Nielsen Overnight TV Show Ratings for Thursday, October 23, 2008: CSI, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, ER, Ugly Betty, Eleventh Hour, Life On Mars, - TV Ratings, Nielsen Ratings, Television Show Ratings | TVbytheNumbers.com

Categorized | '

Thursday Ratings: CBS Dominates With CSI; World Series and Life on Mars Drop

Posted on 24 October 2008 by Robert Seidman

Scoreboard CBS FOX ABC NBC Uni CW
Total Viewers (million) 14.91 11.00 10.31 7.50 4.61 3.74
Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 4.4/11 3.3/8 3.6/9 3.2/8 1.9/5 1.5/4
Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 2.7/7 2.6/7 3.3/9 3.0/8 2.1/6 1.6/4

A good night for CBS, winning the most viewers and the 18-49 demographic, and rather handily at that.

Please keep in mind that our World Series data is only for the 8pm-10pm portion and last night’s game ran well towards midnight. Triangulating based on limited data isn’t easy, but the early indications are it was down – significantly so versus last year’s game two (Colorado Rockies vs. Boston Red Sox – also airing on a Thursday night) which garnered 16.95 million, and even down from this year’s game one on Wednesday night that drew 14.6 million. But guessing from early data for live events is sometimes fraught with peril. Either way, I’ll post the information once we’ve seen the results for the entire game. I’ve watched both games, and they’ve been enjoyable. It must be frustrating for Phillies fans to see so many runners stranded on base!

Update: According to FOX and the preliminary numbers for the full game (8:26pm to 11:36pm) it drew 12.777 million. Additional detail on last night’s game ratings can be found here. Through two games, the World Series is down 19% vs. last year’s first two games.

I know it’s day old news, but our friends at Watch With Kristen let us know early yesterday that Lindsay Lohan had been unceremoniously dumped from Ugly Betty. She won’t be back, and the stuff they’ve already shot with her is being cut out. I was so completely devastated by this news that I needed a day to come to grips with it. Perhaps LiLo will fare better with My Name is Earl and Kath & Kim. Those shows are doing worse than Ugly Betty. Still, the peacocks must be fairly happy with the performance of The Office (at least in the demos), the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update special (though this has a limited lifespan) and especially ER which is holding up very well. ER had fewer viewers than Eleventh Hour, but tied it among 18-49 year olds and beat it by a wide margin among 18-34 year olds. Still I believe across the board these are season lows for NBC if the numbers hold up.

Life on Mars dropped almost another 500,000 versus last week’s overnight numbers and dipped a little among 18-49 year olds. Plus, since on minute of Grey’s Anatomy ran into the 10pm hour, it probably will look a little worse in the finals. Yes, it’s doing better than Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone, but I don’t know if that will be enough — I doubt it will be enough to keep it on Thursdays at 10pm, but, we’ll see.

CSI took the night, and with significantly more viewers than Grey’s Anatomy but Grey’s almost tied CSI among 18-49 year olds and, as is always the case, completely stomped it among 18-34 year olds.

Full details:

Time Net Show Viewers (Millons) 18-49 Rating/Share 18-34 Rating/Share
8:00 CBS Survivor: Gabon 13.40 4.4/12 2.8/8
FOX World Series Pregame/Game 10.37 3.0/8 2.4/7
ABC Ugly Betty 8.66 2.8/8 2.4/7
NBC My Name is Earl 6.33 2.4/7 1.9/6
UNI Cuidado con el Angel 4.70 1.9/5 2.2/6
CW Smallville 4.22 1.7/5 1.9/5
8:30 NBC Kath & Kim 4.97 2.2/6 1.8/5
9:00 CBS CSI 19.17 5.5/13 3.4/8
ABC Grey’s Anatomy 14.21 5.4/13 5.4/14
FOX World Series Game 2 11.64 3.6/8 2.8/7
NBC The Office 7.74 4.0/10 4.6/12
UNI Fuego en la Sangre 5.11 2.1/5 2.3/6
CW Supernatural 3.25 1.3/3 1.3/3
9:30 NBC SNL: Weekend Update 8.55 3.9/9 4.2/11
10:00 CBS Eleventh Hour 12.16 3.2/8 2.0/6
NBC ER 8.69 3.2/8 2.6/7
ABC Life on Mars 8.06 2.5/7 2.1/6
UNI Noche de 10 con El Gody y La Flaca 4.40 1.8/5 2.0/6

Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot. Timeslot demo winners are in bold.

