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Showing posts with label rock center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock center. Show all posts

THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:33 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Viewers could tell that REVENGE wasn't FOR REAL.

ABC:  Serialized dramas repeat notoriously badly, so the network had the clever idea of filling in the spring schedule gap with a "news" show about true-life crimes that presumably are similar to those in the show, albeit without Emily Van Camp or Madeleine Stowe.  The resulting REVENGE FOR REAL was probably about where ABC expected, a full ratings point down from real Revenge episodes, but a little higher than repeats have been scoring.  The network tried to give For Real a lead-in with a new episode of HAPPY ENDINGS, but that ended up unnecessarily burning off a fresh (and funny, particularly for John Hughes fans) Happy episode, which hit a season low and didn't do any better coming out of a MODERN FAMILY repeat than a Happy rerun would have done. 


NBC:  Oh, NBC Wednesday, what's to be done with you?  Last night's new episodes of WHITNEY and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA could no more than tie the repeats on ABC of THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY that aired against them.  Then the network started its 2-week experiment of moving SVU reruns to 9PM (until BENT--very temporarily--takes the slot), which was a catastrophe that resulted in a previously unimaginable (even for a rerun) 1.0 rating for SVU, which just a couple of years ago was one of the most reliably repeating series on the schedule.  To the extent there's a bright side to any of this, the move of ROCK CENTER to 10PM supercharged that show all the way to a 1.0 rating, which was pathetically just 0.1 below its series high.  

FOX:  The season's song played again for AMERICAN IDOL, as it increased from last week (against mostly repeats on the other networks), but remained more than 35% below last year's numbers.

CBS:  SURVIVOR may also have benefited from the repeat competition and hit a cycle high.  At 10PM, a repeat CSI handily beat both of the new (albeit unscripted) shows on the other networks.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL continued to hold at a 0.7, while AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, perhaps benefiting from the large number of viewers for Monday's repeat of its season premiere, ticked up 0.1 to 0.6 (still far below last season).

Tonight NBC will sleeplessly await the Week 2 ratings for AWAKE, which this week has to face a new THE MENTALIST.  FOX airs the last Thursday night episode of THE FINDER before it's shipped off to Fridays, and only ABC is in repeats.


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The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS March 7

9:13 AM | Labels: , , , , , ,

American Idol is still way down from last year, but last night's episode ticked from the past few weeks.  But The Voice also had a good week -- so Idol remains behind the pace of the upstart singing show.  NBC shuffled Wednesday again, giving Rock Center yet another time period.  But the news magazine and NBC Wednesday in general remain stuck in the mud.  Luckily few viewers were there to see it last night, but in the credit window of SVU a dated 30-second promo for Celebrity Apprentice ran, announcing the show was "coming February 19".  Full on-air promo details in our next Promo Watch update on Friday.


             Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday    FOX    CBS    ABC    NBC
03.07.2012   5.6    2.2    1.7    1.2    THIS WEEK
02.29.2012   5.0    2.9    2.9    1.2    LAST WEEK
03.09.2011   9.1    2.9    1.9    1.2    LAST YEAR

FOX's American Idol popped back up this week to a 5.6 preliminary 18-49 rating, its best Wednesday number since February 15 (although still lagging behind this week's 6.2 for The Voice).  (In the official nationals Idol will probably go up up to a 5.7, which would be a 37% drop from last year's episode -- a tad better than last week's 43% decline but still stunning.)  Idol built steadily throughout the show: 5.0... 5.6... 5.9... 6.0 by half hour.  Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (9.1), growing by each half hour: 8.1, 9.3, 9.1 and 9.8.          


              Season        Last  Six  Weeks
FOX Wed      High Low  2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22 2.29 3.07

American Idol7.4  5.0  6.0  6.1  6.1  5.1  5.0  5.6*
Mobbed       3.0  2.8  2.8  3.0  --
Touch        3.9  3.9  --
X Factor     4.4  2.5   
Hate Teenage 2.8  1.8 

With repeats against it on ABC, Survivor ticked up three tenths to the highest rating of this cycle.  Criminal Minds and CSI were in repeats.  Last year on this night: Survivor (3.8), Criminal Minds (1.9) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.8).  

