| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 11.40 | 6.03 | 5.36 | 4.18 | 1.36 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.5/8 | 2.0/6 | 1.5/5 | 1.1/3 | 0.6/2 |
All those fans of show X allegedly boycotting CBS? It looks like some of them aren’t, and CBS stood for the Cheery Bright Smile network as an encore of The Mentalist performed well at 9pm. In fact it was the most-watched hour on CBS last night, though both Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs beat it among 18-49 year olds. Ghost Whisperer had the highest demo number of the night. CBS easily won the night in both viewers and among 18-49 year olds.
Here’s what we know: it’s not just NCIS reruns.
Here’s what we can guess: CBS isn’t likely to stick Flashpoint or any other scripted series in that slot until the reruns no longer perform. That is assuming CBS takes an “if it ain’t broke…” mentality.
The rest of the night? Kind of a big snooze. The only thing probably worth mentioning is ABC’s 20/20 which pulled in respectable numbers (perhaps even “good” numbers for a Friday). Why? The story of how high priced hooker Ashley Dupre’ took down New York Governer Eliot Spitzer (AKA “client 9″).
As for the rest of the night, ABC is probably getting what it expects, which probably isn’t much, out of Wife Swap and Supernanny. But Fox can’t be getting as much out of its games shows as it hoped — at least not in the demos. Or perhaps Fox is trying to establish a deliberately low bar so that when Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse begins airing on Fridays in Februray it has a shot at improving performance. Ok, Fox isn’t really deliberately trying to set the bar so low, it just works out that way. Thankfully for Fox, NBC is there to make its bar seem relatively high.
But soon Crusoe will finish its run in exile on Saturday nights, Lipstick Jungle will move to 9pm and Dateline will come back at 10pm. Sometime not long after that, Dateline will likely expand to two hours. Au revoir Lipstick Jungle.
Last Friday night’s overnight results are available if you want to compare.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 11.36 | 2.7/9 |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader | 6.04 | 1.3/4 | |
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | 5.72 | 1.2/4 | |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.78 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris | 1.77 | 0.7/2 | |
| 8:30 | CW | The Game | 1.62 | 0.8/2 |
| 9:00 | CBS | The Mentalist (R) | 11.62 | 2.4/7 |
| FOX | Don’t Forget the Lyrics | 5.75 | 1.6/5 | |
| ABC | Supernanny | 5.06 | 1.7/5 | |
| NBC | Crusoe | 3.50 | 0.9/3 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model (R) | 1.07 | 0.5/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 11.23 | 2.5/8 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 8.24 | 2.5/7 | |
| NBC | Lipstick Jungle | 3.33 | 1.1/3 |
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.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Kinda disappointed to see Ghost Whiperer’s numbers stay so high after the show more or less jumped shark last week.
Fans are definitely not happy with where the show is headed right now so I’ll like to see if those numbers hold up for the rest of the season.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Incredible. A repeat of the second episode of The Mentalist drew only 4.2 million viewers less than this week’s first run episode. And it grew out of Ghost Whisperer (which is at highs not seen since the first season, despite grumbling amongst fans over the current story line).
NBC made a mistake not promoting Crusoe is a limited-run series. And probably a bigger mistake green lighting the show to begin with. It has very nice scenery but little else going for it.
I’m amazed at how drastic the numbers for NUMB3RS (pun intended) change week to week depending on its lead-in. Judging from the first three episodes of the season, it looked like the core audience had dropped to about 8.3 million viewers. Now it is adding another three million just because its on after a repeat of NCIS/The Mentalist.
If only The CW could program Monday through Thursday only, it would actually be doing somewhat “well” by its own, netlet expectations. Friday and Sunday just kill the weekly average. I wonder how well individual affiliates do on Saturday evenings and with what sort of programming…
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
they had to know that the weekly average would be killed when they let go of Friday Night Smackdown! Sunday hurt CW’s average last year too, and while MRC’s numbers were awful, and worse than last year, missing ~3 million viewers on Friday are hurting it more than anything else.
While I agree with you it’s like saying: if only CW could program Mondays and Thursdays for two hours and one hour Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And with ANTM off for a while, Wednesdays are about to go down the tube for a while with two hours of Stylista. This Wednesday is a repeat of Stylista and then a Stylista clip show with “never before seen footage” Arguably, on a relative basis even the seen footage has never been seen!
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
I still have no idea how nobody has ever won the million on 5th grader. I mean come on, Harvard graduates, scientists, teachers, no one can get the 5th grade questions and I can get them WITHOUT the knowledge of going on the show and practicing that early school work. I mean seriously, either they are lying about the people on the show, or America is just getting dumber.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
I have this feeling that The Mentalist will grow into the biggest show on TV (in total viewers, #1 in demo on its night) around its 2nd season.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:32 am
sad to see that only ABC and CBS (with a repeat!) can only crack a 2.0 for the night.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 am
“Arguably, on a relative basis even the seen footage has never been seen!”
