After a summer of wondering what the result of NBC just giving up on the 10 PM hour would be, we now have our first look at the numbers. Jay Leno started with a bang (over 18 million viewers), and then quickly started the slow grind to reality. The week also saw the premieres of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Biggest Loser, The Beautiful Life, SNL: News, Parks & Rec, The Office, Community, Bones, and Fringe. Some of those were more successful than others.
NBC - Jay Leno really was the big story of the week. Something that won’t happen again until NBC pulls the plug on the show. It is too early to call just when that might be though. The premiere certainly got some attention. Here are all the numbers for the week:
Monday (18.42m/5.3)
Tuesday (11.09m/3.4)
Wednesday (13.36m/3.5)
Thursday (8.82m/2.7)
Friday (7.69m/2.1)
That’s a huge drop, but not one that was unexpected. It’s hard to say where bottom is at this point, but we should know more this week. Monday will have Jay facing off with CSI: Miami and Castle. Elsewhere for NBC, there was more good news. Sunday Night Football (21.1m/8.6) is still a winner, as is America’s Got Talent (13.9m/3.3 – 15.79m/3.5). The Biggest Loser (9.9m/3.8) also returned with strong numbers.
Things were a bit more mixed on Thursday. The combination of the SNL: News special (5.47m/2) and Parks & Recreation (4.89m/2.1) left much to be desired. To put that in perspective, last season Earl (7.01m/2.8), and even Kath & Kim (7.46m/2.3), premiered better. Unfortunately for SNL, there’s no election this year. And unfortunately for Parks & Rec, it’s just not very good.
Things did pick up at 9. The Office (8.21m/4.1) was off from last season’s premiere, but those are still great numbers. Community (7.88m/3.8) was also down over the spot last year (SNL election news), but was above where 30 Rock finished the season. It will be curious to see what happens when the show moves to 8.
FOX - Things weren’t quite as exciting for FOX, but they do still have some heavy hitters yet to debut. Unfortunately, what was thought to possibly be one of the heavy hitters kind of fouled one off. Fringe (7.81m/3) came out from behind Paula’s skirt, and House’s lab coat, to stand naked under the guise of the squints. That’s not a great result. It dropped 2.5 million viewers from the Bones (10.36m/3.1) audience. Worse, at the end of last season, Hell’s Kitchen was beating that demo number while facing off with new episodes from Grey’s and CSI. That’s something the Fringe folks will try their hand at this week.
In other FOX news, So You Think You Can Dance (5.67m/2.4) and Glee (6.69m/3.2) were down week to week, but I don’t think it’s time for real concern. They were against the AGT finale, and I still expect the SYTYCD audience to grow once it gets into the competition. For Glee, the demo is solid, but it remains to be seen how loyal the Gleeks are. If they stick around, the show will be just fine. Three finales wrap up the FOX week, as we say goodbye to King Of The Hill (6.26m/3 – 6.04m/2.9), More To Love (4.2m/1.7), and Fifth Grader (5.02m/1). Great numbers for KOTH, and I’m now setting the over/under for Dollhouse at the Fifth Grader numbers. Take the under in viewers, and the over in the demo.
CW - Well, we’ve now seen 80% of the new CW schedule, and it’s really not looking like a good year. One Tree Hill (2.31m/1.2) and Gossip Girl (2.55m/1.4) premiered. The network was quick to point out how these are the best numbers since December. Hopping in the wayback machine, that was with no DWTS on ABC, and the Terminator/Prison Break trainwreck on FOX. This week, DWTS, House, and Lie To Me come online. Good luck!
Things actually got worse after that. 90210 (2.31m/1.2) is also off from last year, but did remain close to the week ago numbers. Melrose Place (1.81m/1), on the other hand took a sharp dip. That’s approaching the kind of numbers that got Privileged canceled. And, it gets worse. Next Top Model (2.79m/1.4) was above all of those shows, but that’s as low as a new Next Top Model has ever been. That didn’t offer any help to the premiere of The Beautiful Life (1.38m/.6). Yikes.
The good news, came on Thursday. It would appear that this will once again be the strongest night of the week for the network. Vampire Diaries (3.77m/1.6) and Supernatural (2.78m/1.2) took the expected drop from premiere week, but have the best average night for the network.
CBS - With the whole thing set to get rolling this week, the week belonged to the finish of Big Brother (6.59m/2.1 – 7.78m/2.8). The only premiere the network rolled out early was Survivor (11.66m/3.6). That’s down year to year, but the show still looks to be the #1 show in the 8 o’clock hour.
ABC - Nothing exciting to report this week. No premieres, just the end of the summer programming slate, including Shaq Vs (4.43m/1.7), Wipeout (6m/2.1), Crash Course (3.51m/1.4), and Primetime: Family (4.11m/1.4). Shark Tank (4.2m/1.4) had another iffy outing that makes it’s fall prospects look all the more shaky. And Defying Gravity managed to go up in the ratings (2.45m/.8 – really, it went up to get to that), but still disappeared from the schedule.
Finally, here are a few of the big numbers from cable for the week:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Sep 21, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
any idea of what the ratings were like for the Tonight Show for each day of the week?
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m actually sitting in line to get on a ferry, so don’t have concrete numbers for you. The general trend of late is that Conan is losing to Dave in total viewers while still holding an edge in the demos. Conan is also below the levels that Leno was getting.