| Scoreboard |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.55 | 11.22 | 6.69 | 4.91 | 4.32 | 2.26 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 5.7/16 | 2.9/8 | 2.8/8 | 1.6/4 | 1.8/5 | 1.0/3 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 4.5/14 | 1.9/6 | 2.6/8 | 1.2/4 | 2.0/6 | 1.3/4 |
In a night where the CW beat NBC in the 8pm hour FOX took top honors fueled by Lie to Me and American Idol. The premiere of Better Off Ted on ABC did not soar, although ABC’s 8pm comedy block was competitive with CBS’ 8pm comedy block among adults 18-49. But, Ted was the lowest-rated comedy series debut [on ABC] in over three years (since Hot Properties 2.2/6 in the demo in 10/05).
Update: as commenter Michael notes below, The Return of Jezebel James did worse on 3/14/08 (much worse – a 1.0 in adults 18-49). But as Michael also notes, that was on a Friday…
We know Jeff Zucker doesn’t think NBC can be #1 in prime-time, but surely he wants at least a firm grasp on fourth place. But with Chopping Block at 8pm, NBC was in fifth out of the five English Broadcast nets, including the mini network that is the CW. Ouch.
Lie To Me was down about 10% in adults 18-49 versus last week (3.1 rating vs 3.4 last week), but is still holding up well on its own and won the hour. Lost lost steam from its last new episode two weeks ago when it had a 4.9 rating in adults 18-49. But two week ago it didn’t compete against Idol, and ran against a repeat of Life. Still last night’s 4.2 adults 18-49 rating for Lost was two-tenths lower than prior nights when Lost had run up against Idol and a slate of new programming. It was Lost’s lowest 9pm rating ever (excluding clip shows).
I enjoyed last night’s Life, even the new partner, but, last night’s episode had fewer viewers than two weeks ago when it was a repeat! Last night was better in the demo than two weeks ago, but that’s of little consolation. Life on Mars has already been canceled and the one good outcome of that is the show’s producers knowing it in advance is that they are writing it in a way that wraps things up. It’s down to its final two episodes.
Past overnight reports for Wednesday are available.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | Lie To Me | 10.03 | 3.1/10 | 2.5/8 |
| CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine | 7.37 | 2.1/7 | 1.2/4 | |
| ABC | Scrubs | 5.80 | 2.2/7 | 2.1/8 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model | 3.60 | 1.6/5 | 1.9/6 | |
| NBC | The Chopping Block | 3.46 | 1.3/4 | 1.0/3 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Gary Unmarried | 7.57 | 2.3/7 | 1.3/4 |
| ABC | Better of Ted (premiere_ | 5.64 | 2.2/6 | 2.0/7 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 23.07 | 8.4/21 | 6.5/18 |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 13.49 | 3.2/8 | 2.1/6 | |
| ABC | LOST | 9.08 | 4.2/10 | 4.1/11 | |
| NBC | Life | 4.22 | 1.5/3 | 1.1/3 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | 0.91 | 0.4/1 | 0.6/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: NY | 12.70 | 3.3/9 | 2.2/7 |
| NBC | Law & Order | 7.07 | 2.1/6 | 1.5/4 | |
| ABC | Life on Mars | 5.27 | 2.0/6 | 1.4/4 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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.
i knew it would flop and it looks like Motherhood will too now that its premiere is VS american idol
hopefully SW? wont sink as well but i guess ABC cant cancel all its shows
i guess lost will improve a little for the finals like it usually does.
CSI: NY was not a repeat!
Horrible numbers for the ABC sitcoms, but their 18-34 numbers are somewhat good. I mean they beat the CBS sitcoms.
I was wrong about Castle tanking, but correct about Better Off Ted. I think it even hurt last night’s episode of Lost.
And the sad thing is, its demo numbers aren’t really that bad.
ABC deserves lower LOST numbers for lying that they’d show the season without repeats. Once you break up the schedule with repeats, the numbers will go down. How they haven’t figured this out yet is mind-boggling.
