| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 7.94 | 6.81 | 5.743 | 5.29 | 1.56 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.2/7 | 1.6/5 | 1.9/6 | 1.4/5 | 0.7/2 |
NBC’s two hour premiere of Crusoe bowed with modest numbers, 7.26 million average viewers and a 1.6/5 (rating/share) among 18-49 year olds. Berman declared it a ratings loser and I might have to agree with him. Although it won the 9pm hour in total viewers, eclipsing The Ex List by more than a million viewers for that hour, The Ex List still won the 18-49 demo for the hour, and with the strength of Ghost Whisperer and a somewhat waning Numb3rs, CBS easily won the night.
Fox ran with two repeats of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, and both of them drew more viewers than ABC’s 8pm-10pm reality block, though ABC had better demo performance. CBS was the only network to average better than a 2.0 in the demo, with all shows hitting at least that mark. ABC’s 20/20 at 10pm was the only non-CBS show to hit the 2.0 rating among 18-49 year olds.
I know NBC’s Life has many fans on our blog, as is typical, that’s not equating to good ratings. Life languished at 10pm, with less than six million viewers and a 1.5/5 in among 18-49 year olds.
If I were working at the CW I would be humming (to the tune of Mrs. Robinson) “Where have you gone Friday Night Smackdown!, our network turns its lonely eyes to you – whoo whoo whoo…”
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 8.87 | 2.5/9 |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader (R) | 5.08 | 1.4/5 | |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.99 | 1.7/4 | |
| NBC | Crusoe – Series Premiere | 6.74 | 1.5/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris | 1.79 | 0.7/3 | |
| 8:30 | CW | The Game | 1.81 | 0.8/3 |
| 9:00 | NBC | Crusoe – Series Premiere | 7.73 | 1.7/6 |
| CBS | The Ex List | 6.35 | 2.0/6 | |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader (R) | 5.50 | 1.5/5 | |
| ABC | Supernanny | 5.34 | 1.8/6 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model (R) | 1.33 | 0.6/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 8.60 | 2.1/7 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 6.87 | 2.0/6 | |
| NBC | Life | 5.93 | 1.5/5 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
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.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Not that bad for Crusoe. But it skews incredibly old
Ex-list still beats Moonlight in demos so i don’t think CBS is that desperate to replace it for now
The fact that Supernanny and Wifeswap beat Crusoe are bad news for NBC.
At least Life had a million viewers more than last week… that does say something, right?
Good news for Ex-List which GAINED 700,000 and 0.1 in the demo. This show is very different than anything else the network airs, so it’s not surprising that it’s not getting great numbers. If they really want to expand past the crime procedurals, they need to be a little patient and hope viewers find this show. On the other hand, it is pulling down Numb3rs, which lost another 0.1 in the demo. Although, it really shouldn’t need the lead-in after 5 years. I say they give Ex-List the full 13 episodes unless it drops below a 1.7.
Life also grew 1 mill and 0.1 from last week, probably thanks to Crusoe. It’s still really low, but I don’t think NBC has anything waiting in the wings, so unless they want 2 hours of DOND every Friday, they’ll let it stay until midseason.
Thoughtless, I mostly agree with Holly, though I’m not sure an increase of .1 in the demo is anything to get excited about. Both Ex List and Numb3rs were up from last week, and NBC and Crusoe definitely (and unsurprisingly) outperformed America’s Toughest Jobs and Deal or No Deal from last week on NBC.
Wife Swap also grew by 700,000 over a week ago and a repeat of Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader this week outperformed a new Don’t Forget the Lyrics last week at 9pm. I’m not sure anything at all can be made of it.
“I know NBC’s Life has many fans on our blog, as is typical, that’s not equating to good ratings. Life languished at 10pm, with less than six million viewers and a 1.5/5 in among 18-49 year olds.”
Which may actually be great news for a Friday show since another show on a competing network on Mondays got comparable viewers and got RENEWED.
Also I hear that the reason Numbers is down may be that Life is drawing viewers away. Also, look at the demo numbers for Crusoe at 8pm vs. Life. They are identical. Life is a younger skewing show, and that may work in its favor as well.
Andrea, *only* because this is TV by the NUMBERS will I be a literalist here. I totally know you’re joking, but should any crazed fans take that information and run with it I wanted to point out that last week TSCC beat Life by 64% in the 18-49 demo,by 115% in men 18-49 and by 109% by men 18-34. Even with females 18-49, TSCC outperformed Life by 27%. The ratings gap between the two shows is fairly wide.
