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| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 6.4/17 | 4.1/11 | 3.2/9 | 1.5/4 | 1.5/4 | 0.9/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 5.0/15 | 2.9/9 | 2.1/6 | 1.5/4 | 1.4/4 | 1.1/4 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.909 | 15.989 | 14.748 | 3.671 | 4.432 | 1.938 |
As to be expected, the first part of the American Idol season finale, plus the “preview” of the newcomer Glee was more than enough to win the night for Fox against the finales of Dancing With The Stars and CBS’s lineup of NCIS, Mentalist and Without A Trace.
The American Idol performance finale registered its lowest 18-49 demo rating ever, down 18% from last season. Although once a three minute overrun into Glee gets added back in, those numbers may tick up a bit. The Dancing With The Stars finale fared better vs. historical comparisons, down only 6% vs. its spring finale last season.
Against the two big unscripted competitors, the CBS Tuesday finale night registered only a 0.1 18-49 demo rating uptick from last week. That’s got to be a bit disappointing.
I’m sure it’s another retentionista fiesta over at the PI Feedback forum this morning, but if Fox’s Glee can sustain anything like a 3.7 demo rating after So You Think You Can Dance next fall, the fiesta will be at the Fox executive suite instead. I don’t read last night’s numbers for Glee as being predictive of anything.
NBC seems to already be in summer mode, it was neck and neck with Univision last night. Law & Order: SVU notched its lowest original episode rating ever. The season finale of 90210 was down 0.2 ratings points in the 18-34 demo from the prior week, but note the pre-emption in Chicago below.
It’s likely that the numbers for the first half hour of Glee has a few minutes of viewership from Idol in it. Those will be removed in the final numbers. Note that baseball pre-empted the CW lineup in Chicago and that may lead to more than the usual adjustments in the final numbers.
You can see past Tuesday overnight TV ratings reports here.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | 18-34 Rating | 18-34 Share | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol (finale part 1) | 7.8 | 24 | 6.0 | 21 | 21.765 |
| CBS | NCIS (finale) | 3.2 | 10 | 2.3 | 8 | 15.378 | |
| ABC | Dancing With the Stars | 1.6 | 5 | 1.4 | 5 | 7.187 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Ángel | 1.2 | 4 | 1.3 | 4 | 3.324 | |
| NBC | Most Outrageous Moments (repeat) | 0.8 | 3 | 0.7 | 2 | 3.055 | |
| CW | Reaper | 0.7 | 2 | 0.8 | 3 | 1.841 | |
| 8:30 | FOX | American Idol (finale part 1) | 8.8 | 24 | 6.6 | 21 | 24.381 |
| CBS | NCIS (finale) | 3.5 | 10 | 2.4 | 7 | 16.800 | |
| ABC | Dancing With the Stars | 2.0 | 6 | 1.6 | 5 | 8.237 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Ángel | 1.4 | 4 | 1.4 | 5 | 3.698 | |
| NBC | Most Outrageous Moments (repeat) | 1.0 | 3 | 0.8 | 2 | 3.040 | |
| CW | Reaper | 0.7 | 2 | 0.8 | 3 | 1.733 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | Glee (preview) | 5.0 | 13 | 4.0 | 12 | 12.518 |
| ABC | Dancing With the Stars (finale) | 4.5 | 12 | 2.9 | 9 | 17.970 | |
| CBS | The Mentalist (finale) | 3.6 | 10 | 2.2 | 7 | 16.423 | |
| UNI | Mañana Es Para Siempre | 1.7 | 5 | 1.7 | 5 | 4.287 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (repeat) | 1.1 | 3 | 1.1 | 3 | 3.273 | |
| CW | 90210 (finale) | 1.0 | 3 | 1.4 | 4 | 2.042 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Dancing With the Stars (finale) | 4.8 | 12 | 3.0 | 9 | 19.344 |
| CBS | The Mentalist (finale) | 3.9 | 10 | 2.4 | 7 | 17.248 | |
| FOX | Glee (preview) | 3.7 | 9 | 3.1 | 9 | 8.971 | |