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.

Share:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Yahoo! Buzz

75 Comments For This Post

  1. the128boy says:

    Kath and Kim is destroying the office lead-in. What a DISASTER. After the first week (where K&K actually did decently in the demos 3.2, and 3.2) the office ratings have taken a hit. This show needs to be cancelled NOW. the problem is, with what?

    Survivor is so steady this season. It’s number vary rarely, and it’s demo has been a 4.4 for three weeks running, i believe.

    Grey’s can’t even hold on to the number one spot for 18-49s anymore? At the beginning of last season who would have thought? This show has lost like 20+ percent in it’s area of stregnth from one season ago. NBC will soon have some company as ABCs ratings are going through the floor.

  2. Ladiesman217 says:

    Glad to see Smallville’s viewers going up, It went up 70,000 viewers.

  3. Vader says:

    I don’t know why I’m so surprised, but after 9 seasons and down from what it once was in the ratings, CSI is still a viewers and a demo powerhouse. It’s 5 million viewers higher than Grey’s, it’s nearest competator. And it beat the World Series (even if it is a weak matchup) by 8 millon viewers and substantially in the demo (it beat Grey’s in the demo as well). It’s always been successful, and I found the episode last night great. I just really find it astounding it’s held up so well after almost a decade.

  4. Julia says:

    You know, with the moderate success of SNL on Thursdays, NBC might want to keep it and dump Kath & Kim.

  5. L.B. says:

    “Life on Mars” (2.5) might be doing better than “Eli Stone” (2.1) or “Dirty Sexy Money” (2.0), but that’s because it has a much stronger lead-in than those 2 shows. But its retention out of “Grey’s Anatomy” was less than 50% among adults 18-49 last night. It’s doing as badly as “Big Shots” last year. I still think “Private Practice” or even “Brothers & Sisters” would be a better fit out of “Grey’s”.

  6. Bill Gorman says:

    Julia, I bet NBC’s thinking about keeping that Thursday SNL show, but I can’t believe it will see these numbers after the election.

  7. Andrea says:

    Vader,

    I don’t consider CSI a demo powerhouse. It has almost 5 million more viewers and virtually ties GA in the demo. Like all the dramas on CBS, it is old skewing.

  8. chinafan says:

    the shows based from abroad shows did not work so well, like Life on Mars and Kath & Kim, Eleventh Hour is better.

  9. tim says:

    wow! greys anatomy has sunk! last year if anyone had told me greys anatomy wouldnt hit 15 million anymore and lose in the demo to CSI, I would think they were nuts! Apperently not though. Heres an interesting point though, yes CSI beat greys in the demo 5.5 to 5.4, however greys was still able to hit 5.4 with only 14 million viewers, while CSI needed 19 million viewers to just squeak by greys with a 5.5.

    You have to give credit to CSI though, 9 seasons and it is still a powehouse.

    As for Greys, I predict by the end of the season veiwers will be down to 11-12 million. So yes expect a season 6, but it is so definite for a greys season 7.

  10. Chris the TV sage says:

    Eleventh Hour is also based on a British show, ya know.

    SNL would be running on fumes if they had to come up with 20 minutes on Thursday + Saturday nights with no election to report on.

  11. tim says:

    sorry, i meant to say it is not definite for a greys season 7

  12. Julia says:

    I agree, Bill, but it will probably still do better than Kath & Kim.

  13. Andrea says:

    I expect CBS to announce a full season pickup for EH any day now, and to think that the word this should would not last. Yay Rufus!

  14. Julia says:

    Tim, I think you are off by a great deal for Greys. The lowest it will go is probably in the 13 mil range. And with the way everything is down, and continuing to fall, I expect that even at that it will be one of the biggest shows next season.

  15. Bill Gorman says:

    The only thing that would stop next season for Grey’s is some weird contractual blow up that’s hard to even imagine. It’s still among the most valuable shows on television.