But Better Off Ted retained 100% of its lead-in, so surely
Bermanthe nameless retionistas consider it a winner!The CW needs to find something to put on besides 90210 reruns. That show repeats so horribly. That’s just bad business. I know it’s basically a commercial for new episodes, but when the next new episode airs, I bet it proves this is not good business.
Better Off Ted is a goner and In the Motherhood will likely be crushed by American Idol and NCAA Basketball.
As much as CBS may want to keep the Wednesday Comedies, I think it would much easier and better to air the NCIS spin-off or another crime drama in that slot and boost Criminal Minds and CSI:NY plus it would fare better against Idol.
Between errands and NCAA B-Ball,I will be offline most of the day until this evening. Play nicely
Robert, the Return of Jezebel James last year debuted with lower ratings but it was on a Friday.
I forgot that Ted was premiering last night. I thought it looked good in the previews and I wanted to watch it. oh well.
Shame that Lost’s numbers weren’t great because last night’s episode was incredibly good.
I don’t understand how people can watch Lost sometimes but not other times. There’s not a whole lot of episodes left, and I would think that the ratings would be very steady now as the core loyal fan base will want to watch every episode from now until its finale next year.
Unless they are DVR-ing it, which is a definite possibility. If people like both Lost and Idol, they will prefer to watch the reality shows live and tape the scripted shows because otehrwise you might find out the results accidentally.
Michael, I was going to ask, but maybe Robert meant for ABC?
Michael, good catch
Aw, that’s a shame about about Better Off Ted; I really liked it. Maybe NBC wants it, given Zucker’s never-be-number-one again attitude.
@Alan
I think your last paragraph hit the nail on the head. When Lost is up against Idol, I think more people watch it via alternate methods.
@Julia — yes, you are correct, I did mean ABC. I might have been skimming, too uncaffeinated or something else, but it is only ABC’s lowest-rated debut. I’ve updated the post, and now I am out of here
Alan— I think the DVR explains a lot regarding slight fluctuations for LOST. I also like American Idol and I watch that live/same day, but wont be watching “Lost” until this weekend, when I have time to pay complete attention and savor it.
Ouch for The New Adventures of Old Christine, ties Scrubs in the demo and GU grew in viewers and the demo. I have a feeling this and Worst Week are gone.
oh and everyone laugh at Life, series low 4.22. Simply pathetic.
I think DVR is huge for Lost. I don’t remember the last time I actually watched an episode live.
Jimmy, Christine lost to Scrubs in the demo, but GU grows from it every week. No big surprise there. For some crazy reason I think CBS is going to stick with this Wednesday line up.
@Jimmy
I’d do exactly what you suggest if I were CBS. I saw on zap2it where the lead actor on WW has been cast in a new pilot. Don’t recall for which network.
Those Law & Order numbers are not helping Dick Wolf’s case to get it a 20th season.
Julia,
CBS is hard to figure out, they cancel shows most networks would keep in a heartbeat. If those numbers were any other network I’d believe they’d stay but with CBS, I really don’t know.
abc’s comedies didn’t do as badly as they could have. considering they went up against an already established, semi-successful (i guess) hour of competing comedies, id say abc is probably pretty ok with these numbers. in fact, though they tied cbs in 18-49, the were 160% higher in 18-34! 2.1/2.0 is not bad for the age-old scrubs and a no-name premiere in the 8pm hour. that being said, props to cbs comedies for losing no ground despite the competition. bothe comedy blocks can claim small victories.
I was going to suggest a Jeff Zucker/Ben Silverman Death Pool, but maybe we should just start an NBC Death Pool.
Despite the poor numbers, I reckon it L&O still get another season in order to clinch longest running drama from Gunsmoke and I believe it still makes money for NBC Universal.
I agree Jimmy that CBS is hard to figure, they have so many shows that do over 9-10m with the exception of OC and GU.
Which, of course, makes me wonder why NBC doesn’t just pick up some of CBS’s cancelled shows, since they have twice the audience that a normal NBC show draws.
I like Idol too, but I just can’t sit through a full hour of Idol anymore just to find out how gets kicked off. It only takes 5 minuts to make that annoucement. At most, the results show should be 30 minutes.
