Comments on: Updated Monday Ratings: Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother continue climb

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:52:26 +0000

CHUCK! Such a fabulous show. I’m rooting for it. I will lose sleep over the ratings. Go Chuck and Sarah!!

Please don’t cancel this original, comical, action-packed, witty, romantic show.

By: Sarah Connor Society » Blog Archive » TSCC News and Review Round-Up

Sarah Connor Society » Blog Archive » TSCC News and Review Round-Up — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:22:42 +0000

[...] TV by the Numbers lets us know that the ratings are holding steady going into the winter break. [...]

By: Andres

Andres — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:23:48 +0000

Goooo Chuck!!!!!!!!!!

By: Johnthemon

Johnthemon — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:48:17 +0000

So a word about Heroes…
I think that all the casual viewers are gone and we’re left with only the true fans. I think the numbers aren’t going to go down (at least much more) but I think it will be hard to get them up again. I hope the numbers go up in the spring, but I doubt it will happen.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:55:54 +0000

I think CBS isn’t going to touch their line up with a ten foot pole. Christine was in the 930 monday block before and bombed. CBS has a good thing with the four comedy’s. They are all topping 10 million viewers.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:00:59 +0000

Looking at CBS comedies on Mondays, instead of swapping Christine or Rules Of Engagement with Worst Week maybe they should put HIMYM there instead? It looks like it’s ready to become really huge.

By: John

John — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:47:14 +0000

I love CBS Mondays! Every show they have has something different to offer. I can’t believe some people are stunned that no other network can match this day. I mean these shows have fan bases, and attract new viewers every week, few shows achieve that.

By: JT

JT — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:16:20 +0000

ANIL says:
December 16th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
So happy ABC is falling down. I hope they fall down to death.

ABC always takes a nosedive once “Dancing with the Has-Been’s” concludes. I’m sure they expected their ratings to do this, but they’ll be right back up there again once it returns in the spring. ABC better hope that “Lost” can anchor their Wednesday nights. If it does (which I think it will), they will be very strong Sundays through Thursdays once the has-beens return in February.

My guess is that “Lost” will average about 13 million this season. Anyone disagree?

By: Rob D.

Rob D. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:08:24 +0000

Answering DD: Two and a Half Men is above average for a typical laugh track sitcom. I used to rip on it because I was jealous of it’s ratings. Being a fan of Arrested Development and The Office (when the ratings were low), I really didn’t give it much of a chance. It has grown on me and it’s definitely worth watching. BBT and HIMYM are much better though. BBT has a character named Sheldon, and the writers give him such smart dialogue that he delivers at a rapid fire pace flawlessly. He makes the show great and unlike any other show. HIMYM is not a typical laugh track comedy at all. Their use of flashbacks is amazingly clever. Nothing about the show and the funny things that happen is predictable in any way. The comparison to Friends doesn’t make sense to me as far the content is concerned. Hopefully it will someday acheive Friend’s ratings though (probably not, but you never know)

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:19:19 +0000

Jason, the short answer is probably not much, if at all. Aside from DVD sales so far it doesn’t wind up being much money for the studios. Typically though, shows with low or marginal ratings don’t rack up high DVD sales.

The iTunes, Xbox, Netflix, and Internet streaming so far isn’t something the networks/studios have figured out how to make money off of and the gravy train is still television. And there’s more complexity than that since there are many cases where the studio producing the show isn’t the particular network’s own studio. There are cases where NBC Universal shows are on Fox, ABC produced shows are on CBS, etc.

I didn’t expect downloads to be huge right now, but across all platforms (iTunes/Amazon/Xbox) it seems like even Heroes is well under 100,000 paid downloads per episode (on a weekly basis).

If/when millions start watching particular shows that way regularly, and/or the networks can figure out how to make money on Internet streaming all of that will be taken into account. For now it seems like ratings are the primary driver, with syndication and DVD potential as secondary considerations. The other stuff most likely isn’t a factor at all currently in renewal decisions.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:44:26 +0000

Question in regards to digital distribution. Because I don’t have pay TV and often many shows I like are on the same time (such as 4 shows I like appearing on Monday night alone) I often times purchase the episodes on my XBox 360 ($2 an episode in 480p) or view Heroes episodes via Netflix instead of watching them live (I’m almost at the end of season 2.) This also gives me the chance to watch when I want as I don’t have a DVR.

Are these numbers (I’m sure the studios can get them from Micrsoft or Netflix) taken into account when deciding which shows stay and which go? Just curious as Monday’s episode of Chuck was the first I watched live (via HD antenna) in awhile. I have TTSCC and HIMYM waiting on my XBox to watch later in the week.