ROTFLMAO!
Most of the shows I watched on the CW (Gilmore Girls, Everwood, Jack and Bobby, Reba, Aliens In America) have gone the way of the Dodo. The only things left are Reaper and Supernatural.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 am
At some point as the CW cuts back, or thinks of cutting back, they’re going to hit problems with their fixed costs. All those folks back at CW HQ and whatever other corporate overhead they have is likely pretty much the same whether they program 9, 12 or 15 hours a week. The network profitability has to suffer as they cut back (or consider it).
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
“Arguably, on a relative basis even the seen footage has never been seen!”
Indeed. Best line written on the site in recent memory!
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Awesome for the entire CBS lineup. You know, I too wonder about the repeats. Surely, there are people sitting there watching it for a second time, but I actually think these are shows that a lot of people may not have watched before but have seen the show in the past, and they are easy to plug right in to. It’s the benefit of structuring shows like that.
As for Ghost Whisperer, I watch it, and am perfectly pleased. Fans of shows on the net are like a little slice of a demographic of the larger whole that watches tv. I’ve always noticed most people don’t say anything if they don’t have anything to complain about, so you end up with the people who are upset about something chatting amongst themselves. Which is cool, I just think it is a mistake to think they represent the entirety of a shows fan base. I find fan discussions exhausting personally, because people on the net are so overly critical, so I typically avoid it with most of the shows I watch.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
The Mentalist numbers are kind of suprising. It seems like no matter what CBS airs, they get good ratings. I didn’t think it was possible for network television to have dedicated fanboys. CBS is proving me wrong.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Sorry Andrea, it has a ways to go before it catches NCIS and CSI. If House or American Idol is on on the same night as it is, it won’t win the demo either.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
“still have no idea how nobody has ever won the million on 5th grader.”
Somebody did win the million dollar prize on Smarter than a 5th grader.
It was a few weeks back in I believe this season’s opener.
Her name was Kathy Cox and she is reportedly donating all her winnings to the public school in Georgia.
http://gameshows.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/5th-Grader-Season-3/Kathy-Cox-large.htm
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 am
foxs averages at the top seem low
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Kyle: There was one winner on 5th Grader in September – and Ken Jennings would’ve been the second, as he knew the million-dollar answer after having already stopped at 500K.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 am
My bad, Alex.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
sean, agreed, but i just took the numbers from Berman and didn’t see the data report as we do mon-fri. if the show data is correct the avg is 5.9 million.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
So are people watching CBS on Friday’s because the line-up (repeats and all) is great or because the alternatives are horrible? I mean, if Ghost Whisperer were up against some kind of competition at 8 would it still be pulling the numbers it is? Same goes for the entire CBS line-up on Friday’s surely anything could draw comparatively brilliant numbers up against the sinking ships of everyone else’s Friday Night line-up?
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
im so happy for ghost whisperer. I love Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Conrad.
that show is in its 4th season and its bigger than ever! (or at least bigger than last season)
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Alex,
I think CBS does well with the geriatric crew no matter what night a procedural in airing.
The TV demo is not in on the weekends, so the other networks suffer as a result.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Andrea, it’s true that CBS skews old, but this season they’ve improved their relative standing among the 18-49 demo noticeably from a close third to an effective tie for first.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/11/19/cbs-abc-fox-continue-with-season-to-date-honors/8415
vs.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/11/20/season-to-date-broadcast-net-ratings-924-1118/1839
Sure, you could say that it’s all due to the competition’s more significant declines, but in a shrinking market (broadcast prime-time) it’s all about taking share away from the other guys.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Deal or No Deal looks like it’s geting old because it’s starting to get lower numbers than before. Are you smarter than a 5th greader is even beating it.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Anyone that still wants to watch Deal has probably discovered how much better the daily half-hour syndie version is.
November 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Well it looks like Lipstick Jungle is probably toast now for sure (unfortunately … this and Dirty Sexy Money are two shows I was hoping could be saved).
And on a slightly different subject, albeit one mentioned here in a roundabout way. Ya’ll were talking about Kathy Cox who won the million on “Smarter than a 5th Grader”, well check this out … http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2008/11/22/kathy_cox_bankruptcy.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab.
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Quick programming note: T:SCC will air it’s fall finale on December 8th instead of December 15th. So, only 3 new episodes before the holidays instead of the previously annouched 4. http://www.fox.com/blogs/terminator/
One of the writers was kind enough to address the situation.
