APRIL 25, 2008
The Programming Insider
Marc Berman
Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
CBS Wins; ABC Expected to Dominate Among Adults 18-49
Thursday 4/24/08
Household Rating/Share
CBS: 9.2/15
ABC: 8.0/13
Fox: 5.4/ 9
NBC: 4.6/ 7
CW: 2.2/ 3
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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, April 26, 2007)
Fox: +12, ABC: -11, NBC: -10, CBS: -12, CW: -21
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Note: The fast affiliate results for Thursday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Thursday, April 24, 2008.
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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Survivor: Micronesia (CBS), CSI (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Without a Trace (CBS), Lost (ABC)
-Honorable Mention:
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox), The Office (NBC)
-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
Let’s see what happens when the fast affiliate results are posted at PIFeedback.com (adults 18-49, in particular). But hovering towards the list of losers is NBC’s Scrubs and 30 Rock; and the CW’s Supernatural.
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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS dominated this first night of the May 2008 sweeps in the overnights, beating second-place ABC by 10 percent. But ABC is the network to beat among adults 18-49 once the fast affiliate results are posted at PIFeedback.com. Third overall in the metered markets was Fox, followed by once unstoppable NBC (remember those days?), and lowly the CW. Only Fox was up year-to-year.
CBS’ perennial Survivor: Micronesia (6.9 rating/12 share) opened the evening on a winning note, outdelivering the return of ABC’s Ugly Betty (#2: 6.4/10) by eight percent. Both hours were down year-to-year: Survivor: Micronesia by 12 percent (6.9/12 vs. 7.8/13 on April 26, 2007) and Ugly Betty by 19 percent (6.4/10 vs. 7.9/13). Wasn’t it frustrating to see naïve Jason not use the immunity idol last night? With the women in obvious control, my pick to go all the way is Cirie.
Also airing in the 8 p.m. hour was the first half of an expanded edition of Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (#3: 5.3/ 9), NBC’s My Name is Earl (#4: 4.3/ 7) and the relocated Scrubs (#4: 3.7/ 6), and the CW’s Smallville (#5: 2.7/ 5). One look at Scubs and there is absolutely no reason for ABC to potentially be putting this on its schedule next season.
The 9 p.m. hour featured the return of the battle of CBS’ CSI versus Grey’s Anatomy on ABC in originals. CSI was first in the overnights (11.4/15), 11 percent above Grey’s Anatomy (10.3/16). But Grey’s Anatomy will, of course, dominate among adults 18-49. Year-to-year, both dramas remain on the downside: CSI by 12 percent in the overnights last night (11.4/15 vs. 13.0/20 on April 26, 2007) and Grey’s Anatomy by 23 percent (10.3/16 vs. 13.3/20).
Third in the 9 p.m. hour was the second half of Fox’s expanded Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (5.5/ 8), followed by NBC’s The Office (4.8/ 7) and relocated 30 Rock (3.8/ 6), and the CW’s fading Supernatural (1.8/ 3). Since The Office always manages to score among adults 18-49, keep an eye on it when the fast affiliate results are posted at PIFeedback.com. But a loss of 21 percent in the overnights for 30 Rock at 9:30 p.m. is disappointing. Overall, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? averaged a healthy 5.4/ 9 from 8-10 p.m.
As for The Office, I watched it again last night and really enjoyed it. For more of my thoughts, listen to today’s PIPodcast at
www.marcberman.tv.
CBS’ Without a Trace led the 10 p.m. hour, with a 9.6/16 in the overnights. Second was ABC’s relocated Lost at a 7.4/12. But Lost will indeed hold a hefty advantage among adults 18-49 over older skewing Without a Trace. Third was NBC’s veteran ER at a 5.7/10. Times have certainly changed!
If GA's 23% drop is confirmed in the fast nationals, that would mean 15.5 million.