The quality of Lost is so good right now that I watch Lost live and I just check the Idol results online.
Can Better Off Ted really be desribed as a failure when it retained most of its Scrubs lead-in? The real loser is clearly Scrubs.
So, is this the first time that an NBC show has lost to the CW?
Andrew, Chopping Block lost last week to ANTM. There are likely plenty of other examples as well.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/12/wednesday-ratings-lie-to-me-stands-tall-on-its-own/14376
And Robert left off the Univision numbers for Wednesday. Chopping Block finished far behind the Univision show at 8pm as well.
I don’t understand why people watch Idol, whats so great about it?
Anyway it doesn’t matter because LOST is still the highest in 18-49 and beats all the other scripted shows (who cares about reality shows).
@Andrew, “Can Better Off Ted really be desribed as a failure when it retained most of its Scrubs lead-in?”
The retentionistas would have you think not, but advertisers don’t pay for lead-in retention. They pay for adult demo viewers.
Whatever damage that 2.1 is doing to l&o’s renewal chances, Life is making up.
1 word for NBC… Chuck! (oh and didn’t knightrider do better than Chopping block?)
Much better, but still not enough to come back.
I kind of figured Better Off Ted woulnd’t be long for this world – hysterical counter-corporate-culture stuff though, I recommend any reading this check it out. While you can…
bill could u put the link for all the networks results over the last few years
ty
Did anyone expect Better Off Ted to do better? It had good established competition, it’s lead in is horrible and it’s premiering before a show that has it’s own fan base and specifically tunes in just for Lost (Ask Life on Mars). I think ABC needs to be patient. I didn’t watch the episode yet but from what I hear as far as quality goes, it’s one of the better comedies to debut on ABC in a long time.
NBC…you have more things to worry about. You just got beat by the CW!
“CBS is hard to figure out, they cancel shows most networks would keep in a heartbeat.”
Jimmy, it may have something to do with the specific demos. Many CBS programs perform badly in 18-34s, even the ones that do OK in 18-49s (look at how Scrubs and Ted trounced the CBS sitcoms in 18-34s, despite lower overall viewership). So, even when CBS is doing well in 18-49s, they’re often actually getting the upper end of that demo. Those people will “age out” sooner than the younger ones. They’re less attractive to the age-obsessed advertisers who believe that older people aren’t easily suckered by ad pitches, etc. etc.
Bill W. said: “Which, of course, makes me wonder why NBC doesn’t just pick up some of CBS’s cancelled shows, since they have twice the audience that a normal NBC show draws.”
Not among 18-34s. I believe that demo used to NBC’s particular strong point, even long after they were no longer getting good numbers with 18-49s. Picking up CBS shows would signal a tectonic shift in NBC’s perception of its own target viewership. It would be a whole different corporate strategy. On the other hand, Leno draws older viewers, and they’re putting him in prime-time, so maybe they’ll do it.
personally i thought Better off Ted was terrible
elliott, we have a variety of things you can find in the Reference category. Here are a few:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/10/01/primetime-network-tv-trends-1954-2008/5500
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/29/broadcast-network-season-averages-1998-2006/3957
Despite Kings’ woes, the show still had more total viewers this week than The Chopping Block, Life, repeats of Heroes/Chuck/Medium, and Dateline. Shows that have had more viewers are Celebrity Apprentice, Biggest Loser, and both Law and Orders.
Unless I’m mistaken, the 6 million viewers for Kings puts them in the top half of NBC shows this week lol.
KINGS FOR RENEWAL!!
lifes numbers are so bad. why do you people watch a crappy show like lost or AI when life is on? americans are such idiots.
Robert’s not into spending time on headlines, but since I see the preliminary results usually well before the full data, I have plenty of time to think of headlines before the data arrives.
Hibberd had a good one today, “ABC not much better with ‘Ted’”
Better of Ted is dead and everyone saw that coming. It reminds me of The Office mixed in with trash, and I don’t know what. It looked stupid, and no one watched it.
