| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 8.22 | 5.82 | 5.64 | 5.61 | 1.50 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.1/7 | 1.4/4 | 1.4/5 | 1.7/5 | 0.6/2 |
Moving right along…
I suppose the debate about whether Crusoe is a series or a miniseries is meaningless. Even though in its ads NBC bills it as a new series, having lost over a million viewers from its premiere last week to wind up with 5.92 million viewers, one way or the other, it will be a mini-series. Though NBC managed to come in second for the night with the combination of Deal or No Deal, Crusoe and Life.
Crazed Moonlight fans (and sane, rational ones, too) will relish that at this point pretty much by any metric The Ex List (5.65 million viewers, 1.6/5 rating/share among 18-49 year olds) is doing worse than Moonlight did. While this won’t bring Moonlight back, I do understand the Schadenfreude. For CBS it’s pretty much the same deal as last year. They’re getting relatively good performance out of the 8pm show and 10pm show, and relatively bad performance at 9pm. Back to the drawing board!
Fox’s game shows rose to second place in total viewers, but still lagged behind ABC reality shows in the demo.
As previously noted, Life is, getting another chance at life. It will move to Wednesdays at 9pm starting November 5, with Lipstick Jungle migrating to Fridays and all but certain cancellation. I don’t imagine Life will fare terribly well up against Criminal Minds, but, I’d prefer that slot to the Friday night graveyard.
I enjoyed last night’s Life episode. But while I like Adam Arkin and his character, I’d have rather seen a scene where Crews got to call the ex- wife who’d asked to be called when her ex-husband was finally dead! That said, it was nice to see the uh…buxom Christina Hendricks (who is more famously known — at least on the Internet — for her role as Joan Holloway on Mad Men) back in the role of Olivia. But I watched this on a 61″ wide screen, in HD. Was it really necessary to have her wearing something where a significant portion of her breasts were literally popping out? Not that I’m complaining.
I’ll be writing more about Life, Life on Mars, and the soon-to-be-canceled Pushing Daisies sometime soon, probably this weekend.
I won’t bash the CW again for Friday nights again, at least not this week. It had to know that when it let Friday Night Smackdown! go, it would lose at least 2 million viewers from its Friday night average.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 9.95 | 2.5/9 |
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | 6.04 | 1.4/5 | |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader | 5.71 | 1.2/4 | |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.22 | 1.3/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris | 1.83 | 0.7/2 | |
| 8:30 | CW | The Game | 1.74 | 0.7/2 |
| 9:00 | NBC | Crusoe | 5.92 | 1.2/4 |
| CBS | The Ex List | 5.65 | 1.6/5 | |
| FOX | Don’t Forget the Lyrics | 5.56 | 1.6/5 | |
| ABC | Supernanny | 5.08 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model (R) | 1.22 | 0.5/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 9.07 | 2.2/7 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 7.51 | 2.2/7 | |
| NBC | Life | 5.49 | 1.5/5 |
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.
No big mystery here why The Ex-List is suffering — for the same reason that Swingtown suffered on CBS after CSI. The CBS demographic is strictly “suspense” — either of the crime, reality or creepy mode. Romance? They don’t just not watch. They boycott. Reminds me a bit of that Rodney Dangerfield joke – “Our football team was tough. After they sacked the quarterback, they went after his family.”
Boy, did I learn my lesson about the CBS viewership with my support of Swingtown. I’m convinced that CBS is absolutely the WRONG network for any program even remotely demonstrating a romantic story line — not to mention the fact, that the network is notorious for pumping up these shows, then being the first to jump off the bandwagon. Hey, advertisers, are you listening? You’re preaching to practically the same people with every show broadcast on CBS. Would be nice if one of the big three networks took the “relationship” storyline and ran with it. I think there are a lot of potential viewers out there that CBS has p—ed off enough, that they’d switch networks for a decent storyline that doesn’t involve decapitated heads, phantoms from the netherworld, or backstabbing between “challenges”.
Funny, I’ve been watching what’s happening this season, ratings wise. Why is everyone talking about Mad Men’s low numbers when network numbers are so low and it seems to be performing disproportionately well in the 18-49. What are their time shifted numbers?
Monique, nobody really is talking about Mad Men’s low numbers, I think they talk about the fact that for a show with relatively few viewers, it has the zeitgeist. The Wire was like that too.
Because Mad Men, even with DVR viewing doesn’t wind up in the Top 40 most-viewed cable shows, we can’t see its DVR data, but AMC says Mad Men is averaging around 500,000 DVR viewers per week.
I would have preferred NBC to move Life, KR and MOWE to Saturdays to recreate
Saturday Night Thrillogy which they canceled in 2000. I haven’t watched anything primetime on Saturday from NBC since then.
Wait a minute, I thought one of the selling points of “Moonlight” was the romance. To me the vampirism was secondary. Basically it was a damsel in distress, or for more modern times, occasionally a hero in distress story every week.
“The Ex-List” or “Swingtown” may seem to have been a bad fit for CBS, but basically they are just bad shows. I watched a couple of episodes of “Swingtown” but it seemed to be trying too hard to be wicked and “Ex-List” has an unsustainable premise. Exactly how many men did this woman date?
A truly romantic show with a sustainable premise could work on CBS if it had a cast with the right chemistry. Besides how many true romances are there on TV at the moment? I can’t think of one.
I feel obligated to say something…hmm…actually it is quite sad to see the exlist disappoint. If they had gotten a better performing show and replaced Moonlight with it, then I would have been able to suck it up and say that the programmers are more in touch with want “WE” want than I am. But here they should have done what NBC is doing with Life (I know, a totally diff. show all together) and have tried to see if it would have performed better on a different night before canceling it.