| UNI | Mañana Es Para Siempre | 1.9 | 5 | 1.9 | 6 | 4.525 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (repeat) | 1.3 | 3 | 1.2 | 4 | 3.763 | |
| CW | 90210 (finale) | 1.1 | 3 | 1.5 | 4 | 2.137 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | Dancing With the Stars (finale) | 5.5 | 14 | 3.8 | 11 | 21.202 |
| CBS | Without A Trace (finale) | 2.5 | 7 | 1.5 | 4 | 11.645 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 2.3 | 6 | 2.1 | 6 | 6.519 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 1.3 | 4 | 1.3 | 4 | 3.321 | |
| 10:30 | ABC | Dancing With the Stars (finale) | 5.8 | 16 | 4.2 | 13 | 21.992 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 2.6 | 7 | 2.1 | 6 | 6.942 | |
| CBS | Without A Trace (finale) | 2.5 | 7 | 1.4 | 4 | 10.996 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 1.1 | 3 | 1.1 | 3 | 2.869 |
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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.
second half hour Mentalist younger show than Glee. LOL. what?
LOL I doubt Glee will get anywhere CLOSE to a 3.7 in the fall — I even doubt SYTYCD will get above a 4 in the demo in the fall (especially after just completing its prior run over the summer)
I really liked the show, but the 9 to 9:30 drop-off was bad (even if AI ran over a few minutes).
WOW! CBS did the the right thing by getting rid of Without A Trace!
I think FOX has to be a bit disappointed in Glee’s performance, particularly the 1/2 hour drop (which is smaller than it seems because of Idol overrun, but still).
If the 1/2 hour numbers for Glee tell the truer story, that’s really not great for a pilot preview!
SYTYCD better be strong for Glee to have a chance in the fall.
hem.. i want to ask something to bill or robet: i heard supernatural is moving on friday this fall, is it true?
Anna, the CW schedule will be out no later than tomorrow morning. You’ll know then!
wow the mentalist beats out NCIS thats intresting
Wow, I’m really surprised Glee didn’t do a lot better than that. About 50% retention out of Idol, and that drop-off is pretty bad. Considering how much promotion of seen for the show, I thought it’d do higher numbers.
Well, Fox said they will be happy if 50% idol viewers stay to watch the show.
Definitely a little worrying for Fox. However, are there really any prior examples of networks doing this sort of preview? I’m sure Fox will be spinning it as an experiment.
OMG what happened to Law and Order SUV? 6 million viewers? Thats about 2 million lower in viewers than the mothership. The demos alright but still even thats low…But i spose it did have a lot of competition.
Sharoth, The Mentalist routinely beats NCIS, at least in the demo.
Fringe did better numbers in the 2nd half hour than Glee did.
almost anything can beat NCIS in the demo
I def. agree that last night’s rating for Glee is not predictive of how it will do. But that’s not really the point of the preview. The preview was really an experiment to see just if the show could actually could capture viewers. In that respect, I think it did quite well.
Glee is a Comedy.
Comedy, live action, is not a success for FOX.
On the other hand, a 3.7 is a success for FOX – especially with a Comedy!
This show is going to do well, for FOX. Drama’s a re easier to sell for the network. Comedies havent been there for the Network in a few years. They once had That 70’s SHow, and Malcolm in the Middle, and even The Bernie Mac Show. SInce those years, FOX only has (quite succesful) animated comedies.
GLEE is a great show, to say the least. Its original, and light, and the most entertaining show on Network T.V. possibly. The best pilot I think ive ever seen.
This show is looking to develop into a show with a faily big fanbase – that will keep coming back.