I agree with everyone hear who is saying CBS is really hard to figure. All theri shows hit atleast 9-10 million, except OC and GU, I have a funny feeling CBS is going to stick with OC and GU, but like i said, CBS is an open book, so i really have no clue
That LOST episode was a pretty dull one. At least next week has lots of “splosions” and fire! fire! fire!
Better Off Ted? Should be called “Better Off Dead” – which was a pretty funny movie – loved the newspaper boy screaming “I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS” throughout the entire movie.
I thought Better Off Ted was awful. Even if it had debuted with better conditions, I still don’t think it would’ve been a hit. It’s just not a very funny show.
OK, I’m a little worried here. I know Lost won’t get canceled since they agreed on an end date next year and the demos are still good, but is there the possibility of a budget cut for next season?
Jon: “Better Off Ted is a goner and In the Motherhood will likely be crushed by American Idol and NCAA Basketball.”
In the Motherhood might get crushed by Idol (WTF is Idol doing on Thursdays again, anyone know????), but I seriously doubt NCAA Basketball will hurt the ratings on a show so explicitly geared toward women. In fact, CBS airing NCAA Basketball might provide it with a larger sampling than normal. I give it a 50/50 shot at surpassing Ugly Betty’s ratings in the hour.
As for “Better off Ted”, let’s be realistic. ABC couldn’t have been expecting more than they got last night, despite promoting the hell out of it. At any rate, I did watch “Ted” while waiting for “Lost” to come on, and the show sucked so yes, I agree, I don’t think it will be renewed next season.
With a demo in the 4’s its doubtful there will be budget cuts. Now if they drop to HEROES like levels near 3, then there could be budget cuts. One week doesnt matter much. If remove IDOL, LOST wins the night in the demos.
Jt, idol is bumped to that thursday because of the president’s speech on tuesday
It’s no surprise that Gary built on Old Christine’s numbers, and it isn’t a surprise that Lie to Me, Scrubs and Better off Ted beat them in the demos. So saying that it’s an ‘ouch’ doesn’t really apply. It’s not the first time it has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.
I too, feel that CBS will stick with Wednesdays, but I do think that they will be doing a lot of shifting. I hope they put Big Bang (or one of their stronger comedies) to lead off Wednesday, with a new show after, and have a slot open on Mondays to offer to Rules / Old Christine or even Gary.
I’d also like to see Old Christine and Rules on Wednesdays… that would be great….
But like everyone’s said, it’s tough to call what CBS is going to do. I don’t think they even know.
Thanks, Bad Robot.
Yeah, I think I’m probably worrying a little too much. It’s probably because Lost is my favorite show ever, the end is near and I’m concerned that something will screw up the last season. Ah, the joys of being a fanboy.
I see a ton of comments about the sure cancellation of Better Off Ted. I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. First of all, cbs has far fewer holes in their schedule than abc, and is contemplating keeping their comedy block. Abc tied them in 18-49 and stomped them in 18-34, so why is it outlandish to assume there is at least a chance for renewal? Also keep in mind that abc made a specific announcement that in these “economic hard times” they felt people would want more comedies and were going to pursue airing more of them. Abc is already losing Scrubs and Jim after this season which means even if they renew all remaining sitcoms they would only have 4. I dare say that if Ted stays above a 2.0 and keeps up that relatively high 18-34 rating (7 share is not bad) they will see a second season regardless of those terrible total audience numbers and middling 18-49 numbers.
Well well well…A V-E-R-Y appropriate title for NBC’S titled program at 8PM…
NBC (ON THE CHOPPING BLACK) AND THE CW BEATS THEM…!!??!!
Make this coment IRON CLAD NOW…NBC – THE NEW CW —THIS FALL !!!
Um maybe sooner…
I think i just saw DAWN of the CW dancing down our hallway —weird!?
…Check that —on the Chopping BLOCK
sheesh, this week has really sucked for NBC….
serves them right.
is it wrong that im a bit pleased with Ted’s numbers
hopefully Motherhood can fail 2 and abc can keep Samantha who!!!
