Variety is reporting that the CW is giving up on programming Sunday night:
The CW is close to sealing a deal with an as-yet unnamed media buyer to take over the night. Under the deal, the CW would sell the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. block to an advertising conglom, which would turn around and develop programming and sell ad time. [...] Decision to sell the Sunday primetime block is an acknowledgement that the night has been a tough one for the CW – and before that, the WB, which also struggled to gain ratings traction there.
Looks to me like the CW is just cutting its losses. The CW already doesn’t program Saturdays, and after losing Friday Night Smackdown, can Fridays be far behind? At what point to they simply become a reseller of broadcast bandwidth?
Even by their extremely low threshold for success (Gossip Girl!) they have done badly on Sundays. Looking at a season to date adults 18-49 ranking of their Sunday shows this season finds that every single one of their Sunday shows did worse than the regular airings of every single one of their other shows. Either they put all their worst shows on Sunday night on purpose, or they just got very, very unlucky. What do you think?
UPDATE: More details from TVWeek.
Season to Date Adults 18-49 Viewing, Through May 4, 2008
|
CW Rank |
Show |
STD Adults 18-49, Live+SD (000) |
Night |
|
1 |
AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-3 | 3,032 |
..W…. |
|
2 |
AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-4 | 2,398 |
..W…. |
|
3 |
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK-2 | 1,870 |
.T….. |
|
4 |
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN | 1,837 |
….F.. |
|
5 |
SMALLVILLE | 1,816 |
…T… |
|
6 |
ONE TREE HILL | 1,767 |
.T….. |
|
7 |
ONE TREE HILL-MON | 1,494 |
M…… |
|
8 |
THE GAME | 1,422 |
M…… |
|
9 |
FARMER WANTS A WIFE | 1,371 |
..W…. |
|
10 |
REAPER | 1,342 |
.T….. |
|
11 |
GOSSIP GIRL | 1,338 |
..W…. |
|
12 |
SUPERNATURAL | 1,323 |
…T… |
|
13 |
REAPER-THU | 1,229 |
…T… |
|
14 |
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS | 1,192 |
M…… |
|
15 |
GIRLFRIENDS | 1,178 |
M…… |
|
16 |
PUSSYCAT DOLLS:GIRLICIOUS | 1,098 |
M.W…. |
|
17 |
PUSSYCAT DOLLS:GIRL-ENC | 1,054 |
..W…. |
|
18 |
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK-3 | 1,000 |
.T….. |
|
19 |
CROWNED | 984 |
..W…. |
|
20 |
TOP MODEL EXPOSED | 945 |
..W…. |
|
21 |
ALIENS IN AMERICA | 927 |
M…… |
|
22 |
REAPER-TUE | 914 |
.T….. |
|
23 |
GOSSIP GIRL-MON | 858 |
M…… |
|
24 |
AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-3-ENC | 814 |
……S |
|
25 |
CROWNED-TUE (1 airing) | 773 |
.T….. |
|
26 |
AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-4-ENC | 695 |
……S |
|
27 |
THE GAME-SUN | 679 |
……S |
|
28 |
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS-SUN2 | 621 |
……S |
|
29 |
GIRLFRIENDS-SUN | 602 |
……S |
|
30 |
ONE TREE HILL-WED (3 airings) | 590 |
..W…. |
|
31 |
LIFE IS WILD | 460 |
……S |
|
32 |
CROWNED-ENC | 442 |
……S |
|
33 |
ALIENS IN AMERICA-SUN | 440 |
……S |
|
34 |
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS-SUN | 385 |
……S |
|
35 |
CW NOW | 366 |
……S |
|
36 |
ONLINE NATION | 347 |
……S |
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Isn't Sunday when kids do their weekend homework?
Maybe whoever programs The CW's Sunday nights will have better programming than the network itself. That would be a hoot.
So this brings them down to 10 hours, if they keep Friday nights. They have already renewed 6 of those hours. My guess is that Reaper is coming back, since it's doing better than Gossip Girl at least, and is about on par with One Tree Hill. That leaves three hours to program. Friday night will probably go back to a WB type comedy line up, meaning one more hour of comedies will be picked up/renewed. (Though I can't possibly imagine anyone renewing Aliens in America.)
And the last two hours will be more reality. Again. Will Pussycat Dolls and Farmer Wants a Wife come back, or will CW find a way to actually be creative?
Why don't they cancel weeknights as well??? seriously this “network” sucks and stinks, u don't need a separate network to broadcast 2 reality shows and 4 dramas. Come on someone's gotta agree.
Wow, It is too bad that the world is only tuned to three major stations.( ABC, CBS, and NBC) And it is too bad that the show Supernatural does not air on one of them. Because if it did…….. Everyone would know what they're missing. It really can not be judged by one episode though, you really need to have started watching from the begining to truely appreciate it. Although, some of the episodes do stand alone without knowing the whole story. But ,at least I have had the good fortune of being able to find and watch a show that is intelligent, funny, emotional, intense and spooky. Also, it has one of the most real and wonderful portrayal of a sibling relationship that I have ever seen. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki do an amazing job playing these two brothers. Thank you to Eric Kripke (the creator) and all the writers, producers, directors. and the crew. Those of you who don't watch for whatever reason…………it is your loss.
Also, it is nice to finally find something to watch that does not insult my intelligence.
(sorry if that sounded condescending but it's true)
Unbelievable. Seeing the numbers, how can the CW keep on pitching GG as a 'runaway hit'? And why aren't they promoting their other shows that appear to be doing as well or better than GG (Reaper?) But really boggles the mind is that a Dawn Ostroff interview from awhile back suggested that next season, the CW will be producing more of the same (How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls). I just don't get it. Why can't Dawn et co figure out that a lot of (I would even suggest most) people in her target market don't want to watch a bunch of mean rich girls?
Hey, all you people at the CW who control what is on our screens………………
If you run an all day marathon of Supernatural on Sunday then your ratings would improve. But what do I know? I just watch TV, I don't make it. Oh wait, ratings? people who watch? Wow a revelation!