… finally. Much of last week could be described as more of the same for the folks over at NBC. But this particular Thursday was different. Not only because of ER taking over the entire night. It also brought a clear win for the night to the network, calling to mind the Must See TV of years gone by. The unfortunate bit of that is that it’s not repeatable. But it was fun for the night. In other numbers news for the week, nobody cares about In The Motherhood or Samantha Who?, Cupid premiered to somewhat iffy numbers, and both Lie To Me and CSI had numbers that should make their networks say, “Hmmmmm.”
NBC - Given that it has been such a train wreck of a season for the peacock, let’s start there. ER owned Thursday night. The retrospective at 8 (10.63m/3.5) was just barely edged out by Survivor, but the big series finale (16.38m/6) easily dominated the rest of the competition. That is certainly a far cry from what the show did in the Must See heyday, but an overall win is how the show should have gone out. Other good news came in the form of Celebrity Apprentice (8.66m/3.3), Biggest Loser (8.78m/3.5), and L&O: SVU (9.37m/3.4).
Elsewhere, the news wasn’t so good. It seems that the tribe has spoken where Kings (4.52m/1.3) is concerned. As has become the pattern, Chuck (5.72m/2.1) and Heroes (6.42m/3.1) continue to disappoint. It is worth noting that despite another drop in viewers, Heroes did gain back some of its demo, which is something. Similar gains were made at Life (5.69m/1.5), which was helped by L&O repeats replacing Chopping Block. Unfortunately, improving from terrible to not quite as terrible still isn’t much to crow about.
ABC - The home of the dancing stars also had an up and down week. The Monday performance (20.48m/4.9) show continued to dominate 8-10. It will be interesting to see what happens Monday, when Surviving Suburbia jumps in to the 9:30 slot. The results show (13.51m/3.1), back against Idol, took a hit, but still ended up well. Also good, Lost (9.57m/4.3) is holding up against Idol.
Not quite as encouraging, Castle (9.09m/2.4) suffered another small drop. Those aren’t terrible numbers, yet. But you have to be concerned that this week Surviving Suburbia will be inserted between DWTS and Castle. I expect that to bring another drop, probably putting Castle on that uncomfortable renewal bubble. It’s too early to call, but that’s quite possibly the same situation Cupid (7.22m/2.3) will be in. The premiere did manage to best what Eli Stone was doing there, but it was the premiere. And… it is certainly fairing better than any of the comedies. Scrubs (4.97m/1.9), Better Off Ted (4.67m/1.9), In The Motherhood (5m/1.6), and Samantha Who? (4.7m/1.6) were all disappointing.
CBS - Things were much better for CBS. The Amazing Race (11.98m/3.7) got the week off to a good start. And the good news continued as the Monday comedies rebounded from the strange numbers of last week. Big Bang Theory (9.74m/3.8), How I Met Your Mother (9.2m/3.9), 2 ½ Men (14.56m/5.2), and Rules Of Engagement (11.03m/4.1) were all strong. As were NCIS (17.23m/3.5) and The Mentalist (16.96m/3.8). Most notable though, was the surprise of I Get That A Lot (10.35m/3.4). That is well above anything that Christine or Gary has managed to do in that spot.
Survivor (11.27m/3.6) managed to edge out the ER retrospective on Thursday, and led in to a CSI (14.63m/3.8) that doesn’t exactly sound alarms, but it should get some attention. Those are still really good numbers for most shows, but not for CSI. The demo number is particularly surprising. For now, we can probably chalk it up to the novelty of the ER finale, but you could also use it to start building your case that the lack of Grissom is starting to show in the numbers.
FOX - Star Trek helped Family Guy (8.12m/4.1) start the week on a high note, and that carried through to Monday. The return of House (12.51m/4.8) meant a bump for 24 (11.27m/3.7). American Idol, of course, won everything on Tuesday (24.41m/8.9) and Wednesday (24.34m/8.4). That big lead in didn’t do anything for the Osbournes Reloaded (8.39m/3.7). Bones (9.25m/2.7) was off a bit, but with Hell’s Kitchen (6.95m/3.3), made for a solid Thursday.