              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
CBS Wed      High Low  2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22 2.29 3.07
Survivor     3.6  2.8  --   --   3.1  2.8  2.9  3.2*
Criminal Min 4.1  3.1  2.1R 3.3  3.1  3.1  3.1  1.6R
CSI          3.3  2.5  1.5R 2.5  2.6  2.9  2.6  1.8R

ABC's comedies from 8:00-9:30, while Happy Endings (2.0) was an original episode that also rated like a repeat telecast.  At 10 pm ABC News provided Revenge for Real, real-life stories of crime in the Hamptons, which averaged a 1.4 rating -- better than a Revenge repeat but nothing extraordinary.  Last year on this night: The Middle (1.4), The Middle (1.4), Modern Family (2.5), Mr Sunshine (2.4) and Off the Map (1.9).   


              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
ABC Wed      High Low  2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22 2.29 3.07

The Middle   3.2  2.2  1.2R 2.6  2.4  2.2  2.6  1.5R
Suburgatory  3.4  2.3  1.2R 2.6  2.4  2.3  2.3  1.5R
Modern Fami  6.1  4.5  2.7R 5.5  4.7  4.8  4.8  2.4R
Happy Ending 3.5  2.4  1.9R 2.9  2.4  2.4  2.7  2.0*
Revenge      3.4  2.1  0.9R 2.5  2.4  --   2.4  --





NBC changed things up a bit, giving Rock Center its third time period.  Now at 10 pm, the struggling Brian WIlliams news magazine averaged a 1.0 rating (near the high-water mark for the young show but still incredibly weak).  SVU repeats have been moved down to 9 pm while Rock Center gets its trial run at 10, and the crime drama also scored a 1.0 rating, below the mid-1 rating SVU repeats at 10 have scored.  Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0), Law & Order SVU (0.9) and Law & Order SVU (1.5).
         

              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
NBC Wed      High Low  2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22 2.29 3.07
Up All Night 2.4  1.5 
Free Agents  1.3  1.0  
Whitney      2.1  1.4  1.7  1.5  1.7  1.5  1.5  1.6*
Chelsea      2.3  1.3  1.7  1.5  1.4  1.3  1.3  1.5*
Harry's Law  1.4  1.1  --   --
Rock Center  1.1  0.6       1.1  0.7  0.6  0.7  1.0*
L&O SVU      2.4  1.6  1.6R 2.0  1.7  1.6  1.6  1.0R



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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:06 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





February Sweeps go out not with a bang, but with the other thing.

ABC:  The first "midseason arc" episode of REVENGE looked almost exactly like all the other episodes, so it was fitting that the rating stayed even.  The show will now take a break from fresh episodes until the end-of-season push in April.  (Meanwhile, the network will air REVENGE FOR REAL, some kind of "ABC News" concoction about actual rich-people crimes.  If it works, no doubt NBC is poised to launch Smash For Real.)  Elsewhere, even with a 2-hour Idol as competition, HAPPY ENDINGS had a very nice 0.4 bump over the last 2 weeks--and continued to pile up its pre-Community Random Pop Culture Reference points with a nod to Krippendorf's Tribe that must have made Richard Dreyfuss very happy.  THE MIDDLE was also up a gratifying 0.4, while SUBURGATORY was slightly up and MODERN FAMILY was even.  


FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL 2-hour Wednesday was in the same position as its Tuesday:  dreadfully down from the parallel episode last year (44%, ouch), but only slightly down from last week.  The days of its dominance certainly seem to be over.

CW:  Audiences were not waiting with baited breath for the US vs. Brit version of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, which had a 0.6 that was down a disastrous 45% from last year's Spring premiere, and even down from its lead-in ONE TREE HILL.  (And for anyone looking for excuses, sorry:  last year's premiere also aired against a 2-hour Idol.)

NBC:  On the plus side, nothing got worse. ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA and SVU remained tied with their all-time lows, while WHITNEY and ROCK CENTER were a wildly exciting 0.1 above theirs'.  Next week, the network begins its Wednesday roundelay, with a new version of the schedule practically every week.  Fun!

CBS:  No good news here, either:  CRIMINAL MINDS tied its season low, while SURVIVOR and CSI were 0.1 above their respective lows.  The latter, though, still had enough to win the 10PM hour.

When NBC chose tonight for the debut of its difficult, highly conceptual AWAKE, the plan was for it to face no competition at 10PM but reruns.  Which is true, except ABC had the interesting idea of re-running its star-studded JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE post-Oscar special in the slot as counterprogramming.  Otherwise, little is new on the schedule:  FOX has another 2-hour Idol, and CBS stuck a new ROB amidst the rest of its otherwise all-repeat night.




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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:05 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




At FOX, perhaps the most terrifying 7 words in the English language:  AMERICAN IDOL May Not Have Hit Bottom.