But now there is no more Moonlight, and the reason why it was canceled bares not merit now. I wish they would un-cancel Moonlight like Life did Bloodties or Fox had Family Guy. But alas….Let me see SCHADENFREUDE, yes I’ve learned a new word today, quite true, I’ll just add it to my bookmarks folder under MOONLIGHT.
CBS has no idea what to do with anything that isn’t a procedural (Jericho, Moonlight and now The Ex-List). It is a blind spot for them, that happens to be working while procedurals are still ‘the thing’.
I am thrilled to see that NBC has not given up on ‘Life’. I adore this show, and I only hope that NBC keeps at it. It is worthy of giving it time to catch on.
Moonlightfan, unless you’ve heard something officially otherwise, Blood Ties has been canceled for ages now and isn’t coming back. They’d rather air Army Wives or some other stuff no-one cares about.
Moonlightfan, unless you’ve some official information, Blood Ties has been canceled for ages and aint coming back last I checked. However, Lifetime would rather air Army Wives or stuff that no-one cares about.
Hmm, my messages aren’t going through for some reason…
Sorry, but that’s funny.
Yeah, it’s a blast. I wrote 3 messages and then figured out to hit Refresh *bonk self*
“They’re getting relatively good performance out of the 8pm show and 10pm show, and relatively bad performance at 9pm.”
Lets take a trip down memory lane from last year concerning the ratings:
Moonlight’ Season Finale Helps CBS Win Friday (Again)
The first season finale of Moonlight helped CBS win Friday night, as usual. Approximately 7.56 million viewers tuned in (expect that number to go up when DVR ratings are released), once again winning the timeslot in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 demographic.
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‘Moonlight’ Wins Timeslot again
Moonlight once again helped CBS win Friday night in both overall viewers and the 18-49 demo. Approximately 7.68 million viewers tuned in to see Mick relive his WWII days (expect that number to go up a bit when the DVR numbers come in next week). Although these numbers are down about 300,000 from the show’s [...]
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‘Moonlight’, CBS Win Again
Moonlight was watched by approximately 7.92 million viewers this week, a very small drop from last week’s 7.99 million viewers. Those numbers were good enough to once again win its timeslot in viewers and the 18-49 demographic, helping CBS win yet another Friday night. Let’s keep the forward momentum going and see a boost in [...]
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‘Moonlight’ Sees Increase in UK Ratings
For the week ending March 9, 2008, Moonlight was once again the fifth-most watched show on Living TV in the UK, but it saw an increase in viewership of approximately 55,000 viewers from its launch. The premiere of Moonlight drew approximately 165,000 viewers while the episode which aired March 4 was watched by 219,000 viewers. [...]
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UK Ratings – “No Such Thing As Vampires”
The ratings for the premiere of Moonlight in the UK are finally in! “No Such Thing As Vampires” was the fifth-highest rated show on Living TV for the week of February 18-24, with 165,000 people tuning in to meet Mick St. John and the gang. Here’s the full list for the network:
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Moonlight Wins Timeslot Again!
Our last new episode of Moonlight ended the season on a high note as the show won its timeslot again in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 demographic. Approximately 8.35 million viewers tuned in to find out if Mick found a “mortal cure”. CBS once again won the night in both total viewers and [...]
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‘Moonlight’ Jumps in Ratings
Last night’s new episode of Moonlight scored an impressive ratings win as approximately 8.38 million viewers tuned in. CBS easily won the night in both total viewers and the 18-49 demo. Welcome back, show!
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CBS Brags About ‘Moonlight’
In their weekly press release bragging about their ratings, CBS had this to say about Moonlight:
MOONLIGHT was first in households (4.9/09), viewers (7.57m), adults 25-54 (2.8/08) and adults 18-49 (2.1/06). MOONLIGHT has placed first in adults 25-54 for the ninth time in ten broadcasts and first in adults 18-49 the eighth time in ten broadcasts.
Translation? [...]
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Another Friday, Another ‘Moonlight’ Win
Overnight ratings indicate that Moonlight won its timeslot in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 viewer bracket. Approximately 7.63 million viewers tuned in to find out Josef’s secret, a slight dip from the last new episode, but still a good showing that helped propel yet another Friday night win for CBS.
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“Moonlight” Gained Momentum
In a press release from CBS projecting that it would finish in first place among total viewers for the November ratings “sweeps” period, this sentence stands out:
“Of the 26 new series that premiered in September, only three are up in A18-49 this November vs. September-October.”
In November, the three programs to raise ratings among [...]
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I REST MY CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CBS won Fridays last year IN SPITE of Moonlight, not because of it. Moonlight was clearly the weak link of the night.
CBS was absolutely right to cancel Moonlight, just like they were right to cancel Close to Home the year before. Their mistake was in picking up Moonlight (which did A LOT worse than Close to Home) and Ex-List instead of shows that would actually bring in viewers.
Why I bother attempting to reason with Moonlight fans is beyond me, but here goes.
Moonlight was CBS’s worst performing scripted show in the 18-49 demo, the only thing that mattered. It should have been cancelled.
The fact that the Ex-List is doing worse than Moonlight is *meaningless* as an argument against the cancellation of Moonlight, or in the wish that it will return. The Ex-List will be cancelled too, and CBS will try again, as they should.
As for the incompetence of CBS management, they seem to be doing relatively well this season, eh? So much for your boycott efforts.
Moving on…
The Game and Chris are obviously doing worse than Smackdown did, but on the plus side, both are doing better on Friday than they were when they came back after the strike.
