Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 3/27/08

The following results are based on the fast affiliate ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)

-Total Viewers:
NBC: 11.78 million, CBS: 9.75, Fox: 8.66, ABC: 5.96, CW: 3.30

-Adults 18-49:
NBC: 4.0 rating/11 share, CBS: 3.8/10, Fox: 2.8/ 8, ABC: 1.9/ 5, CW: 1.4/ 4

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Deal or No Deal (NBC), Celebrity Apprentice (NBC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
Miss Guided (ABC), Reaper (CW), Eli Stone (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Once unstoppable NBC moved back into the Thursday winner’s circle with its combination of Deal or No Deal (Viewers: #1, 11.21 million; A18-49: #2, 3.0 rating/ 9 share) and the two-hour season-finale of Celebrity Apprentice (Viewers: #1, 12.08 million; A18-49: 4.5/12 from 9-11 p.m.), which built in every half hour as follows:

Celebrity Apprentice
9:00 p.m. Viewers: 10.96 million (#2), A18-49: 3.9/10 (#2)
9:30 p.m. Viewers: 11.61 million (#1), A18-49: 4.3/11 (#1)
10:00 p.m. Viewers: 12.55 million (#1), A18-49: 4.7/13 (#1)
10:30 p.m. Viewers: 13.16 million (#1), A18-49: 5.0/14 (#1)

While I personally enjoyed Celebrity Apprentice (and Donald Trump picked the right winner…Piers Morgan), let’s be honest: two-hours last night was a real stretch. And NBC tell Mr. Trump that The Apprentice would be around “years into the future” before he said that at the end of the show?

Over at CBS was 2008 NCAA Basketball, Regional Semi-Finals, Day 1, which scored a comfortable (and second-place) 9.75 million viewers and a 3.8/10 among adults 18-49 for the prime-time portion.

Fox finished third overall in both total viewers and adults 18-49 care of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Viewers: #3, 8.45 million; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 7) and the compatible Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Viewers: #3, 8.88 million; A18-49: #3, 3.1/ 8). But what could eventually be concerning for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? was a decline of a hefty 2.14 million viewers and 35 percent in the demo versus it’s year-ago telecast (Viewers: 10.59 million; A18-49: 3.7/11 on March 29, 2007).

Next was ABC with its uneventful combination of two episodes of recently introduced sitcom Miss Guided (8 p.m. Viewers: #4, 5.95 million; A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 6 – 8:30 p.m. Viewers: #4, 5.68 million; A18-49: #4, 2.1/ 6), a repeat of Lost (Viewers: #4, 5.54 million; A18-49: #4, 1.8/ 5), and drama Eli Stone (Viewers: #3, 6.52 million; A18-49: #3, 1.9/ 5). Without stronger lead-in support, Eli Stone sunk to a series-low.

Capping off the evening was CW duo Smallville (Viewers: #5, 3.84 million; A18-49: #5, 1.5/ 5) and the recently relocated Reaper (Viewers: #5, 2.76 million; A18-49: #5, 1.2/ 2), which is not an improvement from recent occupant Supernatural.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Mark, is there anyway I could get the half hour breakdowns for Smallville? Thanks.

NBC wins total viewers by over 2 million on a Thursday night? In 2008?!?!

You have now entered the twilight zone…

NBC has got to be happy about Apprentice’s performance last night. A 4.1 in its first hour and a 4.8 in its second? Wow. Having Lost out of the way really helped.

NCAA continues to disappoint.

Fox must be loving Lyrics, but 5th Grader is kinda fading. Even so, I won’t be surprised if Fox’s Thursdays this fall look exactly the same. They have other time slots to worry about.

Despite ABC’s trademark How-Quickly-Can-We-Kill-This-Comedy Scheduling move, it looks like Miss/Guided may be a renew-worthy show. Note to ABC: try pairing it with Samantha Who? instead of sticking an hour of back to back shows in a ridiculous time-slot. The whole back-to-back new episodes thing baffles my mind. The show airs all its episodes in less than a month’s time? Yeah, that really gives it a chance to build an audience. Oh wait, building an audience doesn’t seem to be a strategy anymore. Instead, maybe they should just create a lot of hype every time a new show premiers and then ride whatever initial ratings they get into the ground.

quote:

drama Eli Stone (Viewers: #3, 6.52 million; A18-49: #3, 1.9/ 5).

I'm actually encouraged by Eli Stone's numbers -- its viewers fell less than a million, and its demo only dropped by about 0.3 -- considering the two competing shows skew very young (TCA reach a 5.0 in the demo and the NCAA was healthy as well), I think its demo number was okay too -- considering the LOST rerun for a lead-in. Hopefully it keeps similar numbers, and perhaps bumps back up to over 2.0 in the next few weeks with rerun lead-ins, and does well enough in its special Sunday tryout following Desperate Housewives to get a Fall renewal.

quote:

Despite ABC’s trademark How-Quickly-Can-We-Kill-This-Comedy Scheduling move, it looks like Miss/Guided may be a renew-worthy show. Note to ABC: try pairing it with Samantha Who? instead of sticking an hour of back to back shows in a ridiculous time-slot. The whole back-to-back new episodes thing baffles my mind. The show airs all its episodes in less than a month’s time? Yeah, that really gives it a chance to build an audience. Oh wait, building an audience doesn’t seem to be a strategy anymore. Instead, maybe they should just create a lot of hype every time a new show premiers and then ride whatever initial ratings they get into the ground.

