Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 1/29/09

-Total Viewers:
Fox: 17.67 million, CBS: 13.94, ABC: 5.72, NBC: 4.67, CW: 3.88

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 7.0 rating/18 share, CBS: 3.5/ 9, NBC: 1.9/ 5, ABC: 1.8/ 5, CW: 1.7/ 4

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox), CSI (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats)
Nothing…54 percent of last night’s line-up was in repeats.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox rose to a rare Thursday victory, with another edition of American Idol at a healthy 24.27 million viewers and a 9.1 rating/25 share among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. While that is actually below average for Idol, it was a major improvement for Fox in the hour. And it lifted the season-premiere of lead-out Hell’s Kitchen to a second-place finish in both total viewers (11.08 million) and adults 18-49 (4.9/12) at 9 p.m. Once again, American Idol was by far the top-rated show of the evening. Next week, relocated Bones returns to the Thursday anchor spot.

CBS can rest at ease, meanwhile, with William Petersen-less CSI at a still dominant 20.08 million viewers and a 5.4/13 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Earlier in the evening on CBS was a repeat of Criminal Minds at a second-place 9.02 million viewers and a 2.0/ 5 in the demo at 8 p.m. And Eleventh Hour capped off the night for the Eye net with a first-place 12.70 million viewers and a 3.1/ 8 among adults 18-49 at 10 p.m. But retention of just 62 percent in viewers and 56 percent in the demo out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of CSI (Viewers: 20.32 million; A18-49: 5.5/13) keeps it off the winner’s list.

ABC finished third in total viewers and fourth overall among adults 18-49 with its combination of a repeat of Ugly Betty (Viewers: #4, 3.97 million; A18-49: #5, 1.0/ 3), which will be temporarily replaced on March 26 with sitcoms In the Motherhood and Samantha Who?, a repeat of Grey’s Anatomy (Viewers: #3, 5.54 million; A18-49: #4, 1.7/ 4), and an original installment of Private Practice (Viewers: #2, 7.66 million; A18-49: #2, 2.8/ 7). The positive news for Private Practice, of course, was the growth out of the Grey’s Anatomy encore.

A all night of repeats on NBC -- My Name is Earl (Viewers: #3, 4.83 million; A18-49: #3, 1.8/ 5), Kath & Kim (Viewers: #4, 3.29 million; A18-49: #3, 1.4/ 4), The Office (Viewers: #3, 5.80 million; A18-49: #3, 2.7/ 7), 30 Rock (Viewers: #4, 5.04 million; A18-49: #3, 2.2/ 5) and ER (Viewers: #3, 4.54 million; A18-49: #3, 1.7/ 4) -- finished in the distant No. 4 spot overall. And the CW closed the night with the regularly scheduled Smallville (Viewers: #3, 4.18 million; A18-49: #2, 1.7/ 5) and Supernatural (Viewers: #5, 3.57 million; A18-49: #5, 1.6/ 4). Will Smallville be back next season? Stay tuned.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

I know Grey's was a repeat, but those are still great numbers for CSI

I have set up an Unoffical Daily Game for Saturday, January 31. the game will feature the Broadcast Premiere of Napoleon Dynamite on My Network TV. How well will they do in the 18-49 demo and how many total viewers will they get?

That is good numbers for CSI.

I have to give Private Practice a fail if that is how it does without a lead in. Those are the numbers it got on Wednesdays. The cross over promos have been airing for a week and it did nothing for interest.

How far has NBC and its flagship not of "Must See TV" fallen???

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
My Name is Earl (Viewers: #3, 4.83 million; A18-49: #3, 1.8/ 5)
Kath & Kim (Viewers: #4, 3.29 million; A18-49: #3, 1.4/ 4),

Smallville (Viewers: #3, 4.18 million; A18-49: #2, 1.7/ 5)

Great numbers for CSI. I wonder whether or not the episode was good. People are clearly willing to give Fishburne a chance.

Good numbers for a Criminal Minds repeat..close to 10 million...I think CBS found a replacement, when Survivor is off the air...just put CM repeats ahead of CSI.

Ohh nice! I thought these were going to be delayed for another hour?

Supernatural did great! Do you have the half hour breakdowns for Supernatural and Smallville?

Can you please give us the half hour breakdown for the Smallville ratings? Did they go up or down which wouldn't surprise me as this was the worst Smallville episode ever.

Even with a 20 million lead in, EH beat Private Practice by just .3 in the demo

quote:

Originally posted by TAYLORJNG:
Great numbers for CSI. I wonder whether or not the episode was good. People are clearly willing to give Fishburne a chance.

I liked the episode, and I love the way they are writing Fishburne's character.

CM had a 2.0 demo for that repeat. That's terrible.

quote:

Originally posted by Cheetara86:
Good numbers for a Criminal Minds repeat..close to 10 million...I think CBS found a replacement, when Survivor is off the air...just put CM repeats ahead of CSI.

Proves how weak EH really is. PP, on the other hand, had a better demo number than many of those Wednesday broadcasts despite a Wednesday-night level lead in with the Greys repeat. I think that's a positive sign.

quote:

Originally posted by lopez:
Even with a 20 million lead in, EH beat Private Practice by just .3 in the demo

I have nothing against 30 rock but does it have to win every single award out there? Not when there are great sitcoms -- the adventures of Old Christine, How I met your mother, DHousewives, big bang which are not even nominated. Will the backlash ever begin? Honestly, I think they should take themselves out of the running but I know that is really the only thing keeping them alive.

I think CSI is going to be just fine in the long run. When Greys is new it should continue to pull near a 5.0 demo, which is excellent in today's TV world and it will probably see spikes like last night when Greys is in repeats.

quote:

Originally posted by TAYLORJNG:
Great numbers for CSI. I wonder whether or not the episode was good. People are clearly willing to give Fishburne a chance.