FOX:  Despite no special competition on any other network, Idol's 5.1 was down a full ratings point from last week, and down a horrible 35% from last year's parallel episode.  This is still, of course, a very high rating (FOX easily won the night), and Idol, as Mitch Metcalf has shown, skews fairly well with high-income viewers, but make no mistake:  these declines are costing FOX millions of dollars.  Even worse, since advertiser refunds are customarily made in the form of free "make-good" spots on the schedule, and nothing else on FOX rates anywhere near Idol's numbers, the network will have to give away either more Idol inventory or a lot of time in other shows.  And worst of all, it's not clear that these drops are going to stop anytime soon. 


NBC:  So this is NBC, 2011-2012:  nothing but football in the winter, and nothing but The Voice in the spring.  The network is certainly entitled to a little dancing in the street over the fact that they really do have this season's music competition show of choice (at least so far), but the rest of the schedule is an atrocity.  Last night's 1.2 has to be one of the lowest non-holiday, in-season (let alone sweeps) Sun-Thurs nights for any network ever.  The highest rated show of the night was SVU, with a 1.6 that was its lowest rating in a dozen years on the air.  WHITNEY was the night's "success story," as its 1.5 managed to stay 0.1 above its series low.  ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? hit a new series low 1.3 (Chelsea may be there; no one else is).  And let's not even talk about the unbelievable 0.6 for ROCK CENTER. 

ABC:  But then, not a lot of good news for anyone last night. THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY hit new season lows of 2.3.  MODERN FAMIILY and HAPPY ENDINGS were, respectively, 0.2 and 0.1 above season lows.  (Endings, however, did win the prize for Random Pop Culture Reference Of the Week--a prize Community usually owns when it's on the air--when Brad, whose cologne attracts pigeons, was referred to as "Mr. Tuppence A Bag," about as sweet a Mary Poppins gag as you'll ever find.)  The idea of pre-empting Revenge with a special pre-Oscar "Before They Were Stars" installment of 20/20 must have seemed like a good idea at the time; at 1.4, it wasn't.

CBS:  The hits keep coming:  SURVIVOR's 2.8 was the lowest regular episode in that show's 12-year history, and CRIMINAL MINDS tied a season low 3.1.  But then--gasp!--something good:  CSI, with its 2d Elisabeth Shue episode (but probably helped as well by the weak competition on ABC) went up 0.2 from last week, with a 2.8 that almost equaled the NBC and ABC ratings combined.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL's 0.7 was higher than last night's Rock Center.  REMODELED, though, continued marching graveward with a 0.3.

Tonight FOX airs an hour of Idol, followed by THE FINDER.  All the networks feature new episodes, except NBC, which airs its last Grimm rerun at 10PM (Awake starts next week), and CW, which moves to its own drummer and is already in Thursday reruns even though we're still in February sweeps.

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The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS February 22

8:43 AM | Labels: , , , , , , ,

American Idol continue to flounder.  Just when we thought the Wednesday edition could hold the line at a 6 rating, it now appears that a 5 rating could be the benchmark.  Idol is no longer hearing the footsteps of The Voice; it is watching Adam, Cee Lo, Blake and Christina definitely leaping ahead.  But before NBC gets too excited about its Monday night, it has a series of trainwrecks on other nights, including a disastrous Wednesday.


             Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday    FOX    CBS    ABC    NBC
02.22.2012   5.1    2.9    2.4    1.2    THIS WEEK
02.15.2012   6.1    2.9    2.8    1.3    LAST WEEK
02.23.2011   7.9    2.9    2.3    1.5    LAST YEAR



FOX's American Idol took a big hit, tumbling a full rating point from last week to a 5.1 preliminary 18-49 rating.  (In the official nationals Idol will probably go up up to a 5.2 -- but still a pretty serious drop.)  Idol started slowly at 8:00 and built at 8:30 but didn't continue the growth much in the 9:00 and 9:30 half hours: 4.5... 5.2... 5.2... 5.4.  Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (7.9), starting at a 6.9 in the 8:00 half hour and peaking at an 8.5 in the 9:30 half hour.        


              Season        Last  Six  Weeks
FOX Wed      High Low  1.18 1.25 2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22

American Idol7.4  6.0  7.4  6.5  6.0  6.1  6.1  5.1*
Mobbed       3.0  2.8            2.8  3.0  --
Touch        3.9  3.9       3.9  --
X Factor     4.4  2.5   
Hate Teenage 2.8  1.8 

The second episode of Survivor fell three tenths of a rating point from the premiere, not a great trend so far compared to the first two episodes of last winter's cycle (3.2 premiere and 3.1 in week two).  Last year on this night: Survivor (3.1), Criminal Minds (3.2) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.4).  

