Comments on: Saturday Ratings: Woz in reruns trumps The Donald

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:44:34 +0000

Jay, Fridays and Saturdays both had pretty big hits well into the 90s with things like ABC’s TGIF and Walker, Texas Ranger and Dr. Quinn on CBS Saturdays.

By: jay

jay — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:39:38 +0000

Oh yeah, the Kings and Castle numbers. Those ought to be interesting.

By: jay

jay — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:37:21 +0000

Good reference works exist in public libraries for this, so i’ll look it up but i seem to recall Saturday night on CBS in the 70’s having the blockbuster Mary Tyler Moore-Newhart-Carol Burnett lineup. ( I forget the eight to nine but I want to say, yes, All in the Family. ) Having said that I think the decline of the nuclear family and other reasons have made Friday and Saturday nights a permanent dead zone since the mid eighties. My posts are always too long so i’ll leave ” nuclear family ” where it is unless called out on it. As to Brent’s other point, rumors of the death as opposed to decline of network TV are greatly exaggerated. SOOO much evidence for that … Glom on to some of the heated debates on this site and others, esp the free advertising industry sites, and you’ll see more number spinning and data interpretation than you can stand. The key thing for me is that we are in a recession, SOME aspects of the entertainment biz have HISTORICALLY been recession-proof, and meneuvering to find out where to put your ad $$$, that is, which venue does the best in the recession or depression, nationally and even moreso internationally, is the name of the game.( AM radio was pronounced dead in the 1980’s, and a seer would have said AM radio had far less prospects than net TV does today. That’s an example of the line between madmen and prophets being nearly invisible.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:07:03 +0000

Brent said:
“Yes, I am a fan of both, but quit Hero’s two weeks ago (got to BORING) and giving Lost one more week to get to some story moving”

You would think a fan of the show would know it’s “Heroes” and not “Hero’s”.

By: Holly

Holly — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:10:25 +0000

Saturday repeat numbers are always horrible. I don’t think it says anything about how the show will perform in originals on its regular night.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:07:25 +0000

The repeat numbers for Castle are horrible, I’m very curious to see how it does tonight. Whether it retains a good chunk of it’s numbers from last week or drops. I’m also anxious to see how Kings did last night. It’s sitting on my TiVo, but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters take priority.

By: Brent

Brent — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:34:27 +0000

Back in the 70 and 80’s there were highly rated shows on both Friday and Saturday night. Anyone remember Dallas and Golden Girls? You put a good show on Friday or Saturday night and it will flourish. The problem is everyone is fighting over Monday through Thursady and some descent shows are being “Lost.”
The other problem is, in my opinion, all the shows look and sound alike. There are 4 CIS, three or four Law and Order, and their copycats (ie Bones, Cold Case, WAT). You have some original programing in Hero’s and Lost, but both shows are lacking in quality this year. Yes, I am a fan of both, but quit Hero’s two weeks ago (got to BORING) and giving Lost one more week to get to some story moving. This taking 5 weeks to get back to the island boring. What happened to last seasons action?
The point is that without American Idol, Fox would barely have a heart beat. ABC is barely threading water, and NBC is giving up by going to Leno 5 nights a week. I am not a fan of that format, Leno, so NBC can count me out. CBS is just before losing it’s fan base, the CSI’s are aging quickly and COld Case and WAT are both in cancellation mode, this will leave them with how many top twenty?

Henceforth, the coming face of network television is changing, within a few years they will become more like superstations broadcasting syndicated shows.

By: jay

jay — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:30:04 +0000

OK, I’ll bite. Kings is up against DH and Brothers and Sisters, the Fox animation for one hour, CBS procedurals, no? Third in overall viewers, fourth in the demo, viewers running not walking away after the first hour. Even the thirty second promos looked dull.

By: sam

sam — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:21:06 +0000

ANYONE HAVE PREDICTIONS FOR KINGS TONIGHT??

By: djm

djm — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:11:09 +0000

nobody likes my barney idea huh? dang…

Saturdays are a wash because they are repeats… not as many people want to watch a repeat that they may have seen before vs. a new episode. And don’t forget that some people actually become unglued to their giant glowing box on the weekends.

