Prime-Time Ratings:
Monday 3/02/09

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 16.13 million, CBS: 12.65, Fox: 11.10, NBC: 6.97, CW: 1.06

-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 5.8 rating/14 share, CBS: 4.1/10, Fox: 3.3/ 8, NBC: 2.7/ 6, CW: 0.5/ 1

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
The Bachelor (ABC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), The Bachelor: After the Final Rose (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
Chuck (NBC), Heroes (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
A night of rejuvenated The Bachelor led ABC to Monday victory, with a hefty first-place finish in both total viewers and adults 18-49. Next was still potent CBS, followed by Fox, NBC and another night of repeats on the CW.

The two-hour season-finale of The Bachelor rose to a season-high 15.46 million viewers and a 5.4 rating/13 share among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m., building by half-hour as follows:

The Bachelor (ABC)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 13.60 million (#1), A18-49: 4.5/11 (#1)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 15.09 million (#1), A18-49: 5.2/13 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 15.65 million (#1), A18-49: 5.6/13 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 17.48 million (#1), A18-49: 6.3/14 (#1)

That led into part one of special The Bachelor: After The Final Rose at an also dominant 17.47 million viewers and a 6.7/16 in the demo at 10 p.m. Part two airs tonight at 10 p.m. Needless to say, the success of veteran The Bachelor is one of the biggest surprises this season.

Aside from CSI: Miami slipping to second at 10 p.m., CBS scored a typically potent Monday, with a No. 2 finish in every half hour. The Big Bang Theory kicked-off the evening with a solid 10.94 million viewers and a 3.9/10 among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m., followed by How I Met Your Mother (Viewers: 11.08 million; A18-49: 4.2/10), Two and a Half Men (Viewers: 15.42 million; A18-49: 4.9/11), the season-premiere of Rules of Engagement (Viewers: 11.86 million; A18-49: 3.9/ 9) and the aforementioned CSI: Miami (Viewers: 13.31 million; A18-49: 3.8/ 9). Retention for Rules of Engagement out of Two and a Half Men was a respectable 77 percent in total viewers and 80 percent in the demo, but this sitcom will bnever be anything more than a time period warmer.

Next up was Fox care of a two-hour edition of 24 at an average 11.10 million viewers and a 3.3/ 8 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:

24 (Fox)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 10.30 million (#3), A18-49: 3.0/ 8 (#3)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 10.52 million (#1), A18-49: 3.1/ 7 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 11.63 million (#1), A18-49: 3.4/ 8 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 11.96 million (#1), A18-49: 3.5/ 8 (#1)

While 24 is not the powerhouse it once was, there is still an audience for it. NBC, however, remains out of the competitive loop on Monday with its combination of Chuck (Viewers: #4, 6.59 million; A18-49: #4, 2.4/ 6), which lost any momentum it once had, Heroes (Viewers: #4, 7.04 million; A18-49: #4, 3.2/ 8), which is one of the fastest declining shows currently on the air, and Medium (Viewers: #3, 7.28 million; A18-49: #3, #3, 2.5/ 6). The only positive for NBC was the growth of 17 percent for Medium out of Heroes.

Last, and very least, were repeats of the CW’s Gossip Girl (Viewers: 1.13 million; A18-49: 0.5/ 1) and One Tree Hill (Viewers: 981,000; A18-49: 0.4/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Shocking numbers for ABC. Crap TV at its best

BBT did well against Bachelor and a surprisingly powerful 24, but i kinda expected more after the series high it had post 21/2 Men

Heroes didn't drop from last week. That's a positive

Heroes is done for. It's really a total shell of what it once was. Was glad to see Hiro and Ando and their obligatory "wacky adventure" wasn't included last night. Oh and WHY AREN'T ANY OF THE HEROES TURNING IN NATHAN FOR BEING ONE OF THEM???

Wow...those Bachelor numbers are unbelievable!

Looks like BBT and HIMYM got a huge boost from House being off this week. Strange for FOX to pull one of its top shows on the first week of sweeps. I'm slightly surprised that BBT didn't pull a 4 in the demo with that many viewers, but it's a solid number nonetheless.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
Heroes didn't drop from last week. That's a positive

It dropped in the 18-49s from a 3.4 to a 3.2. Anyone else willing to get on the "Heroes will be cancelled" bandwagon? The more, the merrier.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EvWill,

quote:

The two-hour season-finale of The Bachelor rose to a season-high 15.46 million viewers and a 5.4 rating/13 share among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m., building by half-hour as follows:

The Bachelor (ABC)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 13.60 million (#1), A18-49: 4.5/11 (#1)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 15.09 million (#1), A18-49: 5.2/13 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 15.65 million (#1), A18-49: 5.6/13 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 17.48 million (#1), A18-49: 6.3/14 (#1)

That led into part one of special The Bachelor: After The Final Rose at an also dominant 17.47 million viewers and a 6.7/16 in the demo at 10 p.m. Part two airs tonight at 10 p.m. Needless to say, the success of veteran The Bachelor is one of the biggest surprises this season.