Crusoe dropped more than I expected it too. Somehow I doubt that it will air the remaining 10 episodes. Life will do better on Wednesday than it does here, despite the fact that it will loose to Criminal Minds and Private Practice. On the other hand, Lipstick Jungle is really being sent here to die.
The CW comedies are slowly growing but that demo is bad.
Also, Kudos to Supernnay by beating the awful Ex-List.
Xerxes, I have to disagree with you, ExList and Swingtown is failing/failed because they were simply bad shows. Moonlight proved itself even in a rough season where they saw a writers strike and an impending actor’s strike. Most networks gave their new shows a free pass because of it – CBS’s knee jerk reaction pulled Moonlight before they should have. We’ll never know how well it could have done….never even gave it the opportunity of reruns…. maybe they didn’t want to see how well it could have done.
That is a good rating for Ghost Whisperer and It almost hit the 10 million wow!
Hey Bill Gorman & Holly – every week you come up with the same BS. Moonlight WAS NOT cancelled by CBS because of RATINGS, it was because of MONEY. We Moonlight fans check the ratings each week to prove our point. If CBS had just been honest with us we wouldn’t have felt like being sucker-punched back in May. What CBS did was cruel to the fans, cast, and crew of Moonlight. By keeping the show “on the bubble” it’s obvious CBS was stonewalling Warner Bros. and Silver Productions unless they came up with more money per show … which they didn’t (idiots), hence the cancellation. Corporate big shots killed the show because they couldn’t agree on MONEY. If CBS had promoted the heck out of Moonlight like it does some of their other shows, the RATINGS would have been right on target. And, BTW, the fans know the show is not coming back as most of the actors have found other jobs. It’s just a shame Moonlight ended before its time.
And if Moonlight were not the LOWEST RATED SHOW ON THE NETWORK, money would not have been an issue because ratings=$$$ and bad ratings=no $$$.
Carol J, Are you saying that Moonlight was *not* CBS’s worst performing scripted show for adults 18-49?
Or does clinging to conspiracy theories make you feel more comfortable?
I wonder why it really matters if it was the lowest rating of the night, it still helped CBS win the night. It won its time slot and demo. Holly, you crack me up each week. Main reason I read this on Saturdays when I have time. You hate ML with as much passion as the ML “fanatics” that love. I do know that ML won’t be back. I hate it, but hey life moves on. I also hate to see other actors out of a job, so no I do not celebrate with glee that The Ex List is failing. This debate will never end, so Holly thinks for providing me with some entertainment during my stressful week of teaching 4th graders to read!!
I don’t hate Moonlight. Actually, I watched it a few times and thought it was OK. Nothing special, but not bad. It’s the obnoxious Moonlight fans I can’t stand.
Holly, it’s funny, because as obnoxious as these fans are, there are some really great Moonlight fans, who aren’t deluded. I never would have guessed from here, but they really are!
I know there are! One of my closest friends loved the show and was disappointed it got canceled. There have even been several people who have posted here who weren’t happy that the show was canceled, but didn’t go off the deep end either. I feel really bad for them because they get lumped in with those who are obnoxious.
As ironic as it is, last fall I was defending Moonlight against people who thought Moonlight should have been canceled before November. And I wouldn’t have thought CBS was completely nuts if they kept it. It made sense to cancel, but if they had been able to pay less for it and give it another shot, I wouldn’t have thought much of it.
On a similar note: If the Pushing Daisies fans turn “Moonlight” on us, I promise not to group you with them.
Thanks.
If the Pushing Daisies fans turn “Moonlight” on us,
“If” ?
Chris, there is always hope.
Friday night numbers invariably turn into a moonlight discussion. why? It’s been off the air for almost a year now, it is definitely dead. Why does it matter? Where are the “Bionic Woman” fans. That had a much better chance of survival according to the renew/cancel index but nobody complains about it. Once a show is canceled we should all just move on.
Now that I’m done ranting
Crusoe is posting disappointing numbers…I wish it would have lasted. the Ex list was doomed to failure, it just had no appeal. I don’t really understand why NBC and FOX put there big game shows on Friday night. Doesn’t seem rational.
I think NBC putting DOND on Friday makes more sense than FOX’s game shows. DOND has been on Friday off and on for a while and last year was a fairly steady performer. If NBC had kept it to only one or two nights a week, it might still be doing well. Instead, the did the same thing as ABC did with Millionaire and now the numbers are crashing.
FOX putting 5th Grader and Lyrics on Friday would make sense if they had something worthwhile to put on Thursday. They are cheap, so FOX could handle getting the lower demos. The real problem is Thursday, which actually gets worse ratings than Friday. 5th Grader and Lyrics were holding up really well on one of the most competitive nights on TV. FOX should have kept them there.
I haven’t gone through the posts yet, but regarding Crusoe, I believe NBC partnered with the BBC to offset costs, so it may have a longer run even with low ratings.
Fox should clearly bring back Arrested Development, Firefly, Wonderfalls and possibly several shows that they didn’t even cancel and put them on Thursday instead!
LOL!
I come here again to see that Moonlight’s detractors are still obsessed with… MOONLIGHT! At least I am obsessed with Moonlight for healthy reasons: because I love the show and think it deserves a chance to prove that it can grow an audience if marketed properly.
This week CBS was running ads showing GW and XL together as a package deal, trying to convince the unconvinced about Nina’s pet show.
The entire time that Moonlight was on the air, I only saw ONE Moonlight ad, and that was when it came back after that long, dry spell due to the writer’s strike.
If the Romance fans are staying far away from the Ex-List, it is because:
1) The Ex-List is NOT Romantic in the least.