It takes time for a show like this to grow. It will grow, let that be know. It has subtle humor, like The Ofiice actually. Its a hit for FOX, if it can keep a 3.7. Reallt, if it can establish an audiance of a 2.9 or higher, it’ll be fine. Its a Comedy, and I think considering how entertaining it was, that was a great showing.
Look at Castle. Its numbers are much worse than that – and its a Drama.
This show goes outside the BOX, in many ways. Its unique, and thats good.
Thank you, FOX. I really have a lot of respect for this network.
NBC on the on the other hand, not so much. Horrible leadership there. Canceling a show like Medium was actually just quite an immature looking move on NBC’s part. They dont treat that show well. Thank you, CBS.
I’m actually surprised Glee didn’t do a little better. It was one of the most twittered topics last night and the Glee version of Don’t Stop Believin’ is currently the no. 2 song on iTunes; the original jumped back into the top forty. Usually the only show that has that kind of power is, well, Idol.
That plus the fact that it got better reviews than any show this season I think spells big things for Glee.
Fringe’s ratings were still better.
Oops, I meant any *new* shows this season.
Glee was kinda cute, but very rough. I’m not watching any more though, it’s not my thing.
So “Dance” is getting back-to-back seasons? Couldn’t that lead to burnout with the audience? Maybe Glee should have been on hold until AI resumes again in the Spring.
I agree with the “cute but very rough” opinion from Chad here. Glee has the potential to be brilliant, but outside the last musical number it didn’t really hit that mark. Not sure how long Glee will last in the fall.
Updated the post to show the Idol finale pt. 1 was down 18% in the 18-49 demo from last season’s show.
Edit: Added Dancing historical data, down only 6% from last season’s finale. Law & Order: SVU had its lowest rated original episode ever.
I can’t decide if I like Glee or not. I think I’ll check out 1 or 2 more episodes before I decide. I liked the cheerleading coach, but the Glee teacher and his wife were kind of annoying.
I’m disappointed for Glee numbers!!! Without A Trace did OK last night, just look at Low & order:SVU numbers !!! And WAT beat SVU in 18/49 target!!! I think ABC should pick WAT for mid season!!!
Suprised GLEE didnt do better (didnt watch it as I find watching such a show worse than getting a root canal) considering its compatible show with Idol, whereas FRINGE is completely different type of show. The overall ratings for FRINGE and GLEE are suprisingly similar.
I’ve heard that the preview of Glee was a rough cut and the pilot will be tinkered with and re-aired in the fall, but to me it seemed like the most polished network pilot I’ve seen in a long while. I’m not sure if I’ll keep watching (especially since the teaser at the end seemed to give away the entire season) but I’m pretty impressed with it from a creative standpoint.
Jared, I agree – Jane Lynch was the highlight of the show.
how much different is a preview from a pilot and if theyre basically the same then fox shouldnt be worried as house pilot was like 7mil and they used to average liek 17m a show and still does very good demo so if i was fox i would be quite happy but for its first season i would keep glee behind AI
props to DWTS… matching last years finale in viewers (20.1) and dropping just 2% in demo. it’s bizarre it’s held up so well.
I would have thought Dancing would at least get a 4 overall in 18-34. Glee got a 3 in its second half hour. Only other show with at least (read: double) a 3 was Idol. Oof, less than a 3 for SVU and Trace. Yeah, CBS is doing well but not amazing here.
@Bad Robot, I’m not so sure Glee is absolutely compatible with Idol. It has the potential to be quite dark, for a high-school dramedy. It was more “Freaks and Geeks” than “High School Musical,” IMHO.
My tiny local crowd “buzz” is that the show was a smidge rough and a dash boring, with a couple of very unlikeable characters. The potential to be darkly brilliant and hilarious is there…but it can’t decide how dark it needs to go, IMHO, while avoiding the “unlikeable” label.
I think L&O: SVU’s bad numbers were due to poor lead in.
Fringe did better in the demo and yes, I liked Glee.
