One strategy for NBC chief Jeff Zucker might be to pay Gordon Ramsay big bucks to lure him away from FOX. While the usual suspects came up big among 18-49 year olds, led by both airings of American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen placed fifth. Ahead of even House! Also ahead of any show on CBS or NBC. But NBC could place but one show on this list, The Office. Sad times in peacock land.
Since we’re already into the next week, I know House is going to be hard for Ramsay to beat this week (House got a 5.8 18-49 rating in the overnight numbers), but still – Hell’s Kitchen was a way bigger draw among 18-49 year olds than even the season finale of Survivor or any of the Dancing with the Stars airings. Three out of the top five 18-49 shows this week were unscripted. Cheaper to make and more watched = bigger profits. This top twenty was almost evenly split in terms of scripted versus unscripted shows, with scripted narrowly ahead eleven shows to nine.
This is but a small slice of the programming though. For a better look at total impact, see Bill’s post on the weekly network ratings for more details. As with this list, FOX was clearly ahead in the 18-49 demographic overall, but not far behind were both ABC and CBS, with NBC in a very distant fourth place. Among the 25-54 crowd, CBS very narrowly edged FOX, and CBS, FOX and ABC were again all far ahead of NBC. In the 18-34 demographic, FOX was out in front, ahead of ABC and well ahead of CBS. Of course, CBS was beaten out in that demographic by Univision, and so was NBC, by much, much more.
Nielsen Top Twenty 18-49 Shows by viewers for the week ending 05/11/08:
| Rank | Show | Net | P18-49 RATING (LIVE+SD) | 18-49 Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 8.4 | 10,981 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 8.2 | 10,746 |
| 3 | GREYS ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 6.4 | 8,338 |
| 4 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 5.6 | 7,317 |
| 5 | HELLS KITCHEN | FOX | 5.2 | 6,755 |
| 6 | HOUSE-MON 9P | FOX | 5.1 | 6,675 |
| 7 | CSI | CBS | 5.0 | 6,544 |
| 8 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 4.9 | 6,380 |
| 9 | LOST | ABC | 4.7 | 6,129 |
| 10 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | ABC | 4.4 | 5,830 |
| 11 | SURVIVOR:MICRONESIA FINAL(S) | CBS | 4.4 | 5,788 |
| 12 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 4.3 | 5,617 |
| 13 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 4.1 | 5,403 |
| 14 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 4.0 | 5,288 |
| 15 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. | ABC | 4.0 | 5,263 |
| 16 | RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | CBS | 3.9 | 5,054 |
| 17 | SURVIVOR:MICRONESIA RNION(S) | CBS | 3.8 | 5,045 |
| 18 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 3.8 | 5,028 |
| 19 | WITHOUT A TRACE | CBS | 3.8 | 4,999 |
| 20 | OFFICE | NBC | 3.6 | 4,710 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Gee, I don't know. How could House have fewer viewers? The fact that it is opposite Dancing with the Stars and Two and a Half Men might have something to do with it. Too many choices. Of course Fox knew that the competition was stronger in that Monday time slot.
Hell's Kitchen was quite the 18-49 force last year during the summer. Heck, we all know anything that follows “American Idol” is going to be highly rated. Even in the age of remote controls, America is still too lazy to change the channel.
TV is crap. It's either a cop, medical or lawyer show. I'd much rather watch something different than the same old stories over and over and over. I hate lawyers in real life, why do I want to watch them on TV?