2) The Ex-List is NOT funny at all: it is stupid.
3) Most importantly, the Romance Fans are the Moonlight Fans, and they refuse to watch anything that CBS puts in that timeslot ever since Nina Tassler insulted us, lied to us, and then lied about us.
Oh and by the way, has anyone ever pointed out to Holly that if Audrey Hepburn were still alive, she would be 79 years old and therefore in the wrong demographic.
Ooooop!
Better pick out a new online personnae: perhaps choose one of those Mensa candidates from that demo you are so proud of?
Angelcrest, please stop being an annoying, mean-spirited bully or I will ban you from this blog. There can be only one annoying, mean-spirited bully here, and that’s me.
Holly didn’t say *anything* about you. I don’t have any problem if you have something reasonable (or even unreasonable, really) to say to the overall population of “Moonlight Detractors”, I do have a problem with your comment above though, and if I see another one like it, I will consider taking away your ability to comment.
The thing is that you guys don’t get that Moonlight is still alive and well in foreign markets. I spoke to someone just last week from another country who only just saw the final episode, and I have yet to see the final episode. So the fall out of Moonlights cancellation is hardly over. Other than that, I got over the premature cancellation of The Magnificent Seven, which was the cause for me tuning out on Friday Nights in the first place, so I never even gave GW or Numbers a chance. And I stick to my guns that I would never give my time and love to another show until it has either ended its run or reached its 3rd season. I do believe I will survive the cancellation of Moonlight. I am however, going to let Moonlight be for me as Speed Racer was for Joel Silver.
And I understand about the lowest rated scripted thing, but I also believe that Moonlight was canceled not only due to Monetary reasons, but that Joel Silver made the call for other reasons. I mean, this is Joel Silver we are talking about, if he wanted to do Moonlight he would have found a way. But he did not, his contract is almost up with WB and now because of this cancellation, he would not be obligated past the end of his contract to do any shows with them. There is really no conspiracy involved, just that decisions were made and that the Ratings were the least considered in the decision making.
Once again I always have to compare this scripted show to Eureka, and considering the Marketing Psychology enforced with a show that was even less popular than Moonlight, held in a different regard by Universal, I have to beg allegiance to my earlier grievances. That’s all.
Robert, why keep feeding the crazies out there?
And oh, BTW, “romance” (as in saccharine cavity causing) – is only part of what caused ship moonlight to sink. Bad amateurish writing was another reason.
Even waiting until the 3rd season is no guarantee that you’re going to get a happy ending. Just look at another Joel Silver produced show, Veronica Mars. It got to its 3rd season, and then was left with a horrible series finale, because Rob Thomas was sure it was coming back. And this was not a show that Joel Silver wanted to end, so your theory that any show Silver wants to make, he can make, is a fallacy.
But the point of these comments is not that you aren’t allowed to be upset. You just have to realize that you can’t do anything about it. Especially since you are getting here so late. Maybe if you had discovered Moonlight through less legal forms last season you would’ve been able to make some productive noise. But at this point, it’s just a waste of time on your part. But waste your time however you please, by all means.
And also, I have to say that before this fall out over Moonlight I have always loved CBS. I don’t think my love this network will ever change, regardless of the Program Execs who come and go. I remember when NCIS was struggling in the ratings and I was hoping for it to do better, even though I didn’t even watch the show. Still don’t, but I knew Mark Harmon as an actor and wanted to see him succeed.
Y&R, B&B, Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman, I fell in love with them a long time ago, but because of all those shows I would watch on CBS that would get canceled almost right away, The Magnificent Seven and the other western that was a tie in with Quinn, and now Moonlight, I just don’t see myself giving any new drama that veer towards my interest a chance. As a matter of fact GW would more tend to my interest more than anything else on that network, but I feel all drained out of expectations for CBS shows, no matter how popular it is, I just feel too apathetic towards it to watch.
I know one less viewer won’t hurt its ratings since I’m not Nielsen anyway, this just has to do with me in my world, that’s all.
Eureka runs on the SciFi channel and so NBC Universal has very different expectations for it than if it ran on the NBC network. It’s held in a very different regard because it airs on a very different type of network, cost less to make, etc.
I’m completely missing the deal with comparisons between Moonlight and Eureka.
Susan, probably for the Schadenfreude I get out of knowing Bill can’t help himself and has to read all the comments
Robert, You are an evil, evil man.
GS was great last night Jennifer looked so beautiful and the episode was really good too.
There is only one thing that I can do for Moonlight and that is keep it well and alive in my heart, and try to make a movie out of it myself when I get the chance. That is all I know I can do for Moonlight, no matter the Neigh Sayers. Twilight proves that the romantic storyline can work in a movie of this nature, and I belive that its release will spike the ratings for True Blood. It is inevitable. So I’ll keep hoping that I’ll one day be able to succeed. If Joel doesn’t first that is.
I was including VM in my comment before, since the end of Moonlight, Joel will no longer be obligated beyond his contract’s terms with the WB.(Personally, if I were Joel Silver I would not be even be able to forgive the WB for the way it failed Speed Racer, but that is whole other kettle of fish).
And Julia/Holly – are you serious? I am not a baby, I have lived nearly 30 years, that is nearly 30 years of tv shows coming and going in my life time. I am not crying in my pillow in the middle of the night over Moonlight, or any other show. But please keep up the Postings, i find them quite amusing in their sanguine melodrama it its astute ability at retort.
Some of those FOX shows I haven’t even heard of.
In short, I love ‘em
Ooops, I meant GW.
WED, Do you mean the shows Julia listed?
