Prime-Time Ratings:
Tuesday 9/23/08

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 14.88 million, ABC: 14.34, Fox: 10.90, NBC: 7.96, CW: 2.41

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.5 rating/12 share, ABC: 3.7/10, CBS: 3.3/ 9, NBC: 3.2/ 8, CW: 1.2/ 3

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
NCIS (CBS), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Down But Far From Out:
House (Fox)

-Honorable Mention:
Without a Trace (CBS)

-Disappointing:
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

-Yesterday’s Losers:
Opportunity Knocks (ABC), Privileged (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS and Fox shared leadership on this first Tuesday of the 2008-09 season, with CBS the most-watched network (540,000 viewers ahead of ABC) and Fox No. 1 among adults 18-49. ABC finished second in second in both categories, with NBC fourth and the CW fifth.

The season-premiere of CBS’ underrated NCIS was first from 8-9 p.m. in total viewers, with a healthy 17.72 million and second among adults 18-49, with a 3.5 rating/10 share in the demo. Compared to year-ago opening levels (Viewers: 13.89 million; A18-49: 3.2/ 9 on Sept. 25, 2007), this is an increase of 3.83 million viewers and nine percent in the demo. How do you like that NCIS?

NCIS led into the series-premiere of The Mentalist, which was amply sampled at 15.55 million viewers (#2) and a 3.5/ 9 among adults 18-49 (#3) at 9 p.m. opposite the first hour of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Retention out of the second half of NCIS (Viewers: 18.38 million; A18-49: 3.6/10 at 8:30 p.m.) was a solid 85 percent in viewers and 97 percent among adults 18-49. And compared to year-ago occupant The Unit (Viewers: 10.70 million; A18-49: 2.8/ 7 on Sept. 25, 2007), The Mentalist was up by a whopping 4.85 million viewers and 25 percent in the demo. Needless to say, this is an excellent start.

The season-premiere of CBS’ relocated Without a Trace at 10 p.m. was second in total viewers (11.38 million) and third among adults 18-49 (2.8/ 7). What is particularly positive about these initial results were 1.86 million more viewers than NBC’s competing Law & Order: SVU (keep reading). Year-ago failed CBS occupant Cane opened with 11.21 million viewers and a 3.0/ 8 in the demo.

ABC got off to a sluggish start with the debut of inane game show Opportunity Knocks at just 6.63 million viewers (#4) and a 1.8/ 5 among adults 18-49 (#4) at 8 p.m. Considering the network only has two new series on the fall schedule, it could have done better anchoring Tuesday. Opportunity Knocks led into another two-hour edition of Dancing With the Stars, which dominated the 9-11 p.m. block with a rock-solid 18.20 million viewers and a 4.7/12 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 16.76 million (#1), A18-49: 4.1/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 18.98 million (#1), A18-49: 4.8/12 (#1)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 18.86 million (#1), A18-49: 5.0/13 (#1)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 18.18 million (#1), A18-49: 4.8/13 (#1)

As predicted, Jeffrey Ross was the first “celebrity” to be voted off. Now I think Kim Kardashian will be next.

Fox won the night among adults 18-49 with its combination of House (Viewers: #2: 12.14 million; A18-49: #1, 4.9/14) and Fringe (Viewers: #3, 9.65 million; A18-49: #2, 4.2/10), which fits well out of House. But year-to-year, House (which aired Tuesday at 9 p.m.) dipped by a mammoth 6.17 million viewers (18.31 to 12.14) and 37 percent among adults 18-49 (7.8/13 to 4.9/14).

Over at NBC, two-hour The Biggest Loser scored a respectable 7.18 million viewers and a 2.9/ 8 among adults 18-49 opposite some heavy competition from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

The Biggest Loser (NBC)
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 6.21 million (#3), A18-49: 2.4/ 7 (#3)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 7.08 million (#4), A18-49: 2.8/ 7 (#3)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 7.57 million (#4), A18-49: 3.2/ 8 (#4)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 7.88 million (#4), A18-49: 3.4/ 8 (#4)

At 10 p.m. on NBC was the season-premiere of veteran Law & Order: SVU at a diluted 9.52 million viewers (#3) and a 3.7/10 among adults 18-49 (#2). Year-to-year, that was a decrease of a hefty 2.60 million viewers (12.12 to 9.52 million) and 23 percent among adults 18-49 (4.8/13 to 3.7/10).

The CW capped off Tuesday with 90210 (Viewers: #5, 2.96 million; A18-49: #4, 1.8/ 5) and Privileged (Viewers: #5, 1.86 million; A18-49: #5, 0.9/ 2), which lost steam from one year earlier. On the year-ago evening, Reaper debuted in the 9 p.m. hour with 3.28 million viewers and a 1.5/ 4 among adults 18-49. As for 90210, doesn’t the actress who is playing Lori Loughlin’s daughter look exactly like her?

And there you have it…the first Tuesday of the new season!

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Nevermind! Wow...that is a big drop for 90210 from its premiere. I do wonder what Mrs. Ostroff is thinking now?

