| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 5.5/15 | 2.9/8 | 2.6/7 | 1.6/4 | 1.1/3 | |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 4.1/13 | 1.7/5 | 2.4/8 | 1.0/3 | 1.3/4 | |
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.25 | 11.36 | 6.18 | 6.12 | 2.46 |
American Idol of course led Wednesday night with an 8.3/20 adults 18-49 rating/share. Lie to Me improved to a 2.7/8 with adults 18-49, its best outing in five weeks.
LOST improved slightly, back to a 4.0/10, but The Unusuals dipped to a 1.6/4. Scrubs series finale drew a 2.1/6.
NBC ran its all Law & Order lineup, which was mostly repeats except for the new Law & Order at 10pm that drew a 2.3/6 up against CBS’ CSI: NY which pulled a 3.3/9.
Previous Wednesday overnight reports are available for comparison.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share | Viewers (Millons) |
| 8:00 | FOX | Lie to Me | 2.7/8 | 2.0/4 | 8.68 |
| ABC | Scrubs | 2.1/6 | 2.2/8 | 5.07 | |
| CBS | The New Adventures of Old Christine | 1.9/6 | 1.1/4 | 6.45 | |
| CW | America’s Next Top Model | 1.7/5 | 1.9/6 | 3.82 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: CI (R) | 1.3/4 | .9/3 | 5.71 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Gary Unmarried | 2.0/6 | 1.1/4 | 6.66 |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 8.3/20 | 6.1/17 | 23.57 |
| ABC | Lost | 4.0/10 | 3.7/11 | 8.70 | |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 3.3/8 | 2.0/6 | 14.13 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (R) | 1.1/3 | .9/2 | 4.52 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | .5/1 | .7/2 | 1.09 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI:NY | 3.3/9 | 2.1/6 | 13.40 |
| NBC | Law & Order | 2.3/6 | 1.2/4 | 8.14 | |
| ABC | The Unusuals | 1.6/4 | 1.2/4 | 4.63 |
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Shows are sorted by Adults 18-49 rating 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.
ABC has had bad luck lately at 10:00 PM. they’ll probably do a lot better next year against Leno.
1st – Lost rocks!
Uh oh! Gary Unmarried had 6.66 million viewers. Could he be …. SATAN ????
Bad Robot, the actual number was 6.664. Don’t now it the .004 changes anything.
lost got 4.1 in the finals last week, i guess it will get 4.1 or even a 4.2 this week.
assuming of course that these arent the final ratings. im not sure anymore, damn delays..
LOL Bad Robot I noticed the same thing and was about to make a comment! LOL Creeeepy…
Scrubs series finale??? I thought they are planning season nine.
LOST fandom has been distilled down to its core audience. Still had a pretty good Demo vs. Murkin Idol though. This season reminded me alot of Season 3 and too much time spend on the Hydra Island. Hopefully they will pick up the pace in the final season and leave the awful 70s behind for good. Going back to the 70s is rarely a good idea – disco, leisure suits, Nixon, Ford, Carter, stagflation…. those were dreary days – even as a kid I could sense that.
Once LOST ends JJ should transfer a couple of cast members over to FRINGE.
Farewell Scrubs. We think.
Scrubs got back 2 5million, what was the half hour breakdowns as it was an episode that lasted 43mins, which would be the equilivlent of two episodes…
PS i wish the old fans would have tuned in for the finale, it was just awesome, one of the best ever on tv and I mean that!!!
Also can someone maybe Robert Seidman tell me a reason as to why scrubs was so successful in seasons 1-3, particularly season 2 averaging near 16m viewers?
Whats so different that it lost that amount of its fan base?
Bye Scrubs!
Lie to Me is back at 8M and has 2.7 in 18-49 its good!
Lost should be back at 10M viewers can’t believe how American Idol is killing the show without its devoted fans like me Lost will be lost.
WED 10PM timeslot of ABC is not good because of its lead-in, Lost is not a good lead-in
R Kid, Scrubs used to air on Thursday, I think in the post-Friends timeslot. That explains the inflated ratings.
A .5 rating for the 90210 rerun? Even for a rerun on the CW, that’s pretty bad.
Also can someone maybe Robert Seidman tell me a reason as to why scrubs was so successful in seasons 1-3, particularly season 2 averaging near 16m viewers?
Because it was sandwiched in between Friends and Will&Grace.
wow Scrubs has 16 million viewers!
They should have ended with that
Hmmm @ jesus_stick. That’s a good point. Because of the delays and format I saw the data in though, I think the above numbers might be the finals.
also it looks like Nielsen caught up sooner than anticipated. I didn’t think the results for Thursday night would be available until this afternoon, but the fast affiliate data is already out for Thursday. Bill is working on it and it should be up in the not too distant future…
Bad Robot ! says:
“LOST fandom has been distilled down to its core audience.”
