Folks...the fast national ratings are delayed. So, here are the metered market (overnight) results to whet your appetite. The winners and losers will be posted upon the arrival of the fast nationals.

Prime Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:
ABC Wins; Modest Start for NBC’s The Real Wedding Crashers

Monday 4/23/07
Metered Market Ratings

Household Rating/Share
ABC 10.0/15
CBS 8.4/13
NBC 6.7/10
Fox 5.1/ 8
CW 2.1/ 3

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-Percent Change From the Comparable Year-Ago Evening (Monday 4/24/06)
(The CW is compared to UPN’s combination of One On One, All of Us, Girlfriends and Half & Half)
ABC: +100, CBS: -10, CW: -19, NBC: -20, Fox: -31

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Led by the addictive Dancing With the Stars, ABC opened the week on a winning note with an overnight advantage over No. 2 CBS of 19 percent. Third was NBC, followed by Fox and The CW. Dancing With the Stars took top-rated honors for the evening, with a 13.7 rating/21 share in the overnights from 8-9:30 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:

Dancing With the Stars
8:00 p.m. 12.3/20
8:30 p.m. 13.7/21
9:00 p.m. 14.6/21

As for last night’s telecast, isn’t it nice to see “golden girl” Cheryl Burke not have the momentum (as a result of Ian Ziering) this season? Did you happen to notice former Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Gabrielle “Andrea Zuckerman” Carteris cheering Ian on? And did you know that when 90210 started, high school student Gabrielle was 29 years old! Ian was 26 at the time.

Second in the 8 p.m. hour behind Dancing With the Stars was NBC’s Deal or No Deal at a 7.1/11 in the overnights. Next were CBS comedies How I Met Your Mother (4.3/ 7), which was a repeat, and The New Adventures of Old Christine (5.1/ 8), followed by Fox’s struggling Drive (3.3/ 5), and CW comedies Everybody Hates Chris (2.1/ 3) and All of Us (1.8/ 3). One week earlier, Drive debuted in the time period with a 3.7/ 6. See you in the loser’s circle, Drive.

Dancing With the Stars, of course, took the 9 p.m. half hour, with a 14.6/21. Combined with the first half hour of another 90-minute edition of The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman (7.1/10), ABC averaged a dominant 10.8/16 in the overnights in the 9 p.m. hour. Next were CBS’ Two and a Half Men (8.1/12) and soon-to-conclude The King of Queens (8.7/13), followed by NBC’s Heroes (7.8/11), Fox’s 24 (6.9/10), and The CW’s Girlfriends (2.1/ 3) and The Game (2.2/ 3). Expect Heroes to win the hour among adults 18-49 once the fast nationals are posted at PIFeedback.com. As for The King of Queens, this show has only gotten better with age.

In series-premiere news, NBC comedy/reality hybrid The Real Wedding Crashers opened at a disappointing (and last-place) 5.0/ 8 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Comparably, retention out of the second half-hour of Heroes (8.1/12 at 9:30 p.m.) was just 62 percent. The final episode in this time period for former occupant The Black Donnellys averaged a 4.0/ 6 on April 2.

First at 10 p.m., of course, was CBS’ veteran CSI: Miami (12.1/19), followed by the 10-11 p.m. portion of ABC’s long-in-the-tooth The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman at a 6.1/10. Overall, The Bachelor averaged a 6.5/10 from 9:30-11 p.m. Honestly, is anyone still really into The Bachelor?
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Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Thanks for letting us know, Marc. I'll be back later for the "This isn't going to be a very long Drive at all" snark-a-thon.

Wow--I'm not sure however it looks to me like "Heroes" took a major hit in the ratings up against DWTS. I remember before the break that it would draw about a 15 share. Is that correct??

I agree with you Marc about Cheryl Burke however I like Ian and his dancing. I think the final three will be Joey, Apolo and Laila though. And out of all them I think Apolo will win even though it could be any one of the three of them.

What happened to Heros?

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Honestly, is anyone still really into The Bachelor?

