Friday 10/17/08

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 7.94 million, NBC: 6.81, ABC: 5.73, Fox: 5.29, CW: 1.56

-Adults 18-49:
CBS: 2.2 rating/7 share, ABC: 1.9/ 6, NBC: 1.6/ 5, Fox: 1.4/ 5, CW: 0.7/ 2

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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), Numb3rs (CBS) – “winning” shows on Friday don’t even average 9 million viewers anymore.




-Friday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Crusoe (NBC), Wife Swap (ABC), Everybody Hates Chris (CW), The Game (CW), Supernanny (ABC), Life (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Despite the highly promoted two-episode launch of NBC’s Crusoe, CBS won Friday, beating the No. 2 network (NBC in total viewers, ABC in adults 18-49) by 1.13 million viewers and 16 percent among adults 18-49. Fourth overall in both categories was Fox, followed by lowly the CW.

NBC’s Crusoe debuted with a modest 7.26 million viewers (#2) and a 1.6 rating/5 share (#3) among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Crusoe (NBC)
8:00 p.m. - Viewers: 6.85 million (#2), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#3t)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 6.62 million (#2), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#3)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 7.79 million (#1), A18-49: 1.7/ 6 (#3)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 7.67 million (#1), A18-49: 1.7/ 5 (#3)

Although Crusoe deserves credit for winning the 9 p.m. hour in total viewers, the lackluster results among adults 18-49 means this is an older skewing drama. And NBC, unfortunately, has little interest in the 50+ crowd. Given the promotion, this is a losing start for Crusoe.

CBS’ Ghost Whisperer remains the show to beat at 8 p.m., with 8.87 million viewers and a 2.5/ 9 among adults 18-49. Also in the hour was a repeat of Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Viewers: #3, 5.08 million; A18-49: #4, 1.4/ 5), Wife Swap on ABC (Viewers: #4, 4.99 million; A18-49: #2, 1.7/ 4), and the CW’s losing combination of Everybody Hates Chris (Viewers: #5, 1.79 million; A18-49: #5, 0.7/ 3) and The Game (Viewers: #5, 1.81 million; A18-49: #5, 0.8/ 3). It’s a shame more people did not see Everybody Hates Chris because the spoof on The Cosby Show was a riot.

Leadership was tied at 9 p.m. between week three of CBS’ goofy The Ex List (Viewers: #2, 6.35 million; A18-49: #1, 2.0/ 6) and the second half of NBC’s aforementioned Crusoe (Viewers: #1, 7.73 million; A18-49: #3, 1.7/ 6). Although The Ex List did build slightly from one week earlier (Viewers: 5.60 million; A18-49: 1.9/ 6 on Oct. 10), let’s be honest: this show is going nowhere.

Also in the 9 p.m. hour was another repeat of Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Viewers: #3, 5.50 million; A18-49: #4, 1.5/ 5), Supernanny on ABC (Viewers: #4, 5.34 million; A18-49: #2, 1.8/ 6), and a repeat of America’s Next Top Model on the CW (Viewers: #5, 1.33 million; A18-49: #5, 0.6/ 2).

CBS’ veteran Numb3rs dominated the 10 p.m. hour, with 8.60 million viewers and a 2.1/ 7 among adults 18-49. Second was ABC’s 20/20 (Viewers: 6.87 million; A18-49: 2.0/ 6), followed by NBC’s struggling Life (Viewers: #3, 5.93 million; A18-49: #3, 1.5/ 5), which never have been given a second season. The sad reality of Friday is it could morph into a wasteland similar to Saturday if the networks eventually give up hope.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Crusoe actually did decent in terms of viewership, but that demo is too low.

Crusoe actually did very well in viewers. NBC will be happy with 7.73 million.

Ex-List, despite going up slightly, is still too low. The fact that it is second place in viewers two weeks in a row when the other two CBS shows are first in viewers needs to be fixed ASAP. It's still dragging down Numbers. It needs to be replaced by Flashpoint by November sweeps.

