Prime-Time Ratings:
Tuesday 11/18/08

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 15.22 million, ABC: 12.06, Fox: 11.19, NBC: 8.62, CW: 2.26

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.8 rating/12 share, NBC: 3.4/ 9, CBS: 3.2/ 8, ABC: 2.7/ 7, CW: 1.2/ 3

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
NCIS (CBS), House (Fox), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Major Time Period Improvement:
Without a Trace (CBS)

-Down but Far From Out:
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

-Yesterday’s Losers:
Privileged (CW), Eli Stone (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was another Tuesday of split leadership, with CBS the most-watched network and Fox No. 1 among adults 18-49. CBS warhorse NCIS opened the evening first in total viewers, while Fox’s House was No. 1 in the demo from 8-9 p.m. as follows:

Tuesday 8 p.m.
NCIS (CBS)
Viewers: 17.80 million (#1), A18-49: 3.5 rating/9 share (#1)

House (Fox)
Viewers: 13.03 million (#2), A18-49: 5.5/15 (#1)

Also airing in the 8 p.m. hour was The Dancing With the Stars Recap Show on ABC (Viewers: #3, 11.81 million; A18-49: #4, 2.4/ 6), the first half of NBC’s The Biggest Loser (Viewers: #4, 7.18 million; A18-49: #3, 2.9/ 8), and 90210 on the CW (Viewers: #5, 2.94 million; A18-49: #5, 1.5/ 4), which built from year-ago occupant Beauty and the Geek (Viewers: 2.50 million; A18-49: 1.2/ 3) by 440,000 viewers and 25 percent in the demo. As a reminder, any year-ago results are based on the final nationals.

Leadership was also shared at 9 p.m. between ABC’s live Dancing With the Stars Results Show and Fox’s Fringe, which will certainly get a boost when American Idol returns in midseason. And CBS’ The Mentalist was in fine shape as well. Take a look:

Wednesday 9 p.m.
Dancing With the Stars Results Show (ABC)
Viewers: 17.50 million (#1), A18-49: 4.0/10 (#2)

The Mentalist (CBS)
Viewers: 15.83 million (#2), A18-49: 3.5/ 8 (#4)

Fringe (Fox)
Viewers: 9.36 million (#3), A18-49: 4.1/10 (#1)

Capping off the hour was the second half of NBC’s very respectable The Biggest Loser (Viewers: #4, 8.51 million; A18-49: #3, 3.6/ 9), and struggling Privileged on the CW (Viewers: #5, 1.58 million; A18-49: #5, 0.8/ 2). Comparably, Privileged was only on par with a repeat of Reaper. And, overall, The Biggest Loser averaged 7.84 million viewers and a 3.3/ 9 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m.

Dominance was also mixed at 10 p.m., this time between CBS’ Without a Trace and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU. Take a look:

Tuesday 10 p.m.
Without a Trace (CBS)
Viewers: 11.86 million (#1), A18-49: 2.6/ 7 (#2)

Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Viewers: 10.18 million (#2), A18-49: 3.8/10 (#1)

Also airing in the hour was ABC’s low-rated Eli Stone at just 6.87 million viewers and a 1.8/ 5 among adults 18-49. Comparably, retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing With the Stars (Viewers: 17.70 million; A18-49: 4.1/10) was just 39 percent in total viewers and 44 percent in the demo. Ouch!


Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Ouch indeed--while I don't despise this show as much as Pushing Daisies, its renewal is the biggest puzzle of all.

Why on earth did ABC think Eli Stone could work? It was a guaranteed bomb from the start. Just Viva Laughlin with a longer fuse.

Marc, I NEVER do this, but just for variety's sake--if leadership was shared at 9pm, doesn't that make Fringe a winner as well? Beating The Mentalist in the demo, 4.1 to 3.5, strikes me as balancing out the disparity in total viewers pretty neatly. Not to mention the fact that Fringe went up quite a bit from last week.

I mean, geez--Fringe actually WON in the demo. That's a winner. Did you just forget to type it?

It deserved to do better last night--signs of improvement, but the scripts are still promising a lot more than they end up delivering.

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:
Marc, I NEVER do this, but just for variety's sake--if leadership was shared at 9pm, doesn't that make Fringe a winner as well? Beating The Mentalist in the demo, 4.1 to 3.5, strikes me as balancing out the disparity in total viewers pretty neatly. Not to mention the fact that Fringe went up quite a bit from last week.

I mean, geez--Fringe actually WON in the demo. That's a winner. Did you just forget to type it?

It deserved to do better last night--signs of improvement, but the scripts are still promising a lot more than they end up delivering.

Here comes the fanboy . Marc has always been on the viewership is just as important as demos camp, thank God for that. But i agree Fringe looks like a winner although i think it'll do worse in the finals

CBS has demo problems. The Mentalist may be second in viewers, but it is 4th in demos this week. Even behind at best modest rated BL. WAT at 11.8 million and a 2.6 demo? It's Shark all over again.

