-Adults 18-49: CBS: 4.2 rating/11 share, ABC: 3.7/10, NBC: 3.4/ 9, Fox and CW: 1.4/ 4 each
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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, October 18, 2007): NBC: - 5, CBS: - 8, ABC: -15, CW: -17, Fox: -74
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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, October 16, 2008.
-Honorable Mention: The Office (NBC), SNL Weekend Update (NBC)
-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): My Name is Earl (NBC), Kath & Kim (NBC), Hole in the Wall (Fox), Life on Mars (ABC)
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-Ratings Breakdown: CBS dominated Thursday, beating second-place ABC (which took a hit as a result of Life on Mars) by 4.16 million viewers and 14 percent among adults 18-49. Third overall was NBC, while Fox and the CW tied for the number four and five positions.
CBS’ veteran Survivor: Gabon opening the evening on a winning note, with 12.88 million viewers and a 4.2 rating/12 share among adults 18-49. One year earlier, Survivor: China averaged 14.03 million viewers and a 4.6/13 in the demo. Next was ABC’s deteriorating Ugly Betty (Viewers: #2, 8.21 million; A18-49: 2.6/ 8), which dipped by 1.63 million viewers and 19 percent among adults 18-49 from one year earlier. Third overall were NBC sitcoms My Name is Earl (Viewers: 6.54 million; A18-49: 2.6/ 8) and Kath & Kim (Viewers: 6.01 million; A18-49: 2.5/ 7), followed by the CW’s aging Smallville (Viewers: 4.15 million; A18-49: 1.7/ 5), and two episodes of Fox clinker Hole in the Wall (Viewers: avg. 3.62 million; A18-49: 1.4/ 4). Compared to its week-ago debut, Kath & Kim dropped by a sizeable 1.51 million viewers (7.52 to 6.01 million) and 22 percent among adults 18-49 (3.2/ 9 to 2.5/ 7). Am I the only one who can’t stand Molly Shannon?
Leadership at 9 p.m. was split between CBS’ CSI and Grey’s Anatomy on ABC as follows:
Part of that erosion can be attributed to SNL Weekend Update on NBC, which fits like a glove out of lead-in The Office. Too bad it’s not a regularly scheduled series.
NBC/Thursday 9:00 p.m. The Office – Viewers: 8.07 million (#3); A18-49: 4.1/10 (#3) 9:30 p.m. SNL Weekend Update – Viewers: 8.61 million (#3), A18-49: 4.1/10 (#3)
Capping off the 9 p.m. hour was a repeat of Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares (Viewers: #4, 3.45 million; A18-49: #4, 1.4/ 3) and Supernatural on the CW (Viewers: #5, 3.06 million; A18-49: #5, 1.2/ 3).
Leadership at 10 p.m. was also split, but it was between week two of CBS’ Eleventh Hour and the departure of Maura Tierney on NBC’s ER as follows:
ER (NBC) Viewers: 8.81 million (#2), A18-49: 3.5/10 (#1)
The positive news for Eleventh Hour was growth from it’s week-ago debut of 670,000 viewers (with a flat performance among adults 18-49). Week two of ABC’s Life on Mars (Viewers: #3, 8.47 million; A18-49: #3, 2.7/ 7) was not as fortunate, dipping by a significant 2.86 million viewers (11.33 to 8.47 million) and 27 percent in the demo (3.7/10 to 2.7/ 7) from one week earlier. Also concerning for Life on Mars was a loss in the second half-hour of 1.42 million viewers (9.18 to 7.76) and 20 percent among adults 18-49 (3.0/ 8 to 2.4/ 7). It looks like the 1970s is not so cool after all.
Week two of ABC’s Life on Mars (Viewers: #3, 8.47 million; A18-49: #3, 2.7/ 7) was not as fortunate, dipping by a significant 2.86 million viewers (11.33 to 8.47 million) and 27 percent in the demo (3.7/10 to 2.7/ 7) from one week earlier. Also concerning for Life on Mars was a loss in the second half-hour of 1.42 million viewers (9.18 to 7.76) and 20 percent among adults 18-49 (3.0/ 8 to 2.4/ 7). It looks like the 1970s is not so cool after all.
UGH! So the horrible Eleventh Hour grows but this great show crashes? Sick of CBS's shows winning everywhere regardless.
I expected a smaller drop for CSI. The Sarah Palin will guest on SNL rumor could have bumped the weekend update viewers up.
ABC is in deep trouble. PD needs canceling, UB is sinking, LOM is going down, GA is eroding. Other than the Sunday lineup and DTWS do they have anything else consistent?
Smallville may be "aging" but it still delivers in ways most of the rest of the CW line-up can't. I think the improvement over last week is a good thing, and a bit of a surprise, especially because I know some fan groups were really turned off by the episode last week and I don't think they came back.
Really too bad about Life on Mars going down. I really enjoyed the first episode - and wasn't expecting to, since the L.A.-based pilot bored me and I really liked the original with John Simm. Hopefully word of mouth will bring this one back up a bit.
Can I ask something? how you pass from a Smallville 2.8/5 to a Smallville 1.7/5 last week was kind of underatnadable cause it was 2.9 to 2.6 but from 2.8 to 1.7??
Okay, so here is my theory on LOM's decline (darnit) vs. EH improvement.
I think LOM and EH have a similar audience (although I have absolutely no interest in watching EH) and as we know LOM did better than EH last week in the ratings, so I am wondering if some people who watched LOM last week wanted to just give EH a chance this week to try and see which show they would rather watch live and which show they would rather record.
I've always thought you should probably wait atleast 3 weeks before making a complete judgement on a show's ratings for this reason alone. Also, another thing to consider, I think is you hear so many people say that after the first week that they aren't sure about a show, but that they'll give it a second try in week 2 which means you have to wait until week 3 to see how many people have truly stuck around ... does that make sense?).
