasty renewal of Southland. No wonder there are rumors that next fall it is going to be on Fridays.

3.4 for CSI season finale? That is bad, how many more episodes like this before it moves to 10 pm?

I am going to buck the trend that I saw developing in the end of last nite's thread about the Bones season finale and say that I thought it was richly entertaining, creative in a constructive way, and even the not so unpredictable twist at the end could spoil a fascinating concept for an episode.

Should they have ended the season with this? I don't care. I'm glad they did it.

Ouch for Southland! NBC may want to rethink the renewal. Those numbers are terrible even for them.

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce:
I am going to buck the trend that I saw developing in the end of last nite's thread about the Bones season finale and say that I thought it was richly entertaining, creative in a constructive way, and even the not so unpredictable twist at the end could spoil a fascinating concept for an episode.

Should they have ended the season with this? I don't care. I'm glad they did it.

Are you kidding Me??!!!??

it was a horrible episode. A bad story, characters were a mish-mash of what we liked about the series and it was very uninteresting. I hope they don't revisit the story in the Season Premiere in September.

It was close to a "Jump The Shark" moment