-Yesterday’s Winners: 2009 NCAA Basketball: First Round (CBS), Bones (Fox), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Private Practice (ABC), ER (NBC)
-Honorable Mention: The Office (NBC), 30 Rock (NBC), Hell’s Kitchen (Fox)
-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): Ugly Betty (ABC), My Name is Earl (NBC)
----------
-Ratings Breakdown: Minus CBS’ regularly scheduled Thursday line-up (which was pre-empted for basketball), ABC was the most-watched network, with 1.23 million more viewers than CBS. But the two networks tied for dominance among adults 18-49. Only five-tenths of a rating point, in fact, separated the Big 4 networks in the demo.
Ugly Betty, which is heading on a short hiatus, opened the evening for ABC with 7.55 million viewers (#3) and a fourth-place 2.1 rating/6 share among adults 18-49. Considering CBS’ dominant Survivor did not air, this is a losing performance. As for the show itself, with Betty nearing the end of season three, shouldn’t her braces be off already? And shouldn’t her fashion sense be…um…somewhat better? Next week, ABC is scheduled to debut sitcoms In the Motherhood and returning Samantha Who? in the 8 p.m. hour. But since Fox’s American Idol is now competing (because President Obama is addressing the country on Tuesday), the network may want to push it back one week.
Ugly Betty led into Grey’s Anatomy, which dominated the 9 p.m. hour with 14.36 million viewers and a 4.9/12 among adults 18-49, followed by spin-off Private Practice at 10.03 million viewers and a 3.6/10 in the demo -- first in both categories. This is, no doubt, more than enough for Private Practice to be renewed for next season.
Over at CBS, day one of 2009 NCAA Basketball: First Round averaged an approximate 9.42 million viewers (#2) with a 3.5/10 among adults 18-49 (#1t) from 8-11 p.m. Comparably, that built from the year-ago competition (Viewers: 7.94 million; A18-49: 3.1/11 on March 20, 2008) by 1.48 million viewers and 13 percent in the demo. Keep in mind, of course, that results for any live sporting event are always approximate. Here is the half-hour breakdown:
2009 NCAA Basketball: First Round (CBS) 8:00 p.m. – 9.36 million (#2), A18-49: 3.2/10 (#1) 8:30 p.m. – 10.19 million (#2), A18-49: 3.6/11 (#1) 9:00 p.m. – 11.07 million (#2), A18-49: 4.0/10 (#2) 9:30 p.m. – 9.44 million (#2), A18-49: 3.5/ 9 (#2t) 10:00 p.m. – 8.63 million (#3), A18-49: 3.4/ 9 (#2) 10:30 p.m. – 7.80 million (#3), A18-49: 3.2/ 9 (#3)
Fox opened the evening with Bones (Viewers: #1, 10.19 million; A18-49: #2, 3.0/ 9), which does not get the credit it deserves, followed by the loud Hell’s Kitchen (Viewers: #3, 7.55 million; A18-49: #4, 3.3/ 8), which always manages to score among adults 18-49. And NBC had a typical Thursday with its line-up of depressed My Name is Earl (Viewers: #4, 6.42 million; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 8), which is on-the-fence for renewal in 2009-10, a repeat of The Office (Viewers: #4, 4.64 million; A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 6), an original installment of The Office (Viewers: #3, 7.93 million; A18-49: #3, 3.9/10), 30 Rock (Viewers: #4, 7.02 million; A18-49: #4, 3.2/ 8), and soon-to-conclude ER (Viewers: #2, 9.46 million; A18-49: #2t, 3.3/ 9). Some points to note about NBC:
1. My Name is Earl could get a reprieve because it debuts in off-network syndication next fall. 2. Retention for 30 Rock out of The Office was an improved 89 percent in viewers and 82 percent among adults 18-49. 3. The Office is always, of course, on the map among adults 18-49. 4. ER built by a noticeable 2.44 million viewers out of 30 Rock. 5. New drama Southland will be replacing ER effective on April 9.
As for Michael Scott quitting on The Office, maybe now Dunder-Mifflin can bring someone in who actually does some work!
The CW capped off Thursday with original installments of the already renewed Smallville (Viewers: #5, 3.29 million; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 4) and Supernatural (Viewers: #5, 3.14 million; A18-49: #5, 1.2/ 3). Worth noting for Supernatural was the almost full retention out of Smallville.