Thanks Holly and Robert for the quick answer and information. Now I know what’s going on. I try not to get too excited, but an increase is an increase right
Andrea, where did you read that information? I’d like to read it too
Sure CBS had better ratings with their established show, Ghost Whisperer, than did NBC with Crusoe, BUT Crusoe attracted a lot of eyeballs away from the ruler of Friday nights.
Phillip Winchester is serious eye candy for the ladies: perhaps the hottest hunk to hit broadcast TV since Kevin Sorbo. We were treated to Mr. Winchester’s studly bare chest for quite some time, making the show worth a look if only for that.
I think they were also smart to start with an episode filled with action and pirates, trusting the audience to know the story, and filling in the gaps with flashbacks instead of starting at the very beginning.
I did miss the pirates speaking with the accent we have all come to expect from swashbucklers, though. I realize that it was an invention of Wallace Beery in the 1934 version of Treasure Island, but it was one of the things that made POTC so very charming.
Angelcrest, c’mon. If you attribute 100% cause and effect of slightly lower ratings for Ghost Whisperer this week to Crusoe, it was a 5% hit for GW. Not nothing, but also not “a lot of eyeballs”.
I’m not one to obsess over good headlines (for my own posts), but Hibberd went with “Crusoe Set Adrift” which I thought was very good.
Moonlight still performed better around the same time last year.;) I like supernanny, I’m glad it did so well. I hope the change in nights don’t get it cancelled. It is a lot better than the basic smut tv you encounter in most reality shows.
@ moonlightfan
i dont think you can compare the spring and the fall, because most of the tv shows are down this fall, so i would bet that moonlight would have lost 1 to 1.5 million viewers, like the other new nbc shows that were picked up for a second season
Heh, my first post here, but as I couldn’t look over it, I had to post just because of it. Am i seeing wrong or is the order for 8pm off? Shouldn’t the shows be listed by their total viewer numbers and not randomly?
I know it’s obvious mistake and doesn’t mean much really because otherwise someone else would’ve spoken up already but as I said, I just couldn’t keep myself quiet.
(That and, however bad Crusoe might’ve been, it doesn’t deserve to be below Wife Swap in any list.)
Why the heck do people keep saying that The Ex List beats Moonlight in demos? It’s just not true. Most of the Moonlight episodes had higher demos, as well as higher overall ratings than The Ex List. And Moonlight was in the midst of the writer’s strike with NO advertising from CBS. Moonlight numbers last year are starting to look like Numbers ratings this year. So, The Ex List is not doing better than Moonlight. That’s absurd and a biased comment.
And in relation to The Ex List, my guess is that they’ll replace it mid-season with the Ioan Gruffudd/Amy Smart romantic drama “The Meant to Be’s.” It’s kind of similar to Ghost Whisperer with a romantic twist. I hear it’s a bit like “Heaven Can Wait.” I also believe Moonlight’s best chances are to get a movie, because CBS will never admit that they were wrong. If they had properly advertised Moonlight as a forbidden love story about vampires, and roped in the Twilight audience, they would have had a hit on their hands. The show is still gaining new fans. Why do you think the DVD release was delayed till after the Holiday season? Because they’re afraid it would have sold well.
Besides, how can a show do well, when the networks set it up to fail? They focus all their advertising on certain shows, and ignore the other ones. These networks have no idea how to advertise and how to get the demos.
People who hate Moonlight say The Ex List is doing better (which is honestly just false). Objectively, The Ex List is not doing well at all. And I feel sorry for the fans of the show, because CBS will most likely cancel it. Honestly, last year Moonlight (while doing a little bit better than The Ex List), had okay numbers. But they were holding their own, and only lost about 3% of their audience by the end of the season, which was pretty low considering most of the other shows lost a lot more after the writer’s strike. BUT I think Moonlight would have done much better if they had properly advertised it, and hadn’t put it in the death slot.
Also, if you look at the numbers ALL SEASON of Moonlight last year, the majority of the time it did better than the numbers so far on The Ex List. But because the last episode, (right after the writer’s strike, no advertising, and like all the other shows that went down in numbers) did a little bit lower in the demos, then all of a sudden Moonlight was ALWAYS getting those numbers. Let’s be fair and honest here. Sorry for the rant, but people slanting the truth are getting on my nerves.
T4U:
Here’s a link to Terminator’s season numbers: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/399108451/m/515103951
Here’s a link to Life’s season numbers: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/827108451/m/890103461?r=594109661#594109661
Robert: I totally wasn’t joking. Comparing a failing Monday show to a Friday show’s numbers is kinda laughable. I don’t know what will happen to Life this season–TSCC’s renewal must make every exec sit up and take notice. It may have thrown a complete monkey wrench into the renewal/cancel index. Or maybe it’s an aberration. I don’t know if the numbers for Life on Friday are acceptable or not.
