Note: Any prior rating results are based on the final nationals. Since the level of DVR penetration has increased from 20 percent at this same point last year to approximately 28 percent at present, the overall results may be negatively impacted.
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-Friday’s Winners: Ghost Whisperer (CBS)
-Friday’s Losers (excluding repeats): Wife Swap (ABC), Howie Do It (NBC), Prison Break (Fox), Everybody Hates Chris (CW), Dateline (NBC), Dollhouse (Fox)
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-Ratings Breakdown: CBS finished at the head of the class on this first Friday of the May 2009 sweeps, but under nine million viewers and under a 2-rating among adults 18-49 overall is really nothing to boast about. Ghost Whisperer opened the evening for the Eye net with a dominant 9.15 million viewers and a 2.1 rating/8 share among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m., which comparably was the most-watched show of the evening. Next on CBS was Flashpoint at an also first-place 8.18 million viewers and a 1.6/ 5 in the demo at 9 p.m. That’s right -- just a 1.6 rating in the demo was still enough to win the time period. CBS’ on-the-fence Numb3rs at 10 p.m. split leadership with the second-half of an expanded version of ABC’s 20/20 as follows:
20/20 (ABC) Viewers: 7.73 million (#2), A18-49: 2.2/ 7 (#1)
Second-place ABC kicked-off the evening with just-renewed Wife Swap at a distant second-place 3.95 million viewers and a 1.3/ 5 among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. If anything, fading Wife Swap should be treated as a temporary benchwarmer and not a fall starter. That led into a two-hour edition of ABC’s 20/20 at 6.63 million viewers and a 1.8/ 6 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m., which built in every half hour as follows:
A two-hour edition of NBC’s competing Dateline paled in comparison, with just 4.80 million viewers and a 1.3/ 4 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:
Earlier in the evening on NBC were two episodes of struggling Howie Do It at an average 3.29 million viewers (#3) and a 1.0/ 4 among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m.
Fox was barely on the map on this lackluster Friday, with its combination of soon-to-depart Prison Break (Viewers: #4, 3.05 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.0/ 4) and deserves-to-be canceled Dollhouse (Viewers: #4, 2.99 million; A18-49: #4, 1.2/ 4 -- smallest audience to-date). And the CW capped off the evening with expected to depart sitcoms Everybody Hates Chris (Viewers: 1.79 million; A18-49: 0.6/ 3) and The Game (Viewers: 1.89 million; A18-49: 0.9/ 3), and a repeat of America’s Next Top Model (Viewers: 1.28 million; A18-49: 0.5/ 2), which all finished last in their half-hours. The only positive worth noting for the CW was growth for The Game out of Everybody Hates Chris of 50 percent in the demo. Regardless, there is no reason to think either comedy will be back on the network next season. If The Game does notch a renewal, it is only because it needs a fourth season’s worth of episodes for off-network syndication.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marc Berman,
After Two Nights of the 2009 May Sweep, ABC Still the One in A18-49s, CBS Maintains Lead in Households & Viewership
After the first two nights of the 2009 May Sweep, ABC holds the lead in young adult demo, attracting the most A18-49s with a 2.50 average, with CBS in second place at 2.40, NBC sits in third with 1.95, just ahead of FOX in fourth with 1.85. At the bottom are the mini-nets starting with Univision at 1.60, The CW at 0.90, and MyNetworkTV at 0.40.
In households and P2+ viewers, CBS leads in households and most viewed with a 6.4HH and 9.875,000 viewer average. ABC is second, FOX third, NBC fourth, Univision fifth, The CW sixth and MyNet in seventh.
All the networks are showing significant dips in the key measures of A18-49 demo, households and viewers from last years May Sweep.
