In another strange scheduling twist, the most recent new episode of iCarly appeared last Monday, at 8PM. In learning this, my first thought was about the prospects of iCarly facing off with Chuck. Who would have more viewers? Now, of course, the two shows are going after completely different audiences. But I still find it very interesting, and rather telling, that a cable show randomly appearing on a new night can attract more viewers than 11 of 17 new programs on NBC last week. 11 of 17. Yikes.
NBC - As you can probably guess from the opening paragraph, it wasn’t a great week for the network. Even the old standby, Sunday Night Football (16.86m/6.7) was a bit off the pace. That didn’t bode well for Monday, where Chuck (5.33m/1.9), The Event (6.5m/2.2), and Chase (4.92m/1.5) all fell short of the iCarly bar. Most troubling there is the loss of another million viewers for The Event. How long until it also falls below Chuck?
Tuesday looked a little better, thanks to The Biggest Loser (7.04m/2.6). Unfortunately, that is still well below what the show was seeing last season. And it’s doing no favors for Parenthood (4.66m/2). There was more trouble Wednesday, with Undercovers (5.93m/1.4) still slipping. SVU (8.13m/2.3) was also off the pace. The real worry though, has to come from L&O LA (7.26m/1.9). That was a pretty quick trip below the 2.0 line, and the show now finds itself being beaten handily by The Defenders.
The good news on Thursday was that every show was up for the week. Most notable in that, 30 Rock (6.7m/3.1) made some real gains with the live episode. The Office (7.36m/3.8) was also solid. Both were second in the demo for their spots. Community (4.81m/2.2) was saved from last place by the black hole ABC has found on Thursday at 8. And Outsourced (5.4m/2.6) continues to squeak by thanks to the audience Dunder Mifflin delivers each week. The Apprentice (3.7m/1.3) should just be replaced. By anything. Friday brought another lackluster premiere, in the form of School Pride (2.9m/.9).
CBS - Much the opposite of NBC, it was a very good week for CBS. Most of the shows were steady, or up, for the week. The biggest issue was probably CSI Miami (9.48m/2.7) on Sunday. However, given that the episode started at 10:59 in the east, because of football, I think we can let that one slide. Earlier in the night, Amazing Race (11.99m/3.8) and Undercover Boss (12.44m/3.7) were both solid.
The Monday comedies: How I Met Your Mother (8.48m/3.5), Rules Of Engagement (7.99m/3), 2 ½ Men (13.47m/4.5), and Mike & Molly (10.72m/3.5). Hawaii Five-0 (10.7m/3.1) slipped a little closer to Castle, but remains number one in both measures. Tuesday went off like clockwork for NCIS (19.2m/3.9), NCIS LA (16.05m/3.5), and The Good Wife (11.82m/2.5). Survivor (12.32m/3.8), Criminal Minds (14m/3.5) and The Defenders (9.9m/2.5) were much the same. It’s worth noting that The Defenders was up, and won the time slot.
Thursday was a particularly good night, with every show being up for the week. Big Bang Theory (12.57m/4.3), $#*! My Dad Says (10.16m/3.2), CSI (14.45m/3.1), and The Mentalist (15.13m/3.3) are all cruising along just fine. Finally, despite losses year-to-year, Friday brought another easy win on the night thanks to Medium (6.14m/1.2), CSI NY (9.54m/1.7), and Blue Bloods (10.29m/1.7).
ABC – Extreme Makeover (8.24m/2.3) is showing its age, but Desperate Housewives (12.38m/3.9) and Brothers & Sisters (8.9m/2.7) keep the network competitive on Sunday night. That puts Desperate Housewives #2 for the night in viewers and demo, trailing only football. Dancing With The Stars (19.53m/4) and Castle (10.66m/2.7) were steady on Monday. Tuesday found No Ordinary Family (7.98m/2.5) slipping, before DWTS Results (16.08m/3.5) steadied the ship. It leaves me wondering why No Ordinary Family is leading off the night. It would seem smarter to give the new show the benefit of the DWTS lead-in. Detroit 187 (6.98m/1.7) looks to be leveling at last place in the demo.
Wednesday looked better this week. The Middle (7.98m/2.5) and Modern Family (11.45m/4.8) were rather steady, while Cougar Town (7.23m/3.2) saw some small gains. The 10PM hour also got a boost when 20/20 (6.08m/1.7) replaced the failing The Whole Truth. Better With You (6.38m/2.1) remains iffy at 8:30, dropping again. Thursday is two-thirds good. Grey’s Anatomy (12.11m/4.6) and Private Practice (8.07m/3) are solid, but the network has to find something to do with 8PM. Nobody watches Grey’s repeats.
FOX - An off week for the animation block, The Simpsons (6.74m/3), Cleveland (5.63m/2.6), Family Guy (6.97m/3.4), and American Dad (5.36m/2.5) got the week off to a slow start. A solid second place from House (9.69m/3.6) helped things on Monday. Although, that second place finish is well off the pace from last season, where House was easily defeating DWTS in the demo. The dropoff for House hasn’t been kind to Lie To Me (5.44m/1.9), which is also way down from last season at this time.