In the end, I don’t want you to think I hate TSCC. FOX, maybe. TSCC, I watch.
I was comparing it with this date last year: 10/19/2007, the Moonlight Episode “FEVER” had an HH Ratings / Share of 5.0/9 with Total Viewers meeting 7.67 with Viewers 18-49 reaching 2.75. I’m not that hot with numbers, but I’m comparing the fall intake. In my heart I believe that if Moonlight had been given a better timeslot it would have progressed into better ratings. But lets not beat that dead horse anymore.
Bill, maybe you should take down that link
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/11/18/moonlight-ratings-2007-2008/1820
its far too encourageable.
Andrea, we appreciate the links, but 2 in one post will definitely get eaten by the spam filter
Haha, Alde fair enough. Things got screwed up because originally I just had it listed as 8pm-10pm combining the two hour average and then I changed up and broke out the hour averages. It is indeed out of order but it actually did do worse than Wife Swap in the demo for the 8pm hour…
Bill, we can easily change that so two links gets through and three links get queued. Your call.
moonlightfan, The 10/19 airing of Moonlight got a 2.1 in the demo, not a 2.7. The only airing to get a 2.7 was on 11/16 (and it dropped half a point to a 2.2 for the next airing).
Amber, I agree with all you had to say. Just a glance at the numbers would make people realize, whether Moonlight fan or not, that the Exlist does not compare with Moonlight ratings. I mean, with a producer like Joel Silver at the helm, hardly any show would compare in terms of production.
Things are really getting ugly for WB/Paramount in general though. With Spielberg cutting from the ranks, I believe that Joel Silver will leave once his contract is up. They have consistently failed him in terms of marketing his ‘projects’ of late. Moonlight is not the only one. And I understand that people are going to roll their eyes at the word “CONSPIRACY” but indeed the people at CBS are just doing a PR thing mostly, you don’t have to go so far as to say it is a conspiracy. They did not promote the show, they are keeping it on the DL so that it would fade away fast because of all the negative publicity it caused the Higher Ups, that the least of all makes sense. They did not HAVE to break down the sets when the show was looking for a new sponsor, or sign O’loughlin to a 1yr contract. Basically, both Joel Silver and O’loughlin are tied up with CBS for another year.
Once again, the only show I really have to compare the handling of Moonlight with is the way the showrunner and Scifi Network handled the promotion and production of Eureka. The Eureka website is gorgeous, interactive and entertaining, the cast participated in a musical number for the commercial to promote the up comming season, the season was cut down to eight episodes due to the writer’s strike, and yet it all worked.
Just like to add that it is not 3pm and Moonlight has just started on the WBLA, *sigh* soon this would all be a tragic, bitter sweet memory, thank you Les Moonves, thank you Cbs, And Oh yeah! Thank you Nina Tassler. Woudn’t want Moonlight to become for CBS like what JAG was for NBC.!! you had to go and compromise its advent into television fandom. Well good for you!
Amber – I agree with you. People may be sick of us Moonlight fans hanging around long after trolls have pronounced us dead, but we are not going away. Moonlight fans are so loyal and tenacious, HN is completely reformatting to get rid of our enfluence.
Surely there is something to be said for a show that inspires so much loyalty and passion! None of the Moonlight fans know each other: we met online and know esch other only by our monikers and avitars. AND unlike some people, we are not paid to write our opinions, and only do so out of love for the show.
I think that the industry has something to learn from this, and probably money to be made, but instead they are doing their best to insult us and try to make us go away.
moonlightfan- I agree with you. There is a lot of politicking going on behind the scenes, and good projects get the short end of the stick simply because some exec wants to “stick” it to another.
A really good comedy about this very thing is The Big Picture from 1989, starring Kevin Bacon, that shows what can happen to a potentially great project once the suits get their hands on it. It is too bad that people with a vendetta against one producer can destroy a great project, and the careers of countless workers.
Angelscrest, the amount of people that Moonlight inspired such passion in is very small. You probably number in the hundreds at the very most. Almost every show will manage to find that many fans. Tenacity is not a trait that’s necessarily admirable when you have all completely lost a grip on reality. Letting go is something that is admired and something you all need to learn a lot about.
Moving on to shows that aren’t dead and gone….
I think Crusoe did about as well as could have been expected. No, its numbers aren’t great, but considering how few people are watching NBC on any night not involving football, it’s not too bad. I know Marc thinks it skews old, but I do wonder whether instead of having a lot of viewers over 49, it had a lot under 18. It seems like it’s geared toward families, so it could have more younger viewers.