              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
CBS Wed      High Low  1.18 1.25 2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22
Survivor     3.6  3.1  --   --   --   --   3.1  2.8*
Criminal Min 4.1  3.1  3.2  3.7  2.1R 3.3  3.1  3.1*
CSI          3.3  2.5  2.8  3.4  1.5R 2.5  2.6  2.8*

ABC's comedies were similar to last week's depressed levels, but the night was really damaged by replacing Revenge with a 20/20 special "Before They Were Famous", a familiar formula of early footage of the Oscar nominees from childhood and early career.  But the Robin Roberts-hosted special didn't work (1.4 rating), plunging the network into third place for the hour (behind a weakened SVU on NBC) and down one full rating point from last week's Revenge episode.  Not a lot of Oscar fever evident out there.  Last year on this night, ABC averaged a 2.3 rating: The Middle (2.4), Better with You (1.8), Modern Family (4.1), Mr Sunshine (2.2) and Off the Map (1.7).   


              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
ABC Wed      High Low  1.18 1.25 2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22

The Middle   3.2  2.4  2.5  1.5R 1.2R 2.6  2.4  2.3*
Suburgatory  3.4  2.4  2.5  1.4R 1.2R 2.6  2.4  2.3*
Modern Fami  6.1  4.5  5.1  2.5R 2.7R 5.5  4.7  4.7*
Happy Ending 3.5  2.4  2.9  1.7R 1.9R 2.9  2.4  2.5*
Revenge      3.4  2.1  2.5  0.9R 0.9R 2.5  2.4  --





NBC sunk all the way down to a 1.2 from 8-11 pm.  The shows in the very weak lineup were generally down another tenth of a rating point from last week, with Rock Center all the way down to a CW-like 0.6 rating.  The news magazine featured a long piece about illegal rhino hunting in Africa, which would be fine to run among other stories but the network chose to promote that story over the past few days.  In a future post, we will discuss the elements of news stories that resonate with viewers.  For now, suffice it say rhino hunting in Africa has none of these critical elements.  Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0) from 8-10 pm and Law & Order SVU (2.5).         

              Season        Last  Six  Weeks 
NBC Wed      High Low  1.18 1.25 2.01 2.08 2.15 2.22
Up All Night 2.4  1.5 
Free Agents  1.3  1.0  
Whitney      2.1  1.4  1.6  1.4  1.7  1.5  1.7  1.5*
Chelsea      2.3  1.4  1.7  1.4  1.7  1.5  1.4  1.3*
Harry's Law  1.4  1.1  1.1  --   --   --
Rock Center  1.1  0.7                 1.1  0.7  0.6*
L&O SVU      2.4  1.7  1.8  1.4R 1.6R 2.0  1.7  1.6*



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THE SKED: The Return of COMMUNITY! (And Other NBC Stuff)

2:10 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,






If you hear bells pealing and catch sight of Human Beings dancing (well, not so much dancing as meta-dancing that references obscure pop culture artifacts from 20 years ago), it's because NBC has finally freed COMMUNITY, its low-rated, selectively-beloved, utterly bizarre captive sitcom.  


As of March 15, Community will be back in its 8PM Thursday timeslot, with 30 ROCK moving to 8:30.  The bad news is that this will keep PARKS & RECREATION off the schedule until April 19, when that show will come back at 9:30PM (when UP ALL NIGHT will have finished its season order). 

The network also announced a set of changes to its disastrous Wednesday night schedule that are as twisty as a John LeCarre novel, so pay attention:

For the next 2 weeks (Feb 22 and 29), Wednesdays will continue to be:

8PM:  WHITNEY
8:30PM:  ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA?
9PM:  ROCK CENTER
10PM:  SVU

After that, the changes start.  March 7-14:
8PM:  Whitney
8:30PM:  Are You There, Chelsea?
9PM:  ???
10PM:  Rock Center

March 21-28:
8PM:  Whitney
8:30PM:  Are You There, Chelsea? (both their season--please God, series--finales air March 28)
9PM:  BENT (Amanda Peet sitcom being burned off with 3 consecutive weeks of back-to-back episodes)
10PM:  Rock Center

April 4:
8PM:  BETTY WHITE'S OFF THEIR ROCKERS (reality comedy)
8:30PM:  BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (semi-improv sitcom)
9PM:  Bent
10PM:  Rock Center

April 11-May 23:
8PM:  Betty White's Off Their Rockers
8:30PM:  Best Friends Forever
9PM:  Rock Center
10PM:  SVU

Got that?  Planning to watch any of it?  Did I mention that Community is coming back?

