Samantha Who? has Viewers Saying “Samantha Woohoo!”
ABC’s Samantha Who? opened large with viewership of 14.42 million to lead all new shows for the week of October 15-21.
On the other end of the spectrum, NBC’s Bionic Woman lost 16% of its viewers from the previous week. It is, as Gary Seven’s computer once said, “Descending and accelerating“.
(click chart for full-sized image)
CBS shows were in the middle of the pack, but Moonlight and Kid Nation both added viewers, which may be a positive trend.
NBC’s Chuck had a nice ratings rebound from the prior week.
Kitchen Nightmares and Back to You both gained viewers for Fox, but the debut of The Search for the Next Great American Band was disappointing.
Reaper was the only CW show in the New Top 20, and had the highest % gain in viewership week to week.
Our chart shows not only the viewership of the top 20 new shows, but also their week to week ratings momentum: shows gaining viewers [momentum > 1] and shows losing viewers [momentum < 1].
We know that the % retention of a lead in’s viewership is also quite significant to the long term viability of a show, and we’ll try and work that into our numbers next week if possible.
Top 20 New Shows, Week of October 15-21:
| RANK | PROGRAMS | Network | # OF PERSONS (LIVE+SD) (million) | Week over Week Momentum | Prior Week # OF PERSONS (LIVE+SD) (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samantha Who? | ABC | 14.42 | 1.00 | Debut |
| 2 | Private Practice | ABC | 11.78 | 0.95 | 12.42 |
| 3 | Pushing Daisies | ABC | 9.86 | 0.96 | 10.26 |
| 4 | Women's Murder Club | ABC | 9.71 | 0.90 | 10.85 |
| 5 | Dirty Sexy Money | ABC | 8.67 | 1.00 | 8.64 |
| 6 | Bionic Woman | NBC | 8.62 | 0.84 | 10.28 |
| 7 | Cane | CBS | 8.54 | 0.94 | 9.11 |
| 8 | Chuck | NBC | 8.36 | 1.16 | 7.21 |
| 9 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 7.94 | 0.95 | 8.35 |
| 10 | Moonlight | CBS | 7.67 | 1.08 | 7.10 |
| 11 | Big Shots | ABC | 7.64 | 0.90 | 8.54 |
| 12 | Life | NBC | 7.64 | 0.94 | 8.10 |
| 13 | Kid Nation | CBS | 7.35 | 1.06 | 6.91 |
| 14 | Back to You | FOX | 7.06 | 1.07 | 6.63 |
| 15 | Carpoolers | ABC | 6.99 | 0.96 | 7.27 |
| 16 | Cavemen | ABC | 6.91 | 0.99 | 6.96 |
| 17 | Kitchen Nightmares | FOX | 6.87 | 1.08 | 6.37 |
| 18 | Journeyman | NBC | 6.75 | 0.97 | 6.94 |
| 19 | Next Great American Band | FOX | 3.61 | 1.00 | Debut |
| 20 | Reaper | CW | 3.27 | 1.23 | 2.65 |
These shows did not have the viewership to make the Top 20 :
Gossip Girl CW
Aliens in America CW
Life is Wild CW
CW Now CW
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2007 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
You didn’t really just make an obscure Star Trek reference to Gary Seven did you? You’re chasing our 18-34 demo away! Keep that up and I’ll have to toss in some Beatles’ lyrics.
“Samantha Who?” completely held her ground in week two. Who knew?
You didn't really just make an obscure Star Trek reference to Gary Seven did you? You're chasing our 18-34 demo away! Keep that up and I'll have to toss in some Beatles' lyrics.
“Samantha Who?” completely held her ground in week two. Who knew?
Star Trek is good clean fun for *all* ages.
Star Trek is good clean fun for *all* ages.
Aliens in America is such a clean family-fun and socially relevant comedy, I hope the CW gives it a chance. Shows like Aliens in America, are so important in this post 9/11 American media life we live, but Gossip Girl is a dime a dozen on MTV! Gossip Girl stereotypes young high school girls so poorly, it perpetuates what we see on TMZ.com
Aliens in America is such a clean family-fun and socially relevant comedy, I hope the CW gives it a chance. Shows like Aliens in America, are so important in this post 9/11 American media life we live, but Gossip Girl is a dime a dozen on MTV! Gossip Girl stereotypes young high school girls so poorly, it perpetuates what we see on TMZ.com
Please don’t refer to this as a post-9/11 American Media life. 9/11 is long over and everyone needs to move on with their lives. Do you think shows like LOST would have been even allowed to become scripts if people thought of this as a post 9/11 life? It was a horrible event but it needs to end.
Please don't refer to this as a post-9/11 American Media life. 9/11 is long over and everyone needs to move on with their lives. Do you think shows like LOST would have been even allowed to become scripts if people thought of this as a post 9/11 life? It was a horrible event but it needs to end.
Reaper and Moonlight are the best shows of the new season, both fresh, innovative shows with the right amount of paranormal mixed with thrills, laughs and action. Life is brilliant too!! I also agree on Eva.G’s comments on Gossip Girl, that show is horrible, Josh Schwartz is trying too hard to recreate The OC, only this time there’s no boy from the “wrong side of the tracks” to stir things up, no kid who’s got a satirical, optimistic view on life, and all the characters are one-dimensional, and more or less clones of either Marissa Cooper or Luke Ward. Dammit, that show sucks. And don’t even get me started on Pushing Daisies, that show is horrible.
Reaper and Moonlight are the best shows of the new season, both fresh, innovative shows with the right amount of paranormal mixed with thrills, laughs and action. Life is brilliant too!! I also agree on Eva.G's comments on Gossip Girl, that show is horrible, Josh Schwartz is trying too hard to recreate The OC, only this time there's no boy from the “wrong side of the tracks” to stir things up, no kid who's got a satirical, optimistic view on life, and all the characters are one-dimensional, and more or less clones of either Marissa Cooper or Luke Ward. Dammit, that show sucks. And don't even get me started on Pushing Daisies, that show is horrible.