Prime-Time Ratings:
Wednesday 12/03/08

-Total Viewers:
NBC; 9.90 million, CBS: 9.20, ABC: 8.14, Fox: 7.37, CW: 1.36

-Adults 18-49:
CBS: 3.4 rating/9 share, Fox: 2.6/ 7, NBC: 2.5/ 7, ABC: 1.9/ 5, CW: 0.5/ 1

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer R (CBS), Christmas in Rockefeller Center (NBC), Life (NBC), Law & Order (NBC)

-Honorable Mention:
Secret Millionaire – 9 p.m. (Fox)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Pushing Daisies (ABC), The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night (CBS), Stylista (CW), Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was a night of split leadership with holiday specials leading NBC to first in total viewers and CBS No. 1 among adults 18-49.

CBS’ umpteenth airing of classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer won the 8 p.m. hour with 11.74 million viewers and a 4.2 rating/12 share among adults 18-49. But one year earlier it scored a heftier 14.55 million viewers and a 5.1/14 in the demo (on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007). NBC’s competing Christmas in Rockefeller Center rose to 10.35 million viewers (#2) and a 2.2/ 6 among adults 18-49. Comparably, that built from the year-ago telecast (Viewers: 8.87 million; A18-49: 2.0/ 5 on Nov. 28, 2007) by 1.48 million viewers and 10 percent in the demo. Ho! Ho! Ho!...the holiday season has now officially begun.

Over at Fox was the two episode premiere of non-scripted Secret Millionaire, which averaged a respectable 7.37 million viewers (#2) and a 2.6/ 7 in the demo from 8-10 p.m., building in each of the four half hours as follows:

Secret Millionaire (Fox)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 6.08 million (#3), A18-49: 2.0/ 6 (#2t)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 7.30 million (#3), A18-49: 2.6/ 7 (#2t)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 7.80 million (#3), A18-49: 2.9/ 7 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 8.29 million (#1), A18-49: 3.1/ 8 (#1)

Worthy of positive mention, no doubt, was the 9-10 p.m. telecast of Secret Millionaire care of a first-place finish in the demo. At last…a non-scripted series on Fox with good intentions!

Rounding off the 8 p.m. hour was ABC’s failing Pushing Daisies (Viewers; #4, 4.91 million; A18-49: #4, 1.5/ 4), and a repeat of the CW’s Stylista (Viewers: #5, 1.32 million; A18-49: #5, 0.5/ 1).

Leadership from 9-10 p.m. was split between NBC’s Life, which benefited by the stronger lead-in, and Fox’s aforementioned Life. Take a look:

Wednesday 9 p.m.
Life (NBC)
Viewers: 8.10 million (#1), A18-49: 2.3/ 6 (#3)

Secret Millionaire (Fox)
Viewers: 8.05 million (#2), A18-49: 3.0/ 6 (#1)

Worth noting for Life was full retention out of Christmas in Rockefeller Center in the demo. That’s a winner tonight!

Also airing from 9-10 p.m. was ABC’s soon-to-relocate Private Practice (Viewers: #3, 7.84 million; A18-49: #2, 2,6/ 7), CBS special The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night (Viewers: #4, 7.15 million; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 6), which squandered the lead-in support from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and CW dud Stylista (Viewers: #5, 1.41 million; A18-49: #5, 0.6/ 1). When a network runs two hours of a clinker like Stylista, you know there is a shortage of programming!

At 10 p.m., leadership was also mixed and it was between NBC’s Law & Order and annual CBS special Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Wednesday 10 p.m.
Law & Order (NBC)
Viewers: 11.26 million (#1), A18-49: 2.9/ 8 (#2)

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (CBS)
Viewers: 8.73 million (#2), A18-49: 3.6/10 (#1)

Law & Order, no doubt, benefited by the improved lead-in support from Life. And worth noting for Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was growth out of special The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night of 1.58 million viewers and 50 percent in the demo. Last, and very least, was ABC’s soon-to-depart Dirty Sexy Money at 5.67 million viewers and a 1.7/ 5 in the demo. This show should have been a guilty addiction.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

quote:

ABC’s failing Pushing Daisies (Viewers; #4, 4.91 million; A18-49: #4, 1.5/ 4),

And this, in a nutshell, is why networks hate formally admitting a show is canceled. Once word gets around a show is toast, a lot of people who were never really that into it just get up and leave. The illusion is shattered. Very few people ever loved PD. They made a lot of noise to try and fool the rest of us. But they couldn't fool Ma Nielsen.

1.5?

A primetime drama on ABC with all that hype and money behind it can get a ONE. POINT. FIVE?

quote:

Last, and very least, was ABC’s soon-to-depart Dirty Sexy Money at 5.67 million viewers and a 1.7/ 5 in the demo. This show should have been a guilty addiction.

