The CW is pleased, as you can see from the text of its most recent press release below. Yes, I know, things won’t look quite the same when House returns to new episodes directly opposite 90210, but the CW won the 18-49 and 18-34 demos outright last night. While this is one case where past performance isn’t probably a great indicator of future success, I say let them have their day in the sun. As noted by the release, 90210 was epecially strong in the major markets.
9021-OMG!!
NEW DRAMA SETS NEW RATINGS RECORDS FOR THE CW
90210 Scores Highest Rated Telecast of Scripted Series
in History of The CW in Key Demos
The CW Is Tuesday’s Number #1 Network
90120 Scores Highest Rated Series Premiere Ever for The CW
90210 Matches Highest Rated Night EVER for The CW in Adults 18-49;
Third Highest Rated Night in Adults 18-34
The CW’s Major Market Stations Win Tuesday in Target Demos, including NY, LA, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC,
Denver, Phoenix, Seattle and Cleveland
September 3, 2008 (Burbank, CA) – The two-hour premiere of 90210 roared out of the gate to set new ratings records for The CW, becoming the highest rated telecast of any scripted show EVER for The CW among adults 18-34 (3.0/9), women 18-34 (4.3/12), adults 18-49 (2.6/7) and women 18-49 (3.6/9), according to preliminary live plus same day Nielsen ratings for Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008. Encore of 90210 debut airs tomorrow, Sept. 4 (8:00-10:00p.m. ET)
On the strength of the two-hour 90210, The CW was the #1 network on Tuesday night in all key demographics, including adults 18-34 (3.0/9), women 18-34 (4.3/12), men 18-34 (1.8/6), adults 18-49 (2.6/7), women 18-49 (3.6/9), persons 12-34 (2.7/8), females 12-34 (3.7/11), teens (1.7/6), female teens (2.1/7).
The 90210 debut marks the highest rated series premiere in The CW’s history with women 18-34 (4.3/12), adults 18-34 (3.0/9), adults 18-49 (2.6/7).
Comparatively, 90210 out-performed the series premieres of such other series as The OC, Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls and Buffy The Vampire Slayer in women 18-34.
The two-hour 90210 matched The CW its highest rated night in adults 18-49 and earned the network its fourth highest rated night in adults 18-34. 90210 also gave The CW its fifth highest rated night in women 18-34 (4.3/12).
90210 gained momentum through the night, building in the second hour in all key demos, including adults 18-34 (3%), women 18-34 (5%), adults 18-49 (4%), total viewers (9%)
The series premiere of 90210 gave virtually all of The CW’s major market stations a win on Tuesday night in key demos. Among women 18-34, The CW was number one network in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle and Cleveland. Among adults 18-34, The CW was first in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle and Cleveland.
In adults 18-49, The CW won Tuesday night in markets such as New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Detroit and Seattle.
For a show with so many teens, the show did horribly among teenagers. Just a day ago, the CW was boasting that Gossip Girl had a 4.1 in female teens while One Tree Hill had a 3.0. So GG basically had twice as many teenagers watching it.
90210 had a 4.3 with female teens! How is 4.1 twice as much as 4.3?
Bart:
On the strength of the two-hour 90210, The CW was the #1 network on Tuesday night in all key demographics, including adults 18-34 (3.0/9), women 18-34 (4.3/12), men 18-34 (1.8/6), adults 18-49 (2.6/7), women 18-49 (3.6/9), persons 12-34 (2.7/8), females 12-34 (3.7/11), teens (1.7/6), female teens (2.1/7).
18-34 year olds are not teens.
troy’s right. read it properly, bart.
4.3 is for women 18-34. it only got 2.1 with female teens.
Somehow, I can’t help but to wonder whether GG scoring better than 90210 in the teen & female teen demo might be a foreshadow to the latter being the Bionic Woman of the 2008/09 season.
Clearly the ones watching 90210 are fans from the original because the teen demo were too young back then to watch it. I see this as 90210 being rather unsuccessful in attracting those who didn’t watch the original, which kinda sucks because they seem to be the show’s primary target audience. Once fans from the original go, that’s it for 90210. Some allusions to Bionic Woman IMO. When fans of the original BW left the remake because it sucked compared to the original, the new fans weren’t strong enough to save it. If I were The CW, I’d be ringing up every single soul who acted in the original by now.
SG GG fan, it’s reasonable to speculate that the ratings can only likely go down regardless (pretty much true for most shows after the premiere). The teens won’t likely matter (at least from a CW spin point of view) so long as the #s with the 18-34 females perform well relative to the competition. I’m sure you’re right that there were an awful lot of people who remember the original and checked it out. I’m guessing more of those people were 35-49 than 18-34, though that is just a guess. On the positive side, very much unlike Bionic Woman, now that the critics have finally seen the show, they were mostly positive.