-Yesterday’s Winners: Deal or No Deal (NBC), Heroes (NBC), Two and a Half Men (CBS), CSI: Miami (CBS)
-Disappointing: The CW’s comedy block
-Yesterday’s Losers: The Class (CBS), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)
----------
-Ratings Breakdown: NBC took top-rated honors on this final Monday of the Nov. 2006 sweeps, with a first-place finish in both total viewers (140,000 more than second-place CBS) and adults 18-49. ABC got a minor boost courtesy of the season-finale of The Bachelor: Rome, while Fox finished fourth and the CW fifth.
Beginning at 8 p.m., it was no contest with NBC’s Deal or No Deal the real deal at 17.56 million viewers and a 5.2 rating/13 share among adults 18-49. Fox’s Prison Break finished second with 9.57 million viewers and a 4.0/10 in the demo, followed by ABC’s Wife Swap at 9.17 million viewers and a 3.5/ 9 among adults 18-49. Although CBS’ diluted How I Met Your Mother was still on the board with 9.93 million viewers (#2) and a 3.5/ 9 among adults 18-49 (#3) in the 8 p.m. half-hour, lead-out The Class dipped to 8.71 million viewers (#4) and a 3.1/ 8 in the demo (#4). Too bad more viewers have not come knocking at The Class’ door. Get it?
Rounding off the 8 p.m. hour were the CW’s Everybody Hates Chris (Viewers: #5, 3.59 million; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 4), which pales in comparison to its performance on Thursday last season, and All of Us (Viewers: #5, 3.51 million; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 3), which might have already gotten the axe had the Smiths -- Will and Jada Pinkett -- not been involved in the project. As for Everybody Hates Chris, am I the only one who thinks the sitcom has lost its magic creatively in season two?
At 9 p.m., NBC’s Heroes lived up to that title with a healthy (and dominant) 15.52 million viewers and a 6.7/16 among adults 18-49. CBS sitcoms Two and a Half Men (Viewers: #2, 15.59 million; A18-49: #2, 4.8/11) and The New Adventures of Old Christine (Viewers: #2, 12.16 million; A18-49: #3, 3.7/ 8) finished second, while the two-hour season finale of ABC’s goofy The Bachelor: Rome (you don’t really believe these people are in love, do you?) perked up to 10.29 million viewers and a 4.0/10 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m. On a discouraging note for Old Christine was retention out of Two and a Half Men of just 77 percent among adults 18-49. Why aren’t more people watching this worthy sitcom?
As for Two and a Half Men, you are coming back, Berta…aren’t you?
Also in the 9 p.m. hour was a repeat of Fox’s House (Viewers: #4, 7.31 million; A18-49: #4, 2.7/ 6), which is an improvement over recent occupant Justice, and CW comedies Girlfriends (Viewers: #5, 3.15 million; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 3) and The Game (Viewers: #5, 2.83 million; A18-49: #5, 1.3/ 3). Although retention for The Game out of Girlfriends is certainly positive, year-to-year Girlfriends was down by 610,000 viewers and 18 percent among adults 18-49. Is it time to call it quits this spring?
At 10 p.m., the winning ball moved into CBS’ court, with the always reliable CSI: Miami at a hefty 16.90 million viewers and a 5.6/14 among adults 18-49. Last (also behind the second hour of ABC’s The Bachelor: Rome) was NBC’s struggling Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip at 7.45 million viewers and a 3.3/ 8 in the demo. Retention for Studio 60 out of Heroes was just 48 percent in total viewers and 49 percent among adults 18-49.
Might CBS consider shuffling the sitcom lineup: Old Christine/How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men/The Class ? (And if The Class doesn't improve, it's gone.)
I think NBC is waiting 'til January... i mean, if they change the timeslot right now it would be just for a couple of episodes (because of December holidays) and that could be confusing for some viewers.
About Girlfriends losing ratings, the switch in nights and networks didn't help, but also you can catch a Girlfriends rerun on several cable and network channels and times every day. The reruns actually helped me discover the show, but I'm guessing it could be Girlfriends overload.
I watched two episodes of Chris this season and it's just not funny anymore. I wonder what went wrong. It's disappointing to see The Class not doing better, it's a funny show.
Posts: 174 | Location: LA | Registered: 21 September 2006
Marc, I keep hearing that The New Adventures of Old Christine is a decent sitcom, but I guess I just don't find the characters appealing. Of course, the characters on Seinfeld weren't all that appealing either, but this isn't Seinfeld.
Basically, for me to watch a sitcom, it has to either be 1)Very original, 2)Very funny, 3)Have one or more actresses I find extremely attractive in the cast. Preferably all of the above.
How I Met Your Mother is very funny some weeks, but barely arouses a chuckle from me most of the time. I watch because I think Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders are really hot. And funny, of course. When the scripts are good.
I mean, I wish there was a better reason for me to watch primetime network TV on Mondays, but right now there just isn't.
They should reconsider that full season order--relationships or no relationships. This is appalling. Sorkin has had ONE successful show, for which John Wells deserves at least equal credit. He hasn't earned this kind of patience. If the show was genuinely innovative and had something important to say, I could understand, but it's basically Sports Night on steroids--with a MUCH less well-chosen cast. I didn't think Sports Night was all that much, but they nailed the casting there, and most of those people went on to better things. The Studio 60 actors have mainly been on better things--and I think they know it.
I don't think its lost on NBC that Studio 60 is failing. However, it appears there is a concerted effort within the network to see this show survive. I know som people on here think a struggling show should be killed immediately, but patience within a netowrk is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, whether you like the show or not. I think they are probably reticent to move it for fear they will lose the audience they do have. I for one think it has a feel of a Sunday show perhaps in the old West Wing slot after football ends. The chances of success at this point are extrememly limited, (especially given how West Wing did there)but I do agree that Monday at 10 would be better left in the hands of Medium.
Posts: 1664 | Location: Great White North | Registered: 10 November 2006
I normally avoid CBS Monday nite sitcoms like the plague. But last nite I actually did catch Old Christine, probably only the third full episode I have seen. And I must say -- I actually enjoyed it. The writing and plot were the standard sitcom fare that usually has me heading for the hills, but the perfomance of Julia Louis Dreyfuss was so far above the material that I was actually was laughing out loud. OUT LOUD. I have not done that while watching a conventional sitcom for ever and a day.
Posts: 1664 | Location: Great White North | Registered: 10 November 2006