  16. Julia says:

    Bill, I think he was saying that the season after next is in question. But really, who’s to say that the season after next of CSI isn’t in question. Or American Idol. Or any other huge show. No one knows what might happen in the next season and a half.

  17. L.B. says:

    I also think “Grey’s” might go down to 11-12 million viewers by April. ABC shows seem to shed a few million viewers as the days get longer and warmer. Just look at the spring drops on the Alphabet in the past couple of seasons.

    By the way, isn’t it funny how some shows that get 7-8 million viewers these days are already considered moderate successes?

    Back in 1985 “The Cosby Show” used to average 28 million households, while “Dallas” and “Dynasty” used to get 20-21 million households the year before (that’s households, not viewers).

    I think day will come when anything that gets 5 million live viewers will be considered a #1 blockbuster.

  18. ABCFanatic says:

    Good for Ugly Betty, its viewers is higher than the last 2 weeks.

    Great for Survivor, I watched all the seasons even though this is the first time I actually don’t have a time watching it because I missed the last ep.

    I think Grey’s Anatomy is not that good anymore thats why it only has 14million. If the story is good it would get more viewers but if its not it will go down to 13 million.

    And poor for Life on Mars I thought this show will be a hit since its the only new scripted show in ABC (so far).

  19. Holly says:

    WOW! CSI beat Grey’s in the demo! Yes, it was just barely, but considering Grey’s used to win by a considerable margin, this is huge!

    The World Series may be down from last year, but since last Thursday FOX beat out the CW for the lowest rated network, they have to be happy about last night’s numbers.

    11th Hour is remarkably steady from week to week. CBS may not be thrilled that it’s not a major hit, but they can’t be too upset about its numbers either. I expect to read about an order for more scripts soon.

    Life on Mars is not faring so well. Part of that might be lead-in. I think ABC would have been better off holding this until midseason and pairing it with Lost. Though, there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t have fallen just as quickly anyway.

  20. Robert Seidman says:

    Holly, indeed. According to Fox it was its best Thursday night performance in total viewers and 18-49 viewers since April 10, 2008.

  21. Kathy says:

    Glad to see Supernatural’s numbers are still holding. It’s in the toughest spot on the schedule against CSI and Grey’s but going into its fourth season its improving on last season’s numbers.

  22. Cool says:

    MMm.. the toughest spot on the schedule I think is Sundays at 9.

  23. Vader says:

    Andrea, CSI beat queen of the demo, Grey’s Anatomy and virtually tied with Desperate Housewives. Those are the three scripted shows atop the 18-49 list each week. To say it’s not a demo powerhouse is foolish. Take a look at how The Mentalist and NCIS (shows with similar viewer numbers as CSI) do among the demo. There you would have a stronger case. CSI places in the top five scripted shows every week in the demo, so how is it not a proverbial mammoth in that category?

    Robert, your post acts like it’s no big deal CSI beat Grey’s in the demo! Surely, this is noteworthy considering Grey’s beat CSI in total viewers and the demo in its first season, and CBS is always thought to be great in total viewers but beatable in the demo. Now it seems as if there’s a role reversal. I was holding out hope for a headline saying “CSI Out-Grey’s Anatomy’s Grey’s Anatomy!” Ahh well, maybe sometime down the road then… ;)

  24. Andrea says:

    Vader, I’m just analyzing the numbers. CSI has 17 mill viewers; to me it would be a demo powerhouse if it got 7.0+, like House used to get at the range.

  25. Julia says:

    Andrea, the show definitely skew old, but this will be the number one show in the demo other than sports this week. You cannot scoff at that, try as you might.

  26. Cool says:

    MMM no.. Desperate Housewives will beat CSI like it always do this Sunday.

  27. Holly says:

    House got a 5.6 on Tuesday, so unless CSI goes up in the finals (possible), House will have the high demo. DH could meet or beat that as well (it was a 5.7 last week).

  28. Holly says:

    That said, CSI is still neck-and-neck for the top spot. It may have a broader appeal than House or Grey’s Anatomy, but that doesn’t negate its success in the demo.