Peace!!

Can NCIS please stop being called "underrated"? That label makes no sense, especially when it slaughters its timeslot (at least in viewers).

90210 is already/interestingly below 3 million viewers... yet its A18-49 is higher than Gossip Girl's from this week. I'm interested to see the younger demos... will post when I get the A18-34.

Yes! to those awful CW ratings.
The CW needs to go down in flames.

Wow !! Good news for The Mentalist and I admit a big and pleasant surprise since I fully expected Fringe to overtake TM so Woo-Hoo and hope TM keeps up the ratings/demos momentum :-)
I loved the pilot episode and the whole " He irks me " thing was hysterically funny LOL ..
Simon Baker and Robin Tunney work well together and the dynamics in their character's relationship is very interesting and fun to watch. Good supporting cast too . Good show !!
And the fact it was up too from The Unit was interesting ,too, and I like The Unit so interesting data all the way around and hopefully The Mentalist might just stick around to get a full season though it is too early to really tell on that but still ...

Yes they are. Here goes:

The CW capped off Tuesday with 90210 (Viewers: #5, 2.96 million; A18-49: #4, 1.8/ 5) and Privileged (Viewers: #5, 1.86 million; A18-49: #5, 0.9/ 2), which lost steam from one year earlier. On the year-ago evening, Reaper debuted in the 9 p.m. hour with 3.28 million viewers and a 1.5/ 4 among adults 18-49. As for 90210, doesn’t the actress who is playing Lori Loughlin’s daughter look exactly like her?

quote:

Originally posted by wenart25:
Marc, where are the fast nationals for 90210? They are not posted.

Peace!!

Yes, but I am the only one writing about it, aren't I?

quote:

Originally posted by TravisYanan:
Can NCIS please stop being called "underrated"? That label makes no sense, especially when it slaughters its timeslot (at least in viewers).

I'd call Fringe a winner, but not a big one.

The scripts continue to have problems--the interaction between the characters is fun, the overarching conspiracy plotline is interesting, but the specific mysteries they get called upon to solve remain unimpressive (though well-realized visually).

I enjoy the show, but considering the third episode of The X-Files was its first real masterpiece ("Squeeze", written by Glen Morgan & James Wong), this one hardly matches up. And yet they've got a cast that put's that of The X-Files to shame, they have a lot more money to spend, and they have Glen Morgan's little brother Darin onstaff (I strongly suspect a lot of the black humor in the show is coming from him, even if his name isn't on any of the scripts so far).

They should see if they can lure Glen Morgan himself to the show--problem is, they've already got two showrunners

So much potential there, if they can just get it together.

Great start for The Mentalist, and NCIS's numbers are quite impressive. Not bad for WAT, but I expected better considering the great lead-in, and the familiarity with the show. What is up with Tuesday's at 10 for CBS?

I'm somewhat shocked at the numbers for House. You can't tell me that last year's viewers are flocking to NCIS? That doesn't make sense.

Disappointing for Opportunity Knocks. ABC is going to be an island again this year on Tuesday with poor/great/poor numbers for the night.

Marc, do you have the half hour breakdown for Opportunity Knocks? I'm wondering if people who tuned in liked what they saw.

OMFG. Those 6 million for SCC and PB are looking better now. What on Earth is happening with FOX. House is tumbling down like the Titanic. I know it's at 8pm now but still 6 million is unbelievable

And Fringe will barely be a hit let alone a smash hit


90210 is a bomb, i was expecting that.


CBS must be thrilled with the start they're having. And CM/CSINY will do very well today. Anyone knows why they're delaying CSI for a couple of weeks?

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Yes, but I am the only one writing about it, aren't I?

quote:

Originally posted by TravisYanan:
Can NCIS please stop being called "underrated"? That label makes no sense, especially when it slaughters its timeslot (at least in viewers).

"Inexplicably buzz deficient"? Hm, you're right, not as catchy.

quote:

Can NCIS please stop being called "underrated"? That label makes no sense, especially when it slaughters its timeslot (at least in viewers).

I've always assumed that Marc calls it underrated BECAUSE it slaughters its competition, week after week, season after season, and yet never gets ranked with the other hit procedurals. It's a stealth hit, heavily watched, but otherwise ignored.

Duchovny and Amderson beat the hell out of Jackson and Torv

NCIS definitely has to hold the record for lowest buzz highest ratings. It is certainly critically ignored in every way and journalistically ignored in every way.

Great start for The Mentalist.

WAT is dealing with a new time slot, a lower lead-in, and more competition than it ever had last year, but these numbers are not promising.

With that low demo, ABC cannot be pleased with Opportunity Knocks. If the numbers don't improve, this will get canceled as soon as ABC has something else to put in its place.

FOX has to be worried overall this year. Last fall it was up all around and showing that it could be competitive without AI and 24. This year it is off to a horrible start. Still, while House is down considerably and Fringe isn't the break-out hit they were hoping for, FOX has much bigger problems to worry about.

SVU took a pretty major hit from last year as well. Having another crime show against it probably hurt it more than DWTS.