BL benefitted from having a huge jump at 9 PM, especially in the demos. It's 8 PM numbers are unimpressive. Which makes me think that when NBC can stabilize itself, contain BL to a one hour show at 9 PM.

Fringe at 9.36 million is not the big hit FOX expected. They'll take it though, especially it's demo numbers to viewership ratio.

Privileged is a bomb. 1.58 million? 90210 is taking a slide, but it did beat OTH and GG this week. I take back the ES improvement comment I stated earlier. ES should not be coming back. It did worse with an increased DWTS result show viewership. And yes, there was a 2 minute overrun.

L&O: SVU may be the top demo show on NBC this week. Not bad for an aging show.

11.8 million for a Dancing recap show? That is amazing. But it's 2.4 demo puts it in the WAT league of unbelievable old skewing.

Eli Stone is a major bomb.

True...but it dropped by 26 percent among adults 18-49 out of House.

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:
Marc, I NEVER do this, but just for variety's sake--if leadership was shared at 9pm, doesn't that make Fringe a winner as well? Beating The Mentalist in the demo, 4.1 to 3.5, strikes me as balancing out the disparity in total viewers pretty neatly. Not to mention the fact that Fringe went up quite a bit from last week.

I mean, geez--Fringe actually WON in the demo. That's a winner. Did you just forget to type it?

It deserved to do better last night--signs of improvement, but the scripts are still promising a lot more than they end up delivering.

FRINGE would never find itself in a winner column if it had to stand on its own without HOUSE or another lead in.

SAMANTHA WHO has always been branded a time slot hit but FRINGE is no different...only not as entertaining.

We're going to have to wait until Fall of 2009 to see how Fringe performs on its own. Fringe going after Idol will keep its numbers up.

quote:

Originally posted by A.C.:
FRINGE would never find itself in a winner column if it had to stand on its own without HOUSE or another lead in.

SAMANTHA WHO has always been branded a time slot hit but FRINGE is no different...only not as entertaining.

This episode of Fringe was quite an improvement from the previous ones. The mystery of the week was intriguing, the solution was not as clear cut as Walter plugging in wires to someone's head and extracting thoughts, although the plot is still moving at a glacial pace, I can overlook that as long as they keep the episodes fresh and unpredictable (unlike like some of the previous episodes which felt repetitive). Although I still want J.J to send me whatever he was smoking when he cast Anna Torv as the lead

I've read in a recent L.A. Times article that a big reason for the success of "NCIS" is its "closed-ended story lines." Yet, its biggest attention-grabbing episodes were those with an ongoing plot, like the 2004-05 finale when original NCIS agent Kate was killed by a sniper, and the current plot line of the flushing out of the agency's mole.

I enjoy "NCIS" much more than most of the CBS fare in this procedural genre because of the comraderie among the cast and its not-so-serious take on the cases they work.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
True...but it dropped by 26 percent among adults 18-49 out of House.

quote:

Originally posted by pisher:
Marc, I NEVER do this, but just for variety's sake--if leadership was shared at 9pm, doesn't that make Fringe a winner as well? Beating The Mentalist in the demo, 4.1 to 3.5, strikes me as balancing out the disparity in total viewers pretty neatly. Not to mention the fact that Fringe went up quite a bit from last week.

I mean, geez--Fringe actually WON in the demo. That's a winner. Did you just forget to type it?

It deserved to do better last night--signs of improvement, but the scripts are still promising a lot more than they end up delivering.

That number really makes B&S look awful

quote:

Originally posted by A.C.:
FRINGE would never find itself in a winner column if it had to stand on its own without HOUSE or another lead in.

True, but even without the House lead in I think Fringe can pull in 3.5-3.6 in the demo which, in the current tv environment, is worthy of at least an honorable mention.

I think procedurals in general is making a huge comeback. After the strike, when viewers returned, they gravitated toward shows that were self-containing and completed their storylines within the hour. Most serial shows are struggling and I think networks will be hesitant to program a lot of them on their Fall of 2009 schedule.

quote:

Originally posted by Douglas:
I've read in a recent L.A. Times article that a big reason for the success of "NCIS" is its "closed-ended story lines." Yet, its biggest attention-grabbing episodes were those with an ongoing plot, like the 2004-05 finale when original NCIS agent Kate was killed by a sniper, and the current plot line of the flushing out of the agency's mole.

I enjoy "NCIS" much more than most of the CBS fare in this procedural genre because of the comraderie among the cast and its not-so-serious take on the cases they work.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
CBS has demo problems. The Mentalist may be second in viewers, but it is 4th in demos this week. Even behind at best modest rated BL.

Yoo're really exaggerating given the very close results between the 4 shows.