  29. JT says:

    You all seem to have forgotten that William Peterson is leaving CSI sometime this season. I bet that will cost it around 3 million or so viewers as it starts the final ER-esque phase of its life and becomes a revolving door for castmembers. But I agree that Grey’s will also continue to erode. The problem with shows like Grey’s in the springtime is there are just too many reruns. If ABC were smart they’d up the order to 30 episodes for their serialized shows like Grey’s and Desperate Housewives. But they won’t cause they’re too cheap and instead will see more viewer erosion. Hell, it took them three years to get that right with Lost, but the compromise is it’s only on half a season. Speaking of that, when Lost returns, ABC should put it on Wednesdays at 8pm. They never should have taken it out of the 8pm hour it had in its first season. ABC has the best shows but they can’t beat CBS. Why? Poor programming decisions.

  30. LG says:

    Wow, Eleventh Hour seems to be doing well for CBS. That and the Mentalist make two freshman shows that are taking off. Can’t wait til next season when CSI:Des Moines starts up.

    Anyway we could get numbers on the last 2 minutes of supernatural, cause I’m thinkin Jensen might set some records with that performance. Pure Awesome.

  31. Robert Seidman says:

    LG, there’s no chance of us just seeing the final two minutes of Supernatural, though I doubt it had *more* viewers than the two minutes before it (because people thought the show was over). It was pure awesome though.

    JT, I’m not saying ABC didn’t hurt Lost by moving it around, but best shows (subjective metric) and most viewers (objective metric) do not always correlate. There is *no* timeslot ABC could put Lost on where it would outperform the total viewers CSI is currently getting Thursdays at 9pm.

  32. moonlightfan says:

    Hey did anyone catch O’Reily last night, apparently Nielsen is biased, filled with a set of Damn Dirty Liberals that a skewing the results in favor of MSNBC!! :)

    How do you like ‘dem apples!

    According to O’Reily there is not way, no how MSNBC could be spiking soooooooo much in the ratings.

    Gotta luv that man.

  33. Cool says:

    Grey’s and CSI, both should go up in the finals. EH and LOM will go down because of the overruns (yes, CSI had a overrun)

  34. Holly says:

    Finals are out: Greys and CSI both gained a few viewers but remained steady in the demo. EH and LOM both lost 0.1 in the demo from these numbers (other places reported a 3.1 (not a 3.2) in the demo for EH this morning, so if they were correct, EH remained steady).

  35. Andrea says:

    Julia,

    And your point is?

  36. Julia says:

    I thought my point was clear. CSI is a winner and you can’t take anything away from it.

  37. Robert Seidman says:

    Holly, the half hourly data I had for EH was 3.4 and 2.9, that comes out to 3.15. I’m guessing some sites round up, and some down. In this case the hourly version we had rounded it up. I was taught around fourth grade (circa 1971) that the proper way to round 3.15 is 3.2, so assuming the half hourly data is correct (and sadly I have no way to verify this) so was the 3.2.

    Via another source I saw a lot of half hourly gender/age based data (but not aggregat 18-49 to crosscheck w/the other source) and one thing is very clear. EH is *much* more popular with women than men.

  38. Robert Seidman says:

    Andrea, her point is that you scoff a lot. Duh!

  39. Andrea says:

    Julia:

    Who said I was taking anything from it? You need to take a chill pill.

  40. Andrea says:

    Robert,

    I don’t think that’s what she meant. And, please,don’t turn this into a circle jerk. That’s annoying.

  41. Charles says:

    Do you guys have the half hour breakdowns for Smallville and/or Supernatural? I’d really appreciate it. :)

  42. Robert Seidman says:

    Andrea, on your own blog, you can tell me what to do. Here you can’t, You *do* scoff a lot. It’s not a circle jerk, it’s merely an observation.

    Things are down, and if House (or anything else) were still pulling 7.x’s in the demo, it would be a valid comparison. Things are down all over and that nobody can deny, but in terms of relative comparisons, CSI’s performance is pretty robust.

    If something needs a 7.0 to be a powerhouse, then there are no powerhouses at all anymore. Relative to the current environment, CSI is a powerhouse…but then again, so is Grey’s, or even House.