On the other hand, the results for Lie To Me (9.18m/2.6) are troubling. That is against almost no competition, Scrubs and Ted, I Get That A Lot, and a L&O repeat. The show really should be doing better than that. It’s something to watch in the coming weeks to see if it’s just an oddity, or what the audience for the show really amounts to without Idol in front of it. And, of course, there was Friday. There is just no way to spin the Terminator:TSCC (3.35m/1.3) and Dollhouse (3.49m/1.4) numbers now. More people watched a repeat Ghost Whisperer, Wife Swap, and Howie Do It than watched TSCC. Sure, it beat Howie in the demo, but if that’s what you are clinging to, yikes. Dollhouse isn’t much better. It was beaten outright, in viewers and demo, by Flashpoint and a Supernanny repeat(!!!). It did manage to best Friday Night Lights in the demo, but still landed 4th in viewers.
CW - For the most part, it was another week of the same for CW. Gossip Girl (2.45m/1.3) and One Tree Hill (2.36m/1.3) did make small gains, but both remain below what they were doing earlier in the year. Reaper (2.37m/1) seems to have found its level, and I don’t think it’s enough for renewal. Arguing for renewal though, is the fact that it did manage more viewers than 90210 (2.04m/1.1). Smallville (3.85m/1.7) and Supernatural (3.27m/1.5) were also at normal levels. The biggest change came from Next Top Model (3.97m/1.8), which took advantage of not facing Idol.
For the coming week, there are a bunch of interesting premieres to keep an eye on. Surviving Suburbia finally sees the light following Dancing With The Stars on Monday. That’s good news for Bob Saget, bad news for Castle. Over on NBC, Scott Bakula and Chevy Chase do what they can to lift Chuck‘s prospects. Tuesday, Fringe returns to see if anyone remembers what the hell was going on, and Cupid tries to hang on to every last viewer from the premiere. Wednesday, we’ll find out if there was anything to that Lie To Me drop, and get our first look at The Unusuals. Thursday, The Office takes over for Earl at 8, because NBC desperately wants Parks And Recreation to do better than the promos suggest it will. Later in the night, the network also has the premiere of Southland, which will face off with the also-premiering Harper’s Island. And Friday, we can all stand by and shake our heads as Supernanny kicks the crap out of Dollhouse, again. It’s a strange TV world.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Apr 06, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
First off – thanks for doing these, I love ratings reports and if you weren’t doing them I would be like a blind man not knowing whether he’s right or not about what the public wants.
Which brings me to your assessment about CSI and ER.
CSI had its 200th episode and it was done in a kind of “novelty” fashion – in case you didn’t watch it, visit cbs.com and find out for yourself. The title sequence alone will have put those missing 2 million people off when they tuned in to CSI. That special way to do the show and absolute focus on Fishburne was something the showrunners wanted to do I think – just as much as the 2 1/2 men writers crossover.
I’m more than certain that CSI will bounce back. If you got the DVR numbers I’d love to know if the people who watched recordings were lower for the 199th episode of CSI and with that higher for the 200th. I’m almost certain of that becaue of ER.
I haven’t seen the latest CSI. With so much to watch, that one has been relegated to occasional mini-marathons thanks to the OnDemand channel on my cable service. I suspect that you are right though, and the show will rebound with the next new episode.
I’m with Sebastian in appreciating these ratings reports, but mostly they just worry me as I’m one of those viewers whose tastes seem to run towards shows that get the axe. I still appreciate being informed.
P.S. – People, please start watching Better Off Ted! I like the silliness and since I like it it’s going to get canned. I can feel it. :-)
I share your fears for Better Off Ted, Franklin. Things don’t look good at this point. And they will probably look just a little bit worse after Surviving Suburbia gets the gift of a post-DWTS slot. ABC just can’t seem to figure out what to do with comedy.
I know these kinds of suggestions come up every time a show is looking at cancellation, but Better Off Ted would be a good fit on ABC Family. So far, it’s a very family-friendly comedy without sacrificing wit or being sappy. It’s one of the few shows that everyone in my house is both able and willing to watch.
Good shows like this dying before they even have a chance to live is, in my mind, further proof that the Nielsen ratings system is beyond broken and should be considered completely irrelevent by everyone. Too bad the nets don’t agree.
Better Off Ted is a killer show, stunningly strong for a late-season debut, and predictably doomed. I will also miss the enthralling Kings come the fall.
I’m surprised Chuck has fallen so far, but even I who still watches the show am exhausted by all the stunt casting.
Perhaps Bones was off because no one knew it was a new episode? I was certainly surprised to finally see one.
Over at tvbythenumbers.com they have a cancel/renew index that they claim is pretty accurate. Right now it says Reaper is safe but that don’t mean shit with Dawn Ostroff running the CW.
Man, I hope Reaper is safe. With the possibility of next season being the last for Supernatural, I would have nothing left to watch on the CW.