On the whole, it was a rather uneventful week of ratings. The most interesting story might have been what we didn’t see. As in, new programming on CBS. Despite the lack of anything of note to report in the ratings (even Harper’s Island was a repeat), CBS managed to average the most viewers on six of the seven nights. The network was only topped on Wednesday, and even then only trailed NBC by less than half a million viewers. Of course, that’s just viewers. FOX managed to win four of the nights in the demo. Still, without even trying, CBS is having a successful summer. Elsewhere, more good news to report on the cable side for HBO, Oxygen, ESPN, and BET.
Starting higher up on the dial, HBO had a good showing with the premier of Hung (2.8m). That’s the highest rated premiere since John From Cincinnati. With any luck, Hung won’t be completely baffling and nonsensical, and it can hang around for a second season. Hung followed True Blood (3.7m), which set a series record of its own. Oxygen had a record breaking premier as well, with Dance Your Ass Off (1.3m).
Over at ESPN, coverage of the FIFA Confederation Cup Finals (3.95m), featuring the US vs Brazil, came in as the most watched non-World Cup US match the network has aired. By groundhog dayesque ratings customs, that means six more months of people thinking soccer will one day be BIG here. Finally, the big winner on cable this week came from BET. BET Awards ’09 was watched by a whopping 10.65 million viewers. Holy smokes. Meanwhile, on the low end of the dial…
ABC - It’s really starting to look like the ABC summer amounts to The Bachelorette (7.96m/2.8) on Monday, and Wipeout (7.81m/2.6) on Wednesday. Everything else just leaves a lot to be desired. The week got off to a rough start with the conclusion of Impact (4.43m/1.1). The Newlyweds (5.04m/1.8) didn’t offer much help on Monday. And Tuesday ground to a halt with the combination of The Superstars (4.01m/1.3) and Better Off Ted (1.78m/.6 !!). It continued the rest of the week with I Survived A Japanese Game Show (3.83m/1.4), Samantha Who? (3.5m/1 – 3.29m/1), The Goode Family (1.45m/.5), and Eli Stone (2.65m/.6).
NBC - The peacock is in a very similar boat, with the good news coming mostly from America’s Got Talent on Tuesday (12.91m/3.7) and Wednesday (11.3m/2.9). The other originals have mostly been forgotten. Merlin (4.29m/1 – 4.25m/1.1) tried twice on Sunday, but couldn’t find the magic formula. The Philanthropist (5.72m/1.5) wasn’t exactly horrible, but did place behind a CSI:NY repeat, despite following the highest rated show of the night. The Listener (3.28m/1) continues to struggle, as does Chopping Block (2.4m/.6). And, depressingly, Kings (1.3m/.3) continues the slow grind to the finish. Jeez… Chopping Block doubles the demo of Kings. That’s a kick to the crotch right there.
FOX - And Fox gets in on that same game as well, with So You Think You Can Dance doing the heavy lifting for the network on Wednesday (7.65m/3) and Thursday (7.15m/2.3). Elsewhere, there really wasn’t much to be excited about. Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader is back on Friday (4.26m/.9), and has lost much of its former ratings draw. That was followed by Mental (3.43m/.8), at its new night and time. Hey, at least they’re both outdrawing Dollhouse, right? (snap) More interesting might have been the shenanigans on Monday. As part of the Michael Jackson hubub, FOX re-aired the Jackson episode of Idol (4.22m/1.5). Surprisingly, that landed the show in third place, behind The Bachelorette and the CBS comedies.
CW - In case you missed it, and the numbers suggest you did, Valentine (.59m/.2) returned on Sunday. That one is still a little disappointing to me. That show was much better than the numbers suggest. Also new for the week, Hitched or Ditched (1.03m/.4) had its finale. So goes another week of numbers in the world of summer television.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jul 06, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