  43. Robert Seidman says:

    Charles,

    Smallville 4.030mm, 1.6/5,1.7/5, 4.412mm,1.8/5,2.0/6
    Supernatural 3.370mm,1.4/,1.3/3, 3.131mm,1.2/3,1.1/3

  44. Andrea says:

    Robert, who’s says I’m telling you what to do? People on this blog project a lot.

    I was saying, rightly, because it’s TvbytheNUMBERS, that CSI at 17 million skews old and is NOT a demo powerhouse. CSI beating GA in the demo is still great, so I don’t know what you think I’m scoffing at?

    Anyway, if anyone scoffs a lot, it’s you, Robert. But it is your board ;)

  45. Robert Seidman says:

    Indeed, I do scoff a lot. But I’m not projecting.

    OK, if CSI isn’t a demo powerhouse (in the 18-49 demo). In primetime, besides NFL overrun, what is?

    What’s that you say? Nothing?

    Ok, thank you. Now STFU please :)

  46. Iggy says:

    Eleventh Hour is very consistent. I think it will end up in the same category as Without a Trace as a solid but not remarkable show for CBS. I noticed that the third episode was better than the first 2, so its retention might improve in the coming months. Also ER is going to lose the SNL lead-in shortly, that might benefit Eleventh Hour as well.

    As for Life on Mars, that show is just too weird for a lot of people. But it’s numbers are decent enough that it should stick around a little longer.

  47. R.J says:

    My Name Is Earl is doing crapy latley. How come. I know this week, it has the world series, but every season, ratings drop. WHY?

  48. Holly says:

    I’ve never understood why some people think the “skew” of a show is so important. It seems to me that the absolute numbers matter more. If a show has 18 million viewers and a 5.0 in the demo, why would it be less valuable than a show with 14 million viewers and a 5.0 in the demo? I understand that the demo number is important, so a show with a 4.0 is less valuable than a show with a 5.0, but if the demo is the same, why would more viewers be a negative thing? Demo viewers are more valuable (in the eyes of advertisers) than non-demo viewers, but that doesn’t mean that non-demo viewers have a negative value.

  49. Vader says:

    JT, I think CSI might actually hold its current viewership. They went out and got Laurence Fishburne (which I still find surprising) and I think viewers will give him a shot (his character’s description sounds great), but I do agree with you that people (myself included) think Peterson is one of the reasons the show is great. Anyway, we’ll see what the numbers look like in the spring, Peterson still has a few episodes left.

    ABC is heading downhill fast (I think you can judge how well their season’s going by how many timeslots Dancing With the Stars has). They’re megahits are all fading and LOST goes off the air after next season. They are in desparate need (no pun intended) to find some new shows that work. Life on Mars certainly isn’t putting up the numbers it would like, but it’s looking much more attractive than Eli Stone, Pushing Daises, or Dirty Sexy Money. I will make a bold prediction (the index seems to agree) that it gets the back nine. I don’t see it falling much further.

    It wouldn’t shock me if ABC tried to do a spinoff of Desperate Housewives or. After all, what do they have to lose? They do have Flash Forward coming up soon, which does sound promising…

  50. Robert Seidman says:

    Holly, I’m with you for the most part. If it’s true the demos pay the bills (and we’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise)the absolute numbers matter most. But because $$ matter, the age skew does matter and is also probably relevant in the sense that say The Office has few viewers, but, skews very young, and at least for discussion purposes if Grey’s has 5 million less viewers than CSI, but beats it in the demo. Though that makes CSI’s (in that example) absolute number still very valuable.

    CSI still skews older than Grey’s, even last night, and even within the 18-49 demo. Although the aggregate demos were about the same, CSI had more 45-49 year old viewers and far fewer 18-34 year old females (Grey’s won there by an 8.0 to a 4.0 in the fast nationals — a 100% difference). So Grey’s is the more valuable show in terms of advertising revenue, but CSI isn’t shabby… As much as I was giving her a hard time, I think Andrea’s real point is that CSI’s absolute number doesn’t matter — which I actually agree with, though I still think CSI is a “powerhouse” in this day and age.