Oh, I dunno. I still watch, but without a great deal of enthusiasm. Am I part of this distillate? Speaking to my mother (who is well beyond the 18-49 demo) last night, I was surprised and amused to find that she really digs the show but likens it to a regular daytime soap, meaning that the “plot” is such a repetitive blizzard of @#$% that it really doesn’t matter if an episode is missed here or there–she’s just in it for the characters. Part of the “distilled” “core audience”?
Both Criminal Minds and CSI:NY seem up this week while Christine and Gary were down. I think NY will get a boost from being behind CSI next week.
Lie to Me chances of getting renewed just got higher but I wonder whether it will remain in that slot.
Scrubs Season 2 was on after Friends. That’s why.
Wow, Scrubs won in young adults; Lost sub-4 in same demo.
still, people watched the show, they shud have continued to watch it even when friends went off the air, it took such a decline!!
I wished now that the finale drew 10m + wud have been a better send off
Hmm, 3’s for Survivor, Grey2, Office, and CSI. 5 for Grey’s. CSI and Office’s recent sub-4 numbers seem weird.
Looks like Gary and The Unusuals are definitely gone. Hopefully this finally will be the end for Scrubs. A great show needs a solid ending. Please no 9th season.
If CBS is to keep this comedy block next season they are gonna have to lead off with something stronger than Old Christine. With a decent lead in, CM and CSI:NY would probably go from marginally dominant to serious competition on Wednesdays.
Yes, renewing Scrubs in any form would be as bad as that unforgivable final season of “7th Heaven” (all hail Dawn Ostroff!!)
Scrubs has a very colorful history. The first season ran after the 9th Season of “Frasier” (not one of that show’s better seasons, by any means) and performed decently. Moved after “Friends” for Season 2–but let’s not forget that it was the first success in the post-”Friends” slot after a long, long string of duds. Season 3 moved back to Tuesdays after the final season of “Frasier” (which was excellent). Performance was similar to Season 1, but slightly down. Season 4, without “Friends” or “Frasier” on the air anymore, had a generous 25-episode order, but numbers went down significantly. The peacock was really high on the show at that point, promoting it endlessly during the Athens Olympics. NBC started it a half-hour earlier (still on Tuesdays), and jokes began to be made about how often NBC had juked it around the schedule. It had changed timeslots every season, with only seasons 1 and 3 being the same slot. There was a core fanbase by that point, though. Season 5 was ordered with no schedule slot announced for the fall. A midseason experiment was made, with a lot of two-episode pairs, similar to what ABC did with it this year. That season had some success, with episodes such as the Wizard of Oz one, but viewership was still down. The long break may have had something to do with it. The show became part of the new Thursday comedy block in Seasons 6 and 7 and certainly had some success there, especially in Season 6 (which featured the legendary musical episode). It ran during the entire season again. Season 6 had a significant bump in ratings from Season 5, averaging about the same as Season 4. Season 7 was aborted by the strike. Ratings were lukewarm and NBC refused to give Bill Lawrence five measly episodes to wrap things up. Given the show’s past performance for the network and the endless time-slot juking, that was an ultimate show of disrespect, although NBC were not always the big villains–the renewals for seasons 5 and 6 were actually miracles (7 less so, as NBC had no reason not to give the show a proper finale given the Thursday ratings uptick with NBC down in general from the “Friends” glory days). Their refusal to give Lawrence a mere five episodes was puzzling in the least, since it was still a little less than the original pre-strike order. So the now-venerable show could have ended with the very average Princess episode, which was out of order and by no means “finale-like.” But NBC’s snub was actually a blessing in disguise, as in five episodes, Lawrence would not have brought J.D. and Elliot together and we would have been deprived of a lot of other good stuff in the final ABC season. Yeah, we know that ABC was wanting to boost their syndication profits with the 18-episode order, but I choose to also believe that they wanted to give Bill Lawrence the ending he deserved. So it worked out beautifully in the end.
A checkered, but wonderful history for a show. Let’s not drag it out more, ABC. We don’t want anything like that “7th Heaven” season. A “reboot” would probably have an “AfterMash” effect. There was only one “Frasier,” after all, and no spinoff will EVER have that kind of success again.
Renew Samantha Who? instead, ABC.
Lie To Me should get House like numbers while I’m delighted to see the number increases I’m still disappointed the numbers are as bad as they are.
What where the ratings for the second half hour of scrubs?
LAW & ORDER did really great at 10pm (considering poor lead-in).
Scrubs half hourly detail (18-49, 18-34, viewers)
8p: 2.0/6, 2.1/7, 5.245 million
8:30p: 2.2/6, 2.3/8, 5.056
(it might not completely tally with the numbers in the table above for Wednesday which are the national finals, but I only saw half hourly data for the preliminary numbers)
Surprise no one mentioned Lie To Me. If there was any question about its renewal I think that’s pretty much settled now. It will be back in the Fall, I guess if it drops a little but holds that number the real question is does Lie To Me get a half season or a full season pickup? Thoughts?