Overall for the seven networks, after one night A18-49 demo is down -17% from last year, down -13% in households and down -14% in P2+ viewers.
nights nights
demo demo demo demo % won won
Rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
1 ABC 2.50 3.05 -18% 1 1
2 CBS 2.40 3.15 -24% 1 1
3 NBC 1.95 2.20 -11%
4 FOX 1.85 1.80 3%
5 UNI 1.60 1.90 -16%
6 CW 0.90 1.25 -28%
7 MNT 0.40 0.60 -33%
total 11.60 13.95 -17% 2 2
nights nights
HH HH HH HH won won
rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
2 ABC 5.1 5.6 -9%
1 CBS 6.4 7.4 -14% 2 2
4 NBC 3.6 4.1 -12%
3 FOX 3.4 4.0 -14%
5 UNI 2.1 2.2 -2%
6 CW 1.5 2.1 -31%
7 MNT 1.0 1.0 0%
total 23.0 26.3 -13% 2 2
nights nights
viewers viewers viewers viewers viewers won won
rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
2 ABC 7.445 8.471 -12%
1 CBS 9.875 11.665 -15% 2 2
4 NBC 5.530 6.165 -10%
3 FOX 5.475 6.211 -12%
5 UNI 4.060 4.108 -1%
6 CW 2.165 3.609 -40%
7 MNT 1.480 1.580 -6%
total 36.03 41.808 -14% 2 2
The data for this and last year are all final Nielsen numbers, except for all networks last night and for all Univision numbers this year which are preliminary data. All Sweep calculations incorporate Nielsen final numbers for primetime programming, Monday to Saturday 8-11 pm, and Sunday 7-11 pm. For daytime over-runs into primetime and primetime run-pasts into latenight (e.g. sports coverage, award shows), only the primetime portion of the program numbers have been factored in. For networks that split programs into multiple segments of sustaining and non-sustaining coverage, the rating for the sustaining portion applies to the entire program broadcast.
Seems like everything was way down. Reduced Spring viewing is really having an impact on the ratings.
With ABC, Wife Swap just isn't a show that can start off a lineup. I'll be surprised if it comes back Fridays at 8 PM. ABC already has Supermanny and Copper that could easily be used to fill up a Friday timeslot. I think Wife Swap, Supernanny, and Supermanny should all be used as filler/reserves. They may be cheap, but they aren't going to win the night. I have a feeling that the season finale of AFV will do better on Fridays than any episode of WS. If so, I'd recommend a Friday schedule of AFV, Copper, and 20/20. Giving 20/20 a more compatible lead in can only increase its chances of better ratings.
Dollhouse lost viewers to PB in a more watched timeslot? That's not good. Any hope that it would come back is now definately gone. FOX just needs to program two game shows/reality shows here and move on. Scripted shows aren't going to work.
Households of Whedon: 'Dollhouse' vs. 'Buffy', 'Angel' & 'Firefly' --> 'Dollhouse' Matches 'Buffy' Household Rating from 12 Years Ago
After 10 episodes broadcast, 'Dollhouse' made a breakthrough in exactly matching the household rating that 'Buffy' garnered for its 10th episode 12 years ago. Note to FOX programmers...if you were looking for a 'Buffy'-type ratings profile, 'Dollhouse' has moved into perfect alignment with 'Buffy' as of last night.
While 'Dollhouse' lags behind the first 10 of 'Angel' (tracking 67% of 'Angel's households average), 'Dollhouse' is tracking better against 'Firefly' tracking at 80% of households and 83% of viewers.
However, once you add in the DVR viewing, 6 of the first 7 episodes of 'Dollhouse' for which DVR data is available (averaging 5,175,800) are tracking at 103.5% of 'Firefly's' first 6 of 7 episode viewership (5,000,000).
I think FOX should find a good lead-in for that extra 'Dollhouse' "coda" standalone episode so that they can match up its performance against 'Glee' and 'Osborne's: Reloaded' both of which got prime lead-in try-outs this spring.
