-Yesterday’s Winners: NCIS (CBS), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Good Wife (CBS)
-Yesterday’s Losers: 90210 (CW), Melrose Place (CW), The Jay Leno Show (NBC)
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Note: Any prior rating comparisons are based on the final Live Plus Same Day ratings.
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-Ratings Breakdown: Dominant CBS had outstanding overnight results on this first Tuesday of the new season, with a first-place finish in every half-hour care of its combination of the season-premiere of red-hot NCIS (Viewers: 20.00 million, A18-49: 4.6 rating/13 share), the premiere of spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles (Viewers: 18.32 million, A18-49: 4.4/11) and the series-premiere of The Good Wife (Viewers: 13.72 million, A18-49: 3.1/ 9). Take a look at the three dramas versus the year-ago metered market time period averages and notice the growth for all three.
9:00 p.m. 9/23/08: The Mentalist – Viewers: 15.60 million, A18-49: 3.5/ 9 9/22/09: NCIS: Los Angeles – Viewers: 18.32 million, A18-49: 4.4/11 Percent Change – Viewers: +17, A18-49: +26
10:00 p.m. 9/23/08: Without a Trace – Viewers: 11.28 million, A18-49: 2.8/ 7 9/22/09: The Good Wife – Viewers: 13.72 million, A18-49: 3.1/ 9 Percent Change: Viewers: +22, A18-49: +11
Consider these three “winners” on CBS.
On ABC, another two-hour edition of Dancing With the Stars certainly did not disappoint with an average 15.18 million viewers and a 3.5/10 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. But compared to the year-ago 9-11 p.m. telecast (Viewers: 18.30 million, A18-49: 4.7/12 on Sept. 23, 2008), this was a decline of 3.12 million viewers and 26 percent among adults 18-49. Here is the half-hour breakdown:
Dancing With the Stars (ABC) 8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 13.53 million (#2), A18-49: 2.9/ 9 (#3) 8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 14.75 million (#2), A18-49: 3.4/ 9 (#2) 9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 16.16 million (#2), A18-49: 3.8/10 (#2) 9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 16.28 million (#2), A18-49: 3.9/10 (#2)
How do you like that Kelly Osbourne? She can actually do something well and it was a blast seeing Ozzy and Sharon in the audience, wasn’t it?
Dancing With the Stars led into the series-premiere of crime drama The Forgotten, which finished second at 10 p.m. with a respectable 9.53 million viewers and a 2.6/ 7 among adults 18-49. Comparably, retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing With the Stars was modest at 59 percent in total viewers and 67 percent among adults 18-49. And The Forgotten dipped in the second half hour by 1.23 million viewers (10.14 to 8.91 million) and 11 percent among adults 18-49 (2.7/ 7 to 2.4/ 7), which is never a good sign. The good news, however: it beat NBC’s competing The Jay Leno Show. Keep reading.
NBC opened the evening with week two of the new season of The Biggest Loser, which was below-average at 7.48 million viewers and a 3.1/ 8 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m., and built in every half-hour as follows:
The Biggest Loser (NBC) 8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 6.76 million (#3), A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#4) 8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 7.11 million (#3), A18-49: 3.0/ 8 (#4) 9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 7.63 million (#3), A18-49: 3.2/ 8 (#4) 9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 8.42 million (#3), A18-49: 3.5/ 9 (#3t)
At 10 p.m. on NBC, the second Tuesday (and seventh telecast overall) of The Jay Leno Show finished third with 6.77 million viewers and a 2.4/ 7 among adults 18-49. While this is an improvement from Monday, the retention of only 69 percent among adults 18-49 out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of The Biggest Loser keeps it on the list of losers.
Fox filled the night with back-to-back episodes of Hell’s Kitchen, which averaged 6.80 million viewers and a 3.3/ 9 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:
Last, and very least, was The CW’s combination of 90210 (Viewers: 2.17 million, A18-49: 1.1/ 3) and Melrose Place (Viewers: 1.45 million, A18-49: 0.8/ 2), which declined by year-ago time period levels as follows:
Leno certainly merits the loser's list, and may go on doing so for a long time to come. But if it doesn't fall much more, NBC is going to be too busy counting money to worry about their 10-11pm ratings (which were bad before Leno).
The Forgotten seems likely to live up to its name, but I gotta say--better than Castle. DWTS had lower ratings last night than it did Monday, and The Forgotten still outperformed it on every level. Drop-off at the half hour mark is troubling, but that was also true of Castle's S2 premiere.
So probably The Forgotten will fall some more, but so will Castle. So if one of them's gotta go---
The Jay Leno Show finished third with 6.77 million viewers and a 2.4/ 7 among adults 18-49
How good a rating do you really expect from a talk show up against new episodes of dramas on CBS and ABC?
And could you explain why the retention for Leno of 69 percent "keeps it on the losers list", while the worse retention for The Forgotten out of Dancing is OK?
NCIS is a monster hit and it can only go higher with weak competition I think from Shark Tank, NCIS:LA did very well and I think if it can retain a decent portion of the lead in then it will get a full season order but I imagine CBS will move it to Sundays or Wednesdays next season to boost those slots. The Good Wife did okay but it wasn't exactly compatible with the two NCIS'.
Originally posted by robert: fantastic numbers for CBS as expected. Good Wife dropped more than i thought out of NCISLA but the half hour breakdown looks very good
Leno a loser? NBC should be thrilled with those numbers
NBC is probably having a party over those numbers for Leno, especially considering the amazing debut ratings for CBS' Good Wife.
CBS had a great night. 20 million for NCIS? Wow. NCIS LA had a good start also. The Good Wife did well, but a 3.1 isn't that great in the demos. It is very old skewing which might be a problem later down the road.
NBC got a decent performance out of Leno. A 2.4 is only 0.2 away from The Forgotten and it tied it at the half. From NBC's viewpoint, if it can pull second in the demos, it isn't a bad position to be in. Tuesdays should be one of Leno's better days. The Biggest Loser did well.
ABC did well with Dancing with the Stars and decently with The Forgotten. However, it is older skewing and the drop at the half is concerning.
FOX got a great performance out of Hell's Kitchen. FOX should consider keeping this for the fall next year.
Melrose Place and 90210 both rated too low for CW. Going under 1.5 million is not good for Melrose Place.
I think that The Biggest Loser and Hell's Kitchen have very similar audiences and hurt each other head to head.
All around good news for CBS. I think NCIS:LA can do as well as The Mentalist did last year, but I think that The Good Wife will drop to non-renewal levels.
ABC's Forgotten numbers looks just like the data for Castle. Since this was a series premiere for Forgotten, I think that it does not bode well for that show to only be on par.
Melrose Place looks like a failure. I doubt star power will save it, but I guess coming in as a late addition to a show you know will fail allows you to get your name out there without getting tied down long term, right Heather?
Glad to see The Good Wife did well. I haven't gotten around to watching it yet, but I'm encouraged by good ratings and reviews. I'm quite ready for more female-lead shows on broadcast; they have become a rare species lately.
Actually, her intent had not been to return to broadcast networks at all. When she was ready to return to work after having a son in 2008, she told her agents to look for a role in cable television.
"Those were the women I could relate to. It seemed like cable was the place to go if you wanted any kind of depth in your character," Margulies said.
Remember the days when working on cable meant the end of your career was in sight. Now it's the place to be, especially for women.