My own personal opinion: I think FOX will give the show just a half season to see how it performs on its own without the benefit of Idol support. That has to happen eventually anyway, I think they’ll do so sooner rather than later.
Thanks Robert.
Sad numbers. I expected at least a 3. for the Best-Comedy-show-Finale-Ever.
The Scrubs finale was very good – I just hope it’s really over and they don’t try to bring it back without Zach Braff. I don’t understand why they’d want to, anyway, with the ratings it’s been pulling. Why is ABC so interested in a season 9? You can’t have Scrubs without J.D.! (Although I also thought you couldn’t have The X-Files without Mulder and they did that anyway, so what do I know?)
Nah im a massive fan of scrubs and even tho i dont want it to end and would watch it if it didnt end, i feel that the finale was a great send off for the show and particularly ZB!!
Scrubs without Zach Braff would be like Golden Girls without Bea Arthur in the ill-fated Golden Palace. The Scrubs finale was one of the best series endings in the tradition of MASH, Mary Tyler Moore & Bob Newhart. It wrapped things up, said good-bye to the star, and gave the fans a happy ending unlike the disappointment felt about the Seinfeld farewell.
Bad Robot: Moving Evangeline Lilly to Fringe would definitely get my attention. Not sure where they could fit anybody from Lost, though, the Fringe cast makeup is pretty tight. Everybody has their purpose, and anybody else usually ends up dead.
This lost episode was kinda boring. I hope next weeks season finale will be cool.
“This lost episode was kinda boring. I hope next weeks season finale will be cool.”
LOL, i guess you watched a different episode than i did.
woo go Lie to ME!
Anybody else think LOST will shoot up to 4.5 or so next week since it’s the finale and all?
Good for Lie to Me! Best episode from the entire season
FOX should renew Lie to Me.
Hopefully Rules of Engagement bombs when it airs on that Wednesday so Gary Unmarried has a better chance of renewal. I can’t believe they want to keep Old Christine so ABC cant have it!
NBC should renew Law and Order over Chuck. Law and Order showed very nice growth in the key 18-49 demo from a repeat.
Looks like 2 of my favorite new shows are gone (Better Off Ted and the Unusuals).
“Sad numbers. I expected at least a 3. for the Best-Comedy-show-Finale-Ever.”
Yeah, but…who cares, really? It’s not like fans are dependent on the finale ratings for closure or anything. Those who wanted to see it did see it. Those who didn’t can watch it online. It was a very good finale, but I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the “Frasier” finale, which was extremely good and infinitely better than the “Friends” one that same year which was much more hyped. It was also better than the finale of its parent “Cheers.”
i think there’s a typo
the scrubs finale should say 18 million
just letting you guys know of your mistake
Loving Lie to Me, the last Scrubs was great, and I do enjoy the Unusuals. Maybe they should try it on another night? Tuesday has nothing going for it.
Vader,
I’d say it has a chance to hit 4.5 in the demo and a total of 12m viewers… though I’m thinking more like 11.2m. Either way, viewership for LOST has been much more consistent this year then the previous two seasons.
Season finale looks EPIC! Though I seriously hope they don’t change the past/future… I just don’t see the point in it, and firmly believe in Faraday’s ‘Whatever Happened, Happened’ rule.
Vader says: Anybody else think LOST will shoot up to 4.5 or so next week since it’s the finale and all?
On average, Lost’s viewer numbers have surged by 13% (11% in the first season, 22% in the second–wow, 13% in the third, 7% for the fourth, that aired after a week break and outside of May sweeps) from the penultimate episode to the double-length finale. 113% of 4.0 (the demo rating for this season’s penultimate episode) is 4.5, so your prediction is actually extremely valid.
Cookson, I doubt that it will do more than 10.5 million in Live + SD (but 12 million is quite likely, as Live + 7 has added an average 1.9 million onto Lost’s Live + SD ratings this year). I am predicting between 9.8 and 10.0 million as the average for the finale, with the last half hour hitting 11.0 million. (For comparison, the last Lost season finale to air half of itself against American Idol–the third one, in 2007–averaged 13.9 million, but the last half hour hit 15.5 million.)
*”…is quite likely [in Live + 7], as…”
Any chance Gary Unmarried gets renewed? If CBS had put it behind Two and a Half Men where it belongs, it would be a hit for sure as it is very compatible with the Charlie Sheen show.
How come Lost has gone from 11.361 on Apr. 1, to 8.7 – Is there any explanation?
11.361 on April 1 is the Live + 7 (live and DVR viewing within a week) number and 8.70 is the Live + SD (live and DVR viewing on the same night) number.
What does any of this have to do with Chuck?
In the key sales demographic, Lost jumped from its penultimate episode to its double-length finale in the first season by 16% (6.7 to 7.8), 25% the year after (6.1 to 7.6), 13% in the third season (5.2 to 5.9) and was flat last year (4.9; finale aired in summer after a week off). On average, the finales gain 14%, so statistically (and using data from my above comments for viewers), “The Incident” will produce a 4.5 rating and 9.8 million viewers.