Week two of the full-tilt-boogie season brought with it some interesting things, including premieres for Animation Domination, The Amazing Race, Trauma, Hank, and The Middle. We also saw more huge numbers from House, NCIS, and Grey’s. But after all of that, the most interesting story again comes from the show with the worst ratings on all of the big four networks, Dollhouse. After season two premiered to a series low last week, things got even worse. Episode two just barely cleared the 2 million viewer bar, while falling below a 1 in the demo. Reached for comment, my BFF Jill said, “OMG! RLY!?”
Yes, really. The situation is dire. Even the hardcore Whedonites are now at DEFCON 1. Someone has got word that the show could be in danger of being pulled from the air. I don’t know anything more than they do about that, but I would expect it to get one more shot this Friday, before baseball takes over. If episode three doesn’t show some sort of improvement though, I wouldn’t be surprised if baseball makes way for a series of House and Bones repeats on Fridays at 9.
FOX - Since Dollhouse (2.09m/.8) led things off, let’s start there. That is absolutely terrible. To put it in perspective, 6 of the 7 new hours on the CW last week beat it in viewers and the demo. And the 7th, Melrose Place, still managed to tie it in the demo. It also again fell short of its Friday partners, Brothers (2.42m/.8) and ‘Til Death (2.29m/.8). Fortunately for FOX, while the end of the week was a disaster, the beginning was the complete opposite.
Things got off to a great start with the premiere of Animation Domination. The Simpsons (8.31m/4.3) was off just a touch from last season’s premiere, but The Cleveland Show (9.51m/4.9), Family Guy (10.11m/5.2), and American Dad (7.14m/3.6) all brought year-to-year increases to their spots. The good news continued Monday, with House (14.71m/5.8). That is more than 2 demo points above second place Dancing With The Stars. From there, things were more mixed.
Lie To Me (7.73m/2.9) was a solid third in viewers and demo, but those numbers are all too close to where it was while airing at 8 last season. I expected more of a boost, given the post-House slot. Wednesday and Thursday were a mixed bag, with Hell’s Kitchen (6.64m/3.1), So You Think You Can Dance (5.18m/2.4 – 6.81m/2.7), and Glee (7.4m/3.3). Hell’s Kitchen and Glee are solid, but SYTYCD could be doing better. I’m curious to see what happens when the all too-long audition episodes end. Finally, Thursday was a repeat of last week with Bones (9.43m/2.7) holding strong, and Fringe (6.03m/2.3) getting crushed by the heavyweight Thursday competition.
CBS - The Dollhouse kerfuffle trumped NCIS (21.37m/4.8) for my before-the-jump spot, but just barely. Surprising just about everyone, NCIS not only held on to all of the demo from the premiere, but also increased in viewers. That led to a great Tuesday. Combined with NCIS: LA (17.39m/4.1) and The Good Wife (13.69m/3.2), the network was up in viewers and demo in every hour year-to-year. Earlier in the week, The Amazing Race (10.4m/3.4) returned to solid numbers on Sunday, followed by Cold Case (9.19m/2.1).
Monday was also a big success, overall. How I Met Your Mother (8.71m/3.6), 2 ½ Men (13.86m/4.8), Big Bang Theory (13.27m/5.3), and CSI: Miami (13.96m/4.1) all did great. We’re getting very close to Big Bang taking over as the outright #1 comedy on television. The only real misstep was Accidentally On Purpose (8.03m/3.1). That’s not bad, but it does stand out compared to the rest of the night.
The rest of the week proceeded as expected. Old Christine (6.65m/1.9) and Gary Unmarried (6.65m/2.2) remain the weak spot in the lineup, while Criminal Minds (14.24m/3.8) and CSI: NY (13.16m/3.3) own the rest of Wednesday. CSI (15.94m/4.1) narrowly edged Grey’s in viewers, but is now getting hammered in the demo. The other two hours on Thursday have much more intriguing battles shaping up. Survivor (11.54m/3.7) and FlashForward are very close, and that one could go either way each week. And at 10, The Mentalist (15.75m/3.8) couldn’t match the Private Practice premiere demo, but the two should be very interesting to watch going forward. Finally, it was another easy win on Friday; despite everything being down, the perfect combination of Ghost Whisperer (7.63m/1.7), Medium (7.72m/1.8), and Numb3rs (7.73m/1.6) won every hour.