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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:01 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




Somewhere, Edward R. Murrow weeps.

CBS:  The attempt to resurrect Murrow's 59-year old celebrity interview vehicle PERSON TO PERSON with Charlie Rose and Lara Logan flopped badly with a 1.1 (wait, people didn't want to see the inside of Warren Buffet's house?).  But Survivor will be back next week, so no long-term damage done.  CRIMINAL MINDS was in its recent neighborhood (its lead over Mobbed on FOX will likely look better when final ratings are released and the Idol overrun into Mobbed's hour is removed).  As expected, CSI took a big hit from the last new episode, which was Marg Helgenberger's finale, but still won its hour.  Next week Elisabeth Shue debuts as the show's new female lead, and we'll see if that does anything for the show.


FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL held at a 6.0, which naturally destroyed the competition but was still down almost 30% from last year at this time--and was also about 10% below Monday's number for The Voice.  MOBBED was purportedly up for the night, but again that may well change once the Idol overrun is removed.

ABC:  THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY were basically even with their earlier numbers against Idol, while MODERN FAMILY and HAPPY ENDINGS, which had last aired new episodes against a 2-hour Idol, predictably did better against Mobbed.  REVENGE matched its last few originals--we'll see if next week's arc finale gives the show a bump.

NBC:  Even though Idol was stable, its NBC competition of WHITNEY and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? managed to be down to a pair of 1.5s, which is even with the series low that Up All Night had when it aired on Wednesdays.  ROCK CENTER unsurprisingly was slaughtered in its new 9PM timeslot, with a 1.1 against 3 networks that all averaged a 3.0 or more in the hour.  SVU was in last place at 10PM, although considering the difference in lead-ins, a 2.2 (only 0.5 behind CSI) was almost a moral victory.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL continues to hold nicely with a 0.7, while REMODELED continues to need one of its own with a 0.4.

Virtually all new sweeps episodes on every network tonight.  NBC will air a 1-hour 30 ROCK at 8PM, preempting PARKS & RECREATION, which should have little effect on the ratings, and while the network waits to launch AWAKE after sweeps, it'll re-air the post-Super Bowl edition of THE VOICE at 10PM.


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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:01 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , ,


A night mostly on pause for college football.

ABC:  Although the network took the night, it wasn't able to make as much hay with its female-skewing programming as one might have expected, on an evening where the main event was the BCS Championship college football game on ESPN.  THE BACHELOR, facing repeats on 3 networks, lost 0.2 from its season premiere, and then CASTLE, airing a new episode for the first time in over a month, was a lot closer to its season low than its high.


NBC:  WHO'S STILL STANDING? did what it's been doing, up 0.1 from its Monday night average.  FEAR FACTOR, predictably, hit a season low 2.2 with its male-skewing crowd, and it dragged ROCK CENTER to a 0.8 series low.  NBC is just counting the Mondays (3 more) until it launches its new Voice/Smash line-up... what was that day again?  Oh yes, the night after the Super Bowl.  If only they'd air some promos to remind people...

CBS:   The Rerun King came within 0.1 of winning the night with no original programming at all.

FOX:  ALCATRAZ premieres next week; meanwhile, 2 rerun episodes of HOUSE managed a 1.1.

CW:  The long draught of repeat Mondays is nearly over, but last night was another pair of 0.3s.

Tonight, the 2d episode of WORK IT airs, and we'll find out what word-of-mouth has wrought.  ABC, CBS and NBC air new regular episodes, while FOX and CW remain in repeats.

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:39 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


The networks (well, most of them) returned from their winter holidays only to find less viewer interest than they may have hoped.

CBS:  An easy win for the night with an all-new line-up.  But 2 1/2 MEN, MIKE & MOLLY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER were all down from their last original airings, and 2 BROKE GIRLS and HAWAII 5-0 were only up 0.1.  


ABC:  THE BACHELOR, like many of this season's reality franchises, returned to a significantly lower rating (down 0.5) than last year's premiere.  The good news for the network was that CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP held Bachelor's audience well, scoring about what Castle does in the slot--although it was an out of time slot "preview" before the show makes its official debut tonight.

NBC:  Its "real" Monday schedule won't debut until the night after the Super Bowl, as one of their roughly 9 zillion promos for The Voice and Smash may have told you.  Until then, they're muddling through with 3rd place finishes for WHO'S STILL STANDING and ROCK CENTER, and FEAR FACTOR's tie for 2d at 9PM with The Bachelor's 2.4.  

FOX:  2 hours of HOUSE reruns kept the lights on with a 1.2.

CW:  SECRET CIRCLE reruns barely registered at a 0.3.

