With more than half of the shows on this list unscripted, sadly I think unscripted is a trend that will be with us for quite some time to come. Les Moonves may be squawking about how there are no rich 18-34 year olds to target (we agree, it isn’t a huge market!) one thing we are sure of is that American Idol is pulling in more of the rich youth than anyone else. It’s a law of large numbers thing. We’re sorry to inform Les and the rest of the crew at the Eye, but, math applies to CBS too. No getting around it.
CBS only placed three shows in the top 20 of the 18-49 demographic, but at least all of them were in the top 10. Of course the number one show on the list (and number two, for that matter) American Idol had TWO AND A HALF times (as opposed to “men”) as many 18-49 year old viewers as CBS’ best effort, Survivor: Micronesia. American Idol took the top two spots, followed by LOST. The best airing of American Idol only (cough) had 2.23 times as many 18-49 year old viewers as LOST. In addition to Survivor, CBS also placed a rerun of Two and a Half Men and a new episode of the New Adventures of Old Christine.
In terms of number of shows on the list, FOX dominated with seven, with Moment of Truth, Don’t Forget the Lyrics and King of the Hill – not to mention repeats of Family Guy and The Simpsons joining the American Idol airings. NBC was next with six shows on the list, a new Law & Order and a repeat of Law & Order: SVU join a new episode of Medium as well as the unscripted Celebrity Apprentice, Deal or No Deal and The Biggest Loser.
The mouse that is ABC will be a little bit mightier next week when Dancing With the Stars no doubt will have two top 10 entries on this list. But this week aside from LOST, only Extreme Makeover.
Full 18-49 demographic top 20 for the week ending March 16, 2008:
| Rank | PROGRAMS | ORIG | P18-49 RATING (LIVE+SD) | # OF PERSONS 18-49 (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 11.0 | 14,391 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 10.3 | 13,440 |
| 3 | LOST | ABC | 4.9 | 6,463 |
| 4 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 4.3 | 5,676 |
| 5 | MOMENT OF TRUTH | FOX | 4.2 | 5,548 |
| 6 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. | ABC | 4.1 | 5,358 |
| 7 | TWO AND A HALF MEN (R ) | CBS | 3.8 | 5,045 |
| 8 | OPRAHS BIG GIVE | ABC | 3.6 | 4,719 |
| 9 | FAMILY GUY (R ) | FOX | 3.5 | 4,544 |
| 10 | OLD CHRISTINE | CBS | 3.4 | 4,418 |
| 11 | LAW AND ORDER | NBC | 3.3 | 4,353 |
| 12 | APPRENTICE 7 | NBC | 3.2 | 4,237 |
| 13 | DONT FORGET THE LYRICS | FOX | 3.1 | 4,070 |
| 14 | SIMPSONS (R ) | FOX | 3.1 | 4,038 |
| 15 | LAW AND ORDER:SVU (R ) | NBC | 3.0 | 3,980 |
| 16 | DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON | NBC | 3.0 | 3,971 |
| 17 | BIGGEST LOSER 5 | NBC | 3.0 | 3,887 |
| 18 | MEDIUM | NBC | 2.9 | 3,842 |
| 19 | KING OF THE HILL | FOX | 2.9 | 3,780 |
| 20 | PRIMETIME:WHAT WOULD U DO | ABC | 2.9 | 3,770 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