Julia I get what your are saying, however, I am a viewer from Trinidad, in the Caribbean and in no way have i ever been, now will I ever be represented by the Nielsen rating system. I also have met and spoken online with fans from Australia and other parts of the world, Moonlight fans corellate into more than just the parsely 8 million that Nielsen represents on a site post.
The fact is that CBS did not work at promoting the show, once again, I must have seen that one very long commercial of Eureka 10 times in one day, rather than the one commercial of Moonlight I can barely recall if I really say it at all. I am letting go of the show. But I’d just like to say that the Moonlight fanbase is swelling, because like myself who was introduced to this show later, and for those who are fans of such titles of Twilight, and True Blood, around the world we will be introduced to this show on local networks and search the Net for any little tidbit we can find about Moonlight and discover all the past dealings that have to do with the show. And that is a fact, Moonlight will never fade away, as long as the WB expects to get its money’s worth in syndicated advertising.
As for letting go, it will take me some time to get over the show, as I am in the middle of watching it and have not had months to digest its cancellation in the first place. And it will be difficult to let got of a programme that has encouraged me to donate blood for the first time in my 25++ years, so excuse me for my unhealthy attatchment to this programme. My withdrawl would have to wait for a latter date.
NBC would have done better if it got a hold of a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean or something to that effect and had aired it in a kind of tandem with Crusoe’s premier. I guess what they are looking for is a mixture of Lost and Pirates to click with viewers.
Losing in the demo to Wifeswap and Supernanny probably isn’t what NBC had in mind for Crusoe, but I doubt the peacocks were expecting/hoping it would do in the 9 mil to 12 mil total viewer range or they wouldn’t have stuck it on Fridays.
Bob, I never thought of that, but I don’t get it, do networks automatically fit shows they predict would fail on Friday nights?
To me for a Friday night, it is if the show is worth while to watch after I come from the Movies, or is it cool enough to kill time before I go to the Club. Personally, I don’t think any of the shows fall into my personal category of befor clubbing or after cinema. ><
Crusoe did as well as Friday can pull off. When you say it skews old that’s surprising since Fridays skew old altogether.
I’m wondering about the fate of Crusoe… I thought sticking it on Fridays was a bad move to begin with.
John R, it’s true Fridays skew older altogether due to fewer younger people watching, but even within that arena, NBC skewed old relative to ABC and CBS which found 19%, and 38% more 18-49 year old viewers than NBC. The relative performance is easy to calculate. It’s not as easy to calculate whether that’s actually significant to the brass at NBC, but given the competitive egos at work, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.
To Julia. I found your response to Moonlight fans to be insulting. Clearly, there are more passionate Moonlight fans than a few hundred. Hence why it beat Private Practice and Gossip Girl for Best New Drama in the People’s Choice Awards. I DOUBT a few hundred people could have voted over ten million times.
I don’t think it’s personally very admirable to tell people to let Moonlight go. I think it’s time for Moonlight fans to fight for a movie!
Fans who would like to write to Joel Silver and request a Moonlight movie (as Alex O’Loughlin suggested) should use the following address:
Silver Pictures
4000 Warner Blvd
Bldg 90
Burbank, CA 91522
That said, I do realize that Moonlight is gone and not returning to CBS. But, I am still a fan and plan to buy the DVD’s and fight for a movie! It worked for Firefly. Also, I don’t wish anything bad on The Ex List fans.
For all those who like vampire movies/shows, this movie looks pretty good
http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/lettherightonein/
TKS Alec, I’m currently going ga ga over this one right here, can’t wait for its premier:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20234282,00.html
To the people who keep on making stuff up about The Ex List doing better in the Demos than Moonlight!
From an objective standpoint, Moonlight overall DID do better in the ratings and demos so far than The Ex List has. And, to the people who attack Moonlight fans, and say to let it go, why do they themselves keep bringing Moonlight up even before a Moonlight fan responds? The first comment brought it up. So of course Moonlight fans will respond, when they see people making stuff up.
Here are the actual numbers of Moonlight and The Ex List:
Moonlight Episode 1:
Viewers: 8.67 million, with a 2.5/8 in the demos.