One of the things that I don’t get about CBS is why they can’t seem to get it through their heads that, for some reason, the 8/9 PM slot on Friday is a time that viewers, no matter what they put there, seem to check out on. Unless I am mistaken, this is the fifth tv season-fourth, I suppose, if Close to Home’s first season is considered a success-where the series that CBS has put there has
failed to live up to its expectations. It seems that out of the four series, Close to Home did make to a second season, but then got the axe. Moonlight did better than Threshold did, and it seems that it will also have done better than the Ex-List, unless something changes soon. Perhaps CBS should dig out all the fave episodes of Ghost Whisperer and show them after the new ones. At least they wouldn’t be spending money on shows that can’t make the grade. It’s a good thing they aren’t playing baseball, because they struck out either on the second season of Close To Home, or on Moonlight, depending on how you want to count the third strike. If I were an advertiser I don’t believe I would be too interested in putting money on a show in a time slot that keeps on failing whatever type of show gets put there, unless they gave m very cut rate, and that seems to run counter to the idea of the network making money off of the show, if they have to give advertisers a bargain just to get them to sponsor it.
I suppose that Warner Bros and Silver Pictures, and perhaps even CBS, are still getting some money from Moonlight. It did well in Germany, I hear, on Pro Seiben, and it just premiered in the Netherlands. The figures I saw put in the middle range of the top twelve American shows there, with House being on top(899 something thousand), Moonlight being at 513 something thousand, and Law and Order:SUV being on the bottom with 325 sometthing thousand. Moonlight was the only show in the mix that is no longer in production. It will premier in Italy on Halloween. So, it’s still making the rounds to squeeze every dollar, pound, or Euro it can, I suppose, for the producers.
I’m so glad Life is moving back to Wednesdays, I was actually hoping that was going to happen. I had this idea that Lipstick Jungle would be moved or canceled and Life would take over it’s slot.
Facts might be better than name calling in regard to Moonlight and its lovers. I’m an avid Moonlight fan, and I’m nice, and so are the people on the Moonlight boards all over the world who e-mail me. We might be nerds, but we’re not crazy. Moonlight was aired on Friday nights–not a kind place to put a new show that needs ratings right away! (Only nerds are home on Friday night.) Moonlight had a rough start as far as the trashing of the the pilot, the recasting of everyone but the lead, and then throwing it out there without much tune-up. Okay, so it might have been a little raw at first, but it still won the People’s Choice Award. So–before you say everyone who voted for it (not me–I hadn’t even found it yet!) was wrong, condsider that despite its flaws, it had an “it” factor that connected with viewers. Moonlight didn’t get a very big first season (13 ep’s) and didn’t get a lot of promotion to get it going. It was canceled even though it consistently won its bad Friday night time slot. More facts: Swingtown and Ex-List are what executives think fans want, but fans don’t want that usual stuff. After it got up and running, say, by B.C., Moonlight was a GREAT show–an unusual show–not a “procedural,” but a heart-thumping show with some real heart! How hard is THAT to find today on network television! Exactly! At the time it got axed, it was just getting re-discovered after the writers’ strike. Who knows? Maybe it was a year too early. What if Moonlight had debuted in the fall of 2008 when there isn’t much to make your heart thump out there, and no strike coming up! I personally think it would have been the show to beat, but that’s me–the nerdy Moonlight fan. Guess I should sharpen my fangs now so I, too, can spit venom.
and for like the fourth time in just this single thread:
FACT: MOONLIGHT WAS THE LOWEST RATED SHOW IN THE 18-49 DEMOGRAPHIC OF ANY CBS SHOW.
Pretty much every US network (and major cable) TV show is sold all over Europe, Australia/NZ and I imagine Africa and Asia too. The fact that Moonlight is doing *alright* in more forgiving foreign markets means zero. FWIW, it more or less tanked on Aussie TV, although it was on the least patient network and aired over Summer.
And Veronica Mars had an extremely apt series finale! The episode(s) was just about the best of the season and a lack of happy ending with a cliffhanger(/s) that wasn’t really one suited the show to a tee (and I mean that in the best possible way, it’s easily my favourite US network show evar). RT knew what he was doing ending it the way he did, whether he thought it would return or not.
Susan- I disagree. Moonlight is exceptionally well written.
Robert- I don’t think that I said anything meaner than others have said about Moonlight fans. Every time I come to this site, I find people saying very rude things about the fans, suggesting that we are not mentally balanced. Why is that not worthy of a reply?
angelscrest, your opinion is quite simply wrong. Opinions can’t be wrong? Wrong. Moonlight was atrociously written.
Jack, I’m a huge VM fan, but I thought the finale was horrible. I’ve heard the excuse that it fit the show, but it felt more like a slap in the face. I actually interviewed RT for a class and he had big plans for a fourth season (which would be sophomore year at Hearst, not the FBI years) which had been perfectly set up by the finale. It really wasn’t an end.
Yes, Mr. Seidman, that is true about Moonlight, However, as has been discussed on many other threads on this site, networks do sometimes decide to keep a show on that has marginal ratings or demos. An example is the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which hasn’t gotten the axe this season even though it hasn’t done what Fox had hoped, but they are still giving it a full season. Sometimes the gamble pays off, sometimes they have to apply the axe after all. So, obviously networks do sometimes, for their own reasons, make a judgement call on a show that would go into the dumpster if they only went by its numbers. You and Mr. Gorman, I believe, speculated that True Blood had not premiered with decent numbers, and that HBO had not put out any statement at the time, which usually indicated they were not pleased. After the second episode, though, HBO announced that they wanted a second season. So, they all make decisions based their own criteria, with ratings being the biggest concern, but other things obviously factor in at times.