  51. Holly says:

    I think CSI could go either way after Peterson’s exit. On one hand, a lot of people are attached to the show not just one character and the introduction of Laurence Fishburne could help significantly. On the other hand, CSI is loosing 3 characters in just over a year. That means a lot of changes and a different dynamic on the show. I think for the most part viewers will give the show a chance after Peterson leaves, but if the new characters don’t grab people, the numbers could drop dramatically.

  52. Iggy says:

    Grey’s numbers are still solid because it has a loyal viewership that’s invested in the characters. However, the show is just horrible now. Just about everyone I know who watches the show agrees that the quality has seriously declined. I don’t see this show improving, but I think will continue a steady decline.

  53. Julia says:

    ER went through a lot of characters and lasted as a huge show for a long time. I don’t think it will matter much, but it does, of course, depend on the new characters being likable, like you said, Holly.

  54. Julia says:

    Iggy, Grey’s quality took a sharp dive in season 2. If the viewers didn’t catch on then, I doubt they ever will.

  55. Holly says:

    Robert, I agree that Grey’s 18-34 demo makes it more valuable, but the question centered around the 18-49 demo. If Andrea had argued that CSI’s low 18-34 demo results made it less of a “powerhouse”, I might have agreed, but she didn’t. She appeared to be arguing that CSI’s high viewer numbers made its demo less important/valuable. The breakdown within the 18-49 demo may hurt its value, but the extra viewers outside the demos don’t.

  56. Robert Seidman says:

    Holly, I agree down the line…

  57. moonlightfan says:

    I think that the lack of nods in the emmy’s & globe dept really smacked CBS silly. They are getting rid of Peterson for the same reason they brought in Rufus Sewell as main lead for eleventh hr, they are trying to rebuild their shows around characters, like USA does. Peterson’s departure takes viewers with him, Fishbourne would bring new ones, especially those looking for quality.

    Not only that but they are doing the right thing and trimming down the cast, letting character acting take center stage.

    I saw LOM last night, I enjoyed it, Harvey Keitel looks like he would be up for an award nod next year, regardless of LOM being on the R/C index. Though this show is getting pounded in the ratings, they should ditch Eli Stone and give LOM a lead in from DWTS. Either Mon Or Tues, LOM looks like it could have been a shoe in to take up with the NYPD audience, though considerably less nitty gritty.

    PD should go after DHH. Brothers and Sisters have been hanging onto their coat tails for far too long.

    FYI, CBS is going to place Garry Unmarried after Two and a Half Men next week, I feel as if Christine deserves that spot a whole lot more. But I think that overall CBS is doing the smart thing by restructuring their procedurals. It should work.

  58. Holly says:

    Ummm…Peterson WANTS to leave. CBS would love to keep him, but he’s been wanting to get back to theater work for a while and decided not to sign a new contract.

  59. Robert Seidman says:

    Moonlight fan, perhaps you’re drinking too much rum over there in Trinadad. AWARDS ARE MEANINGLESS. Unless you’re the fourth place network like NBC, and then awards for 30 Rock (which I do love) are somewhat meaningful.

    Which would you rather be? Mad Men (and I love this show) with ~1.5 million viewers and a best drama Emmy or Burn Notice (and I confess, I enjoy BN more) with over 4 million viewers?

    PD isn’t going *anywhere* but OUT after it’s 13 episodes unless Jesus makes an appearance and says “RESURRECT THIS SHOW” (unlikely). Otherwise, it’s done like Moonlight.

    CBS already *knows* how Christine does in the Monday 9:30 spot (better than Worst Week!). It needs something to ANCHOR its Wednesday comedy block, and so it will try to keep Christine there. I don’t see that changing unless CBS gives up on a Wednesday comedy block which does not seem likely for now.

  60. Vader says:

    Peterson is still an executive producer on the show and has stated that he will return whenever the writers want him to make a guest appearance, so he’s not exactly bailing on the show. Besides, after 8 and a half seasons, I can’t blame him for wanting to try something different.

  61. Andrea says:

    STFU

    Tut tut. Be nice.