ABC - Things were a little less exciting on ABC. There was some good news. Grey’s Anatomy (15.69m/6.1) remains huge, and led to a great premiere for Private Practice (11.58m/4.6). Desperate Housewives (13.64m/4.7), while down, is still a legitimate hit. And Brothers & Sisters (9.38m/3) is solid following it. The network also has to be excited about the week two performances of Modern Family (9.99m/3.8), Cougar Town (9.25m/3.8), and FlashForward (10.73m/3.7). All three held up very well and look to have greatly improved their places on the schedule.
Things weren’t quite as good elsewhere. Dancing With The Stars (17.03m/3.7 – 13.02m/2.7) is still a viewer machine on performance night, but it was more than two full demo points behind House. The results show has now fallen to second in viewers and third in the demo. The show is still strong, but not nearly what it once was. Elsewhere, Castle (9.15m/2.2) remains rather soft, although comparisons with The Forgotten (7.45m/2), and Eastwick (6.57m/2.3) may help it. Finishing the week, Hank (8.33m/2.1) and The Middle (8.71m/2.6) had disappointing numbers, considering they were premieres in a fairly weak hour. They’ll have their hands full with Gary and Christine in coming weeks. And finally, Shark Tank (4.75m/1.5) has now fallen below Opportunity Knocks from this time last year. And we all know how that ended.
NBC – The good news, as usual, comes from Sunday Night Football (17.47m/6.8), The Biggest Loser (9.18m/3.7), and The Office (7.41m/3.9). The bad news starts with Heroes (5.72m/2.5), and continues to SNL Thursday (5.02m/1.8), Parks & Recreation (4.67m/2), and Law & Order (6.68m/1.2). Somewhere in the middle, we find the dueling medical dramas, Trauma (6.68m/2.2), and Mercy (7.39m/2.1). Those are iffy demos, especially considering Mercy‘s competition, but the fact that they are both getting more viewers than Heroes, and three of the four Thursday comedies, is at least a small positive.
Community (5.86m/2.9) rebounded slightly after the Grey’s and CSI premieres last week, but those numbers don’t bode well for its debut at 8 next week. I’d be shocked to see it match Earl from this time last season (7.09m/2.7). Finally, the most curious result of all has to be Law & Order SVU (8.09m/2.5). The show has been a huge winner for the network for years, and I really expected a battle with Criminal Minds. Getting beaten by 6 million viewers and 1.3 demo points has to come as a surprise.
CW - Overall, you’d have to call it a positive week. One Tree Hill (2.51m/1.1) and Gossip Girl (2.36m/1.2) were both up after last week’s big House special delivered quite a blow. Likewise, 90210 (2.21m/1.1) and Next Top Model (3.28m/1.5) were both up as well. Vampire Diaries (3.53m/1.6) and Supernatural (2.6m/1.2) were both down slightly, but continue to be the strongest night in viewers and the adult demo for the network. Monday remains strongest among younger viewers. Smallville (2.39m/.9) even got in on the game; despite being obviously down from last season, it did manage to beat both hours on FOX on Friday. The real problem on the schedule is now Melrose Place (1.42m/.8), which has fallen behind where Privileged was at this time last season.
Cable – The shocking stat from the cable list this week is that I managed to turn up at least 13 shows with more viewers than Dollhouse. Really, those numbers are that bad. The real standout on cable though, was The Ultimate Fighter (5.31m/3.1) on Spike. Sons Of Anarchy (3.76m/1.9) also remains very strong for FX, especially considering it is airing during the regular network season. Some other cable numbers to ponder:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Oct 05, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
The show should have never have gotten a second season anyways, House reruns could get twice the viewers.
I should be miffed that you chose to spotlight the continuing decline of Dollhouse rather than the actual surprise of NCIS somehow rising even further, but I suppose I can’t blame you for choosing the picture of hot girl with gun over Mark Harmon.
Except:
1. Not enough skin showing.
2. Stainless Beretta 92 automatics are so ’90s.
*POST AUTHOR*
If Dollhouse airs this week, I’ll go with a topless Dushku next week. Sound good? :D
Sold!
Sadly I know that there are plenty of photomanips of that exact scenario.
Every single [explitive deleted] post you guys have ever made about Dollhouse talks about ratings. Ratings this, ratings that. Seriously, enough already… maybe talk about the show itself from time to time, it’s actually quite good.
*POST AUTHOR*
I have to say, it’s a little odd that you chose this post to make your complaint that we talk too much about the Dollhouse ratings. This is the weekly ratings post, after all.