I agree. Sadly, it's done.
Life did good, the things lead-in can do.

Good night for Life and Law & Order care of CBS not showing Criminal Minds and CSI:NY.

I think Secret Millionaire deserves to be a winner. It gained 2 million viewers from the start and it won the 18-49 demo beating Private Practice. Fox must be gleeing and ABC should be wondering why they renewed Practice.

Life did ok, but it skews old. I don't think NBC will keep it around for long.

DSM had too many characters. It was just too difficult for me--a simpleton--to keep up.

quote:

Last, and very least, was ABC’s soon-to-depart Dirty Sexy Money at 5.67 million viewers and a 1.7/ 5 in the demo. This show should have been a guilty addiction.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

It didn't become a guilty pleasure because the producers failed to understand you can't fill out a cast with reprehesible characters that nobody can relate to or invest in.

Why is PUSHING DAISIES Still airing..doesn't ABC have some holiday specials they can fill the slot with instead?

As for NBC shanking KNIGHT RIDER in the back after all... the cancellation was inevitable from the moment i heard they greenlit a series...because the ratings for the telemovie last year were stictly fueled on nostalgia and curiosity...why NBC couldn't see that when they had the same thing happen with BIONIC WOMAN remains a mystery.

quote:

Originally posted by strumpeace:
DSM had too many characters. It was just too difficult for me--a simpleton--to keep up.

You don't ever want to attempt to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy.

FOX got some really good ratings out of Secret Millionaire. Much better than TD and DND which they programmed Wednesday at 9 PM. The concept was appealing and the execution was good. If it can keep its numbers next week, FOX has a keeper here. Quality wise, it's a huge improvement over HITW and KN.

NBC got great numbers from Life, L&O, and Rockefeller Center. While Life and L&O benefitted from weak ABC and CBS scheduling, it also was aided by a much better lead in. Again, this shows the power of a lead in and how it can help improve the ratings of the show after it.

Over at CBS, Victoria's Secret and Roudolph did well. Roudolph will likely be the top demo draw of the week and pushed CBS into the 4.0 demo territory, a place they rarely achieve. However, the Grammy's special did poorly.

CW did as well as it could expect airing Stylista without any lead in help.

ABC didn't receive any ratings from PD or DSM. The remainder of both should really just be placed on Saturdays or placed online. It's at the point that repeats will do better. PP had a large ratings and demo increase out of PD.

With the costs associated with producing Secret Millionaire, I think FOX will be very happy with its performance.

quote:

Originally posted by KSO:
I think Secret Millionaire deserves to be a winner. It gained 2 million viewers from the start and it won the 18-49 demo beating Private Practice. Fox must be gleeing and ABC should be wondering why they renewed Practice.

quote:

DSM had too many characters. It was just too difficult for me--a simpleton--to keep up.

From what I saw, it didn't have any characters--just a bunch of cliches running around, doing cliched stuff, and saying cliched things.

I never had any trouble following The Wire. Great characters are never hard to follow, no matter how many of them there are.

DSM wasn't the worst show of its type, I'm sure. But it just didn't have enough oomph. Not a guilty pleasure--not many people felt guilt or pleasure watching it. Just ennui.

quote:

Why is PUSHING DAISIES Still airing..doesn't ABC have some holiday specials they can fill the slot with instead?

I'm going with latent sadomasochistic tendencies.

Sadistic towards their sponsors and viewers, masochistic towards themselves.

Congrats on the growth for Life, which finally got to air against something other than a CBS procedural original for the first time ever. (And I believe the repeats of House, also gone, were hurting it too.) As a fan of the show, I was hoping that a December increase would lead NBC to air repeats of Life rather than SVU in that Wed 9pm slot during January. They'll do worse than SVU, and may bring L&O down a bit, but they'll at least give the show some timeslot continuity that it's never had, airing 3+ eps of its first 20 in four different timeslots.

Why keep a procedural on schedule if you're afraid of showing repeats?

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:

quote:

DSM had too many characters. It was just too difficult for me--a simpleton--to keep up.

From what I saw, it didn't have any characters--just a bunch of cliches running around, doing cliched stuff, and saying cliched things.

I never had any trouble following The Wire. Great characters are never hard to follow, no matter how many of them there are.

DSM wasn't the worst show of its type, I'm sure. But it just didn't have enough oomph. Not a guilty pleasure--not many people felt guilt or pleasure watching it. Just ennui.

I agree. There are several shows with a large group of characters that are much more enjoyable and easy to follow. (The Wire, Lost, The Shield etc...) It's all about character development and having characters to be sympathetic or disliked so you are passionate enough to care either way. DSM doesn't have anyone in either category. I could care less what happens to the Darlings and really after 20 episodes....we really should care one way or another shouldn't we?? With that said, like a true follower, I will watch the remaining episodes and have my wife check to make sure i'm breathing.