Life got a viewership increase from Crusoe. Almost 6 million is not bad. NBC has to be patient and see how it responds when NBC's Friday schedule is in place.

To be honest, demos are not going to be high for any network. Viewership is what is going to be important in looking at Friday's ratings.

Wife Swap/Supernanny is stabilizing.

I'm very surprised with Wifeswap/Supernanny

I think NBC was expecting better numbers for Crusoe.

Not a bad start for Crusoe. These are atleast decent numbers for a Friday. And it grew at each hour (probably because Ghost Whisperer finished).

Is it's regular timeslot 8PM or 9PM?

ABC: Finally some good news. Kudos to all three programs for doing decently, at least in the demo.

CBS: The Ex List deserves kudos for week to week growth. GW was down week to week by a decent amount and sadly, Numb3rs appears to be losing its edge at 10pm. Perhaps Life is taking some audience away?

Crusoe: Not a terrible premiere but this show has not where to go but down. Life did manage some week to week gains but the lead in was improved though too.

Fox: 5th Grader repeats did better than the new episodes did recently. Strange. I still say this needs to return to Thursday along with Lyrics and Kitchen Nightmares moving to Wednesdays. Movies or burn off of Til Death and Hole in the Wall/Moment of Truth for Friday.

CW: results aren't good but better than what they were on Sundays last year.

quote:

Originally posted by Lost_Dom:
Not a bad start for Crusoe. These are atleast decent numbers for a Friday. And it grew at each hour (probably because Ghost Whisperer finished).

Is it's regular timeslot 8PM or 9PM?

9:00 pm

quote:

Originally posted by Lost_Dom:
Not a bad start for Crusoe. These are atleast decent numbers for a Friday. And it grew at each hour (probably because Ghost Whisperer finished).

Is it's regular timeslot 8PM or 9PM?

9pm behind DOND.

Crusoe was supposed to be 8 PM but it got moved to 9 PM. DOND 8 PM, Crusoe 9 PM, Life 10 PM.

I would be happy with these numebrs but just like WMC the demos are too low for the network to be happy

Ex-List not that bad. It's not the disaster i thought. It does better in demos than Moonlight so i guess CBS will air all the 13 episodes ordered.

It's a combination of Life and the fact that it has had two terrible lead ins in Moonlight and now Ex-List. The fact that it is still able to gain 2 million in viewers from Ex-List is amazing. It could do so much better with a compatible lead in.

quote:

Originally posted by mushu_jj:
Numb3rs appears to be losing its edge at 10pm. Perhaps Life is taking some audience away?

They should have never canceled Womens Murder Club.

quote:

Originally posted by Walter:
They should have never canceled Womens Murder Club.

Wifeswap and Supernanny are having better demo numbers.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
I would be happy with these numebrs but just like WMC the demos are too low for the network to be happy

Ex-List not that bad. It's not the disaster i thought. It does better in demos than Moonlight so i guess CBS will air all the 13 episodes ordered.

I see them givint The X-List a back 9 episodes and finding her man in the series finale.

Ex-List needs to be gone. its pulling down the entire night. Ghost Whisperer and especially Numbers should be doing at least a million more viewers.

Crusoe actually wasn't bad - total viewers were good, actually about the same that Knight Rider premiered to. The demo was lower, though, but its a Friday night - how mucb was NBC expecting? And congrats to Life - it had a good demo and went up from last week. It's a pretty stable show on Friday nights for the network.

ABC, also congrats - they did good finally with their reality combination, and 20/20. FOX needs a change badly. I was really expecting them to move 5th Grader and Lyrics back to Thursday nights. Seriously, FOX always did respectable on Thursdays against the tough competition - 5th Grader could always pull a respectable 8-10 million viewers, and Lyrics would do the same, a bit lower against CSI and GA. But now, Hole in the Wall can only manage 3 million, and Kitchen Nightmares would do much better on Wednesday nights. FOX needs to make some changes before the year is over!