Yes, it kept virtually all its viewers from last week (when it averaged just over 6 million) and only dropped by 0.2 in the demo. This week's episodes were not as hilarious as last week's, but they were good nonetheless. I hope this show gets renewed as well, and paired with Samantha Who?

ES did better than i thought. I know it's still bad but 6.5 million without a lead-in isn't a disaster. ABC should pair ES with WMC on fridays next season. But i doubt ABC will do it, ABC is poised to cancel both shows

Wow @ The Apprentice. It was dead last year! Now Trump will call it the #1 show again.

Yeah I think it shows it has a small, but loyal audience that will watch it regardless of lead in. I know the show has really gotten better the past few weeks and would love to see it come back.

quote:

Originally posted by Chimera:

quote:

drama Eli Stone (Viewers: #3, 6.52 million; A18-49: #3, 1.9/ 5).

I'm actually encouraged by Eli Stone's numbers -- its viewers fell less than a million, and its demo only dropped by about 0.3 -- considering the two competing shows skew very young (TCA reach a 5.0 in the demo and the NCAA was healthy as well), I think its demo number was okay too -- considering the LOST rerun for a lead-in. Hopefully it keeps similar numbers, and perhaps bumps back up to over 2.0 in the next few weeks with rerun lead-ins, and does well enough in its special Sunday tryout following Desperate Housewives to get a Fall renewal.

quote:

Originally posted by crateriko:
Wow @ The Apprentice. It was dead last year! Now Trump will call it the #1 show again.

Oh, i'm sure he will, haha. Total viewers were up 30% in the 9pm hour alone, and 40% for the whole broadcast. Respectively, demo was up 32% and 42%. Not bad at all.

I agree with your remarks about abc loving to kill its comedies with potential, yet they will stick with dreck (and thats putting it nicely)like according to jumbo. I really felt like it finally had a winner with Miss Guided and of course abc being abc, they just dont know how to promote and or schedule their comedies. I still miss the late, great Sons and Daughters.

quote:

Originally posted by the128boy:
NBC wins total viewers by over 2 million on a Thursday night? In 2008?!?!

You have now entered the twilight zone…

NBC has got to be happy about Apprentice’s performance last night. A 4.1 in its first hour and a 4.8 in its second? Wow. Having Lost out of the way really helped.

NCAA continues to disappoint.

Fox must be loving Lyrics, but 5th Grader is kinda fading. Even so, I won’t be surprised if Fox’s Thursdays this fall look exactly the same. They have other time slots to worry about.

Despite ABC’s trademark How-Quickly-Can-We-Kill-This-Comedy Scheduling move, it looks like Miss/Guided may be a renew-worthy show. Note to ABC: try pairing it with Samantha Who? instead of sticking an hour of back to back shows in a ridiculous time-slot. The whole back-to-back new episodes thing baffles my mind. The show airs all its episodes in less than a month’s time? Yeah, that really gives it a chance to build an audience. Oh wait, building an audience doesn’t seem to be a strategy anymore. Instead, maybe they should just create a lot of hype every time a new show premiers and then ride whatever initial ratings they get into the ground.

quote:

Originally posted by the128boy:
Oh, i'm sure he will, haha. Total viewers were up 30% in the 9pm hour alone, and 40% for the whole broadcast. Respectively, demo was up 32% and 42%. Not bad at all.

^^^versus last week's numbers.

quote:

Despite ABC’s trademark How-Quickly-Can-We-Kill-This-Comedy Scheduling move, it looks like Miss/Guided may be a renew-worthy show. Note to ABC: try pairing it with Samantha Who? instead of sticking an hour of back to back shows in a ridiculous time-slot. The whole back-to-back new episodes thing baffles my mind. The show airs all its episodes in less than a month’s time?

That my friend is a deliberate BURN OFF of a failed series. And if it was paired with SAMANTHA WHO then let in come on AFTER SW...because I wouldn't want it to drag down SW.

Out of the two, I would expect ABC to renew Eli Stone before it renewed Miss/Guided. That being said, neither will get renewed.

quote:

Originally posted by A.C.:

quote:

Despite ABC’s trademark How-Quickly-Can-We-Kill-This-Comedy Scheduling move, it looks like Miss/Guided may be a renew-worthy show. Note to ABC: try pairing it with Samantha Who? instead of sticking an hour of back to back shows in a ridiculous time-slot. The whole back-to-back new episodes thing baffles my mind. The show airs all its episodes in less than a month’s time?

That my friend is a deliberate BURN OFF of a failed series. And if it was paired with SAMANTHA WHO then let in come on AFTER SW...because I wouldn't want it to drag down SW.

I seriously doubt that it was a deliberate burn off. ABC is certainly not in a position where they can afford to intentionally schedule a show to simply be burned off, especially if it hasn't even aired yet (unless I'm wrong, I think that the back-to-back Thu. eps were scheduled that way before the pilot aired). They need any hit they can get, especially this spring.

quote:

Originally posted by the128boy:

quote:

Originally posted by crateriko:
Wow @ The Apprentice. It was dead last year! Now Trump will call it the #1 show again.

Oh, i'm sure he will, haha. Total viewers were up 30% in the 9pm hour alone, and 40% for the whole broadcast. Respectively, demo was up 32% and 42%. Not bad at all.

I thought when he talks about "the biggest thing on television" he was talking about his toupee... that, or his ego -- I forget which...