The Ex List Episode 1:
Viewers: 6.85 million with a 2.0/ 6 in the demos
Moonlight Episode 2:
Viewers: 8.25 million (#1), A18-49: 2.2/ 7 (#1t)
The Ex List Episode 2:
Viewers: 5.71 million (#2), A18-49: 1.9/ 6 (#1)
Moonlight Episode 3:
3. Viewers: 7.30 million (#2), A18-49: 2.0/ 6 (#3)
The Ex List Episode 3:
3. Viewers: #2, 6.35 million; A18-49: #1, 2.0/ 6
Moonlight the rest of the season (the episodes are numbered):
4. Viewers: 7.78 million (#2), A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#1)
5. Viewers: 8.56 million (#2), A18-49: 2.4/ 7 (#1)
6. Viewers: 7.57 million (#2), A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#1)
7. Viewers: 7.96 million (#2), A18-49: 2.5/ 7 (#1)
8. First Half (9:00pm): Viewers: 8.19 million (#2), A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#1);
Second Half (9:30 pm): Viewers: 8.22 million (#2), A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#1)
9. Viewers: #2, 7.33 million; A18-49: #2, 2.2/ 6
10. First Half: Viewers 7.64 million, A18-49: 2.1/6;
Second half: Viewers: 7.61 million, A18-49: 2.1/ 6
11. Viewers: 8.38 million; A18-49: 2.3/ 7)
12. First Half: Viewers: 8.39 million (#1), A18-49: 2.3/ 7 (#1);
Second Half: Viewers: 8.28 million (#1), A18-49: 2.4/ 7 (#1t)
13. (Episode 13 came after the big long break from the writer’s strike) Viewers: 7.99 million; A18-49: 2.1/ 6
14. Viewers: 7.92 million and a 2.1/ 7
15. Viewers: #1, 7.68 million; A18-49: #2, 1.9/ 6
16. Viewers: #2, 7.56 million; A18-49: #2, 1.8/ 6
These numbers come from Marc Berman as he posted them. So give or take a couple hundred thousand, as well as removing any of the people who might have watched through DVR or online.
If you compare the numbers of The Ex List (the first three episodes) to the first three episodes of Moonlight, it’s clear who comes out on top.
But both episodes had a 2.0/6 in its third week. So that at least is a tie. Not in overall numbers (Moonlight wins), but in the Demos.
That said, people are comparing the LAST episode of Moonlight (which if you saw the horrible advertisement CBS put out for the season finale, you can’t really blame people for not wanting to watch) to The Ex List’s demos now. That’s not really fair, as Moonlight (along with every other show on television) went down in the demos after the writer’s strike.
Moonlight never went under 2.0 in the demos before the writer’s strike (in fact 14 out of the 16 episodes didn’t, and the overall numbers never went under 7 million). The Ex List on its second episode went under 2.0, and under 6 million.
The only FAIR comparison is to compare the first three episodes of Moonlight, to the first three episodes of The Ex List.
I think, had Moonlight returned, the demos would have gone back up, because that had been their average through the season.
And then after Twilight, or even before, the numbers would have continued to go up. Here’s ALL CBS had to do:
Promote Moonlight to all the Twilight fans by saying, that they have an exclusive sneak peak of the movie Twilight, only to be seen during Moonlight. Millions of fans would have tuned in. Twilight is hugely popular to the Demo, and because it wouldn’t premiere online, they would have watched. And then Moonlight would hook more fans.
And that’s only one thing CBS could have done.
That said, The Ex List is not doing better than Moonlight in the ratings or Demos, especially not in comparison to the numbers based on the first three episodes.
So, I don’t know why people keep saying otherwise.
Oh, and one more thing. I think it should be taken into account that Moonlight received its lowest demos (1.8/6) AFTER it was announced by CBS that Moonlight was canceled. Could it be that some people were too discouraged to watch? Or that there was no point?
Well anyway, Moonlight maintained its audience throughout the season, and had an average of between 7 and half million to 8 and a half million, with the average demo above 2.0.
That doesn’t sound too bad to me for a show that premiered in a death time slot with no advertising and during the writer’s strike above all things. Too bad CBS passed on what could have been a big hit this year, particularly with the popularity rising in vampires. Let’s hope there will be a movie.
Well anyway, back to the topic of Friday night ratings. It honestly doesn’t seem like any of the shows are doing that great. Ghost Whisperer seems to be doing the best.
Crusoe has potential as a show, if they would tighten the writing, and handle the flashbacks better. But it seemed like a good family show, and maybe if they advertise it better the show will pick up on ratings.
Thanks Amber, for all the hard work you went through looking those stats up. It is clear that Moonlight is the winner between ML and XL, but we already knew that. Certain people just wish that we would go away.
Fortunately for me, I have downloaded all the Moonlight episodes from Amazon, and today, I watched them again. Once again, I was struck by the superior writing and the tremendous production values. The characters are complex and charismatic, and have wonderful chemistry together, and the stories never fail to move me, even though I have seen them many times.
This is a show that deserves a second chance, deserves to have “mom and dad” shake hands and make up so that Moonlight can have the life it deserves.
Julia- you are the one who has lost grip on reality, if you think that you can persuade people with insults.
If you don’t like the posts that Moonlight fans write, you are free to skip them and read other people’s posts. Last time I looked, this was a free country, and your grade school playground tactics are not going to work to intimidate me.
