Nielsen Ratings Fri, Feb 29: Price Definitely Right for CBS

Scoreboard for Fri, Feb. 29, 2008
Total Viewers (million)	7.94	6.67	6.26	5.76	4.69
Rating/Share: Adults 18-49	1.9/6	1.8/6	1.7/5	1.7/5	1.4/5

Just like last week, CBS wins the night overall and in the 18-49 demo followed by FOX, NBC, ABC and the CW.   But unlike last week where CBS, FOX and NBC averaged a 2.0 or better in the 18-49 demo, none could break the 18-49 “Mendoza Line“.  CBS was best with a 1.9 average in the 18-49 demo for the night.

Still, the price is definitely right for CBS.  The primetime version of The Price is Right easily beatdown Amne$ia with Amne$ia moving to the 8pm slot for a direct competition.   It seems like 1 vs. 100 is more competitive with Price and I wonder if NBC will rejigger its schedule to give Amne$ia another go in the 9pm slot as it did last week.   The question of “who do you prefer, Drew or Dennis?” has been answered. 

Resoundingly, it’s Drew.

At 9pm it was a battle of the reruns with CBS’ Ghost Whisperer going up against a repeat of House.  It was a split-decision with Ghost Whisperer narrowly edging out Dr. House in terms of viewers, with House taking the 18-49 demo.

Also doing battle from 9pm-11pm were the news magazines 20/20 on ABC and Dateline on NBC.  20/20 came out ahead during the 9pm-10pm hour, but Dateline recovered at 10pm and put the beatdown on 20/20 and won the timeslot.  20/20 could not even attract more viewers than a rerun of Numb3rs at 10pm, although 20/20 did best the rerun in the 18-49 demo.

Friday Night Smackdown! gives CW its best performance of the week.  And while I understand that promoting Gossip Girl to Smackdown! fans may not make much sense, neither does slashing your best performer ratings-wise from the schedule.  CW blew the opportunity for a reality show about Mysterio!  Think of the cross-promotion opportunities out of Smackdown!  Ah, what might have been.  CW would rather talk about what a hit GG is on the web than actually make any money.  Bizarre. 

And that’s your once every 4 years February 29 ratings update!

See the night’s full details:

TVBigshot players:  no HH ratings info was available, but you can check Zap2it – it generally posts information for Friday night (though not usually Saturday nights).

Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Full night’s results available via Marc Berman/Mediaweek.