Tonight, like last night, NBC, CBS and ABC will air new programming while FOX and CW remain in repeats.  ABC presents the actual premiere of Celebrity Wife Swap, and precedes it, for our sins, with the debut of WORK IT, winner (for the pilot, anyway) of this season's What Is This Show Doing On the Air? award.

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

4:49 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,



For CBS on Mondays, the other networks can huff and puff and put specials on the air, but they can't blow The Eye's house down.

CBS:  Against atypical competition almost across the board, all their hits were big winners, and all within 0.2 of their last original episodes.

ABC:  Their best number of the night by far was for the umpteenth repeat of 1965's A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (although its 2.8 was still way below competitor HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER with a 4.5 on CBS).  After that, a PREP AND LANDING held the Charlie Brown audience pretty well, but YOU DESERVE IT was a disastrous 1.0, and CASTLE rebounded as best it could to a 2.0, its season low.


FOX:    The AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS were below Terra Nova's lowest score, let alone House.  

NBC:  Must we speak of this?  NBC's average for 3 hours of primetime was a 1.0, which would be unacceptable even on a Saturday.  The number of people who didn't want to watch a SING-OFF Christmas special was exceeded only by those who wanted no part of ROCK CENTER.  And there are still 2 months of Mondays until The Voice and Smash arrive...

CW:  GOSSIP GIRL has clearly jumped the shark with a 0.6, low even by CW standards.  (We'll see if the car crash that ended the midseason finale brings people back in January.)  However, HART OF DIXIE is finding an audience, again significantly up from its lead-in.

Tonight is another December hodgepodge, with repeats on CBS against new episodes on FOX, while ABC throws Middle and Suburgatory reruns into the Dancing With the Stars Results slot, and NBC regales us with a Michael Buble Christmas special for our sins.

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:32 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , ,


The only shows last night with ratings north of a 3 were reruns.

FOX:  Even with weaker competition on both CBS and ABC, TERRA NOVA couldn't climb more than 0.1 from last week's season low, and with only 2 episodes left this season (the finale is a 2-hour special), time is running out.  HOUSE didn't fare much better, also up a mere 0.1 from its season low.


ABC:  Although they didn't equal Dancing With the Stars' usual rating, a combo of the classic HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS and a SHREK holiday special performed well 8-9PM.  Viewers have apparently decided that YOU DESERVE IT doesn't, and the night was rounded out by a CASTLE rerun.

CBS:  Thinking of reruns, The Eye won the night with one arm tied behind its back.  With an all-repeat lineup, CBS was victorious in every half-hour of the evening.

NBC:  The season finale of THE SING-OFF couldn't come soon enough for NBC, although it did manage to climb slightly for its last performance.  Facing repeats on the other networks, ROCK CENTER also crept up a bit.

CW:  HART OF DIXIE's 0.8 was nothing to shout about, but the fact that it marked an increase of 0.2 from the waning GOSSIP GIRL was at least a bit promising.

Specials continue tonight, with CBS airing an odd combination of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER and a VICTORIA'S SECRET show (an NCIS rerun provides a break between them), and ABC substituting a rerun of THE MIDDLE for the Dancing With the Stars results show. 

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:00 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,



Don't get too attached to those CG dinosaurs.

FOX:  TERRA NOVA barely bothers with those creatures these days anyway, being more concerned with dull conspiracies among humans (points to anyone who can figure out what the "time fracture" means), and it may not be showing anything for much longer.  With just a few episodes to go and a massive budget/license fee, this isn't a good time to be matching the season's lowest rating with a paltry 2.1.  HOUSE was almost as unimpressive, also tying a season low with 2.5.


ABC:  Beginning its 2-part season finale with a 1-hour episode, DANCING WITH THE STARS should hit its best rating since the season premiere even after football adjustments.  That provided a fine set-up to the new charitable game show YOU DESERVE IT, but that debut went absolutely nowhere with a lousy 2.1.  CASTLE managed to rebound from that with what should be a fairly standard number even after football is taken into account.

NBC:  Preparing for its own season finale, THE SING-OFF pretty much shuffled in place, but ROCK CENTER, soon to move to Wednesdays, could only manage a horrible 0.9.

CBS:  What are slips of a few percentage points to mighty CBS?  Every one of its shows fell from last week, and every one of its shows won its time-slot.  (Notably, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER didn't attempt to promote the major plot twist that concluded the episode--had the show pushed that development, it may well have scored higher.)

CW:  It looks like GOSSIP GIRL's glory days are over, but it did manage to climb 0.1 from last week, taking it out of the network's cellar and tying it with HART OF DIXIE.  