I don't watch either show, but I have noticed that The Bachelor consistently outrates Amazing Race in both total viewers and 18-49.

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I remember before the break that it would draw about a 15 share. Is that correct??

HH-wise, it ranged from a 13 to an 11 for new eps, so this is probably season average -- maybe a little lower.

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Originally posted by healingbuddy:
Wow--I'm not sure however it looks to me like "Heroes" took a major hit in the ratings up against DWTS. I remember before the break that it would draw about a 15 share. Is that correct??

No.

Final ratings
1.01 11%
1.05 15%
1.09 14% -> viewers series high
1.10 13%
1.17 13%
1.18 13%

This weird, wild spring season has hit us yet again...

Heroes is down, despite non-stop promotion, outdoor advertising, word-of-mouth, etc. Yes, DWTS is a strong show... but we've been hearing commentary on this board non-stop about how they are completely and entirely different audiences... so it shouldn't get hurt.

24 looks to be down yet again.

and yet... CSI:Miami looks to have rebounded back to "normal" levels.

Glad Wedding Crashers crashed... that's not the direction NBC needs to take right now (they are in an even bigger world of hurt right now that their shining star - Heroes - didn't come back with the flair everyone expected.)

That's really too bad about DRIVE...it;s a good entertaining show in the vein of PRISON BREAK and worthy of its time slot.

However I would be completly happy with a FRIDAY NIGHT banishment/burn off like with VANISHING...as long as we get to see ALL the episodes! FOX don't screw us over like you did with REUNION...no resolution for the murder mystery and with DRIVE...we should at least get to see who wins the race!

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
In series-premiere news, NBC comedy/reality hybrid The Real Wedding Crashers opened at a disappointing (and last-place) 5.0/ 8 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Comparably, retention out of the second half-hour of Heroes (8.1/12 at 9:30 p.m.) was just 62 percent.

Hey, Kevin, here's a good motto for your network. "First be worst. Then be last."

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Heroes is down, despite non-stop promotion, outdoor advertising, word-of-mouth, etc. Yes, DWTS is a strong show... but we've been hearing commentary on this board non-stop about how they are completely and entirely different audiences... so it shouldn't get hurt.

I had doubts about "Heroes" relaunch, only because of what happened with "ER." And yeah, NBC's been promoting it non-stop, but nobody watches NBC.

Also, "Heroes" appeals to the Internet demographic, while "Dancing" clearly doesn't. So, of course the Internet is going to be buzzing over its return, when maybe the "real world" isn't.

"Dancing" perhaps has a broader appeal than originally suspected? Either that, or "Heroes" had a lot more female viewers who stayed with "Dancing."

Oh well, looks like Drive won't last, unless it's one of those shows a network sticks with despite a poor showing when it starts off. But I have no idea what factors into that kind of decision. I guess I'll have to find a new show to watch regularly. Well I do have a show or two I kind of watch also, but I think one of them is ending this year too, heh.

Once again a reality show widly affects the ratigs of the scripted series. I'm sorry to see this happening

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I don't watch either show, but I have noticed that The Bachelor consistently outrates Amazing Race in both total viewers and 18-49.

The Bachelor gets a DWTS lead-in that gets 18.5 million viewers, or so, and a relatively high 18-49 demo.

Sunday's TAR had a lead-in with 9.7 million viewers and a 1.8 18-49 demo. It got a 2.7 18-49 demo, a growth of 33%. It held onto 90% of 60 Minutes' audience. It's lead-in is probably the oldest-skewing show on television and it's on an older-skewing network.

Last Monday's The Bachelor lost 35% of DWTS lead-in and 56% of its total viewing audience.

They really don't outtrate each other in total viewers.

The timeslot could be put to better use.

Marc, what do you have against Cheryl Burke Just because she's been paired with two winners, you don't like her?

I'm surprised at Heroes' steep decline in the overnights. They announced when it was coming back, and have promoted it non-stop (yes, on a network no one watches). I never thought that DWTS would syphon so many viewers away... especially considering there's a recap performance show on Tuesdays from 8-9pm!