Predictably the Olympics soaked up all the top spots in this week’s top twenty list for the week ending August 24, 2008. NBC grabbed the top eight spots on the total viewers charts, and CBS grabbed the next twelve with reruns, all three airings of Big Brother and Flashpoint. There were no shows on the top 20 from ABC or Fox (or of course, the CW).
ABC’s most-viewed show was a repeat of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at #24 though, a repeat of Wipeout was the Mouse’s highest rated program among 18-49 year olds. FOX’s most-viewed show was a repeat of Bones at #33 (FOX’s best performance among 18-49 year olds was with a repeat of Family Guy.
CBS still shows dominance among viewers, even in reruns, but its aging problem is more and more apparent. While CBS placed twelve shows in the overall top twenty, with the exception of Big Brother, Flashpoint and the Monday night lineup of repeats, no shows were among the top 26 programs among 18-49 year olds. And to the degree we see CBS’ performance among 18-34 year olds, it’s even weaker. CBS isn’t completely giving in and accepting its fate as “the old folks’ network”, it still has its Monday night lineup, and is adding a Wednesday comedy block. So long as it has NFL, it will find the elusive 18-34 year old male, but it will be interesting to watch how CBS reinvents itself.
At least for a couple of weeks, it was better to be NBC, and since that doesn’t happen often, NBC is probably especially savoring it.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 08/24/08:
| Rank | Shows | Net | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF HOMES (LIVE+SD) (000) | # Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) | 18-49 Rank |
| 1 | SUM OLYM CLOSE CEREM(S) | NBC | 15.5 | 25 | 17,437 | 27,834 | 4 |
| 2 | SUM OLYM TUE PRIME 2(S) | NBC | 16.3 | 27 | 18,374 | 26,629 | 1 |
| 3 | SUM OLYM MON PRIME 2(S) | NBC | 15.8 | 26 | 17,808 | 26,374 | 2 |
| 4 | SUM OLYM WED PRIME 2(S) | NBC | 15.2 | 26 | 17,099 | 24,755 | 3 |
| 5 | SUM OLYM THU PRIME 2(S) | NBC | 13.8 | 23 | 15,520 | 22,438 | 5 |
| 6 | BEIJING CLOSING PARTY(S) | NBC | 12.3 | 21 | 13,821 | 20,577 | 6 |
| 7 | SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 2(S) | NBC | 10.7 | 19 | 12,049 | 17,876 | 7 |
| 8 | SUM OLYM SAT PRIME 3(S) | NBC | 10.3 | 19 | 11,614 | 16,756 | 8 |
| 9 | TWO AND A HALF MEN (R) | CBS | 5.3 | 8 | 6,004 | 8,162 | 9 |
| 10 | NCIS (R) | CBS | 5.2 | 9 | 5,823 | 7,610 | |
| 11 | CSI (R) | CBS | 4.8 | 8 | 5,434 | 7,294 | |
| 12 | FLASHPOINT | CBS | 4.9 | 8 | 5,530 | 7,208 | 24 |
| 13 | 60 MINUTES (R) | CBS | 4.5 | 8 | 5,039 | 6,698 | |
| 14 | CSI: MIAMI (R) | CBS | 4.3 | 7 | 4,894 | 6,380 | |
| 15 | BIG BROTHER 10-THU | CBS | 4.0 | 7 | 4,514 | 6,167 | 13 |
| 16 | BIG BROTHER 10-TUE | CBS | 3.9 | 6 | 4,389 | 6,117 | 12 |
| 17 | CSI: NY (R) | CBS | 4.2 | 7 | 4,778 | 6,055 | |
| 18 | BIG BROTHER 10-SUN | CBS | 3.9 | 6 | 4,443 | 6,040 | 11 |
| 19 | CRIMINAL MINDS (R) | CBS | 4.0 | 6 | 4,463 | 5,918 | |
| 20 | COLD CASE 10PM (R) | CBS | 4.0 | 7 | 4,502 | 5,848 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
Where's the chart???
Rusty, oops, my bad. It's there now.
Thanks…