'Dollhouse', Fridays at 9:00 pm on FOX
Live+SD 18-49 Live+7
Date HH/% Viewers Rating Viewers
--------------------------------------------------------------
02/13/09 2.8/5 4.76 M 2.0/6 5.799 M (+21%) final Live+7
02/20/09 2.7/5 4.25 M 1.7/5 5.245 M (+23%) final
02/27/09 2.7/5 4.18 M 1.6/5 5.280 M (+26%) final
03/06/09 2.2/5 3.57 M 1.5/5 4.625 M (+30%) final
03/13/09 2.5/4 4.26 M 1.6/5 5.280 M (+24%) final
03/20/09 2.6/5 4.14 M 1.5/5 final
03/27/09 2.4/4 3.86 M 1.4/4 4.821M (+25%) final
04/03/09 2.2/4 3.44 M 1.5/4 final
04/10/09 2.2/4 3.50 M 1.4/4 final
04/26/09 1.9/3 2.99 M 1.2/3 preliminary
==============================================================
STD Avg: 2.4/5 3.894M 1.5/5 5.175M (+25%) 10 hours broadcast
'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer', Mondays at 9:00 pm on The WB
Live+SD 18-49
Date HH/% Viewers Rating
-------------------------------------------
03/10/97 3.4 final (first hour of 2 hour preem)
03/10/97 3.4 final (second hour 2 hour preem)
03/17/97 3.2 final
03/25/97 2.0 final (special Tuesday airing)
03/31/97 2.8 final
04/07/97 2.4 final
04/14/97 2.3 final "Angel"
04/21/97 2.3 final 1st ENCORE
04/28/97 2.3 final
05/05/97 1.9 final
===========================================
STD Avg: 2.6 10 hours broadcast
'Angel', Tuesdays at 9:00 pm on The WB
Live+SD 18-49
Date HH/% Viewers Rating
-------------------------------------------
10/05/99 4.8 final
10/12/99 3.9 final
10/19/99 3.7 final
10/26/99 3.6 final
11/02/99 3.2 final
11/09/99 3.7 final
11/16/99 3.2 final
11/23/99 4.4 final
11/30/99 3.5 final
12/07/99 2.4 final
===========================================
STD Avg: 3.6 10 hours broadcast
'Firefly', Fridays at 8:00 pm on FOX
Live+SD 18-49
Date HH/% Viewers Rating
-------------------------------------------
09/20/02 4.0/8 6.200 final
09/27/02 3.6/7 5.500 final
10/04/02 3.3/6 4.900 final
10/18/02 2.7/5 4.300 final
10/25/02 2.9/5 4.400 final
11/01/02 2.8/5 4.300 final
11/08/02 2.9/5 4.700 final
11/15/02 2.9/5 4.500 final
12/06/02 2.4/5 3.900 final
12/13/02 2.6/5 4.100 final
===========================================
STD Avg: 3.0/6 4.680 10 hours broadcast
Fox was barely on the map on this lackluster Friday, with its combination of soon-to-depart Prison Break (Viewers: #4, 3.05 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.0/ 4) and deserves-to-be canceled Dollhouse (Viewers: #4, 2.99 million; A18-49: #4, 1.2/ 4 -- smallest audience to-date).
Dollhouse doesn't deserve to be cancelled. Prison break on friday is proof by that. Just look how all shows by FOX does on fridays. Prison Break got about 6-7 mill viewers on modays now it gets not even half. Dollhouse has never had a chance to break through because of the cursed timeslot it got from IDOL-FOX
You mean like The X-Files? Maybe it's the SHOWS more than the timeslot, ever think of that?
quote:
Prison Break got about 6-7 mill viewers on modays now it gets not even half.
But they canceled it before they moved it to Friday, so why shouldn't Dollhouse be canceled for doing so much worse?
quote:
Dollhouse has never had a chance to break through because of the cursed timeslot it got from IDOL-FOX
It had a chance to keep the audience it started with, and it couldn't. Face it--FOX knew they had a loser here, and they were right. They gave it a chance by airing it at all. Their mistake was greenlighting it.
Comments from serious Joss Whedon fans, over at Whedonesque--many of whom love the show, obviously. They would never allow themselves not to. But even there--
quote:
Everyone keeps saying it was stupid of Fox not to advertise Dollhouse more heavily this week.
At this point, it would be stupid of them to waste more advertising dollars on Dollhouse, when a few extra commercials couldn't make much of a difference. It can't work a miracle and this ship is sinking fast. Better (from a business standpoint) to at least limit your losses on it.