Tonight's numbers will be skewed by FOX's special X FACTOR taking the place of GLEE and NEW GIRL, and ABC will air the 2-hour Dancing With the Stars cycle finale 9-11PM.

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:31 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Monday has become a real problem for one network and a guaranteed victory for another.

FOX:  Due to the nature of Season 1 production on TERRA NOVA, it was always clear that there wouldn't be any back-order this year.  That leaves FOX with plenty of time to think about whether to renew the show for a second season.  It's become an increasingly problematic decision, because at the show's level of license fee, a 2.3 rating is below mediocre.  (However, on a corporate level FOX owns the series--which may have strong overseas value due to its genre--and that will also figure into the decision.)  It doesn't help that creatively, the show has become sluggish and uninvolving, with minimal dinosaur action and dull plots.  As to HOUSE, reports are that the network's decision on whether to make the deals necessary to bring it back will be made sooner rather than later, so the show can build to a series finale if needed, and that's looking more likely than not right now.


CBS:  Remember the concern that with Charlie Sheen gone, 2 1/2 MEN would collapse?  The show is thriving, with last night's rating more than 30% over last season's average.  That goes for HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and MIKE & MOLLY as well, and 2 BROKE GIRLS, which has eased up on the hostility jokes and become somewhat bearable, is right up there with them.  Spring will bring more challenges with THE VOICE as competition (and SMASH up against HAWAII 5-0), but for now Monday is just about ideal for CBS.

ABC:  A clear winner in the battle of the newsmagazine "gets," the special 20/20 with Gabrielle Giffords more than doubled NBC's number at 10PM.  DANCING WITH THE STARS, while still substantially below last season, is building toward its cycle conclusion.

NBC:  Even with a nationally reported scoop, the interview with allegedly monstrous former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky that was in the media all day leading up to the show, ROCK CENTER barely moved the dial.  THE SING-OFF is counting the weeks till it can fade away.

CW:  GOSSIP GIRL and HART OF DIXIE were steady, but at the low end of CW's 0.6-0.8 range, particularly bad news for Gossip.

Tonight FOX will hope that the GLEE/NEW GIRL post-baseball bleeding can heal.

. 

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THE SKED: Monday Ratings - Network Scorecard

10:39 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


It was all trick and no treat last night, especially for one of the networks.

FOX:  The network can blame Halloween for distracting some of its family audience, and cite the atypical competition from ABC's Shrek special, but a 2.1 for TERRA NOVA is still quite alarming.  With only a few episodes remaining until its December season finale (FOX had previously said this season would have only 13 episodes), the network will be right to worry until it sees whether the show can rebound next week.  HOUSE was also dismal at 9PM, so the goblins were definitely out at Murdoch Manor.


NBC:  ROCK CENTER debuted with a 1.0 rating even lower than Playboy Club had been doing, which won't make the network affiliates who inherit the 10PM numbers for their local news very happy.  That was well below even the lousy SING-OFF lead-in, which garnered a 1.4.  At this point, NBC is just counting the days until Friday, when they'll find out if the Grimm premiere was a fluke or something that resembles a success.

CBS:  Everything was down (and will likely come down further in final national numbers, due to San Diego coverage of the ESPN game), but not badly.  As of now, last night's 2 1/2 MEN is still running almost 20% ahead of last season's average.

ABC:  The SHREK cartoon repeat did nothing much at 8PM (although not that far below Terra Nova), and may have contributed to DANCING WITH THE STARS' depressed rating, pushing it to a start time out of its usual slot.  The arrival of Rock Center seemed to boost CASTLE.

CW:  Their audience is doing other things on Halloween night, so as is traditional for them, they aired reruns.

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The Sked: MONDAY RATINGS October 31: Rock Center Bombs & Sweep Update

9:00 AM | Labels: , , ,

Five days into the November sweep, FOX is still in the lead but its percent increases over 2010 are coming back down to Earth, as expected, as the impact of Thursday and Friday's Games 6 and 7 recedes.  Last night was a down night for FOX (2.3 for Terra Nova and House versus a 4.1 for the World Series on 11.1.2010).  CBS won last night with a 3.8 (though that could go down to a 3.7 when KFMB San Diego's coverage of the end of the Monday Night Football game is removed).  Either way, it would be up slightly over the 3.6 rating CBS turned in on the first Monday of the 2010 November sweep.  ABC scored a 2.7 last night in the fast nationals (again, probably a 2.6 because of KMBC Kansas City's local coverage of the game), either way a collapse from a 3.6 for its regular schedule this night last year.  NBC averaged a 1.3 rating Monday night, down from a 2.1 this night last year.  Note: NBC is still showing an uptick in the sweep to date versus last year because of a spectacular performance by Sunday's football game, which went up to a 9.3 rating in the official nationals versus a 7.3 for the same game last year.  Read about the premiere of Rock Center on NBC and the other network ratings after the jump.

