| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 5.29 | 5.11 | 4.36 | 3.73 | 3.68 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 1.3/5 | 1.3/5 | 1.2/4 | 1.3/5 | 1.1/4 |
Fox won an extremely lightly viewed holiday weekend Friday with 5.29 million average viewers [edging out CBS with 5.11 million] and was in a 3 way tie with CBS and the CW for an extraordinarily weak demo adults win with 1.3 rating / share.
Fox was all repeats of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? finally learning that repeats of its popular shows would finish better than old movies. ABC hasn’t learned that lesson yet and finished last weighed down by an old movie.
Commenter favorite/un-favorite Swingtown drew just over 4 million average viewers [last in the timeslot] and between a 1.2 and 1.3 demo rating [likely last in the timeslot].
Without a lead in by Deal or No Deal, NBC’s new America’s Toughest Jobs got mauled by very weak competition averaging somewhere between a 1.0 and 1.1 demo rating.
Friday Night Smackdown came in below its average, but still pushed CW ahead of ABC. It’s final show on the CW is mid-September and it debuts on MyNetworkTV on October 3.
It’s hard to draw too many conclusions about last night’s results other than nobody was watching much of anything on broadcast TV. Things wills start heating up next week.
Full details:
Last Night’s Schedule:
| Time | Net | Show |
| 8:00 | ABC | Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (8-10p) (movie) |
| CBS | Ghost Whisperer (R) | |
| CW | Friday Night Smackdown! (8p-10p) | |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (repeat) | |
| NBC | America’s Toughest Jobs | |
| 9:00 | FOX | Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (repeat) |
| CBS | Numb3rs (R) | |
| NBC | Dateline NBC (9-11p) | |
| 10:00 | ABC | 20/20 |
| CBS | Swingtown |
Half Hourly Results:
8:00 p.m.
ABC – Movie: Win a Date With Tad Hamilton (R)
Viewers: 3.40 million (#4t), A18-49: 0.9 rating/4 share (#5)
CBS – Ghost Whisperer (R)
Viewers: 5.03 million (#1), A18-49: 1.3/ 5 (#1)
NBC – America’s Toughest Jobs (R)
Viewers: 3.54 million (#3), A18-49: 1.0/ 4 (#4)
Fox – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (R)
Viewers: 4.34 million (#2), A18-49: 1.1/ 4 (#2)
CW – Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 3.40 million (#4t), A18-49: 1.2/ 5 (#2)
—————
8:30 p.m.
ABC – Movie: Win a Date With Tad Hamilton (R)
Viewers: 3.02 million (#5), A18-49: 0.9/ 3 (#5)
CBS – Ghost Whisperer (R)
Viewers: 5.27 million (#2), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#1)
NBC – America’s Toughest Jobs (R)
Viewers: 3.46 million (#4), A18-49: 1.1/ 4 (#4)
Fox – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (R)
Viewers: 5.38 million (#1), A18-49: 1.3/ 5 (#2)
CW – Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 3.59 million (#2), A18-49: 1.2/ 5 (#3)
—————
9:00 p.m.
ABC – Movie: Win a Date With Tad Hamilton (R)
Viewers: 3.03 million (#5), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#5)
CBS – Numb3rs (R)
Viewers: 5.95 million (#1), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#1t)
NBC – Dateline
Viewers: 4.58 million (#3), A18-49: 1.3/ 4 (#4)
Fox – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (R)
Viewers: 5.49 million (#2), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#1t)
CW – Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 3.96 million (#2), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#1t)
—————
9:30 p.m.
ABC – Movie: Win a Date With Tad Hamilton (R)
Viewers: 3.27 million (#5), A18-49: 1.1/ 4 (#5)
CBS – Numb3rs (R)
Viewers: 6.20 million (#1), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#2)
NBC – Dateline
Viewers: 4.51 million (#3), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#4)
Fox – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (R)
Viewers: 5.94 million (#2), A18-49: 1.6/ 5 (#1)
CW – Friday Night Smackdown!
Viewers: 3.98 million (#3), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#3)
—————
10:00 p.m.
ABC – 20/20
Viewers: 4.51 million (#2), A18-49: 1.3/ 4 (#2t)
CBS – Swingtown
Viewers: 4.30 million (#3), A18-49: 1.3/ 4 (#2t)
NBC – Dateline
Viewers: 4.92 million (#1), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#1)
—————
10:30 p.m.