JESUS CHRIST! Anyone who watches this show and can perhaps explain why this edition of The Bachelor so massively overperformed previous cycles?

Chuck actually got a slight bump in the demo versus previous weeks' fast nationals... that's good considering CBS' comedies were back and the stronger Bachelor.

Looks like Rules of Engagement hasn't really STOPPED CBS' bleeding at 9:30pm, but it's certainly doing better than Worst Week. 80% is respectable out of a hit like Two and a Half Men.

24's 8pm hour was pretty weak in the demo. The show is experiencing its midseason ratings decline right on schedule.

Wow! Medium lost over a million viewers from last week, and it still beat Heroes and Chuck. That's great for Medium, but sad for Chuck and Heroes. I would say it's time to let these two go, but what else does NBC have? Kinda sad, really. It's a shame that the network has fallen so far that even these numbers look good to them. Or that the highest rated shows on the network are reality shows. I mean, come on, that's just braindead programming. Medium is a great show and deserves to be on a network where it can really get the audience it deserves.

I can't believe NBC will be willing to renew a show as expensive as Heroes with those numbers. If Adrian Pasdar weren't so damned rugged, I'd be outta there. Believe me, I'm not watching for the intellectual stimulation.

quote:

Originally posted by Smooty:
Wow...those Bachelor numbers are unbelievable!

Looks like BBT and HIMYM got a huge boost from House being off this week. Strange for FOX to pull one of its top shows on the first week of sweeps. I'm slightly surprised that BBT didn't pull a 4 in the demo with that many viewers, but it's a solid number nonetheless.

BBT and HIMYM were actually right in line with their last originals in the usual timeslots, with House against them and a weaker/non-finale Bachelor.

Fox didn't sit House out for the first week of sweeps. Sweeps doesn't start until this Thursday. They also have 24 hours of 24 to air by the end (ish) of May sweeps, so, like previous "non-stop" seasons, there needed to be a mid-season two-hour night. And judging from chatter about last night's episode, it's actually got some decent buzz going for it into sweeps.

Rules of engagement did okay last night, but I must admit I was a little disappointed. With all the promotion CBS was running for the show, and people happy to see it coming back I thought it would do better. Its numbers are okay, but they should have been better.

24 at 9pm was on par with recent weeks, so the only "slump" was at 8pm.

MEDIUM - 7.28mm, 2.5 So this is an older skewing show?

THE BACHELOR - did you ever think the other nets would actually be glad to see DWTS returning?

quote:

Originally posted by galveston:
Heroes is done for. It's really a total shell of what it once was. Was glad to see Hiro and Ando and their obligatory "wacky adventure" wasn't included last night. Oh and WHY AREN'T ANY OF THE HEROES TURNING IN NATHAN FOR BEING ONE OF THEM???

Because the characters care even less about the plot than the writers do?

Since my wife is a Bachelor/Bachelorette watcher, and I've watched a few of the recent "tournaments," I can try and explain why this version seemed to be such a hit.

Going into the season, I think Jason Mesnick (this season's "Bachelor") was probably the most sympathetic "title character" the show has seen since Trista Rehn. He's a divorcee and single dad who, IMO, was the fan favorite of the most recent Bachelorette. He came off on TV as not having an ego, and was portrayed as more of a "regular guy" than recent Bachelors (and we've had an NFL QB, Jerry O'Connell's brother, a military man and a British expatriate as recent Bachelors). You could feel for this guy more than, say, Jesse Palmer or Charlie O'Connell.

As far as the Bachelorettes go, I think only one truly stuck out -- Stephanie, the widowed mother from Alabama. To be honest, I still couldn't tell you who Melanie or Molly are if you put them in a lineup.

Also, ABC did a strong, albeit annoying job, in promoting the show in terms of what to expects. They managed to drop plenty of hints about the show's future without managing to spoil it, and I think the "red herring" of DeAnna Pappas appearing in the last episode (and basically doing squat) fooled a lot of viewers.

Overall, I think Jason came off as the show's everyman, someone with doubt and honesty about the decisions he makes, and it was that presentation that hooked viewers again to the show.

(Note: I read about the GREATEST TWIST IN BACHELOR HISTORY a week ahead thanks to the Web, so I didn't bat an eye when I saw it. My wife, OTOH, was calling and AIMing everybody and anybody )

Although the show is not my cup of tea, I do like the hosting of Chris Harrison. I'd love to see ABC or another network challenge him with a project that's a few brain cells higher than Bachelor, perhaps a WWTBAM-style game show.

quote:

Originally posted by mediumfan:
Wow! Medium lost over a million viewers from last week, and it still beat Heroes and Chuck.

I think Pt 1 of the Bachelor After-Show took a chunk out of Medium.

It's a sad day for tlevesion when Bachelor gets 15 millions and Heroes gest half of that. So sad, and i don't even like Heroes