I loved Glee but to be honest, I didn’t watch it last night because I was too busy voting for American Idol. I DVRed it and watched it this morning instead. I doubt I’m the only one who did the same thing. Putting Glee after Idol’s last performance episode may have actually hurt it more than helped it. I think this fall will be a much better indication of how the show will perform.
Besides what Annie said about timeshifting Glee, I’d also like to point out that last night’s pilot was a 45-minute cut version of it. The full pilot which is close to 2 hours should be airing in the fall and it’s supposedly much better and not as choppy as the version that aired last night.
I don’t thinkg Glee is original at all! It’s a clear copy of High School Musical. The cast is not good looking enough for the fickle teenage crowd and I think people are tired of the concept. I see this as being one of the biggest flops TV has had in awhile. Fox spent millions to film just this one episode and I don’t think it will generate the buzz they were looking for. I also don’t think viewers will remember it come fall regardless of Dance. I think Dance will take a bit hit in the fall as the two seasons are too close together and Fox has seen this happen before with Hell’s Kitchen.
Law & Order SVU has already begun to suffer the LENO effect with viewers. Only 6.5 mil?? I toook the show off my DVR lastnight also.
GLee was incredible.
And hose numbers arent anything to be ashamed of, going against the grand finale of DWTS>
Those numbers are nothing compared to the 27 – 30 million Idol should reach by the last half our.
Glee did well.
And it was very original.
Was nothing like HSM really….. thats rediculous to say.
Its an awesome show, and u weither love it or hate it
I watched Glee and although the show is cute it lacks on the appeal front. Seems to me to be a CW type of show. It might score on the under 34 demo but for the older viewers there isn’t an appeal. Also it seemed to me that there was way too much promotion with every website and reviewer trying to ram the show onto viewers.
I really quite liked Glee. A lot of potential and just a generally good fun show.
And whilst I agree that these numbers don’t really mean all that much in today’s climate any and all the networks will take a 3.7 and declare the big new hit!
I liked Glee alot. Suprised me how well it did actually. Didnt expect that good of numbers for the show actually. Its going to have one of the biggest “cult” followings of all time I think.
Glee was really good! However they should have shown it this year after AI or wait until next year after AI. Sticking it in the fall with Dancing is stupid.
“I’m actually surprised Glee didn’t do a little better. It was one of the most twittered topics last night and the Glee version of Don’t Stop Believin’ is currently the no. 2 song on iTunes; the original jumped back into the top forty. Usually the only show that has that kind of power is, well, Idol.”
No it isn’t. I just checked. No.2 is held by Linkin Park’s new song and only the old version is on the list at No. 39.
I really liked Glee to. But I almost shut it off at the half-hour mark because I was loosing interest, but I really wanted to see the Don’t Stop Believing remake so I waited till the end. The preview makes it look like the show gets a lot more exciting.
Didn’t Gordon Ramsey do better than Glee last season after the finale?
Here is our overnight report from the comparable night last season. Hell’s Kitchen did much better than Glee, but Idol did better last season as well.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/21/nielsen-ratings-may-20-2008-kristi-wins-will-david-cook-win-too/3857
The song is #2 as proof by this website.
http://www.windpowersports.com/music/top-songs.php
It is also #1 on iTunes Pop Songs.
If you are checking iTunes they don’t usually update as fast as they should.
what are you talking about matt?
nvm..
I doubt the journey version is #2
I quite enjoyed Glee last night. And yes, Fringe did better in the demo but Fringe didn´t air against DWTS and The Mentalist seasons finale. Glee was bound to take a hit.
Hogwash, HSM is very clear copy of Popular, a show that ran on the WB from 1999-2001. The same guy who came up with Popular is now doing Glee. To me, it felt like a reboot of Popular, only better.
NBC is a joke.
Great night for Dancing with the stars. the difference between having a 8 million lead in and a 3 or 4 million.
the mentalist should be at 9 on tuesday one more season… or at least fall, and rearrange in mid-.season.
