Prime-Time Ratings:
Monday 5/05/08

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

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 13.03 million, CBS: 11.27, Fox: 10.69, NBC: 8.75, CW: 2.16

-Adults 18-49:
CBS and Fox: 3.8 rating/10 share each, ABC: 3.4/ 9, NBC: 2.6/ 7, CW: 1.0/ 3

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Note: Any prior rating results are based on the final nationals. Since the level of DVR penetration has increased from 13 percent at this same point last year to approximately 23 percent at present, the overall results may be negatively impacted.

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Two and a Half Men (CBS), House (Fox), CSI: Miami (CBS)

-Disappointing:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Samantha Who? (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
Gossip Girl (CW), One Tree Hill (CW), The Bachelor: The Women Tell All (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was a three-way tie for Monday leadership, with ABC the most-watched network and CBS and Fox tied for No. 1 among adults 18-49 -- 12 percent above third-place ABC. NBC and the CW capped off the evening in the fourth and fifth-place positions, respectively.

ABC’s Dancing With the Stars was the most-watched show of the evening, with 17.89 million viewers and a 4.2 rating/12 share among adults 18-49 from 8-9:30 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 16.28 million (#1), A18-49: 3.7/12 (#1)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 18.39 million (#1), A18-49: 4.3/12 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 19.00 million (#1), A18-49: 4.6/12 (#2)

While I would like to see Christian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke depart tonight (word of advice: never approach Cheryl at a party), sadly it is time for bubbly Marissa Jaret Winokur to bid adieu.

Dancing With the Stars led into sitcom Samantha Who? (Viewers: #4, 10.53 million; A18-49: #3, 3.0/ 7 at 9:30 p.m.), followed by The Women Tell All edition of tired The Bachelor: London Calling at a last-place 6.99 million viewers and a 2.4/ 7 among adults 18-49 at 10 p.m. Retention for Samantha Who? out of the last half-hour of Dancing With the Stars was just 55 percent in total viewers and 65 percent among adults 18-49. Speaking of Samantha Who?, here is a prediction: Christina Applegate will win the Emmy next fall for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She is reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore, isn’t she?

CBS had a typical Monday with its combination of The Big Bang Theory (Viewers: #3, 7.56 million; A18-49: #2, 2.8/ 9), How I Met Your Mother (Viewers: #3, 8.35 million; A18-49: #2, 3.5/10), Two and a Half Men (Viewers: #2, 13.50 million; A18-49: #1, 4.8/12), Rules of Engagement (Viewers: #3, 10.52 million; A18-49: #2, 3.9/ 9) and CSI: Miami (Viewers: #1, 13.86 million; A18-49: #1, 4.0/11), which is not the same powerhouse it once was.

Fox was on the map courtesy of Bones (Viewers: #2, 8.13 million; A18-49: #2, #3, 2.7/ 8) and declining hit House (Viewers: #2, 13.26; A18-49: #1, 5.0/13) from 8-10 p.m. And next was NBC with another two-hour edition of Deal or No Deal (Viewers: 8.36 million; A18-49: 2.5/ 6 from 8-10 p.m.), which was telecast from the Philippines, and Medium (Viewers: #2, 9.54 million; A18-49: #2, 3.2/ 8), which is returning in 2008-09 in midseason. But the CW continues to lag with its revised Monday combination of Gossip Girl (Viewers: #5, 2.11 million; A18-49: #5, 1.0/ 3) and One Tree Hill (Viewers: #5, 2.20 million; A18-49: #5, 1.0/ 3). Sorry CW, but with ratings this low the young female demographics cannot be good.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

OTH really needs to move back to Tuesdays. WOW does better against Idol than House.

House fell a good margin from last week, but it's still a hit.

The Bachelor continues to struggle -- perhaps a move to Friday or the summer may help?

Big Bang may need a new home to help revitalize it.

And Gossip Girl remains the show that gets online buzz, yet no one watches.

You know Marc, while I'd love to see Big Bang Theory do better, after seeing how 8pm shows have been doing lately (especially those that rely on the demo) I'm not overly disappointed by these results. The weather is very nice outside here and I just think its going to be very hard to get people to view 8pm programs at this time of year.

Kudos to HIMYM, 2.5 Men, Medium, One Tree Hill, Bones, House, and Dancing. Rules and CSI:Miami are both disappointing imo as is Gossip Girl (although the 8pm slot probably plays a role here) and DOND should get credit for holding on against very tough competition.

quote:

Originally posted by crateriko:
The Bachelor continues to struggle -- perhaps a move to Friday or the summer may help.

It needs a break more than anything. Resting it this fall and perhaps even til March next year is the best decision.

Its hard to judge OTH, since its earlier numbers were agains't a soft schedule when most scripted shows were in reruns or off the air. So we can't even say it would do better on Tuesday (though its possible).