           NOVEMBER SWEEP SCORECARD
          2011 vs 2010 Through Day 5 of 28

                 2011    2010
          FOX     4.4     3.9     +14%
          CBS     2.6     2.4     + 6%
          ABC     2.3     2.5     -11%
          NBC     2.7     2.5     + 4% 

NBC premiered Rock Center with Brian Williams at 10 pm last night and could only scare up a 1.0 Adult 18-49 rating in the hour, below the 1.2 that Playboy Club had settled into.  Making matters worse, the news program declined from a 1.1 from 10:00-10:30 to a 0.9 from 10:30-11:00, leading into late local news.  We haven't seen the quarter-hour ratings yet, but given the content (a particularly awkward and unfunny live interview with Jon Stewart), the 10:45-11:00 quarter hour could be below a 0.9.  NBC had assiduously lowered expectations for this show in the press while at the same time spending many millions over the week before launch in a digital and radio campaign for the show.  No matter what the expectations, these numbers are brutal.  Sing-Off rated a 1.4 from 8-10 pm, marking a new low for the show.



CBS is leading Monday night in the fast nationals with a 3.8 rating for the night.  How I Met Your Mother (4.1), 2 Broke Girls (4.2), Two and a Half Men (4.7) and possibly Mike & Molly (3.8) are most likely inflated by San Diego's pre-emption of the comedies for the Monday Night Football Game.  In any case, the numbers are soft for the CBS comedies -- not unexpected because Halloween hits young adult TV usage levels fairly hard, particularly in the early half of prime time.   

CBS Comedy Track 9.19  9.26  10.3  10.10 10.17 10.24 10.31
How I Met Your   4.9   4.5   4.5   4.0   4.2   4.3   4.1*
2 Broke Girls    7.1   4.6   4.5   4.3   4.4   4.5   4.2*
Two Half Men    10.7   7.4   6.2   5.9   5.3   5.5   4.7*
Mike & Molly    ---    4.8   4.3   3.9   3.9   4.2   3.8*

Hawaii Five-O (2.9) is down from last several weeks as well (track: 3.4   3.3   3.2  2.7   3.1  3.1   2.9).

ABC  had a mediocre night for most of the evening (Scared Shrekless 1.7, Dancing with the Stars 2.8, Castle 2.9), and it will look even softer in the official nationals when Kansas City's football numbers are removed.  Dancing has a particularly grim in-season track (4.0   3.3   3.1   3.0   3.3   3.2   2.8).  Last year on this night Dancing scored a 4.0.  Castle's track (3.2   3.1   2.5   2.1   2.5   2.4   2.9).

FOX is looking really shaky on Monday with Terra Nova at a 2.1 and House down to a 2.5 rating.  Terra Nova this season:  3.1   3.1   2.5   2.8   2.1.  House this season:   3.9   2.7   3.1   2.5.

Viewers are clearly not rock solid in their preferences, Halloween or not.

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The Sked: Ratings Update for Monday October 31

6:15 AM | Labels: , , ,

It doesn't look good for Rock Center with Brian Williams on NBC.  In the metered market market overnights (excluding New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Hartford, which are still delayed because of widespread power outages), Rock Center averaged a 5 household share from 10-11 pm, right where Playboy Club and Prime Suspect repeats were.  Castle was #1 at 10 pm with a 15 household share, followed by Hawaii Five-O at an 11 share.  NBC probably wasn't expecting a demographic rating lift (we'll have those numbers later this morning), but it certainly hoped that an older-skewing news program would get them out of the 5 share range and provide a more solid lead-in to their late local news. 

Also, the Monday Night Football game on ESPN went into overtime, ending at almost 12:30 am ET.  This means Two and a Half Men was certainly pre-empted in San Diego by CBS station KFMB and possibly Mike & Molly at 9:30 pm PT in favor of local post-game coverage.  So now most or all of the CBS comedy lineup will be overstated in the fast national ratings by at least one tenth of a rating point.  As a reminder, the fast nationals for ABC's prime time lineup will be inflated by a tenth of a rating point or more because Kansas City affiliate KMBC carried the game in prime time.  The overtime portion in Kansas City would have disrupted ABC's late night schedule and not had an additional impact on the prime schedule.

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