Even with a 2.1 demo rating, L&O will be back next season. NBCU still makes money off of each episode, and it’s relativly cheap. I think Sam Waterston’s salary is the highst thing on the shows budget.
Better Off Ted seems like it was sent to die, the timeslot is horrible… being shown before lost and after scrubs…
lost was extremely dull last night and i saw abc is going to try launching yet another show after lost soon (the unusuals?). hasn’t every show launched after lost failed?
Josh, if In the Motherhood is successful, Samantha Who likely will be too, as they are aired as block. There may be some difference, but I don’t think it would be too big. There’s certainly more than enough room on the ABC schedule for both of them.
What is happening to NBC to cause them to lose viewers? Is this not the second (or third) longest-running broadcast network on tv? They did well last month with the Superbowl, but then BAM!!!, back to usual and then some.
I had a feeling ANTM would decrease and not increase viewership since the audition blowout over the weekend.
ABC is tanking in the sitcom department. Maybe next week Smallville will do better when it goes up against SW and In the Motherhood.
This is how the chart is supposed to be every day. The UNIVISION numbers should be on an entire different chart, with the other spanish language networks.
The UNI ratings are not relevant, since people who watch that network (most of them mexicans), completely ignore the anglo networks. It doesn`t matter what airs on univision, it won`t affect NBC, or CBS. The same for them, for example, American Idol is not a threat to UNI, the ratings for those mexican soap operas almost never have a significant change.
Hate to see Better Off Ted with such low numbers. I watched it, and it was pretty good. Hope it gets to continue…
What saddens me is the fact that Better Off Ted performed better than Kings in the 18-49 demo….
I believe that NBC, FOX, CBS and ABC would never have those 30 million + “megahits” again. It’s only downhill from here. There are too many channels now.
15 years ago, MOST of the scripted original programming was on those 4 networks. Now, there are like 50 different channels with descent audience, 20 of them have original scripted programming.
cesarrr, i dont know if you realize this but some people are bilingual. those soapy telenovas arnt just watched by traditional hispanic grandmothers, they are watched by many young (look at the demos) bilinguals that are also a growing force among advertisers and may be switching back and forth between Lost, Univision, and American Idol etc.
starmud, saying that every show that has launched after Lost has failed, so why try that again, is close to the kind of thinking that got nbc where it is today.
I know it’s the demos that matter these days but how can only 9 million people watch LOST overall? It’s shocking that people watch American Idol in such numbers as they do especially since it’s the results show and it’s only the last 2 minutes that count when Ryan “most annoying person on TV” Seacrest says who’s kicked off…
LOST is coming down every weak. LIFE has no chance. I mean, NBC chooses the worst lead-ins possible for LIFE. Still, the show is done. It’s a pity because it’s an awesome show.
That’s funny, CW is not doing good. But they still beated NBC.. So NBC is really, really doing bad… Seems like only FOX and CBS are battling for the number 1 network
Jack, how can you call Lost crappy just because most people prefer it to Life? Maybe I don’t want to watch Life because seeing that fat, greasy captain sleep with the main character’s beautiful partner makes me nauseous.
Andrew, that’s the funny part! And Tidwell is so funny! I would prefer if Dani hooked up with Crews, but I don’t think that will ever happen…
I just hope the new show the Unusuals does better in Life On Mars’s time slot: saying that they are both cop dramas and will both most undoubtly die. Why put another cop drama CSI and Law & Order: there aren’t that many cop drama lovers to go around on Wednesday 10pm.
I would prefer it if Dani hooked up with me…
This isn’t the right forum for this… but I was searching the site and couldn’t find a good section to ask a question… so sorry bout putting it here…
but does anyone know the ratings for Bonnie Hunt’s show? I know they were absolutely awful at first and it was expected to be canceled months ago… but I think it may have gained some viewers recently… how do talk shows get canceled/renewed. I’m curious if she’ll remain on the air.
thank you!
Kyle, I’m not familiar with the show, but its likely someone else reading this is. Is it a cable or a syndicated show?