But, byeu, what is the point of arguing that there may have been other reasons for CBS to keep Moonlight, when there obviously were not, since it was canceled?
It really could have been a hell of a lot worse. Although my reaction afterwards couldn’t have been: sincere grief and an inability to accept the loss for months.
And yeah, I’ve read about season four before with the Russian mobsters and other stuff I can’t remember. Seeds were clearly sown for all of those plot lines, but Veronica and Keith had come full circle in terms of social standing so it may have been difficult to keep the show’s emotional pull strong without rehashing stuff. Accept the finale with serenity instead of being forever bitter about it and you’ll be happier.
And keep the faith, the bitch may well be back again.
angelscrest –
you must not be a very avid TV viewer, because to say that Moonlight was “exceptionally well written” just just laughable. The dialogues were preposterous, predictable and highly non-sophisticated (I recall an episode in which both characters kept finishing their lines with “ok?”). When I think of exceptionally well written shows, Mad Men or The Shield come to mind.
Moonlight is definitely down there with Ghost Whisperer or Knight Rider (original or remake). In light of the low ratings and the pitiful execution, it’s not surprise CBS axed it, and they were right to do so, despite the show’s two and a half fans.
Sorry Holly from my previous post….I meant Julia makes me laugh. I just find it interesting how everyone reacts to opinions. And how angry some get if everyone doesn’t agree with them. To be honest I had never heard anything about demos, overall ratings, etc. until ML was cancelled. It has been a learning experience for me. Tv is a business. Until now I didn’t know that companies paid for their advertising to be on the networks….so I thank ML for bringing me an escape from RL on Friday nights and for teaching me how the entertainment industry works. I know find myself checking this site every day to see how my favorite shows did. And most of them are on CBS.
Jack, you seem to think that the VM finale and cancellation still troubles me the way Moonlight seems to trouble Moonlight fans. It doesn’t. Occasionally I will miss it, and think “Too bad.” That’s the worst I get. As for the movie, I’m not holding my breath, no matter what Aussiello may say. If it happens, wonderful. If not, it’s really not something that bothers me very much, and it hasn’t since about June 2007.
Um, hookedonmick, if you’ll notice, I had not posted a single comment on this post when you said that I apparently make you laugh.
I totally get the concept of being disappointed that a show was canceled, but I do not (and this may be a failing on my part) get the concept of making a show *truly* important to you. I enjoy a lot of TV shows but I can’t really think of a situation where the cancelation of one would be a big deal.
Of all the shows I currently watch and enjoy (many!) only the unceremonious canceling of LOST would approach even remotely being annoying; only because I want to know how it ends! But if that happened, JJ Abrams would do a blog post, a book, or something writing about what would have happened and I’d *still* get to find out.
I also get the concept of thinking a network is stupid (believe me we get this concept!) or that it made a poor choice. But I don’t really understand the concept of being *mad* at a network at all.
Television is about entertainment, and especially on the broadcast networks, it’s free. There are many choices for entertainment, though most of them are not free. Let’s say ABC cancels Life on Mars over mediocre ratings. I’ll be a bit disappointed for about 30 seconds because I enjoy the show and would feel bad for the fans and everyone involved with making it. But, then I’m over it. It’s not like your spouse divorcing you or catching them in bed with another person. And it seems like some people react as if it was *exactly* like that!!
Robert, if Lost were canceled, the creators and writers would be so glad that they wouldn’t have to come up with an ending!
Julia, it is in reading all of your posts, not just the ones about ML. I didn’t mean it disrespectfully at all. And you are right, I had just got your name confused with Holly’s. So if I have offended I apologise. I hated that my favorite show was cancelled but I didn’t protest by boycotting, or sending emails to execs, etc. I have had several shows cancelled and lived….I agree it wasn’t as painful or as earthshattering as my divorce….
I’m just confused as to what posts of mine have made you laugh. The way you said it was in a very negative way.
hookedonmick, You are the kind of fan I can understand and sympathize with. It’s the fans that can’t let go, act like Moonlight’s cancellation was personal, and seem to think that if they annoy enough people the show will come back that irritate me. Unfortunately, we’ve had far to many of the latter on here, and I ran out of patience.
I got in to ratings about two years ago, and I’m still learning quite a bit about the business. Before last fall, I might not have put much stock in the 18-49 demo arguments, but I’ve seen the ad rates and enough evidence to understand that the advertisers think it’s important. Whether I agree with it or not, that is part of the business.
In some ways, Moonlight, like Shark, Close to Home, and a few others, was a victim of CBS’ success. Networks HAVE to cancel shows because they need to premiere new shows or risk becoming stagnant, especially in the ratings. CBS has very little trouble finding show that get a descent viewers and OK demo ratings. So, each year CBS ends up canceling one or two shows that are getting OK ratings simply because everything else is doing better. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Moonlight and Ex-List are examples of times it didn’t. (I actually give Ex-List a little more leeway because it is something completely different than anything else CBS has on. I think CBS knew it was a risk, but wants to diversify.)
However, even on another network, Moonlight would still have been a bubble show at best. There were only 4 scripted shows on the 4 major networks that dropped below a 2.0 in the demo and were still renewed for this year. Boston Legal was renewed for 13 episodes as part of a deal ABC made to get Life on Mars. Given how badly all their freshman shows are doing, ABC has to be happy about this deal. Friday Night Lights was renewed because of a special deal with Direct TV. We’ll see how well that works out in the spring. Til Death (FOX) and According to Jim (ABC) were both renewed. The only explanation for either is that people associated with the shows have really compromising pictures of the network execs….not counting blackmail, ATJ was renewed because of syndication deals and Til Death survived because FOX didn’t want to cancel both its sitcoms.
