Ratings Clack – Skating With The Stars slips and falls

by Brett Love

Thanksgiving tossed a monkey wrench into the gears of the television schedule, but there were still some interesting stories to be had, including the premiere of ABC's 'Skating With The Stars', and week two of 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'.

ABC - Who could have seen that coming? Just everyone that remembers FOX’s short-lived Skating With Celebrities. I don’t know if ABC’s ridiculous run of success with Dancing With The Stars blinded them to those facts, or if they just had no better option to fill the gap and figured why not. Either way, it was a less than impressive debut that hints at further losses to come. After a huge Dancing With The Stars (23.7m/4.9), the premiere of Skating With The Stars (9.36m/2.4) didn’t even match the viewers for a Middle repeat in the 9:30 spot last week. Worse, that number is largely inflated by the Dancing lead-in. By 10:30, the show was down to 6m/1.7. That does not bode well for this week, when the show will open Monday night. Earlier in the week, the American Music Awards (11.72m/4.3) were down from last year, but still a solid number.

After the skating disappointment, the news only got better for DWTS. The season finale on Tuesday (24.2m/5.3) was even bigger than Monday. Of course, that didn’t do anything for No Ordinary Family (7m/1.8), which aired in front of it. Wednesday was a bit of a Thanksgiving mess. Generally, with traveling, and family shenanigans, numbers are down on the day. That was certainly the case for The Middle (8.18m/2.1), Better With You (6.78m/1.9), Modern Family (10.53m/3.7), and Cougar Town (6.72m/2.5).

NBC - Sunday Night Football (23.2m/8.8) had a good week to get the week started, before the usual Monday struggle arrived in the form of Chuck (4.8m/1.7), The Event (5.19m/1.7), and Chase (5.34m/1.4). Nothing surprising in those numbers, but Chuck remains the most interesting show as we head into the new week. With the meager premiere numbers for Skating With The Stars and repeats from the CBS comedies and House, this will be the weakest competition the show is ever likely to see.

Tuesday, The Biggest Loser (6.77m/2.3) took a bit of a hit from the DWTS finale, and remains well off of last season’s pace. Parenthood (4.47m/1.9) also continues to struggle. The rest of the week amounted to a Kung Fu Panda (5.92m/1.5) holiday special, the disappointing Biggest Loser Where Are They Now (4.86m/1.7), and the finale of School Pride (2.28m/.6).

CBS - The Amazing Race (10.59m/3), Undercover Boss (12.74m/3.4), and CSI Miami (10.57m/2.3) made for a nice start to the week. That was followed by a rather typical week from How I Met Your Mother (8.73m/3.5), Rules Of Engagement (7.96m/2.9), and 2 ½ Men (14.39m/4.5). Not as typical were the results for Mike & Molly (12.93m/4) and Hawaii Five-O (12.34m/3.3). Mike & Molly just keeps getting stronger, and it would seem that Five-O benefited nicely from the absence of Castle.

Things were also typical for NCIS (18.78m/3.9) and NCIS: LA (14.96m/3.2). The Good Wife (10.03m/2.1) was a bit off the pace, but we can probably chalk that up to the extra 20 million viewers in ABC’s 10pm hour. The week finished with a disappointing showing from the Survivor recap show (8.03m/2).

FOX – The Simpsons (6.59m/2.9), Cleveland (5.07m/2.4), Family Guy (6.59m/3.3), and American Dad (4.86m/2.3) got the week off to a bit of a slow start, and that carried right through. House (9.24m/3.4) was also down, and Lie To Me (5.63m/1.7) continued to struggle. Even the powerhouse that is Glee (10.41m/4) took a hit, dropping a full point in the demo week-to-week. Human Target (5.6m/1.4) and Hell’s Kitchen (5.05m/2.1) wrapped things up, also feeling the heat of the pre-holiday tune out.

CABLE - In premiere news, there was nothing exciting to report from History’s poorly cast Top Gear (1.93m/.9). That’s not even in the ballpark with what Pawn Stars and the American Pickers have been turning in. In week two news, Sarah Palin’s Alaska (3.04m/.7) and Glory Daze (1.31m/.7) both took sizable hits. Now we wait to see where things settle. And in good news (kind of), Stargate Universe (1.17m/.5) was up slightly. For perspective, the 11/19 numbers for Smackdown (2.52m/.8) and Sanctuary (1.26m/.4).

Basic