“Maybe I don’t want to watch Life because seeing that fat, greasy captain sleep with the main character’s beautiful partner makes me nauseous.”
And others don’t want to watch the greasy haired apeman sleep with Jack’s Juliet.
At least there are no questionable hook ups on Criminal Minds.
I really don’t think that Lost and Life are competing for much of the same audience anyway. If Life were competition at this point anyway.
BH is on ABC during the day… 3pm mst?
The Bonnie Hunt Show is syndicated. Here is an article on the latest ratings. B&C posts regular updates for new syndication shows, so search around there for other ratings.
Edit: Also, Warner Bros. has two-year deals for The Bonnie Hunt Show, which is averaging a 1.0 live-plus-same-day national household rating, and says the program has station support and should return for year two.
Is that a series low for Lost?
Also keep in mind that abc made a specific announcement that in these “economic hard times” they felt people would want more comedies and were going to pursue airing more of them.
————————–
I for one don’t want more comedies. I don’t watch a single 30 minute sitcom on a regular basis. Maybe once a month I watch 30 Rock. Just because we are in the midst of “economic hard times” it doesn’t mean that people are necessarily going to change their viewing habits.
I think Better Off Ted is pretty much a goner. It’s dismal premiere numbers just means that Samantha Who? has a better chance at being renewed.
I don’t know what “Jezebel James” has to do with this story, since it was on FOX and the story talks about ABC sitcom ratings. As for Better off Ted, I don’t know what they thought would attract viewers to it. The ads didn’t indicate anything about what the show was about. No one really famous (at least famous or popular enough to draw many viewers in) is in it, and the kind of humor isn’t easy to capture in a commercial. And they basically threw the show on the air without a lot of preparation. Since they don’t have a hammock slot to put it in, it was as if they owed the producer a favor or something. There was zero chance of the show being a hit.
Broadcast finals have Better Off Ted down a tick to 2.1 and Life On Mars down two ticks to 1.8. Lost meanwhile bounces up one to 4.3.
Gary Unmarried drops a tenth to 2.2 while Criminal Minds is up a tenth to 3.3.
American Idol was up three ticks to 8.7.
America’s Next Top Model bounced up a tenth to a 1.7.
Last, and most certainly least, The Chopping Block brings more good news to the peacock by dropping down to a 1.2 (and losing 70k more viewers to rest at 3.39 million).
Does anyone else think they should air an SVU repeat at 8pm, and ship this thing to Saturday to air at 8 leading into the Celebrity Apprentice rerun from 9-10?
I don’t know what “Jezebel James” has to do with this story, since it was on FOX and the story talks about ABC sitcom ratings.
Robert didn’t read carefully enough when first posting the ratings and thought Ted had the worst ratings on any network, but then Jezebel James was pointed out, so he thought it must be except Friday. Turns out it was ABC only.
I got Michigan wrong too!
I’M TOTALLY GOING TO WIN $1,000,000 ON YAHOO!!
Aquat1c F1sh, we’re told that last night’s Lost was its lowest original rating ever at 9p (excluding clip shows).
And for all you standard NCAA Yahoo Tournament Pick’em players, unless you lose one of your big teams the early rounds are nearly meaningless for final scoring. All the points pile up at the end. The year that Maryland won, I went from <50 percentile in the Sweet Sixteen to 93rd percentile when they won.
I don’t understand why people keep bashing, hating and questioning AI success… Damn, just get over it! It’s been freaking 8 years! An it’s not going anywhere!
Bill, I am no longer responding to comments where the information is already in the post
But, Bill, Michigan is going to win it all and I’m going to be the only one who picked that.
Michigan lost me the million! Lol. I have every other pick right so far. I want that 10 grand for best bracket in the nation!
I think Better Off Ted will be cancelled, the ratings will slip down every week.
Too bad for Lost! It’s their series low! It almost hit 8 million.
I quite liked BOTed. I thought it was the Office meets Testees. It has a bit more edge than most vapid US sitcoms (except 30R, BBT, HIMYM), tho none could be called edgy unlike my fave UK sitcoms (IT Crowd, Peep Show, FM etc.), and the sketch shows that the US is so dismal at. I forgot about it – barely watch ABC- and torrented it. Let’s see what the WoM is.
capnbob, glad I’m not the only one who liked Better Off Ted!