I think the show has gotten better. But not so much better that I really care yet what happens to these characters. I cared more about the characters in Dr. Horrible after the first musical number than I do for these characters after weeks and weeks of watching the show. I'm not even interested enough to seriously DISLIKE anyone strongly. I just really do not care. I'm someone who has been watching this show every week and all I can summon is something just a little short of indifference.
I'm not here to dance on Dollhouse's grave, I had the highest of hopes, likely too high. But I wanted it to work out. I don't really think this is Fox's fault. I was very angry over the Friday night death slot thing, but now, seeing what they saw, I think that they were right.
quote:
The only real doll to root for is Sierra, because she is the only one that we know is there against her will; she did not make the choice to be there, which Echo did. We cannot root for Mellie, since she is a 5th columnist, we cannot really root for Echo since all we really know is that she was an animal rights activist who got embroiled in something; we cannot root for Olivia since she is the wheels behind the operation, we cannot root for Topher because he is disgusting, and we don't know enough about Victor to much care. Boyd is presented as some kind of voice of conscience, but not one strong enough to actually do the right thing, ever.
Don't you think there is more going on here than whether or not you saw promos for this on Fox? I watch Fox programs exactly 3 hours per week- Lie To Me, House and DH, and I know when they are on and do not have Fox on ever to even see promos.
The show doesn't even work with a lot of people who adore Joss Whedon. It's been a failure from start to finish. And the longer it stays on, the worse it gets. Because there's no show here.
1.2 in the demo. Air the finale, put the 'epilogue' on the DVD, and tear those sets down.
Originally posted by dumont: While 'Dollhouse' lags behind the first 10 of 'Angel' (tracking 67% of 'Angel's households average), 'Dollhouse' is tracking better against 'Firefly' tracking at 80% of households and 83% of viewers.
However, once you add in the DVR viewing, 6 of the first 7 episodes of 'Dollhouse' for which DVR data is available (averaging 5,175,800) are tracking at 103.5% of 'Firefly's' first 6 of 7 episode viewership (5,000,000).
dumont,
I've watched every episode of Dollhouse and am very sad each Saturday when Marc reports the ratings. However, even for you this comparison between Dollhouse and Firefly is a stretch.
Firefly was a bomb in the ratings, so Dollhouse doing worse really hurts its case. Throwing in DVR viewers (who skip commercials and bring no revenue to the network) to try to equal the numbers for Firefly *hurts* the case for Dollhouse to be renewed.
I really liked the concept behind the main story of the episode (returning from the dead via a doll), but too many viewers have already rejected the show.
I'm sure they had some contrived explanation about how the Dollhouse tech could temporarily raise a murdered woman from the dead, but it violates what we were told in the pilot--that these downloaded personalities are composites, not actual people.
I think they had this idea that Dollhouse would be able to do any genre--even murder mystery--problem is, it doesn't do any of them WELL.
Why did Buffy work? And we should remember something--Buffy would not have worked anywhere but WB. It would have been canceled on FOX. It was a niche hit at its peak, and it was past its peak well before it was canceled.
Buffy worked because the casting was letter-perfect. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy (Whedon wanted Katie Holmes). Alyson Hannigan as Willow (Whedon didn't cast her either). The fact is, Whedon's casting instincts are very flawed. I mean, he thought Nathan Fillion was a star.
But it's really the characters that fail the show--they are neither likable nor believably complex. They're not convincing on even a superficial level. Some of the actors are good, but they seem wasted on these roles.
Buffy had characters you wanted to spend time with, even if the script wasn't that great. Dollhouse has characters you'd mainly want to avoid, even if the script was brilliant. Which it never is.
I think it's time to just face the facts. Joss Whedon will never have another successful show. The industry has left him behind, and he can't catch up. He's too niche for the networks, not cool enough for cable.
He has talent, or did, but can we stop with the genius b.s. already? One briefly engaging (and wildly overrated) genre weblet show about high school vampire fighters does not a televisionary make.