Basically Bones and House lost the same amount in terms of viewers from last week, so it wasn't one vs the other. Of course House almost doubled Bones demos at 9pm (partly because it wasn't against DwtS for the full hour - but it still had tough competition with TAAHM against it).

Last night's House was one of the best of the season so glad it didn't rate below the 13 million mark for it.

ETA: If I was FOX I wouldn't be alarmed by the House demos, purely because imo, that Monday night 9pm timeslot has become one of the toughest timeslots on television now behind Tuesdays and Thursdays. Though I must admit, even though I like Bones, FOX should know by now the two shows just don't go well together when it comes to demos...

Medium again continues to impress. Now improving on DOND's audience. Interesting it never gets positive mention on the winners & losers list.

FOX: Those are VERY alarming numbers for House. Especially in the demo. This was a competitor in the fall with DH and GA. Now it's fallen to more than a full ratings point below them (!!!).

CBS: CSI:M is losing demo viewers lately. 4.0? It used to tie with 2.5Men, now it's noticably lower.

NBC: DOND needs to be one night (and one hour) a week this fall.

ABC: SW? is really disappointing. Especially those demo numbers. I imagine that a ton of families watch DWTS, so I can see bleeding a lot of total viewers, but 65% retention in the demo just sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by Naleyfanforver:
OTH really needs to move back to Tuesdays. WOW does better against Idol than House.

OTH's results are dissapointing but the fact remains that this season just isn't as good as the others...the writers had an excellent opporunity to use the flashforward to four years as a great chance to have a "mystery" element...ex: why the heck is so and so with them or why did they do this and so on....Doing flashbacks would benefit this show greatly and would have allowed people like Rachel and Whitey to stay on longer because we would have learned why they became the way they did...The last two episodes have been a little better but there isn't that 'oomph' season 4 had...It's still watchable and not as terrible as The OC in its final season but I think season six should be the last before this show loses all crediblity...and it seems like the writers don't know where to go with this anymore...although the dan dying storyline is intriuging, and I like how they are still finding ways to incorporate basketball into the show, but nevertheless there has been maybe one or two cliffhangers that wowed me and they used to wow me every 2 or 3 episodes in the past...They better move it back to tuesday or a different night next year though because prison break and sarah connor are on monday nights and those two shows I now enjoy more than this...So they'd be losing a viewer and probably more because I know a lot of people watch both prison break and oth

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

quote:

Originally posted by xwiseguyx:
Medium again continues to impress. Now improving on DOND's audience. Interesting it never gets positive mention on the winners & losers list.

I totally agree. It at least deserves an Honorable Mention for growth out of DoND.

If you threw out a few unusual nites where MEDIUM had a poor lead in and the nite MIAMI was down for the NCAA's MEDIUM gets almost exactly these same numbers every week.

The bad news is that it is exactly this consistency that "enables" NBC to get away with shelving it to midseason knowing it can produce after a layoff.

Exactly. I can't believe they are going right into a summer edition of the franchise. An I am sure it will be there again for the Fall lineup too.

quote:

Originally posted by mushu_jj:

quote:

Originally posted by crateriko:
The Bachelor continues to struggle -- perhaps a move to Friday or the summer may help.

It needs a break more than anything. Resting it this fall and perhaps even til March next year is the best decision.

There is no way to spin CW's numbers. They are just awful.

The Bachelor: The Women Tell All always does worse than the finale and most of the other episodes. I don't know why ABC does it each year. Just get to the finale. Good news is that it can't be much more expensive than a recap or a clip show.

I've said all I need to say about BBT. If CBS kept anything else, BBT wouldn't be here. It won't have the Monday 8 PM spot on the fall schedule. ROE and HIMYM being on the bubble and BBT renewed makes no sense at all except for they had a bunch of new shows that were clunkers. This year's slate looks really good though so hopefully things turn around for CBS.

Sorry Marc but I completely disagree with you on your DWTS analysis. Christian and Cheryl did two powerhouse dances (especially lift and hold on the second dance). The second dance should have been a 30, not 29. Cheryl might not be Miss Personality, but she is a phenominal chereographer. Marissa needs to go. I find her highly annoying and as I said before, a talk show with her personality will tank unless she tones it down. It is too much perkiness to handle.

I agree with mushu_jj, could Marc please explain to us why BBt is always disappointing yet HIMYM is always okay. The shows both finished # 3 in viewers and # 2 in its time slot in the demo. It is the TIME SLOT ! These shows are getting basically the same ratings, except there are much less people watching TV at 8:00. I mean what is BBT supposed to do, create viewers that are not watching at 8:00. How about Bones getting a 2.7 in the demo for the entire hour, which means BBT must have beaten it by plenty in the 8:00 hour.

Marc, could you explain how BBT and HIMYM both finish in the same position in their time slots, yet one is disappointing and the other is not ?