I’m certainly no ratings expert but I would imagine any improvement in ratings in time slots that were already struggling to begin with would make ABC Happy. That 5.7 million viewer average for the first week of its comedy block certainly beats reruns of Lost in that hour. The same for their new Tuesday night lineup. A recap of DWTS performance night followed by the elimination show clearly took a huge bite out of Idol’s performance night numbers in week one and helped ABC double the ratings it was getting on Tuesdays. As the ratings grow with each elimination heading towards the finale you will probably see bigger chunks come out of Idol’s performance night numbers as long as it stays in the 9pm slot. And in comparison to previous weeks, ABC is at least scoring on the board Wednesday nights while Tuesday nights look rock solid and building. But more importantly for them they still have alot of new shows to plug in before all is said and done.
Now if NBC could just score one hit they could legitimately say they are starting to turn things around as well. Hopefully for them Parks and Recreation will be that show. I thought Kings would be the show to start a turnaround but no. Still, like ABC they will be unveiling several new lineups in the upcoming weeks. So, there’s a chance to salvage something positive from this season yet.
Hey capnbob I dvr’ed Better Off Ted because I wasn’t sure from the previews that it was something that anyone in my house would like but it was much better than I anticipated. It definitely held its own with Scrubs, which was absolutely hilarious!!!
that’s sad NBC lost against CW, how sad they should just put repeats of SVU or The Office there instead of the Chopping block
and why has L&O been so low lately
and its too bad life will probably be canceled, i like it (its good not great) but i haven’t watched ever since Lost was put back on Wednesday but oh well
I watch both Lost and American Idol and there is absolutely no way I would ever consider watching American Idol over Lost. Just the thought of that idea doesn’t make any sense to me. For one thing, only about 10 minutes of American Idol is actually worth watching, the majority of the time it’s stupid filler, and after every performance, the majority of which are lame, they break for at least 3 to 4 minutes of commercials. The one or two singers that are actually good don’t even come close to the awesome story of Lost. Sorry but I fast forward through AI, after the fact, or zip through it on line the next day. Nielsen isn’t recording my 18-49 year old viewing habits. I’m probably just one of the many million viewers out there watching TV that goes unaccounted for each week by Nielsen media.
I wonder why CW is still on this website. I mean a network that permanently even in the prime time fails to reach even 1 lousy % of the population of a country.
Actually I think it is particularly funny that there are more people watching ANTM spinoff here in Germany than there are in the states though we have far less than a thrid of your population.
GNTM has a market share of more than 22% and a 2.82 in the 18-49 share. This would be a 10.5 on your scale.
Better Off Ted stars the same actor who was miscast as the lead in the failed NBC outing for a US adaptation of the hit UK series Coupling- it is hard to get good ratings with an unknown lead and a few known supporting actors when you are up against the biggest show of the year ( AI).
As for Idol on Thursday- blame it on the president- Obama has another speech on Tuesday so Idol is shifting to Weds/Thursday- Bones fans are miffed- so much for 11 new episodes in a row!
Better of Ted is full of failed show cast-offs – De Rossi from Arrested Development (brilliant/critical success, ratings failure), Jay Harrington from US Coupling (which I thought just showed signs of doing like the US Office and shaking off its heritage in its last show), Andrea Anders from The Class (failed in all dimensions), Jonathan Slavin from Andy Richter (failed – shame), etc. Hopefully, they haven’t brought their bad comedy karma with them…
While I was a little disappointed with the premier of Better Off Ted, I hope people will give it a chance. I have seen the dailies and know it gets better as it goes along.
Better Off Ted is hysterical. Last night’s episode, the third one, I think, was the best one so far. If ABC moved to a more high-profile time slot, like after Dancing with the Stars, it would get more attention. It really deserves it!
Scrubs looks like it is doing well, hope they have another season, could become like ER with parts of there original cast leaving over time.