Prime-Time Ratings:
Wednesday 3/18/09

-Total Viewers:
Fox: 16.55 million, CBS: 11.22, ABC: 6.69, NBC: 4.91, CW: 2.26

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 5.7 rating/16 share, CBS: 2.9/ 8, ABC: 2.8/ 8, NBC: 1.6/ 4, CW: 1.0/ 3

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Lie to Me (Fox), American Idol (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
The Chopping Block (NBC), Scrubs (ABC), Better Off Ted (ABC), Life (NBC), Life on Mars (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Led by American Idol, Fox got over “the hump” in winning fashion, beating second-place CBS by 5.33 million viewers and 2.8 rating points among adults 18-49. Third overall was ABC, followed by NBC and the CW.

American Idol was, of course, the top-rated show of the evening, with 23.07 million viewers and an 8.5 rating/20 share among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. But recently introduced Fox drama Lie To Me, now in the 8 p.m. hour, deserves props for dominating the time period with 10.03 million viewers and a 3.1/10 in the demo. Despite the ongoing success of American Idol, keep in mind that the year-ago telecast was considerably stronger at 26.08 million viewers and a 9.8/25 among adults 18-49 (based on the final nationals on March 19, 2008). As for Mr. TV’s picks, I was right on the mark with Michael Sarver and Alexis Grace. But joining them in the bottom three was 16-year old (going on 50) Allison Iraheta. So long, Alexis!

In series-premiere news, ABC sitcom Better Off Ted disappointed at just 5.64 million viewers and a 2.2/ 6 among adults 18-49 at 8:30 p.m. -- third in both categories. Competing CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried (Viewers: #3, 7.37 million viewers; A18-49: #2, 2.3/ 7) had an advantage of 1.73 million viewers and five percent in the demo. All things considered, did ABC really need a “C” level version of The Office?
Lead-in Scrubs, meanwhile, was similar at 5.80 million viewers (#3) and a 2.2/ 7 in the demo (#2) at 8 p.m.

ABC’s Lost picked up the ratings ball at 9 p.m., with 9.08 million viewers (#3) and a second-place 4.2/10 among adults 18-49. But, let’s be honest…this pales in comparison to its heyday of 20 million. As for the show itself, does anyone have a clue what the heck is going on? I certainly don’t. Axed freshman drama Life on Mars earned its cancellation stripes, meanwhile, with a last-place 5.27 million viewers and a 2.0/ 6 in the demo at 10 p.m.

CBS scored a typical Wednesday with its combination of The New Adventures of Old Christine (Viewers: #2, 7.37 million; A18-49: #3, 2.1/ 7), the aforementioned Gary Unmarried (Viewers: #2, 7.57 million; A18-49: #2, 2.3/ 7), Criminal Minds (Viewers: #2, 13.49 million; A18-49: #3, 3.2/ 8) and CSI: NY (Viewers: #1, 12.70 million; A18-49: #1, 3.3/ 9).

Over at NBC, week two of Hell’s Kitchen wannabe The Chopping Block finished fifth in the 8 p.m. hour, with a mere 3.46 million viewers and a 1.3/ 4 among adults 18-49. Compared to it’s already DOA debut one week earlier (Viewers: 3.77 million; A18-49: 1.4/ 4 on March 11), that was a loss of 310,000 viewers and seven percent in the demo. Next was Life at a series-low 4.22 million viewers (#4) and a 1.5/ 3 among adults 18-49 (#4) at 9 p.m, followed by granddaddy Law & Order second in both total viewers (7.07 million) and adults 18-49 (2.1/ 6) at 10 p.m. Once again, this was not a good evening for NBC. Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

The CW capped off Wednesday with its combination of veteran America’s Next Top Model (Viewers: #4, 3.60 million; A18-49: #4, 1.6/ 5) and a repeat of 90210 (Viewers: #5, 910,000; A18-49: #5, 0.4/ 1), which is completely squandering the lead-in support. Come on CW…you can do better. This is an embarrassment.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

LOM almost beat Law and Order. NBC needs to consider dropping those two lead ins for something else. They always have Friday and Saturday available for burn off.

As much as I hate Scubs, I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

I also take viewers into account, and the CBS comedies have a big advantage.

quote:

Originally posted by mushu_jj:
As much as I hate Scubs, I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

Lost was awesome last night.

That is all.

quote:

ABC’s Lost picked up the ratings ball at 9 p.m., with 9.08 million viewers (#3) and a second-place 4.2/10 among adults 18-49. But, let’s be honest…this pales in comparison to its heyday of 20 million. As for the show itself, does anyone have a clue what the heck is going on? I certainly don’t.

You're still asking that?

Not too much happened last night. It was more of a setting up episode, a calm before the storm.

Young Ben returned! He's sure got the Ben stare down pat.

Interesting scene with Sun and Christian. Something was a stirring there, I think the smoke monster was present.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
ABC’s Lost picked up the ratings ball at 9 p.m., with 9.08 million viewers (#3) and a second-place 4.2/10 among adults 18-49. But, let’s be honest…this pales in comparison to its heyday of 20 million. As for the show itself, does anyone have a clue what the heck is going on? I certainly don’t. Axed freshman drama Life on Mars earned its cancellation stripes, meanwhile, with a last-place 5.27 million viewers and a 2.0/ 6 in the demo at 10 p.m.

Just watch it like you would watch a jigsaw puzzle being put together. You won't know what it looks like until you have all the pieces and they have been put together.

I knew "Ted" was dead in the water.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

Agreed, and I'll be interested in seeing the A18-34 numbers on Scrubs/Ted.

Better Off Ted was one of those shows where I felt like I'd seen the entire pilot in the promos, so I didn't really feel any differently about it than I did about the promos, but I want to see another episode that won't be completely spoiled. I also think it's gonna be another one of those ABC sitcoms that is somewhat enjoyable but rarely manages to be laugh-out-loud funny. (I would put Samantha Who? in that column as well)

Ya and that's certainly fine and fair but the networks don't give a crap about total viewers, which you already know. Law and Order probably isn't a loser because of that lead in though. NBC really needs to fix that 8 to 10 block.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
I also take viewers into account, and the CBS comedies have a big advantage.

quote:

Originally posted by mushu_jj:
As much as I hate Scubs, I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

quote:

Originally posted by spotupj:

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

Agreed, and I'll be interested in seeing the A18-34 numbers on Scrubs/Ted.

Better Off Ted was one of those shows where I felt like I'd seen the entire pilot in the promos, so I didn't really feel any differently about it than I did about the promos, but I want to see another episode that won't be completely spoiled. I also think it's gonna be another one of those ABC sitcoms that is somewhat enjoyable but rarely manages to be laugh-out-loud funny. (I would put Samantha Who? in that column as well)

Agree with that statement. SW is fun to watch but its not necessarily really funny.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

Don't forget, CBS shows are not eligible for the losers list.

quote:

Originally posted by Flanders1:
If Scrubs is a loser for being 2nd in its timeslot, then Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and Law and Order, all beaten by Scrubs,or on the same level, should be on the same list.

All those shows trashed Scrubs in viers so what's your point?

What a loser Better Off Ted was. Looks like ABC will be starting their new era of multi cam sitcoms pretty soon. Heard Will & Grace and Trust Me star Eric McCormack is in a new comedy for the network. Christine and Gary was worth more of my comedy time during that hour.

CSI ny is on fire right now and they have been getting good ratings and getting those viewers from Law and Order the last two weeks.

Lie to Me is the new Bones.