NBC should not cancel My Name is Earl yet. They are not full of hits to replace it with.
I don't expect Southland to do any better than ER.NBC should test out Kings in that slot.
Was there a Greys Anatomy over run to make Practice's #'s hit double digits? I expect that to go down with the finals if that happened. Ugly Betty needs to be done. ABC should cancel it after next season. Give them closure time to wrap it all up.
After 15 Days of 2009 February Sweep (in March), FOX Foremost in A18-49s, CBS Victorious in Viewership & Highest in Households
After 15 days of the 2009 February Sweep (in March), FOX is well out in front in young adult demo, attracting the most A18-49s with 3.97, with CBS in second place at 2.87, ABC sits in third with 2.58, while NBC lags behind in fourth with 2.17. At the bottom are the mini-nets starting with Univision at 1.49, The CW at 0.75, and MyNetworkTV at 0.53.
In households, CBS is tops, with FOX second, ABC third, NBC fourth and then the mini-nets. In average P2+ viewers, CBS retains bragging rights as most viewed with a 11,314,000 viewer average, with FOX second, ABC is third and NBC fourth. Univision is fifth, The CW is sixth, and MyNetworkTV in seventh.
CBS, ABC and MyNetworkTV are the only networks showing growth in all key measures of A18-49 demo, households and viewers from last years February Sweep, although Univision is up in households and even in viewers. FOX is down by double digits on all measures, but that is due to the 'Super Bowl' being included in FOX's February Sweep numbers last year.
Overall for the seven networks, after six nights A18-49 demo is down -19% from the 'Super Bowl'-inflated Sweep last year, down -8% in households and -12% in P2+ viewers.
nights nights
demo demo demo % won won
Rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
1 FOX 3.97 7.40 -46% 7 8.5
2 CBS 2.87 2.37 21% 3.5 1
3 ABC 2.58 2.55 1% 4.5 3
4 NBC 2.17 2.44 -11% 2.5
5 UNI 1.49 1.57 -5%
6 CW 0.75 0.88 -15%
7 MNT 0.53 0.47 13%
total 14.36 17.69 -19% 15 15
nights nights
HH HH HH HH won won
rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
1 CBS 7.0 5.5 28% 8 3.3
2 FOX 6.3 10.2 -38% 4 8.3
3 ABC 5.6 4.7 17% 3 2
4 NBC 3.8 4.7 -20% 1.3
5 UNI 1.9 1.8 7%
6 CW 1.2 1.5 -19%
7 MNT 1.0 0.8 26%
total 26.9 29.3 -8% 15 15
nights nights
viewers viewers viewers viewers won won
rank web 2009 2008 chg 2009 2008
1 CBS 11.314 8.458 34% 7 3
2 FOX 10.776 19.226 -44% 5 8
3 ABC 8.577 7.492 14% 3 2
4 NBC 5.957 7.393 -19% 2
5 UNI 3.596 3.586 0%
6 CW 1.835 2.322 -21%
7 MNT 1.637 1.232 33%
total 43.69 49.71 -12% 15 15
The data for this and last year are all final Nielsen numbers, except for last night of this year which is preliminary data. This year, the February Sweep is being held in March due to the DTV changeover, whereas last years February Sweep included the 'Super Bowl' but was also held during the WGA strike which curtailed original product across some of the networks. Comparison of year-over-year Sweep numbers must be viewed within this context. All Sweep calculations incorporate Nielsen final numbers for primetime programming, Monday to Saturday 8-11 pm, and Sunday 7-11 pm. For daytime over-runs into primetime and primetime run-pasts into latenight (e.g. sports coverage, award shows), only the primetime portion of the program numbers have been factored in. For networks that split programs into multiple segments of sustaining and non-sustaining coverage, the rating for the sustaining portion applies to the entire program broadcast.
Impressive night for Bones, NBC's Late Night Lineup, NCAA March Madness, and ER.
Only two more weeks for ER, this is starting to get sad now were going to lose TV's last original legend in a couple of weeks.
People are actually still watching Grey's Anatomy? I thought it was just one of those hot for a year or two type shows.
FOX is definitely taking advantage on back to back nights of procedurals with no competition from CBS at 8pm. Bones should be treated a little better from the people at FOX.