Even with the low ratings, CBS was apparently willing to give Moonlight another shot if they could have made a deal that made it cheaper for them. This doesn’t seem to be an uncommon thing in TV. VM, Supernatural, Pushing Daisies, Boston Legal, and many other shows have cut their budgets in order to stay on the air. In Moonlight’s case, the deal fell through. CBS’s attempt at a deal wasn’t a power play, it was an attempt to save a show whose ratings didn’t deserve renewal.
This one goes to all the Moonlight fans – the show is gone, not coming back, get over it. What ratings it did, again last year, doesn’t matter, is not important.
And Septbday, really, did you actually keep those ratings information and comments? Come on!!
Finally, the popularity of Numbers is absolutely perplexing.
Holly, speaking of the Boston Legal 13 episode order, do you (or anyone else) think there’s a chance it will be given a full 22 episode season, considering how the rest of ABC’s lineup is doing? I did a little mockup of what I think ABC’s schedule should look like in January, and left it off, but considering their current luck, they may be better off extending it. But I’m not sure if the show would even want that at this point. They likely have the show finishing for good at 13 episodes, and would probably be forced into a Felicity type situation if ABC extended their final season.
I’d be surprised, Julia — not for ratings reasons, but for ego reasons! Don’t you think relationship between David E. Kelley and ABC is probably a bit strained over what went down with Life on Mars? Plus, he’s working on a new series that last I remember, NBC picked up.
Julia, I’m with Robert on this. I think there’s still some bad blood over how all that went down.
ABC also has a number of shows in development for mid-season (The Castle, The Unusuals, a reality show from Ashton Kutcher, Cupid, and a few comedies). I can see them canceling PD, ES, BL, and DSM and treating mid-season like the start of the regular season. I think LOM is probably fairly safe right now because everything else is doing worse.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve got, though I think they move LOM. (If you want to see my mock up, http://www.remotecontrolsyou.com/tv/2008/10/abc-needs-help.html )
I think LOM will move too, and I think it’s very likely that it will be grouped with Lost.
Were they planning on bringing back Dance Wars during the DWTS hiatus?
The current schedule The Futon Critic shows for winter shows the Kutcher/Banks project. They list Dance Wars as fate TBD.
Julia, I definitely like the pairing of LOM with LOST, but I don’t know about your 8-9p block on Wednesday. ABC obviously isn’t into ATJ for the ratings, and lead-in doesn’t likely matter for Lost anyway, so why not put one of your new shows in front of Lost in the hopes that in anticipation over Lost, it will get a few more viewers than it otherwise would’ve?
I also have no idea how enamored ABC was with last year’s style of the expanded “last week’s” Lost leading into lost. I don’t recall those numbers being great, but I do recall them being better than ATJ.
I think they’ll save the Lost leading into lost until one or more of the mid-season shows tanks (chances are at least one of them will) and they have to move things around on the schedule.
Robert, that’s a good point. The Tuesday and Wednesday comedy blocks should probably be switched. That way the shows that ABC only cares about for non-ratings created revenue can be wasted up against Idol.
After the last couple of weeks I feel I must speak up. I’m a ‘Moonlight’ fan and frankly, I don’t understand why you continue to reference ‘Moonlight’ (canceled in May 08) every week in your column.
“Friday Night Ratings: With or Without Moonlight, Ghost Whisperer Still Owns Fridays”
I believe you do it to get people to read your column.
You know you’re guaranteed a lot of responses when you mention “MOONLIGHT” and by doing this you’re proving you also believe in the power of ‘Moonlight’.
You’re comments regarding ‘Moonlight’ fan’s are not always kind and seem to indicate you’re weary of them. Why keep stirring the pot? ‘Moonlight’ is over, and as long as you bring it up every week you will get responses from it’s passionate fans and protesters.
By the way, I had never heard of TV by the Numbers until I saw it referenced on a ‘Moonlight’ fan site last fall.
I read it faithfully after that and still check in on Saturday or Sunday for “KICKS”
The “kicks” are becoming less and less with the constant belittling of Moonlight fans. So Bill/Robert please let ‘Moonlight’ go.
Thanks
Evah, check out last week’s Friday numbers post. Not a mention of Moonlight by anyone until Moonlight fans decided to come in the comments and start bemoaning their loss. So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I suppose.
Evah, if all Moonlight fans were like you, we’d definitely have let it go long ago. We have actual data (not just anecdotal data either) — whether we reference it in the Friday posts at all or not, we’ll get some commentary about Moonlight.
I have tried it both ways. See the comments on last week’s Friday ratings post(zero Moonlight references from us at all!):
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/10/18/friday-ratings-crusoe/6454
Julia, it’s like having a designated commenter!
Thanks..
Happy to oblige.
This is a reply to Harry’s comment of:
“And Septbday, really, did you actually keep those ratings information and comments? Come on!!”
No Harry I didn’t keep them. They are available for viewing @ moonlight-detective.com.
Septbday
Thanks Holly for explaining it for me. It has really been interesting. I always thought it was about the overall ratings. I will admit I was really angry last May, which lasted all of maybe two days. Yes, it was sad but not life threatening. Believe me I get frustrated with the fanatics. It is like I hate to see all teenagers linked together as being bad apples. The cancellation was about CBS making a business decision that is all it was. I am looking forward to Alex O’loughlin’s new series when or if it works out with his contract. He understands the business side of Hollywood. And Julia I apologise again. I meant it in a good way. Your come backs with some people are really funny and good. I just wish I was as witty.