“The situation is still in flux, but the decision to air a big two hour Prison Break finale forced us to stop at 12 episodes instead of 13 and move one of the first 13 into the back part of the season. So instead of ending our run at 12 and depriving people of the episode that was designed as a finale to the first chunk of the season (Earthlings), we’re opting to move the mostly standalone “Alpine” into the back part of the season– probably between episode 13, “The Good Wound,” and 14, “Desert Cantos.” This is actually a place that works pretty darn well for “Alpine Fields,” actually. So while you’ll have to wait until after the holidays to see it, it won’t be too long of a wait”
http://tsccsociety.proboards52.com/index.cgi?board=spoilers&action=display&thread=1083&page=2
November 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Lol good one that NBC’s fridays makes FOX’s fridays seem good.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Aww, only 3 more eps for the year? Well hey, I’ll be happy come next year knowing that I have an extra week to look forward to.
I’m confused though. Prison Break 2 hour finale? Why have a finale midseason?… I thought it was going to continue in March and then finish the series?
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
“All those fans of show X allegedly boycotting CBS? It looks like some of them aren’t…” I don’t think ratings can definitively prove or disprove that statement. Fans very well could be boycotting but to no avail.
I have learned one factor regarding a boycott of any network: If Show X is canceled because of low Nielsen ratings, and Show X’s viewers boycott the network, then the network will not notice because not many boycotters were Nielsen households. If more viewers of Show X were Nielsen families, then Show X would have had high ratings to begin with, and may not have been canceled.
Even assuming that Nielsen ratings are accurate, low-rated shows don’t have enough fans to make a boycott matter. For the boycott to matter, viewers of Show X must by default be viewers of other CBS shows in the first place – what if the only show they watched on CBS was Show X anyway?
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
NBC should just change their letters to SAD. And no, SAD is NOT an acronym.
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
Fans respond to Ghost Whisperers was negative? I’m surprised this show even has fans considering it’s a disgrace to human intelligence.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Thanks for that info Corey. Looks like they’re going to turn Prison Break round very quickly, but it worries me no end. I mean after Monday’s episode there shouldn’t be enough wiggle room for 5 more episodes; in fact, in truth I’d have liked tomorrow’s to be the last one.
I think that that very point will be the deathnell for the show.
If Michael and co. do get the 6th card and Scylla then there has to be some unnecessary twist to maintain the story for 5 more hours. The only thing I can think of is that they don’t get it, and this means further problems. It’ll look like a stalling tactic and they could potenitally lose more of their audience.
Of course we’ll have to wait and see, but still, I think the show is about to make another big drop.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
Personally, I’m interested to see what happens to LP, I have never seen anyone bluff their way out of getting cancelled, but I would like to see Brooke Shields make it happen. After all, this is the womoan that took down Tom Cruise.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
OOps, LJ not LP.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Not to be a smartass, but I still notice that people seem to think the Nielsens measure diehard fan response. They measure who watches the first two batteries of ads, primarily ( though not entirely. ) If the TV is on a show for however long it takes to show a requisite number of ads, that show wins the half-hour. Studies show – I know everyone hates that phrase – viewers may watch, say, Ghost Whisperer to get a good look at JLH’s cleavage. Or DH to see how well, soap-style, their plot interest is being advanced. Then they may turn the channel, download porno, walk the dog, whatever. Those viewers mean exactly as much, statistically, as hardcore fans who write letters, blog, etc. Of course the Nielsen diary exists for more detailed reports, but I don’t think I’m incorrect to say how the boxes are designed to work, how they worked since TV had ratings, and how they still work. If I am incorrect, I’d be grateful to know it.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Jay, you’re incorrect. The people meters measure all minutes of viewing. So if you watch 10 minutes, change the channel for 5, come back for 10, change the channel for 5, all the various minutes of viewing are applied to the appropriate programs. The numbers are the total minutes of viewing for the program, divided by the program’s duration to come up with average viewers at any point in time.
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Im glad the 9pm hour on CBS is strong with repeats. That tells you people were there, but didnt want to watch The Ex-List or Moonlight.
November 24th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Jay is partially incorrect, but partially correct. Nielsen viewer may tune in to a station, then push all the right buttons on the meter to say he/she is watching “Show X.” Nielsen viewer may then walk the dog, have dinner, do the laundry, etc…without noting the absence on the meter. Nielsen viewer may also flip back and forth every five minutes, sufficiently to allow two shows to be “counted” on his or her meter. In reality, the viewer may not have been all that interested in either show.
In older technology, Nielsen also makes assumptions when diary data does not match up with metered data. This is the “zero-cell” phenomenon. They have somehow sold their customers on the idea that for zero-cells, it’s OK to assume that the Zero-Cell Viewer behaved the same as the majority of viewers, in the same demographic, who correctly matched their meters to their diaries. People Meters are supposed to eliminate this concern as they eliminate a lot of paper diary work.