FOX only aired two installments of American Idol last week, and they wound up being the only shows FOX had in the top half of the top twenty. Of course if you’re only going to have two shows in the top 10, the number 1 and 2 spots aren’t so bad. Almost thirty million tuned into American Idol last Tuesday, followed by 27+ million on Wednesday. The gap between the 2nd place show (American Idol) and the third place show, CBS’ Survivor: Micronesia is a huge gap. The #2 show had more than twice as many viewers as the #3 show!
My favorite, LOST was next at number 4, narrowly edging out Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which placed 5th. A new episode of Law & Order took the sixth sport. CBS made the top 10 with a repeat of Two and a Half Men which came in 7th. NBC’s Deal or No Deal took the 8th spot, with 60 Minutes and a rerun of CSI anchoring the bottom of the top 10. All tolled, CBS placed 4 shows in the top 10, two of them repeats. CBS placed 7 shows in the top 20 overall, with repeats of CSI: Miami and Without a Trace beating out a new episode of the New Adventures of Old Christine.
NBC placed five shows in the top 20, with two airings of Deal or No Deal, a repeat of Law & Order: SVU and a new episode of Medium in addition to the aforementioned Law & Order.
FOX placed five shows in the list overall, with Moment of Truth, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and New Amsterdam joining the two airings of American Idol. Only New Amsterdam was a scripted show for FOX, and that finished 20th. Uh oh. I guess I shouldn’t complain –counting the repeats, 10 out of the top 20 shows this week were actually scripted!
In addition to LOST and Extreme Makeover, ABC’s only other top 20 entry was Oprah’s Big Give. That will change in next week’s list since Dancing with the Stars is back on.
In other weekly news, the primetime version of The Price is Right came in 24th, Canterbury’s Law in 29th, Dexter in 46th, the most watched airing of Big Brother in 49th and Jericho in 58th.
Top 20 Shows by viewers for the week ending 03/16/08:
| Rank | PROGRAMS | Net | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF PERSONS 2+ (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 16.9 | 26 | 29,884 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 15.8 | 24 | 27,127 |
| 3 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 7.9 | 13 | 13,218 |
| 4 | LOST | ABC | 7.5 | 12 | 12,083 |
| 5 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. | ABC | 7.1 | 11 | 12,050 |
| 6 | LAW AND ORDER | NBC | 7.9 | 13 | 11,849 |
| 7 | TWO AND A HALF MEN (R ) | CBS | 7.6 | 12 | 11,819 |
| 8 | DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON | NBC | 7.4 | 11 | 11,818 |
| 9 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 7.3 | 13 | 11,297 |
| 10 | CSI (R ) | CBS | 7.3 | 11 | 11,225 |
| 11 | MOMENT OF TRUTH | FOX | 6.8 | 11 | 10,577 |
| 12 | CSI: MIAMI (R ) | CBS | 6.8 | 11 | 10,242 |
| 13 | DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED | NBC | 6.7 | 11 | 10,191 |
| 14 | WITHOUT A TRACE (R ) | CBS | 6.5 | 11 | 9,776 |
| 15 | OPRAH'S BIG GIVE | ABC | 6.0 | 9 | 9,737 |
| 16 | OLD CHRISTINE | CBS | 6.3 | 10 | 9,623 |
| 17 | LAW AND ORDER:SVU (R ) | NBC | 6.5 | 11 | 9,516 |
| 18 | SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER | FOX | 5.9 | 10 | 9,418 |
| 19 | MEDIUM | NBC | 6.4 | 11 | 9,340 |
| 20 | NEW AMSTERDAM | FOX | 5.5 | 8 | 8,827 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Looks like New Amsterdam lost the battle against its previous timeslot owner TSCC. Canterbury is done.
Looks like New Amsterdam lost the battle against its previous timeslot owner TSCC. Canterbury is done.
Nothing can stop the Terminator…
Nothing can stop the Terminator…
I just don’t understand the pull of American Idol. It starts out every season with a party for people to laugh at the train wreck, delusional people who think they are better than they are. By the end it just turns into a popularity contest where people blindly pull for whoever they like whether they sing well or not. As much as I’d rather not believe it, the numbers don’t lie. Americans are a bunch of stupid sheep that follow each other from one pseudo-reality show to the next.
I just don't understand the pull of American Idol. It starts out every season with a party for people to laugh at the train wreck, delusional people who think they are better than they are. By the end it just turns into a popularity contest where people blindly pull for whoever they like whether they sing well or not. As much as I'd rather not believe it, the numbers don't lie. Americans are a bunch of stupid sheep that follow each other from one pseudo-reality show to the next.