Amber, I was being realistic, not insulting. Internet fandoms FEEL big, but in reality are not. Internet polls prove absolutely nothing in terms of actual amounts of people voting for something. Sorry!
Numb3rs is safe because it has something like 2,000,000 middle school and high school students who do projects in school based on the show. I know this site has wondered how Numb3rs sticks around with the low demos. That would be the reason why. It’s educational and is good PR for CBS.
All the shows recently have been so lame all of them.
Rupert, do you have any sources for that? I’ve never heard about that, and I would be interested to see how schools are using a show like Numb3rs.
Dear Julia– Before you pretend to be completely innocent, please go back and read your own post from October 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pm again, and you will see that you insulted ME. This is what you said:
“…Tenacity is not a trait that’s necessarily admirable when you have all completely lost a grip on reality…”
Perhaps where you come from, that is not considered an insult, but where I come from, *them’s fightin’ words!* You might want to reread your posts before you click “submit comment.”
CBS is still winning the night, but since it is a fact that they weren’t happy with Moonlight’s performance last year, I can’t believe that they could possibly be happy with the fact that Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs have fallen from 9 milliona and 10 million viewers down to the 8 million range.
When it comes to Moonlight ratings numbers I prefer to just pull up Robert’s Moonlight ratings chart:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/11/18/moonlight-ratings-2007-2008/1820
Thanks again for that Robert!
As for The Ex-List I tried the 1st 3 eps but no more – I can see why the ratings aren’t that great. It’s Friday nite & this show isn’t worth staying home to watch or DVR for that matter.
Angelcrest, trying to hold on to some imaginary idea that Moonlight is coming back is losing your grip on reality. Not meant as an insult. You need to not take the internet so personally. Sorry!
Julia- It’s called “We All Use Math Every Day,” and is run by Texas Instruments and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It’s designed for grades 9-12, but many middle schools use it as well. It is extremely popular and is extremely good press for CBS.
Julia – it is not an imaginary idea, many great television shows have been brought to the big screen, and indeed even renewed on television to stand the test of time. Such as JAG which was canelled by NBC but was brought back by CBS to continue on for nearly a decade. And also there was Baywatch that was near cancellation when it too was revived. Also there is the ever popular Firefly that was made into a feature film, Serenity.
There is nothing wrong with hoping and believing that a Moonlight film would get maid, or be picked up by another network in some way.
I don’t care what you say! I will NEVER give up hope for a second season of AfterMASH! I mean, sure, most the cast members are over 70 or have died, but fans DESERVE to see what happened to our beloved characters. The network executives refuse to even release it on DVD because they KNOW that everyone watches it will immediately flood the offices with letters demanding a second season.
Just noting that last season “Friday Night Lights” consistently outperformed in the 18-49 demo every program that NBC is airing on Friday nights this season.
Holly, If I ever become a programming executive, I will bring Mash back for you. On the other hand, since my prospect for Moonlight is wihtin reason, I’ll see my dream through first. But get back to me in ten years or so to remind me in case I forget
Lets face facts, Moonlight fans were extreme in our disgust with its cancellation and Nina Tassler and other execs are experiencing some bad publicity because of it. So they are trying to put it behind them by burying the dvd release and not even promoting the show. Even when the Scifi cancelled the Dresden files, they advertised the release of the DVD on their website and kept up the forum. When a show gets cancelled you don’t bury it, you try to make as much info available on it as possible in order to promote the DVD.
Personally, I believe that there are unexplained reasons for the cancellation of Moonlight. Ratings not being one of them.
Moonlightfan– because Star Trek is now such an enormous franchise, people forget how much people made fun of the Trekkies who were fans of the show, which was cancelled due to lack of ratings.
The insults against Moonlight fans are mild in comparison to the insults against the Trekkies, who went to their conventions dressed like Vulcans and Klingons to demonstrate their loyalty to the show. Just like our detractors here, many pointed out that there were just a few hundred Star Trek fans that showed up in pointy ears and those goofy high-water pants.
These people who insult us can claim, in retrospect, that Star Trek is different than Moonlight, and that the situation is different. SO WHAT? If it were identical, it wouldn’t be worth saving. If they had released the first Star Trek movie, and nobody went to see it, then it would have just been that one movie and not a series of movies. But people did go to see it in large numbers, because they remembered it well: and who kept it alive in people’s minds?
If you stay up really late doing freelance like I do, you will notice that the the original Star Trek series is being rerun on the weekends in the middle of the night on the CW. If you compare Star Trek to Moonlight, there is no contest: Moonlight is a superior show in every respect. The only reason that Star Trek came back as movies is because of the tenacity of the fans kept the show alive in the minds of TPTB. Star Trek was an OK show, even though it was ground-breaking in many respects, but not particularly stellar in the writing department.
