-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC)
-Ratings Breakdown: With American Idol at the helm, Fox reigned supreme on this atypical Tuesday populated with The State of the Union Address. The must see mega reality/competition opened the evening with a stellar 31.17 million viewers and a 12.6 rating/32 share among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. Comparably, that beat the four competing networks combined in both categories. Last Tuesday, the two-hour season-premiere of American Idol scored 36.94 million viewers and a 15.8/36 in the demo based on the final nationals.
Although nothing can come close to the American Idol stream-roller, honorable mention goes to CBS’ competing NCIS with a still comfortable (and second-place) 14.33 million viewers and a 3.3/ 8 among adults 18-49. Third in the hour was NBC’s older-skewing Dateline (Viewers: 6.17 million; A18-49: 1.8/ 4), followed by veteran America’s Funniest Home Videos on ABC (Viewers: 5.15 million; A18-49: 1.4/ 3) and the CW’s Gilmore Girls (Viewers: #5, 3.65 million; A18-49: #4, 1.7/ 4) sharing the No. 4 and 5 spots. Most negatively impacted opposite American Idol: America’s Funniest Home Videos.
At 9 p.m., The State of the Union Address, which will not be rated nationally, performed as follows. Keep in mind, of course, that fast national results for any live event are always approximate (and part of Fox's results could include American Idol).
State of the Union Address Tuesday 9-10 p.m. Fox – Viewers: 10.49 million, A18-49: 4.3/11 NBC – Viewers: 8.52 million, A18-49: 2.6/ 6 CBS – Viewers: 8.43 million, A18-49: 2.1/ 5 ABC – Viewers: 7.02 million, A18-49: 2.1/ 5
Fox, no doubt, had the advantage because of lead-in American Idol.
To the fans of the CW’s Veronica Mars anxiously waiting to see if airing opposite President Bush would be beneficial, results were above average, but far from spectacular. Veronica Mars averaged 3.29 million viewers with a 1.5/ 4 among adults 18-49 (last in both categories), with retention out of lead-in Gilmore Girls of an improved 90 percent in total viewers and 88 percent among adults 18-49. Comparatively, Veronica Mars was up from its season to-date average by 770,000 viewers (2.52 to 3.29 million), 36 percent in adults 18-49 (1.1/ 3 to 1.5/ 4) and 15 percent among key adults 18-34 (1.3/ 4 to 1.5/ 4). While this is all good, the true test will come this spring when the network airs five consecutive self-contained episodes.
The approximate half-hour response to the State of the Union Address at 10 p.m. scored 7.88 million viewers with a 2.4/ 6 among adults 18-49 on NBC. CBS averaged 6.11 million viewers and a 1.5/ 4 among adults 18-49, and ABC 5.83 million viewers and a 1.7/ 5 in the demo. CBS and NBC aired sitcom repeats at 10:30 p.m., with NBC’s The Office at 5.05 million viewers and a 1.9/ 5 among adults 18-49, and the Eye net’s Two and a Half Men at 5.12 million viewers and a 1.4/ 4 in the demo. An additional half-hour of news on ABC notched 5.51 million viewers and a 1.4/ 4 among adults 18-49 at 10:30 p.m.
I'd have called it a very minor victory for VM if it had kept all of its GG lead-in, or improved slightly from it. And given GG's competition (and overall season-long woes), that shouldn't have been an impossible task for a show up against the SOTU and a MyNetwork soap.
But apparently it was.
2.6 is well below the survival point for GG, but it should rebound a bit in the coming weeks. It better rebound a lot. Though considering how flat-out bad the show has been, I'm not sure it even deserves the audience it had last night.
I like Veronica Mars, but I would have labeled its performance last night as disappointing. It should have been able to get a lot more viewers than it got. It didn't even beat its season best of 3.49! If I was a CW exec, VM would not be on next years schedule.
This was by far one of the easiest nights of young adult competition EVER for Veronica Mars and the show did horribly, after being spoonfed the opportunity to grab more viewers. Only 3.29 million? HUMILIATING!!! I don't care about retention...3.65 million for GG was also an embarassment. Clearly former GG fans have turned over to AI.
I can pretty much make this official in my own eyes - Veronica Mars is dead. It should've at least pulled a series high last night (3.5 million).
Well, I've made my amends and just hope that somehow the stand-alone episodes aren't as terrible a mistake as I'm mentally prepared for them to be... and then the sun will set on Neptune for good come May 22nd.
I know that's what was being referred to, and obviously AI hurt GG, but that doesn't mean that all GG fans have switched over to AI. I wouldn't watch GG now if everything else was a test pattern. And I LOVED that show. Deeply. Religiously. Too much to watch its tawdry death throes.
I was watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report rebroadcasts in that hour last night. And if I'd already seen them, I might have kind of half-watched NCIS. But not AI. I like being different. It's my thing.