By: a

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:56:41 +0000

Julia, what I should have written is that on Saturday, the number of people watching TV (not just broadcast nets) is highest in the 10pm hour.

I still FOX should be doing better because there is no competition on Saturdays. The majority of TV networks treat Saturday like a wasteland. No surprise as to the consistently low ratings the night receives. I’d love to look at Saturday averages from the last 10 years and compare it to population increases (broadcast & cable).

QUESTION: Is this statement true?: Treat a night/timeslot like a wasteland, it eventually turns into a wasteland.

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:31:26 +0000

I think the TV audience increases in the 10pm hour.

You think wrong. 9pm is has highest HUT levels.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:18:52 +0000

A, the one thing I think everyone should agree on is that trying to spin Saturday numbers beyond perhaps Cops, AMW and 48 Hours Mystery is not a very worthwhile pursuit.

By: a

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:14:10 +0000

Let’s all agree on one thing: Everyone spins the numbers.

I still think Castle BOMBED (under 4 million viewers & under a 1 demo rating)! The Mentalist nearly doubled Castle’s LOW numbers and it aired at 9pm. I think the TV audience increases in the 10pm hour. Castle should have done much better after DWTS – CSI: Miami is aging and is very mediocre, while NBC has stunted Medium’s potential. Medium should be on CBS. (SUN 8/10; WED 8; FRI 9/10 or SAT 8/9/10) As they say: Back to the drawing board, ABC.

Disappointing (from a ratings perspective): NCIS (8:10-9:10pm) (shouldn’t it have gotten closer to 6 million viewers and a 1.2 demo rating?)

While no show was King, like last week’s very impressive numbers by Without A Trace, The Mentalist (9:10-10:10) takes the title of Prince of The Night.

CBS 2009-2010 TV Season Sked: SATURDAY
8 Half A Heart (6.2 million viewers/2.0 18-49 rating) (1960s coming of age)
9 Back (7.8/2.5) ()
10 Confessions of A Contractor (8.2/2.6) (Desperate Housewives meets Once & Again)

(MARCH)
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN (4.7 million viewers/1.4 18-49 rating)
8:30 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (4.3/1.3)
9 THE BIG BANG THEORY (4.2/1.2)
9:30 Things A Man Should Never Do Past 30 (4.4/1.2)
10 GARY UNMARRIED (4.5/1.3)
10:30 Accidentally On Purpose (4.6/1.5)

By: sigurdursveinn

sigurdursveinn — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:43:34 +0000

What a nice way to look at things

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:28:52 +0000

Hey, if you assume these were all new viewers, Castle had over 13 mil viewers and 3.9 in the demo for its first episode!

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:25:06 +0000

Considering its a Saturday I don’t think that Castle repeated that badly. It wasn’t good but it was only .1 down on an NCIS repeat so not horrible.

By: sigurdursveinn

sigurdursveinn — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:16:19 +0000

ok thanks robert

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:11:59 +0000

in the example you used, the 1.4 winds up factoring in to the season-to-date 18-49 average. The share number (the /4 and the /6) doesn’t factor in at all.

By: RJ

RJ — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:11:41 +0000

What an exciting night!

By: sigurdursveinn

sigurdursveinn — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:10:12 +0000

alright I understand it now but what abour renew/cancel index does this affect it in anyway

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:51:48 +0000

1.4/4 and 1.4/6 basically mean the same thing. In BOTH examples, it signifies that 1.4% of the 18-49 population were watching. But in the first example, that only amounted to 4% of the 18-49 year olds watching television at that time, and in the second example it amounted to 6% of the 18-49s who were watching at that time.

By: sigurdursveinn

sigurdursveinn — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:44:33 +0000

i’ve been trying to understand these numbers but one thing I just don’t understand is the difference between 1,4/4 and maby 1,4/6 ??? can anyone tell me??

By: djm

djm — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:41:49 +0000

lol i think they are gonna do the ca reruns the rest of the season.. which is a total waste of time. they might as well play barney in that slot.. appeal to the 1-7 demo XD

By: the128boy

the128boy — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:11:28 +0000

yikes for the castle demo. and dwts, for that matter. and this is the second weekend that nbc has replayed the apprentice. why dont they go back to 3 hrs of l&o? whatever extra viewers they are *trying* to get on sunday can’t be worth those numbers.