  62. Alde says:

    You know, it seems to be a matter of fact by now that quality shows tend to obtain less of a viewer numbers. It’s always easier for a casual viewer to tune in and watch some random procedural with intentionally quirky characters than to spend time watching a continual story which, in most cases, tends to transcend one-dimensional perspectives. What I’m trying to say, I suppose, is that I’d take critical acclaim and awards over numbers based on casual viewers with an intelligence below a sledge hammer any day. I’m really grateful at this point that cable networks let their shows to live in peace – that’s maybe one of the biggest factors why they end up having way higher quality opposed to something random that wins “its hour” in broadcast TV.

  63. Robert Seidman says:

    Alde, and you spout such an opinion because it’s not *your* money being invested. If it was, I imagine you’d care a lot more about making money than winning awards.

  64. Cool says:

    Robert, do you think ABC can pickup ‘Old Christine’ if CBS drop the show?

  65. Robert Seidman says:

    I don’t see CBS dropping the show this year. As for what happens if CBS doesn’t renew it, I’ll worry about in May :-)

  66. cesarrr says:

    Grey’s Anatomy is so anoying right now. It used to be a really good show, with likeable characters that you can fall in love with (season 1 and 2), BUT NOT ANYMORE
    No wonder why its viewership is declining.

    with that said, I think that Private Practice would do so much better if they put it after Grey’s at 10pm

  67. moonlightfan says:

    I understand that Peterson WANTS to leave the show, but every time he picks up and outs a few episodes they haul in a recognizable actor to tend to the lead. Also, everything is relational, one point connects to another. But it is obvious that they are trying to portend to the Character driven format this year.

    And though awards are seemingly understated when it comes to ratings, it must urk some board members that they have the most viewed tv shows in TV land, yet are black balled when it comes to award season in the drama department.

    Also, I know I am going to be labeled a conspiracy theorists when it comes to this generality, but did anyone realize that Jerry Bruckheimer eliminated one black actor from his show, as another black actor was coming on board. Maybe I am the only one breathing too much into this because I am black, but he did this once before with POTC 2 -> 3, he dropped one black actress in favor of the lead which was also black. I noticed this because she was featured in the commercials for the 1st POTC. Once is excusable, but twice becomes suspect. What, 2 blacks can’t share the same screen time at once?

    But I doubt anyone will really take this act seriously, they only sit up and take notice when spike lee addresses these issues.

  68. moonlightfan says:

    And I’ll have you know Bill ‘ah doh’ drink. Catholic school has spoiled me for the real world ><’

    But I get by unmeasurable volumes of bottled H2O. Which is really funny because whenever I go out my friends get free drinks cause I hit up the bartender for drinks, and pass it on to them. But the ironic thing is that I don’t drive, so I can’t be the designated driver, and they say it would be plus to hit two birds with one stone, free drinks and a designated driver in one. ;)

  69. Johnthemon says:

    It seems like everything on NBC is drooping this season. My Name is Earl, the Office, Heroes, Chuck…and there new shows are universally failing with the exception of Knight Rider, but it’s still far from a hit.

  70. Chris the TV Sage says:

    Alde is also committing the fallacy of assuming that we all have the same definition of “quality” television. I can think of 7 million former viewers of Pushing Daisies who have a differing opinion.

  71. Tyler says:

    At this rate, Survivor will have more viewers than Grey’s…

  72. Viola says:

    I’ve been following Life on Mars and I love it!! I hope they keep it around. 8 million viewers is not chump change. Do the numbers account for dvr viewings too?

  73. Robert Seidman says:

    Viola, DVR viewing that happened the same night the show aired is included, but it takes Nielsen weeks to produce the live+7 DVR data and so we won’t see that data for the premiere episode from 10/9 until this Monday (10/27). We won’t see it for the episode referenced above until 11/10.

    Unfortunately, our analysis overall is that DVR viewing that occurs after the night the program aired is meaningless in terms of ad revenue, and only valuable for press releases. Though this is probably not quite as true for shows airing at 10pm, it’s likely still mostly true anyway (because nobody watches commercials via DVR).

  74. Viola says:

    Thanks Robert for the info!

  75. tim says:

    hey, wat was the final number of veiwers for greys and CSI? i heard they gained a few?