Oh, okay. For some reason it seemed like one of the various Moonlight comments about how people so “obsessed” with hating Moonlight are amusing. Apologies for misreading it! And thanks.
Let me run this by and see if I understand correctly. At the end of a season the networks look at all of their shows. They mostly go by the demos because that is where they get the money from sponsers? The overall rating isn’t that big of a deal? This is what is confusing to me. Some shows have high ratings but low demographics, and then others have low ratings but high demos. Hopefully I have it right….
That’s pretty much it, hookedonmick, though most of the time shows with high ratings, though they may skew old, will have very good demos in comparison to other shows.
There are, of course, other factors that go into the renew/cancel decision, but the demo is a very good way to judge a show’s likelihood of renewal, hence the renew/cancel index.
Stop that Julia! I went to respond to Helen in the renewal/cancel thread, and you just beat me to it. I come here to respond to hookedonmick, and here you are!
Hey, we can’t all be designated posters.
(And I doubt you’re avoiding homework….)
hookedonmick, Like Julia said, the demo number is a good indicator of whether a show will be renewed or canceled. However, it’s not like the nets decide they need three spots on the schedule and automatically cancel the three shows with the lowest demos. There are a number of other factors.
For example, what day it’s being aired. Shows on Friday can have a lower demo than a show on Wednesday.
Lead-ins can also make a difference. Take The Unit for example. Last year it averaged over a 3.0 in the demo, yet CBS considered canceling it while they didn’t consider canceling Cold Case, which averaged below a 3.0. Having NCIS as a lead-in meant that there were higher expectations for The Unit.
Overall viewers can come into play if two shows are close in the demo, but generally, you don’t see very many shows with high viewer numbers and really bad demos. A show with 10 million viewers will almost always have enough 18-49 viewers to be safe.
Oh, and none of this really applies to unscripted shows like news magazines or reality shows. Those are cheaper to make, so they don’t need as much advertising money. 60 Minutes could get a 1.2 in the demo all season and still get renewed.
Julia, Homework, housework,…whatever
It surprised me that Supernanny won the demos for that time slot. That show really annoys me. I don’t know why but it reminds me of a Harry Springer show…do people really allow their children to be like that? I wonder what type (genre) of show CBS will try next in that time period? Thanks to Holly and Julia for your help in understanding all of this….and I will do my best not to post about ML!! Now if and when Alex O’loughlin gets his show on, then look out!!! I can’t make any promises on that, LOL!!!
Julia,
The point that I was trying to make was that networks do make decisions to salvage some shows in spite of mediocre ratings. Most of the time those of us in the viewing audience will never know all the factors that they consider. I tried to give the example of the Sarah Connor Chronicles because I have heard over and over about that show from last year, when it was on the “bubble” itself and was saved, mainly because it did get some fairly decent demos, if I remember it correctly. It still hasn’t taken off like a rocket this year but Fox has decided to let the show finish out the season, and if it still hasn’t improved by then, then it will probably be canceled very quickly, but Fox certainly has given it a chance. Moonlight was only mentioned as an example of a show that a network, CBS, decided didn’t meet its needs, for ratings, or what other criteria they feel they have to apply to make that decision. Maybe CBS would have kept Moonlight if Warner Bros or Silver Pictures had done something different, but that is something that only those parties know, and, yes, the point is very, very moot.
I do very strongly believe that networks make these decisions based on many different factors along with the ratings when dealing with a marginal show, and that belief actually doesn’t have anything to do with Moonlight itself.
I have said previously that I wouldn’t argue the merits of Moonlight, because that is a matter of personal taste. I might think something is awful, and other people think it is brilliant, but that’s OK if if floats somebody else’s boat, but it doesn’t float mine.
I do like Moonlight and wish that CBS had given it a shot at building an audience in a second year. They didn’t and that’s that. I haven’t enjoyed having my toes stepped on just because I do like Moonlight, because I have tried not to be disrespectful of others just because they didn’t like the show, or thought that it should have been canceled. I am not perfect, so if I have ever gotten cranky I apologize.
If all you said is true, I don’t understand why you have commented at all on Moonlight, since your posts mostly run along the “CBS should have kept it” line.
I am so happy for GHOST WHISPERER. There are plenty of likeable characters on that show. Even though I usually don’t like those kind of horror/sci-fi shows.
XERXES. All of CBS’ scripted shows are about relationships, they just don’t spend the entire hour focusing on the love lives of the characters. That’s why I like the network.
CBS should have kept Moonlight. That’s how I feel and I make no apologies for the fact that I feel this way. It was a wonderful show, helped CBS win the night on Fridays and was the Peoples Choice Award Winner. And it was well written!
And once again I’ll point out that Moonlight didn’t have a chance to get going with all the crap that happened to it during it’s short “freshman” season. Plus the fact that CBS doesn’t support its “freshman” shows–that’s what I hold against CBS. As we all know, there are many instances where a show didn’t do well in its freshman season, but became a hit as it was given time and promotion and was allowed to build an audience. Yeah, Moonlight attracted a different type of audience than the laugh-track comedies or infernal reality shows, and it’s not a typical CBS “procedural” (thank goodness!)–it just needed people to find it, and once they did–it was love. I didn’t find it until I returned home from Minnesota in December and (I was caring for my dying mom) and I found that my TiVo had recorded several shows. It was love for me–instantly–for a lot of reasons. I still mourn the loss of this show. My husband and I lost 3 of 4 parents during the Moonlight season (November, January, April) and found it to be a wonderful escape for us on Friday nights! I’ll never stop hoping it will come back someday–crucify me for feeling that way, but it’s my truth.