NBC should probably wrap up Earl as they've got enough episodes for syndie and put their multi-cams there in that hour.
ABC is in even more trouble next week at 8pm. If they thought Ugly Betty's performance was bad wait until they see Samantha Who? OUCH!
For me I don't want to talk about basketball because I lost most of my bets.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: horse_horror,
Posts: 198 | Location: Anaheim, California | Registered: 14 February 2009
Not a huge difference between Bones with Survivor against it and Bones without Survivor against it. What a utility player. Definitely doesn't get the credit it deserves.
Grey's Anatomy... this week and last week were back to the early seasons' quality. I'm flabbergasted. And I'm really annoyed because if the writers and this show are still capable of making such great television... why did we have to suffer through so much of the crap of this season? All of a sudden the characters are acting like people, and behaving like the characters we fell in love with in 2005.
Originally posted by horse_horror: ABC is in even more trouble next week at 8pm. If they thought Ugly Betty's performance was bad wait until they see Samantha Who? OUCH!
Marc is correct that debuting the sitcoms against American Idol next week is going to really hurt them. On the other hand, without Survivor on, I will at least sample In the Motherhood.
There was a 1 minute overrun, so the final numbers will be even closer between ER and Private Practice
I think it was two minutes... so they will be close. In the prelims, both had a 3.3 in the 10:30pm half hour, so I expect PP will squeeze a win out in the demo.
Kings will never work, but I have some hope for Southland. It reminds me of Hill Street Blues.
quote:
Originally posted by KSO: NBC should not cancel My Name is Earl yet. They are not full of hits to replace it with.
I don't expect Southland to do any better than ER.NBC should test out Kings in that slot.
Was there a Greys Anatomy over run to make Practice's #'s hit double digits? I expect that to go down with the finals if that happened. Ugly Betty needs to be done. ABC should cancel it after next season. Give them closure time to wrap it all up.
Originally posted by TravisYanan: Not a huge difference between Bones with Survivor against it and Bones without Survivor against it. What a utility player. Definitely doesn't get the credit it deserves.
Grey's Anatomy... this week and last week were back to the early seasons' quality. I'm flabbergasted. And I'm really annoyed because if the writers and this show are still capable of making such great television... why did we have to suffer through so much of the crap of this season? All of a sudden the characters are acting like people, and behaving like the characters we fell in love with in 2005.
Totally agree with you on the last two episodes, Travis. I thought the same thing as I watching last night. The magic was back and the episode with the dichotomy between the patients stories and the doctors story all weaved together in a magical way and I thought, "WOW!!! This is how it use to be". However, I am one who didn't mind the Izzie-Denny storyline this winter. It didn't bother me at all because first I like the chemistry between the two actors and characters and second I knew it was leading somewhere and was just a plot point to get us there. So, even though the episodes this season were below par for Grey's, I still rather enjoyed them. However, these last two were exceptional and some Emmy nods need to go out to some of these actors/actresses. Still a great ensemble of actors here.
I have still not received a pilot tape. Not a good sign!
quote:
Originally posted by Obveeus:
quote:
Originally posted by horse_horror: ABC is in even more trouble next week at 8pm. If they thought Ugly Betty's performance was bad wait until they see Samantha Who? OUCH!
Marc is correct that debuting the sitcoms against American Idol next week is going to really hurt them. On the other hand, without Survivor on, I will at least sample In the Motherhood.
Originally posted by horse_horror: ABC is in even more trouble next week at 8pm. If they thought Ugly Betty's performance was bad wait until they see Samantha Who? OUCH!
Marc is correct that debuting the sitcoms against American Idol next week is going to really hurt them. On the other hand, without Survivor on, I will at least sample In the Motherhood.
Samantha Who? is going to fail there anyways but In the Motherhood has a chance as it should samplings for the first two weeks.
Same thing is going to happen to Surviving Suburbia's debut when it goes against the NCAA Basketball Championship Game and Rules of Engagement in that time period.
For In the Motherhood and Surviving Suburbia, I think were going to have to wait until after the second episode to really judge how both shows are doing in the ratings.
I might watch In the Motherhood, not sure though.
Posts: 198 | Location: Anaheim, California | Registered: 14 February 2009