Glee felt like it should have had a sharper edge. Too much bubblegum cuteness for my like, but I feel like that edge is there buried and waiting to come out. They did cast Jane Lynch after all, and for that reason alone I’ll keep watching. Now onto the ratings…The numbers were good, and the show has great buzz; people really seemed to like it. But when they air the next episode after a months of the air, what good will buzz in may do?
to set the record straight Glee’s version of Don’t Stop Believin’ is currently #3 on iTunes…and the show was realy good…the numbers don’t mean anything, wait til the fall, then everyone will know it and watch it…it started off with 12 million anyways which is really good considering it’s a new show, and i was definitely one of the 8 million that stayed to watch it.
christina, I agree with you. Glee’s numbers from last night mean nothing. Glee’s numbers next fall, mean everything.
Hogwash- Hell’s Kitchen is a bad example of the problem with back-to-back seasons killing the show. HK has done extremely well being moved from summer to spring. The GOOD example you’d want to use is Big Brother. That show was a good performer in the summer, and totally bombed in the spring line-up, ratings-wise. Same with Last Comic Standing.
We all know Reaper was never given a chance. It practically never airs on time in the Chicago market, and last night it was up against the finale of AI. Although, I have to say that Reaper did pretty well by not losing much of its live audience.
Any Reaper fans? Although the CW is not picking up Reaper, we not giving up yet. ABC Studios is still trying to move the show into syndication or cable. We’re advocating all Reaper fans to write their CW affiliates. All links and info here: http://community.livejournal.com/reaperdmv/44208.html And don’t forget to contact ABC Studios and thank them for not giving up on Reaper.
I do not even remember seeing any previews for SVU this week and I always watch it…hm…good old NBC ruining another good show.
Medium was lucky to survive and hopefully prosper at CBS.
SVU is in trouble next year…it has big competition
True I pick Criminal Minds over SVU both scheduled at 9pm on Wed night
Wow, Glee sucked. I am one of the 4 million who stopped watching at 9:30.
I was hoping Glee would do better than that! Thats pretty good numbers for 90210! Next season 90210 will probably start out with 3 million veiwers like Gossip Girl’s second season did!
Finals: Glee ended with 9.6 million and a 3.9.
i am a guy and actually liked Glee 9.6 and 3.9 is great
so funny they killed WAT and it did so well
funny
Really liked Glee, especially the last 5 minutes, too bad they left the best so late intro the pilot. And thankfully it has nothing in common with the crappy HSM, no one is bursting in songs down the hallway in Glee
I found Glee growing on me, I re-watched it on Hulu. I really think Hulu should start paying me for as much as I mention them…
Oh, what got me was the Grease scene more than anything, the look on Finn’s face in particular.
What made me cringe was the final few minutes of American Idol. I will admit to watching the first season a bit, there’s where I stopped. Will AI ever die?
The CW in Chicago (WGN) drew a 5.1 local rating in Chicago, which means that last night’s CW numbers will decrease somewhat.
http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2009/05/versus-hurts-ratings-in-chicago.html
I don’t think Glee will be a success next fall
i am still confused about Glee, i didnt really like the plot, but the way they took new songs and put a spin on them, that was real good! So i dont know if ill still watch it. and I have absolutley no clue how it will do. I will probably tune in for one or two more episodes and see how it is.
I think this is either going to be a REALLY BIG HIT OR A REALLY BIG FLOP… Nothing in between.
I loved Glee last night. I hope it lasts, but I expect it not too. I almost wish it was on CW so there’d be no expectations for it.
I may or may not have watched the 56 minute version of the pilot tonight and it is even better. Fox should relaunch in the Fall with a commercial free airing of the long version.
Well the 2.4 is the look at what Law& Order: SVU will be like come fall on wednesdays, why is NBC moving their best shows like Heroes or SVU to new timeslots if their already doing good? For Leno? I hope he flops bad.
I thot Glee was great-the best new thing to hit tv since Desperate Housewives!