(Ratings Clack 11/30 – 12/6)
It was an interesting week for TV numbers. With Tom & Samantha packing up the ballroom, there were viewers to be had on Monday and Tuesday. That meant there were winners (Chuck, The Mentalist), and losers (Samantha Who?, Heroes).
The other big story was just how well all of the Christmas programming did. Shrek, The Grinch, Santa Claus, and Rudolph all had nice showings, as did the Christmas in Rockefeller. We also saw the return of Jericho to the airwaves. If you were holding out hope that this could revive the series, well… nuts.
ABC - The ballroom has gone dark, and that’s not a good thing for ABC. They did manage to stave off the collapse momentarily, thanks to Shrek The Halls (11.14m/3.3), How The Grinch Stole Christmas (11.41m/3.8), and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (8.89m/3.1). Unfortunately, without DWTS, Samantha Who? (6.03m/1.9 – 6.51m/2.1) dropped better than 4 million viewers and a point in the demo. Signaling more trouble to come, According To Jim (6.13m/2.2 – 5.46m/2.0) did what was expected, including causing everyone to ask the question, “According To Jim is still on the air?” The missing 12-15 million viewers helped to sink the Eli Stone (4.94m/1.5) numbers as well.
NBC - The peacock had a nice holiday boost of their own on Wednesday. The Christmas in Rockefeller (10.32m/2.2) nearly doubled the viewers that Knight Rider has been getting. That led to improvements for Life (8.15m/2.4) and Law & Order (11.3m/3.0). Of course, having Criminal Minds and CSI:NY off the schedule probably helped as well. Things weren’t as happy on Monday. Chuck (7.34m/2.5) saw a small improvement, but Heroes (7.99m/3.6) was curiously stable. With no DWTS, the entire CBS lineup in repeats, and the big finish of the eclipse two-parter, you would think there would be some sort of bump. It makes me nervous about what kind of audience is going to be left after Momma’s Boys tanks the time slot. Because, really, who is going to watch Momma’s Boys?
CBS - Speaking of that CBS Monday night… despite the entire lineup being in repeats, the network managed to win the night in viewers and the demo. That’s playing with house money. The good news continued on Tuesday as The Mentalist (18.74m/3.8) took full advantage of the lack of dancing. That’s the first time the show has actually grown the viewer numbers from NCIS (18.51m/3.8), and it beat Fringe in the demo as well. CBS also cashed in on the holiday with Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (11.82m/4.2) on Wednesday, easily besting the numbers that Christine and Gary have been putting up. The Victoria’s Secret special (8.68m/3.6) didn’t do quite as well, losing a lot of the normal CSI:NY audience, but it is a good demo number, and I’m always on the side of more girls in their underthings on our television.
FOX - Another quiet week as everyone sits waiting for Idol to come and save the day. Terminator:TSCC (5.82m/2.2) and Prison Break (5.84m/2.2) did see small gains without DWTS around. At this point though, I think it’s clear that Terminator is going to sink or swim based on those Friday numbers. Somewhat more surprising was the debut of Secret Millionaire (6.66m/2.3 – 8.05m/3.0). That’s actually better than I expected, but I don’t think those numbers are going to hold up for long. Much like Moment Of Truth, this looks like an idea that people will tire of quickly.
CW - Usually, if a network can double it’s viewership for a night over the course of a week, that’s an amazing thing. If that network is the CW, and the night is the Sunday MRC debacle, it’s not as impressive. They began the reruns of Jericho (1.22m/.3), and followed it up with Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (1.25m/.4). That is a vast improvement over what they were getting on Sundays, but still woefully bad. More interesting was the Monday experiment with Gossip Girl (3.11m/1.5) leading in to Privileged (2.2m/1.0). That is an improvement for Privileged, but still well below what One Tree Hill has been getting in that spot.
Other numbers to watch:
30 Rock (7.18m/3.4) – Down again, but just barely. Are we nearing the bottom? It could be worse.
Kath & Kim (4.91m/2.2) – I just don’t get how this one ever made it to the green light.
Desperate Housewives (15.81m/5.7) – It keeps going, and going.
CSI (17.48m/4.6) – This one will be interesting to check on next week.
2½ Men (13.63m/4.0) – For a repeat!
This week, there are a couple things to watch out for. The big finale of Boston Legal should be a nice break from the sinking ship of Samantha Who? for ABC. And over at CBS, the arrival of Laurence Fishburne on CSI should be huge. It’s big on it’s own, but a repeat Grey’s Anatomy will only add to it.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Dec 08, 2008 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