With all due respect, Moonlight has no more chance of coming back than “Viva Laughlin” or “Homeboys from Outer Space”.
I’m sure NBC is satisfied with a show bearing a negative cost to them of under a million per episode finishing second and then first in households, even if it is a Friday night. Sure they’re happy that the numbers grew between the first and second episode as well. This may prove to be one of Ben Silverman’s rare smart moves.
If Moonlight is so dead, why are so many of its detractors so invested in talking about it endlessly? If the Moonlight Anti-Fans really thought there was no chance that it would come back, they would just ignore us and talk about something else.
For example, this article was really about Crusoe, not about Moonlight, yet we are all expending lots of energy talking about Moonlight. Since I enjoyed Crusoe and the handsome, studly, bare-chested Mr. Winchester, I would be very happy to discuss the article rather than Moonlight. But somehow the *regulars* find Moonlight more interesting to write about.
Holly – aside from the fact than I am a fan of Moonlight, as a member of the human race – No! As a being that exists in this Universe, there is no way I can allow you to compare a Heavily Scripted, brilliantly casted, Joel Silver produced programme with the likes of “Viva Laughlin” or “Homeboys from Outer Space”. That is in no way fair and simply too cruel a sentiment to ignore.
angelcrest – I will like to also add that I am a trekky, I read the books, watched the tv shows and never missed a movie premier. Can’t wait for the JJ Abrams release.
And will like to share with you, if you are not a Eureka fan as I am, when Eureka first got on the screen, at their Comic con show there were just about 2 persons in the audience and the cast joked about how those persons were just there to secure good seats for the next event, not to here about there show. And now about 3 years later, Eureka has a Wide fanbase and their comic con events are always filled up. Just like Star Trek, it eventually found its audience.
Even if you are not a Moonlight fan, compared to Eureka and Star Trek, you should be in awe at how fast and furious limited airings of this show has developed such a swelling fanbase in such short period of time. And the more people who watch it, the more persons fall in love with this programme.
Even if you are not a Moonlight fan, compared to Eureka and Star Trek, you should be in awe at how fast and furious limited airings of this show has developed such a swelling fanbase in such short period of time.
The age of the internet may make it seem so, but it’s just not true.
Julia– still see you obsessing about Moonlight rather than discussing the article.
Yep, that’s me. Completely obsessed.
Spot on there..I reckon that that Julia chick is scared of vampires..But come on now vampires don’t exist, do they Julia?
If you Moonlight fans would come here to actually read the posts and discuss ratings instead of just to whine about Moonlight and Ex-List, you would know that Julia is a regular poster who rarely mentions Moonlight except when you come in and go on and on about about how CBS regrets canceling their lowest-rated show and there is a chance for another season or a movie.
The fact is, even if Ex-List is canceled, Moonlight is not coming back. They’ll air crime-drama reruns and/or gameshows until mid-season and debut a new show. The CW is not going to pick it up. Sci-Fi is not going to pick it up. TBS, USA, Lifetime, Spike, AMC, Showtime, HBO, etc. all had the opportunity to buy the show and all realized it wasn’t worth it. Direct TV has no interest in doing a Friday Night Lights-style deal. There is not enough product placement in the world to bring it back, especially since no one is interested in looking for a deal. No one even wanted the reruns. 8 million people did not stop watching CBS in protest. CBS does not miss the handful of people who did. The writers have moved on, the producers have moved on, the actors have moved on. There will not be a movie. If anyone wants a vampire-themed show or movie, they will create something new or use a book, not go dumpster diving in CBS’s back lot for a failed series. Enjoy your recorded episodes, buy the DVDs when they come out, and write fanfic, because that’s all you’re ever going to get. The sooner you accept that, the happier everyone will be.
If you can’t accept it, at least keep it on the Moonlight forums instead of bothering us with your delusions.
Thank you, Holly. I know I should rise above responding to them, but they just keep coming back!
Julia, Did you see that Rupert responded to your question about the schools using Numb3rs? With all the Moonlight spam, it might be easy to miss.
Oh, thank you. And thanks, Rupert. Very interesting marketing idea. But, while I’m sure it gets good press for CBS, and it seems to be free advertising, I’m not sure if that would really be enough to save the show if it were doing very poorly. I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon, but if it dropped much more, I don’t think a partnership with Texas Instruments would be reason enough to save it, unless Texas Instruments decided to sponsor the show.
It may be down from last year, but Numb3rs is still the second-highest rated show on Friday. It’s not going anywhere for a while.
