Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 1/03/08

The following results are based on the fast affiliate ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)

-Total Viewers:
Fox: 11.33 million, NBC: 11.30, CBS: 10.88, ABC: 5.42, CW: 2.18

-Adults 18-49:
NBC and Fox: 4.0 rating/10 share each, CBS: 2.6/ 7, ABC: 1.8/ 5, CW: 0.8/ 2

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Note: Any prior rating results are based on the final nationals. Also, since the level of DVR penetration has increased from 9 percent in early 2006-07 to approximately 20 percent at present, the overall results may be negatively impacted.

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Deal or No Deal (NBC), Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas (Fox), Celebrity Apprentice (NBC), CSI R (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Nothing – with so many repeats there were no losers!

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-Ratings Breakdown:
NBC and Fox shared bragging rights on this first Thursday of 2008. Fox was the most-watched network, inching past NBC by just 30,000 viewers, and the two networks were tied among adults 18-49. Third overall was CBS, followed by ABC and Fox.

Another edition of NBC’s Deal or No Deal (overkill alert!) was the most-watched show at 8 p.m., with 13.31 million viewers and second among adults 18-49, with a 3.7 rating/10 share in the demo. Worth repeating from this morning’s PI: Although it is not too often that I comment about “the banker,” I thought breaking that contestant’s piggy bank was totally uncalled for. As silly as that sounds, she was hoping to raise money for college for her late brother’s children and bashing in her good luck charm was not humorous. I think this woman should be called back to play again, don’t you?

Leading out of Deal or No Deal was the season-premiere of Celebrity Apprentice, with a healthy 11.00 million viewers (#3) and a first-place 4.5/12 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Did you hear that, Donald Trump? -- first-place in the demo. Calling Larry King…the Donald needs to book an appearance to tell everyone he is number one!

Last, and least, on NBC was veteran ER, with 9.59 million viewers (#3) and a 3.6/10 among adults 18-49 (#2) at 10 p.m. The return of Gloria Ruben reminded you of how good the show once was, didn’t it?

Over at Fox, Virginia Tech versus Kansas on The Orange Bowl scored an approximate 11.33 million viewers (#1) and a 4.0/10 among adults 18-49 (#1t) in prime-time. One year earlier, The Orange Bowl (Wake Forest vs. Louisville) averaged a similar 10.66 million viewers and a 3.8/10 in the demo on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007.

CBS opened the evening with a repeat of Without a Trace (Viewers: #4, 8.49 million; A18-49: #3, 1.8/ 5), followed by a repeat of CSI (Viewers: #1, 13.49 million; A18-49: #3, 3.4/ 8) and another encore telecast of Without a Trace (Viewers: #2, 10.67; A18-49: #3, 2.6/ 7). The unfortunate reality of this ongoing writers strike is that dreaded word repeat.

ABC’s non-original combination of Ugly Betty (Viewers: #4, 5.06 million; A18-49: #4, 1.5/ 4), Grey’s Anatomy (Viewers: #4, 6.10 million; A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 5) and Desperate Housewives (Viewers: #4, 5.11 million; A18-49: #4, 1.9/ 5) could not compete. And repeats of the CW’s Smallville (Viewers: 2.37 million; A18-49: 0.9/ 2) and Supernatural (Viewers: 1.99 million; A18-49: 0.8/ 2) capped off the evening in the very distant No. 5 spot. So what else is new?

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Can we please get a breakdown on the Fox football game (at least hourly)?

In the style of Carnac to the Banker about the piggybank: "May you park in Hellga's space the day she's PMSing"

...but it worked unfortunately...we knew someone was gonna get stuck with the penny (and I'd frame the check instead of cashing it- it'll be a family heirloom)...

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Leading out of Deal or No Deal was the season-premiere of Celebrity Apprentice, with a healthy 11.00 million viewers (#3) and a first-place 4.5/12 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Did you hear that, Donald Trump? -- first-place in the demo. Calling Larry King…the Donald needs to book an appearance to tell everyone he is number one!

Not just #1 in the timeslot, but #1 for the whole night by a solid margin. Look on the horizon, that is Trump's ego growing.

If Apprentice had done 5 mil and a 1.0 demo, Trump would have still said it was #1.

But props to the show... biggest # for that franchise in quite some time... I think Omarosa being around didn't hurt.

Though NBC got some flak for actually underexposing Deal in the fall (showing it only on Friday nights for about two months) the strategy is now paying off for them in spades, as the franchise has remained strong through December and into January.

An extremely impressive premiere week continues for NBC, but keep in mind they also had a pretty impressive fall premiere week, with huge openings for Heroes, BW, and football. Heroes then dropped and BW completely died. It might seem like veterans Biggest Loser, L&O, and Apprentice would hold up better than those fall shows, but we will see.

Nice to see a year-to-year gain for the Orange Bowl, though the team I was rooting for didn't do so well.

Interesting to note that the CBS encores outrated the ABC encores by 109% in viewers, but only 44% in the demo.

That good number gathered up by Mr. Trump (though next week, it will dive, unless NBC pre-empts) will probably mean that his Apprentice stays put Thursdays at 9 pm, which means NBC will probably break up their 'Comedy Done Right Night' block of four sitcoms going forward. If two comedies stay on Thursdays (say at 8-9 pm), where will the other comedies go?

quote:

Originally posted by Obveeus:

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Leading out of Deal or No Deal was the season-premiere of Celebrity Apprentice, with a healthy 11.00 million viewers (#3) and a first-place 4.5/12 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Did you hear that, Donald Trump? -- first-place in the demo. Calling Larry King…the Donald needs to book an appearance to tell everyone he is number one!

Not just #1 in the timeslot, but #1 for the whole night by a solid margin. Look on the horizon, that is Trump's ego growing.

"nani nani nani ......... the #1 show - The Apprentice."

If I recall yesterday everyone was talking about how bad CBS did with a 1.9 average. Well, then kudos today for ABc's powerful 1.8.

Trump was crushed by a CSI repeat. What's with all the praises on this forum?

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
Trump was crushed by a CSI repeat. What's with all the praises on this forum?

It's all relative, I suppose. Looking at how Apprentice did the last few seasons, NBC will certainly look at the #s as a success.

Not in the 18-49 demo.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
Trump was crushed by a CSI repeat. What's with all the praises on this forum?

quote:

Originally posted by dumont:
Interesting to note that the CBS encores outrated the ABC encores by 109% in viewers, but only 44% in the demo.

Also interesting to note: CSI retained 55% of it's season average in the demo while GA retained only 26%

quote:

Originally posted by xwiseguyx:
Not in the 18-49 demo.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
Trump was crushed by a CSI repeat. What's with all the praises on this forum?

OK, then probably Trump also crushed CSI among his family members.

Celebrity: Apprentice did open up bigger than I expected. That being said, I have a feeling that the numbers are going to drop off in the future. People just wanted to see what would happen and the feedback isn't exactly the best on the boards for this show. On the upside, it will still perform better than Life, Bionic Woman, and Journeyman ever would so it will stick around. If the numbers even come close to holding for their mid-season shows, it just provides futher evidence to dump their four failed fall new shows and never looks back.

I disagree with CSI repeat crushing Trump. NBC would gladly give up 2 Million in the overall for a 12 share vs an 8 share in the demo. A 4.5/12 for a branded reality show on NBC during a writers strike is success by any measure.