Still, I think we give Dollhouse more than it’s fair share of coverage, given those ratings. Look at a show like Two and a Half Men. It knocks down something like 7x the Dollhouse audience, and rarely gets a mention here. Yet, Dollhouse has its own category. And that category features plenty of posts that do, in fact, talk about the show. We even reviewed the unaired episode.
The news about Dollhouse is legitimate to lead with since there was such a big deal made out of it being renewed over The Sarah Connor Chronicles (and I bet someone at Fox is really sorry about that coin toss now). I also think Fox made a mistake with launching SYTYCD as a fall series. Keep it in the summer (Big Brother didn’t work so well for CBS in the winter/spring either during the writers strike). And I knew Fox really made a huge mistake by moving Fringe to Thursday. I don’t think the issue is CSI or Grey’s since it never had those kind of numbers, but judging by the numbers it looks like the real audience split is between Fringe and Supernatural which, to me, attract more of the same viewers than either of the other two shows.
I’m sorry to hear numbers for The Middle were so-so. I enjoyed the show very much, but the second episode of Modern Family was not quite as funny as the first. And though I’m not a fan of Patricia Heaton, I do hope The Middle shows some improvement.
I didn’t watch Heroes much last season, but I am giving it a shot again mainly because of the addition of Robert Knepper as the new villain. Loved him on Prison Break. I hope the story starts to focus more on him, but so far I am intrigued. Community is okay. I think it needs a little time to find its comedy footing. I wasn’t impressed at all with the very first episode of Parks & Recreation last season, but so far the first two shows this season have had me laughing out loud. I don’t know what NBC’s expectations are for either of those two shows against Survivor and FlashForward, but I hope they have some patience.
Will Heather Locklear once again save Melrose Place? Does anyone who watches The CW even know who she is? I think MP is a guilty pleasure and I’ve enjoyed it so far, so I hope the return of Amanda will give it a needed boost. I’m shocked the numbers for Supernatural are down a bit, especially since this may be the final chapter of the series as planned, but again I think Fringe has drawn away some viewers who may be using the old DVR now for one or the other. Glad to know the move to Friday hasn’t hurt Smallville too much.
I’m curious, though, you left out the numbers for Leno. How’s that working out for NBC?
*POST AUTHOR*
My apologies, I totally forgot the Leno numbers. They were on par with what we have been seeing. He took third place on four nights, with the biggest success being second in the demo on Tuesday.
Mon (5.52m/1.7)
Tue (6.58m/2.2)
Wed (6.11m/1.9)
Thu (5.03m/1.5)
Fri (5.49m/1.5)
I’m one Sarah Connor fan that doesn’t blame Fox for that decision, as I know the show would still be gone even without the resurrection of Dollhouse, and it certainly makes more sense financially to air a show you produce rather than another studio’s. Of course the smart decision would have been just to air two House reruns to fill up Fridays and still get better ratings.
Heather Locklear? Wasn’t she one of Charlie Sheen’s girlfriends on Two and a Half Men? I guess she’d work on Melrose Place, but the rest of the cast is so young.
Heather Locklear was on the original Melrose Place and will be resuming her very popular role of Amanda Woodward. It was such a great character that I know I will be interested in what she has been up to during the missing time.
Though I am also excited for Jane to return!
:D
I know, but I always preferred Marcia Cross and Laura Leighton’s characters. And Courtney Thorne-Smith is just as hot today as she was back then.
By the way, Jane’s already come back, and is the new landlord by inheritance.
Very surprising about SVU; ignoring its competition, is there an argument to be made that SVU’s audience just isn’t ready to sit down for TV yet at 9PM? Yes, I know that Criminal Minds has been doing its scary at nine, but the 10 to 9 shift can’t be insignificant….
*POST AUTHOR*
I suppose you could make that argument, but it would seem to be a tough sell considering what CBS is able to do at 8 and 9 with NCIS, Criminal Minds, and CSI. More likely, SVU is just getting sucked into the ratings sinkhole that is the entire NBC schedule. As each show goes down, it takes the promotion for the rest of them with it. Given the history of the franchise, I expected SVU to be able to avoid that and give Criminal Minds more competition.
Fair point. Is there a separate break-out for Saturday night’s rebroadcast? With the new ABC comedies, and Criminal Minds, I’m forced to DVR it then, so maybe (fingers crossed) that’s where the audience has splintered off to?…
*POST AUTHOR*
I generally ignore Saturday, because the networks really aren’t even trying, but I did look it up. The Friday SVU repeat had 5.29m viewers and a 1.3. It was beaten by 48 Hours Mystery in the timeslot, and also just over a million viewers below a Criminal Minds repeat at 9.