| Scoreboard for Tue. May 20, 2008 |  |
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| Total Viewers (million) | 19.34 | 16.26 | 14.42 | 4.53 | 2.22 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 7.6/20 | 4.1/11 | 3.1/8 | 1.6/4 | 1.0/3 |
A night reminiscent of the good old days, especially for FOX and ABC. Even with DVR factored in, last night’s penultimate American Idol airing of the season will not reach 30 million viewers (remember, about 70% of Idol’s DVR viewing occurs the same night the show airs), but perhaps there will be another few million for tonight’s final. If the internet is a good forecaster of who will win, David Cook will win in a tight race. I have another forecast though that has uncanny accuracy typically. I *want* David Cook to win, which means he’ll likely lose in a tight race!
Dancing with the Stars captured some of its former glory. While the show didn’t quite average 20 million viewers for the two hour season-ender, it was close with 19.94m. Better still, it was a more youthful than average audience averaging a 5.3/14 in the 18-49 demographic. The last hour of the show did average more than 20 million and in the last half hour 21.13m (5.8/16 in the 18-49 demo) were tuned in to watch Kristi Yamaguchi become the first woman to take the Dancing crown since the first season.
NCIS had a respectable but older-skewing showing (relative to AI and DWTS) in its two hour season finale averaging 16.35 million and a 3.4/9 in the demo. Considering the competition at 9pm, I find it pretty stellar that Hell’s Kitchen still won the 18-49 demo convincingly for the hour with a 5.6/14, though that will be revised downward somewhat due to at least a couple of minutes of American Idol overrun.
In its season finale, Reaper reaped 2.69m and a 1.2/3 in the demo. We’ll see Reaper again, but we must bid adieu to James Woods and Shark. In its series finale last night at 10pm, Shark bit off 10.55m viewers and a 2.5/6 in the demo. Great numbers for the 10pm death slot, but the older skew sunk it.
NBC ran one half hour of new Most Outrageous Moments and the entire rest of the night was repeats.
Tuesday night’s full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol 8p-9p | 26.07 | 9.7/27 |
| CBS | NCIS (Season Finale 8p-10) | 16.35 | 3.4/9 | |
| NBC | Most Outrageous Moments | 4.04 | 1.4/4 | |
| ABC | Dancing with the Stars (Repeat) | 8.89 | 1.9/5 | |
| CW | Reaper (Repeat) | 1.75 | 0.8/2 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | Dancing With the Stars Finale (9p-11p) | 19.94 | 5.3/14 |
| FOX | Hells Kitchen | 12.6 | 5.6/14 | |
| CW | Reaper (Season Finale) | 2.69 | 1.2/3 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (Repeat) | 3.86 | 1.4/3 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Shark (Series Finale) | 10.55 | 2.5/6 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (Repeat) | 5.69 | 2.0/5 |
Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Full night’s results available via Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
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Reaper was great, The CW did a smart thing in renewing but why do we have to wait for mid season??
Shark had a good run. Too bad for James Woods.
Was this the last night of new episodes, or is it tomorrow?
Chris, with CW launching new episodes a few weeks earlier than other networks (Sept 1, I believe), it will be interesting to see what kind of fall they have. I think they need to get shows like GG, One Tree Hill and Supernatural averaging over 3 million viewers after a month or two of new episodes or jobs and/or the network itself will be on the line.
Im suprised they killed off SHARK with 10.5 million viewers – CBS wanted 10-11 million viewers to show up for Jericho Season 2 in order to get a season 3 in the same DEATH slot. CBS is brutal !!! LOL ! Maybe the fans will start sending Sharks Teeth to CBS to protest? LOL x 1000!!!
I cant believe the crybaby on HELLS KITCHEN didnt get the boot. Maybe next week. Isnt he the one sweating into the food in the previews? Eww !! Makes me never want to eat out again.
Not to go against you or anything but NCIS was 2 hours long, and maybe that was the reason for higher numbers. Is it a fact, No. however I would to have liked and see if that would have happened for Jericho. Guess Who, I did post to you in one of the recent posts on the Jericho Message board. Check it out and get back.
Why would NCIS being 2 hours long increase viewer numbers? Whether a program is 30 minutes or 2 hours makes no difference. Its not like there were 8 million viewers for hour 1 and 8 million for hour 2 and they added them up. Some people here like Vader are mathematically challenged. Except in regards to the amount of revenue it generates because you can stuff more commercials into 2 hours than you can 30 minutes.
Some people will continue to watch a show, to see what is on. Ratings catch that don't they? and even in that Shark Dropped Six million viewers meaning they couldn't hold the NCIS Viewers. Now again read the post from **ATTENTION CBS MODERATORS** on the board that I wrote to you. that is all I ask. and in all actuality. When it comes to viewership. Networks want shows that will hold viewers from one show to the next. I am not mathematically challenged. The 2 hour lead in, gave a better shot for more viewers. if it was a crap show in between I don't think Shark would have had 10 million viewers.