(11/23 – 11/29)
It really wasn’t a good week for television, for the viewers, or the networks. The holiday had schedules shuffled all about, and actual new content was a little tougher to come by. The story of the week, of course, was the return of Jack Bauer, briefly. FOX let loose with their 24 event movie, and the results were impressive. Having less success with a big event, thankfully, was NBC with Rosie Live. The show tanked, and will not be getting an order of more episodes. Those numbers, the crazy ratings for the DWTS finale, and much less talk about Heroes, after the jump.
CW - I always seem to end up putting the littlest network at the back of the pack, so let’s start there this week. All the networks took it on the chin due to the holiday, but none had it as rough as the CW. Things got off to the usual poor start as they aired the last week of the big Sunday experiment, with both shows failing to deliver even a million viewers. But it never really picked up. The highlights for the week were an original One Tree Hill (2.22m/1.0), which was down considerably, and Friday’s combination of Everybody Hates Chris (2.1m/.7) and The Game (2.03m/.7) Other than that, it was all bad news. Particularly for Stylista (.8m/.4), which really missed the Next Top Model lead in.
FOX - Meanwhile, in Africa, Jack was back in 24: Redemption (12.12m/4). I actually thought the numbers would be a little higher, but that is still a solid performance. And the network can look forward to a drastic improvement on Mondays in the new year. Elsewhere, the network was up to some time slot shenanigans with House and Fringe. House ran well into the 9 o’clock hour. It’s a practice that drives me nutty, but this is a good time to explain why it happens. The overnight ratings for the shows looked like this: House (12.49m/5.0) Fringe (8.73m/3.9). The finals, adjusted for the time, were a bit different: House (12.87m/5.2) Fringe (7.7m/3.4). It makes the numbers look better for Fringe on the initial reports, but mostly it just screws with viewer scheduling, so they should really knock it off.
NBC - As I mentioned in the open, Rosie Live (5.04m/1.2) took the place of Knight Rider this week, with the understanding that more episodes would be ordered if it performed well. It didn’t, and thankfully we won’t be seeing any more of that. I have to wonder though, who decided to schedule Liza Minelli? What demo was that targeted at? The other weird thing I don’t get at NBC is how they keep scheduling Office repeats in odd areas. This week it aired at 10:30 on Thursday (3.4m/1.4) and Friday (2.2m/.9). It doesn’t really repeat well to start with, repeating in different slots is certainly not the way to go.
ABC - Despite the holiday distractions, ABC had a pretty good week thanks to the Dancing With The Stars finals. The show had two big nights on Monday (21.1m/4.7) and Tuesday (20.64m/5.1). If you were hoping that viewers would be tired of the show at this point, it’s still got a few more seasons left in it. The network also had good luck with the American Music Awards (12.2m/5.1) on Sunday, and a Barbara Walters Special (11.65m/2.9) gave a lift to the still struggling Wednesday. The good run continued on Friday, where Polar Express (6.59m/1.8) led the way to a rare Friday night win. If not for the drastic drop on Thursday, anchored by the Grey’s Anatomy (5.09m/1.6) repeat, it would have been an outstanding week. That show just does not repeat well.
CBS - Completely opposite of Grey’s, we have CSI (10.63m/2.1). The CBS stalwart also aired a repeat on Thursday, but managed to more than double the viewers of Grey’s. It remains one of the great strengths of the CBS lineup. So many of those shows hold up to being replayed. Elsewhere, the network had typically strong results for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. A few highlights: Big Bang Theory (10.03m/3.9), NCIS (19.12m/3.6), and Criminal Minds (14.03m/3.4). Surprisingly, the weak night was Friday. A night of repeats that featured two runs of Ghost Whisperer (6.15m/1.3 – 5.97m/1.5) and Numb3rs (6.95m/1.6) weren’t enough to retain the Friday crown.
There is a whole mess of interesting stuff on the schedule this week, including Privileged being paired with Gossip Girl on Monday. It will also be interesting to see just how far those Samantha Who? (10.7m/2.9) numbers drop now that Tom Bergeron isn’t handing off 20 million viewers. On Tuesday, please join me as I look on in confused amazement that According to Jim is back, most likely at less than half of the usual DWTS Results audience. Wednesday brings the Grammy Nominations concert on CBS, and the debut of FOX’s Secret Millionaire. I can’t imagine that one is going to last long. And Thursday, another Barbara Walters Special should do very well following Grey’s Anatomy.
Finally, a few more numbers to ponder:
Heroes (7.5m/3.5) – We’ve found the bottom. Now we wait and see if the numbers can go back up.
Terminator:TSCC (4.57m/1.8) – There might be something to that move to Friday. It’s not like the show can do any worse, right?
The Mentalist (15.93m/3.7) – Building on the NCIS demo, while against the DWTS finale. Impressive.
How I Met Your Mother (9.97m/4.3) – Not canceling this show is the best decision CBS has made in a long time.
Pushing Daisies (4.45m/1.2) – Sighhhhhhh
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Dec 01, 2008 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
Poor Terminator. Hopefully it will get a bump from the Joss fanatics on fridays.
Every week I read the weekly ratings clack I get depressed looking at T:SCC’s numbers. I really (really) enjoy the show and hope it will last.
*POST AUTHOR*
Well David, if you want something positive to look at, the fact that the show is still on the air, despite ratings that keep dropping, means someone at the network is committed to giving it time to weather the storm. And, just as Bob suggests, the show could actually do better on Friday night, which would be odd, but gains made there may buy some more time.