Julia, it has little to do with sponsorship. They have no problems getting advertising for Numb3rs. They are in the black for Numb3rs. So long as they remain in the black, the usual “demo ratings,” rules don’t apply. They get serious good “karma,” I guess you could call it from Numb3rs. When I first heard that Numb3rs was “immune,” I immediately thought it must be something to do with Scott Free, and not wanting to piss them off. Then I was told about the school ties, and it all made sense. That show gets a free ride until it hits 100 episodes.
I was not saying that it is not in the black. But I think you might be putting too much on this partnership. Numb3rs gets good enough ratings (especially for Fridays) that it doesn’t need something like this to justify it staying on. And if it did slip to unacceptable numbers, something like this would not save it.
Julia – Holly, I just hope you are willing to eat those words when the time comes. ‘Cause I am prepared to saute them for you and feed them to you on a silver platter within the next two years.
Other than that, I just don’t feel as if Numbers is a Friday night programme, but I have never bothered to stay up on a Friday to watch anything since another CBS 9pm show, and that was The Magnificent Seven. Since when CBS cancelled THAT show I’ve always maintained a ‘good riddance’ attitued to Friday Nights. But I love the main character in Numbers because he was in Serenity.
I don’t find that Numbers demo is so far apart from GW to warrant any great scrutiny, I think it is just the Exlist waying it down. The sponsorhip may give CBS free publicity, but unless parents are willing to allow their kids to stay up and bother their viewing at 10pm on a Friday night, I doubt that the sponsoring is helping it either. But it is a good Friday night show for CBS. Can’t wait for FNL to start up though, isn’t it on a Friday night? Can’t wait to see how that skew’s up the ratings.
Lets see how Crusoe does next week, then we would know if NBC really has a problem on their hands.
Dear Holly– who died and made you Audrey Hepburn?
If you go all the way to the top and read my first comment, I did come here to talk about Crusoe and the studly Mr. Winchester. I would have been happy to discuss pirates with nice white capped teeth, and Crusoe’s Swiss Family Robinson style tree house & gagets instead of Moonlight, but you all got obsessed with putting down the Moonlight fans. If someone is putting down Moonlight and Moonlight fans, I am all over it to defend our honor.
I suggest that you ignore our Moonlight posts and keep talking about the articles as if we weren’t here, and you will find that we spend less space defending ourselves.
Now what did you think of Phillip Winchester with his shirt off? Don’t think I caught your opinion on that.
Moonlightfan, I already offered one of you $1,000 to the charity of your choice if Moonlight returns to TV or comes back as a movie anytime in the next 50 or 60 years. So, don’t worry, I’ll be eating my words if it does! But it won’t.
So… moving along, isn’t it sad how bad Friday’s have become? I mean at least CBS and NBC are trying scripted programs but oh well.
I’m surprised Crusoe skews so old too
P.S. You guys (being Robert and Bill) run a great website
Brian- EVERYTHING skews old on Friday nights, because all the young people are out on the town. When I was in my 20s, you wouldn’t catch me at home on a Friday night, even if I didn’t have plans with friends, and even if I didn’t have a cent in my pockets! There are plenty of hang-out places all over these days. When I was young, there was just Westwood, or cruising on Van Nuys Blvd, but now days there is the 3rd Street Promenade, The Grove, The Americana at Brand, Old Town Pasadena, certain parts of Ventura Blvd, Town Center in Valencia, and on and on: fun places to go to, meet your friends and have a good time without spending a cent.
That’s true, seeing as I am in my 20’s, in Trinidad club Zen is the place to be, women get free drinks and you don’t leave till five in the Morning. Like I mentioned before, unless there is a good premier, and then after the movies, I don’t reach home until 3 am. When I’m in Florida I could take in the matinee and then Denny’s then I don’t reach home until like 6 am. Ahh, but it is kind of weird how the Networks are not courting older viewers on a Friday night. Since I’ve gotten older my bed looks better and better for me on Sats and Fridays. But if they have a good show I am sure to watch it. I’m more of a homebody now. But I still don’t like to sleep on a Friday evening, I’m more likely to watch a rerun of something I know is going to satisfy me entertainment wise.
Looks like Friday’s could be a dying breed, going the way of Saturday Nights.
I feel that I should mention that the last show I watched in its timeslot on a saturday night was Doctor Quinn, Medicine woman. I craved that show on a saturday, and for what other reason? The romantic arc between Dr. Quinn and her Beau, of course!
I love dramas where the romance is the main storyline, but those don’t exist anymore.
I really liked Crusoe, but I don’t know if 7.26 million is good for that time of day. What is the average viewers on Friday anyway, of course for NBC at 8-10 PM)?
Thank you very much