Fortunately, there is Glee (11.36m/4.7) on Tuesday. The singing kids were again trumped by Modern Family for the weekly demo crown, but that is still an outstanding result. Tuesday comedy isn’t so successful though. Raising Hope (6.02m/2.5) held steady, but viewers are running away from Running Wilde (3.28m/1.4). Hell’s Kitchen (6.3m/2.8 – 7.36m/3.4) remains a solid solution for Wednesday, as does Bones (9.58m/2.6) on Thursday. Fringe (5.22m/2) was steady, and still struggling. Friday, The Good Guys (2.34m/.8) continued at that same disappointing pace.
CW - The exciting part of the week came on Friday. The big 200th Smallville (3.18m/1.3) not only saw a bump, it also came in #1 in the demo. That was certainly helped by repeats on ABC and FOX, but still, a first place finish is always notable. Supernatural (2.81m/1.2) took advantage of the boosted lead-in and helped the network finish second in the demo for the night. It also topped The Good Guys in both measures.
The rest of the week went pretty much by the numbers for 90210 (1.81m/.9), Gossip Girl (1.78m/.9), One Tree Hill (1.91m/.9), Life Unexpected (1.59m/.7), Next Top Model (2.99m/1.4), and Hellcats (2.01m/.9). In the young women demo, Next Top Model (2.4) and Gossip Girl (2.3) remain the top shows for the network.
CABLE - We’ve talked before about shows that have very loyal audiences. Bones is one, as are Smallville and Supernatural. Despite being tossed all over the schedule, those shows always seem to be able to bring in their audience. iCarly (6.7m/1) is part of that same group. With the last three new episodes airing on Saturdays, and the one before that on a Friday, the show appeared on a Monday night against a full network lineup and still managed to get its usual number.
Basic:
Premium:
Next week, something a little different. We’re going to take a look at all of the new shows and see how the first month, or so, of the season has treated them, and make a guess at what their prospects for the future are.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Oct 18, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
How do those Rubicon numbers compare with the Breaking Bad numbers? I’m curious about the chances for a second season and I seem to recall the BB numbers being right around the same area. It started a little slow but I loved the last 2/3 of the season.
*POST AUTHOR*
The Rubicon numbers are very similar to Breaking Bad in viewers. The last three Breaking Bad episodes averaged 1.24 million. The last three of Rubicon averaged 1.08 million. The trickier bit comes with the demo, where Breaking Bad was averaging .5 and Rubicon .2.
Hm…
so there’s far more baby formula sold in the US compared to 40 year old Whiskey?
I know, a bad comparison…
I love the fact NBC canceled Heroes and L&O because they felt their new shows were so great that they didn’t need those two.
Boy were they wrong. Can NBC canceled EVERYTHING? Really, what shows should they keep ratings wise? I simply have no clue. They should cancel EVERY SHOW, Chuck, 30 Rock, EVERYTHING and just start from new because they have no hope and canceling every show would give them free press.
*POST AUTHOR*
While the idea of canceling every show is crazy on the surface, and not a real possibility, there is some logic to it if you follow it through. At this point, the only big loss would be The Office, and that is a show that is probably nearing the end of its run anyway.
With the vast majority of the shows though, there really is nothing to lose, but much to gain. If Chuck, Community, Chase, 30 Rock, Outsourced, Undercovers, etc come back, you know what you’re going to get. A bunch of last place shows that nobody is going to watch.
With a lineup of completely new shows, from the crazed group of creators such a void would obviously necessitate, you’re probably going to find more than the average share of duds as well. But… you gain the unknown possibility that one or two of those new shows is going to hit big, and start to right the ship. So, crazy idea, but not necessarily a bad one.
Brett, it’s funny you should suggest swapping No Ordinary Family and DWTS on the schedule. From an Airlock Alpha article:
ABC will move “Family” back an hour to 9 p.m. ET, filling a time slot, taking over the space currently held by the “Dancing With the Stars” results show, which so far has been doubling “Family’s” ratings. That will shift “Dancing” to the 8 p.m. timeslot, allowing ABC’s Tuesday to be “Dancing,” “Family” and the new drama “Detroit 1-8-7.”
Here’s the link to the entire article: https://www.airlockalpha.com/node/7930/no-ordinary-family-shifting-timeslots-next-month.html
*POST AUTHOR*
That article is missing a crucial detail Tom. When they make the switch, Dancing With The Stars will be over. Instead, No Ordinary Family will be following Skating With The Stars. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out, but my best guess is that the ratings for Skating, and the boost that come with it, will be well short of what they would have been for Dancing.
Well, the article also says that No Ordinary Family might not be airing episodes then, anyway, so I guess it’s a double-whammy. I had no idea DWTS would be over by then as I stay far, far away from anything even remotely “reality” rated. Apparently the author of that article is in the same camp, or just didn’t do enough homework.
*POST AUTHOR*
Friday update that gets back to the state of affairs where Caprica is concerned.
Sanctuary 1.79m/.6
Smackdown 2.88m/.9
That puts Smackdown roughly double what Caprica was doing on Friday, and triple what it is doing on Tuesday.
I’m embarrassed to live in a world where people prefer to watch sweaty men in colorful underwear play in a giant playpen doing an orchestrated dance disguised as a fight over a decent, scripted story. If there are any aliens reading this, could I please get a ride to somewhere else?