ABC – 20/20
Viewers: 4.84 million (#2), A18-49: 1.4/ 5 (#2)
CBS – Swingtown
Viewers: 3.93 million (#3), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#3)
NBC – Dateline
Viewers: 5.12 million (#1), A18-49: 1.5/ 5 (#1)
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Overnights: Local metered-market ratings service of Nielsen Station Index (NSI) in which household ratings and shares are provided to clients the morning following the day or evening of telecast.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day [through 3AM the next day] the program was broadcast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
My sources tell me that 'Swingtown' was pre-empted to 11 pm in some markets such as California and Colorado due to pre-season football broadcasts. Would this have had an impact on the Swingtown “10 pm” numbers? I would think California and Colorado are pretty big markets from a Nielsen rating perspective. Actually, it could be pretty positive if it managed those numbers yet was pre-empted to later in the evening is some key markets. Anyone know?
I heard the same thing – apparently, the show was preempted in Denver, and didn't air until sometime early morning. I also believe the show was preempted in many smaller California markets. That, and the fact that it technically was a holiday weekend, makes Swingtown's ratings OKAY at best. It rose from the Olympic lows, which is good, and when DVR numbers are factores in, surely ratings will go up. How much better can a show get really on Fridays at 10pm in the summer?
The pre-emptions will mean that Swingtown's numbers will drop in the finals. The overnight numbers that Bill and Robert (Thanks!) post here are based on 1/2 hours by network, not based on show. So that 4 million includes all people watching anything on CBS (football or Swingtown). The finals are actually divided by show, so they will give how many people were actually watching Swingtown.
Swingtown was great last night! thanks cbs.My friends and i stayed home last night had a great dinner,beer, football and watched swingtown.It was perfect.We cant wait till next week.
Who cares what the numbers are,Swingtown is a timepiece.If you miss this show,then your missing out.Your bad!
I really like Swingtown. I think it's been the only thing on broadcast TV that I've been watching regularly all summer.
Give due what is due. Clay Aiken was on Smarter Than a 5th Grader and that is why the ratings went up. TV stations should book Clay – their ratings would go up also. As Foxworthy said, he is a quality guy, funny, beautiful voice, good heart and his fans are one of kind. We love him and are behind him always!!!
I like how the accompanying picture for the featured story are birds flying over the sunset.
It is allegedly a sunrise though I personally can't vouch whether the camera was pointed east or west. The birds lead me to believe east, but, it's pretty either way!
Watched Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader for the second time, and enjoyed Clay Aiken's wit and intelligence just as much as the first time around. I truly think he could have won the million, and he clearly knew all the answers, but stalled to fill up time!!!
I think those in power should realize by now, that there are literally thousands of fans out here, who definitely have a bearing on their ratings. Clay is an automatic ratings boost!!
It really doesnt matter if Swingtown was preempted in some placed – its performed poorly – losing over half its audience since the first episode 8.6 million down to 4 million. Thankfully its doomed. Its a show I loved to hate. If it had gone on maybe sex addict David Duchovny could have guest starred. The episode could have been called the seX-FILES .
I really like Swingtown. Unfortunately i cant tune in on Fri nites…but I use CBS’s website to catch up on the episodes. Im wondering if numbers are also counted by those who watch the show thru the internet…and if so…how big of an affect would that be in a shows over all ratings. I know a number of us who watch tv episodes via the internet when they’re not able to watch when its scheduled. Anyways..Swingtown has been my favorite all summer long.. i pray CBS adds this as a regular show in the upcoming seasons!! PLEASE KEEP SWINGTOWN!!.
John,
The numbers reported here are the people who watched the show live or before 2 am on their DVR. CBS definitely keeps track of how many internet viewers they have. While we do not see those numbers, they would not have a significant affect on the overal totals. I’m sure that if Swingtown were getting 100,000 viewers or more via the internet, CBS would be sending out press releases about it.
Final numbers for Swingtown: 3.65 million viewers, 1.1 in the demo.
I watched Fifth Grader the first and second time for one reason…Clay Aiken. He is funny , charming and smart.