Thanks in advance.

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:07:52 +0000

House will certainly be more competition than TSCC, but I don’t think CBS should be too worried. BBT/HIMYM may not continue to hit series highs, but I doubt they’ll drop significantly either.

By: Charles

Charles — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:52:51 +0000

You know, I’m surprisingly not too worried about House making that much of a dent in BBT/HIMYM’s ratings. If anything, House would probably be the one to get hurt, because its down considerably from last season, yes? And it seems to not be as strong creatively this year aswell…I dunno, those sound like big pluses for the comedic duo…

By: ANIL

ANIL — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:24:21 +0000

So happy ABC is falling down. I hope they fall down to death.

By: Agent Chuck

Agent Chuck — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:57:34 +0000

I think Chuck is filming 2.15. I read somewhere that one of the extras has a blog and she was filming Chuck vs the Beefcake a few weeks ago.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:52:38 +0000

The only thing I worry about is what will happen to BBT and HIMYM when House moves to 8 on monday

By: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0kqwwF5fY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0kqwwF5fY — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:59:15 +0000

Last season, Chuck was able to crank out 13 episodes by Dec 7 (production stop due to the writer’s strike). It takes about two weeks to film an episode so they are probably trying finish episode 14 before the holiday break.

By: total eclipse

total eclipse — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:36:07 +0000

So basically, are the crazy Chuck fans replacing the crazy Moonlight fans by flooding every comments section about their show?

By: Ike

Ike — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:56:36 +0000

I love Chuck but those demo ratings are not as high as I’d like. Still, compared against Fox’s Monday programs, Chuck looks pretty good. I wonder how its ratings are among Men 18-34 which is considered a particularly lucrative demo.

Someone said: “I hate NBC for taking Chuck away for 6weeks. Just when the audience is growing.”

Um, I *seriously* doubt the cast and crew can churn out any more episodes in time for January anyway. I’m speculating, but I imagine they had to rush to get last night’s episode ready in time for broadcast, and now they probably need a holiday break to avoid being hospitalized from exhaustion. We just got 11 episodes all in a row — just a few years ago, that was virtually unprecedented for a non-soap! Babylon 5 and DS9 fans would’ve killed for 11 in a row!

The show has to go on a hiatus SOMETIME. People always complain about show schedules, but would you rather wait until January so you can get the whole season all in a row, like with Lost and 24? I wouldn’t.

By: Rachel P

Rachel P — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:55:43 +0000

So is TSCC’s rating gonna be even lower now Robert? Yikes.

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:54:23 +0000

Wow, look at that How I Met Your Mother’s 18-34 demo! I usually dont like paying attention to it since I find it an overrated indication of success(which is why I find the CW so annoying even though I am in the bracket). Is HIMYM CBS’ number 1 in that demo though? Excluding CSI of course…

By: Don

Don — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:32:47 +0000

Monday
8/7c – Medium
9/8c – Heroes

Tuesday
8/7c – New DRAMA
9/8c – Law & Order SVU

Wednesday
8/7c – Deal or No Deal
9/8c – Law & Order

Thursday
8/7c – Chuck
9/8c – The Office
9:30/8:30c – 30 Rock

Don: Got a lot of Chuck fans…however I would move Heroes to Thursdays…Sorry. Still has the 18-49 more/less but lets see how Chuck does. I know the TVByTheNumbers people would rather vote off Heroes than Chuck and I understand that. I admit I am a Heroes fan but I do deal with ratings reality believe me I REALLY DO!!!!

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:15:55 +0000

I love the idea of Chuck on Thursdays at 7.

NBC needs to find the next big hit reality show. I don’t think “Howie Do It” is going to do it.

Also for those wondering about How I Met Your Mother…the answer is Yes. It is that entertaining. Barney Stinson is probably the most entertaining character on TV right now. As someone who has had The Office as their favorite show since 2005, I am getting very close to dethroning The Office with HIMYM. In fact, if The Office hadn’t gone on its recent string of excellent episodes, that change may have already taken place.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:09:18 +0000

How are u supposed to watch Chuck in 3D?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:56:35 +0000

Roman, it occurs too frequently for us to keep track of, and for a variety of reasons. During football season, every Monday night, the game that airs on ESPN also airs on a station in both of the local markets of the teams playing. Same for Thursday nights with the NFL Network games. There are other things (major local news story, for example) that can preempt the national airings.

But to be clear, the way the measurement works, the viewing on Fox that was for the NFL game actually *is* counted in the numbers above and will be stripped out in the final numbers. And no, it certainly won’t help TSCC’s ratings.