| Scoreboard |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 1.4/5 | 1.0/4 | 0.9/3 | 0.5/2 | 0.4/1 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 5.30 | 4.02 | 4.66 | 1.80 | 0.897 |
For a second night in a row, Michael Jackson/Farrah Fawcett shows were featured, with NBC’s winning the night. The maybe-pilot movie Virtuality co-written by Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald Moore was virtually unwatched.
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (Millons) |
| 8:00 | NBC | Farrah’s Story (8-10p) | 1.2 | 5 | 4.62 |
| CBS | Ghost Whisperer (repeat) | 1.0 | 4 | 4.28 | |
| ABC | Surviving Suburbia | 0.7 | 3 | 2.76 | |
| FOX | Virtuality (8-10p) | 0.5 | 2 | 1.81 | |
| CW | Priviledged (repeat) | 0.3 | 1 | 0.82 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | The Goode Family | 0.5 | 2 | 1.81 |
| 9:00 | ABC | 20/20: Jackson? | 1.0 | 4 | 3.74 |
| CBS | Flashpoint (repeat) | 0.9 | 3 | 4.56 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris (repeat) | 0.4 | 2 | 0.98 | |
| 9:30 | CW | The Game (repeat) | 0.4 | 2 | 0.97 |
| 10:00 | NBC | Dateline: Michael Jackson | 2.0 | 7 | 6.64 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 1.5 | 5 | 6.01 | |
| CBS | Numb3rs (repeat) | 1.0 | 3 | 5.16 |
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Shows are sorted from highest 18-49 rating to lowest in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source: Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
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 and Numbers 102.
Looks like Virtuality is definitely not going to get picked up. I’m not surprised considering how little it was promoted. It’s a shame, I actually enjoyed the pilot a lot even though my expectations weren’t very high.
The Virtuality pilot was one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. I also haven’t watched FOX on a Friday night in probably over a year but did last night. I thought the ratings would be better. I guess there’s no chance of them picking the show up now which is a shame. A Virtuality/Dollhouse night could have been cool but probably unwatched.
The – 1337 virtuality was a mini series. It wasn’t a pilot episode was
it cause I didn’t watch it?? And bill over here in the east cost in nj anyway the chopping block was on from 8. To 9 and from 9 to 11 was farrha story. There was no dateline in nj on Friday how come???
Also goode family went up from 1.59 last week to 1.81 this week which is surprisbg considering last weeks pisode was much better than this weeks episode. And matt ur right it couldve been scifi friday on fox.
Virtuality was not a miniseries; it was a two-hour pilot that did not get picked up that Fox decided to air anyway.
Vinny, and anyone else, Chopping Block was on the original NBC schedule at 8. My only source for what actually aired was Marc Berman, who tends to be a bit error prone on the weekends. The line ups may very well have been different than what I have above.
It was promoted as a 2 hour long movie on one night, but it should be the pilot for a new series which probably won’t air.
I may be in the minority but I thought Virtuality was really, really boring. Being on a Friday in the middle of the summer did it no favors either, but I had a lot of trouble caring about the characters and the whole “reality TV” aspect turned me off.
I want Virtuality to be a series!!! but FOX is so stupid for airing the pilot in a friday of summer!
RIP about Michael/Farrah. I’m sad about their deaths.
Very weak numbers all around, even for a Friday.
Is The Goode Family dead?
Is there any chance of new episodes beyond the first season?
you got it all right, bill. chopping block was pulled til next week.
FOX just doesn’t know how to treat their Sci-Fi anymore. First, you need to promote it. They didn’t do it. Then you need to put it on a night people will watch, they didn’t do it.
If it wasn’t for NBC, I would say FOX is the worse run network out of the big 4. But NBC (aka The Leno Network) takes the cake.
O ok thanks bill.
E. Carson I wish the goode family had a chance for a 2nd season but it’s not looking good at all for tgf. Anyone think itnwoild do better after dwts or bachelor?
I didn’t find Virtuality boring at all. I thought the entire episode was intriguing and very well-done, and the reality tv aspect was really cool I thought. Added a little something extra. Robert/Bill, did you watch and if so what did you think?
new esposide cant come soon of my fall shows
“Vinny, and anyone else, Chopping Block was on the original NBC schedule at 8. My only source for what actually aired was Marc Berman, who tends to be a bit error prone on the weekends. The line ups may very well have been different than what I have above.”
8pm – Farrah’s Story (R)
10pm – Dateline
I watched NBC last night, and they did not air The Chopping Block. This schedule was also listed on NBC.com.
I have never heard of Virtuality ever! well until now. Good for NBC!
Those numbers are just pathetic for Virtuality.
Vinny, Goode Family would do better anywhere if ABC actually promoted it, didn’t bury it between dead shows & if affils didn’t pre-empt it for infomercials. It didn’t have a chance from the beginning. ABC’s demo audience and summer debut equates to game/reality performing well. A 2nd season could only happen on another network.
To everyone complaining FOX didn’t promote Virtuality, THR disagrees:
Considering its airless time period, Fox didn’t forsake this project entirely. The network generated a fair amount of publicity for the program in recent weeks rather than simply throwing it on.
Adam wrote:
“FOX just doesn’t know how to treat their Sci-Fi anymore. First, you need to promote it. They didn’t do it. Then you need to put it on a night people will watch, they didn’t do it.”
Totally not true. Just look at how well they’ve been marketing Fringe and Dollhouse. While Dollhouse is no hit, Fringe has definitely become a sci-fi 18-49 hit for the network.
1.81 million is even bad for HBO, much less Fox.
IS THAT A RECORD FOR LOWEST PREMIERE EVER?
They absolutely did not promote Virtuality nearly enough as would be needed for such a unique project. They killed it, plain and simple.
The fact that FOX aired Virtuality at all was a gift. It could have been shelved just like the dozens of other unsold pilots developed for 2009-2010. FOX could have done better with repeats of its game shows. I’m surprised it was aired at all, let alone promoted (and I did see at least one promotional spot for it).
Numbers went up in reapets last week like 4 something last week and 5 this week
So I was the only one who saw the promos for Virtuality during So You Think You Can Dance and probably other Fox shows? Virt got plenty of promo for pilot of a series that wasn’t picked up.
I watched about 1/2 through and Virt seemed like a remake of 2001: Space Oddessey with Virtual Reality tossed in as one the ways the ship was trying to kill the crew. Boring and whinney in my opinion. Something I’d expect from the guy who is responsible for the low rated Bionic Woman & BSG remakes.
Told a friend of mine who was really liking this show yesterday that I was sure this it would get beat out by a rerun of Ghost Whisperer and I was right.
Virtuality’s numbers are a crying shame. It was easily the best original programming on any broadcast network this summer. Damn you Princess Protection Program!!!!!!! You took away the millions and millions of tween girls that surely would have been watching Virtuality otherwise.
It’s too bad, I would’ve loved to have seen Jill Valentine on tv weekly.
I’m hoping that SyFy will pick up Virtuality. I thought that the pilot was absolutely fantastic, and it would be a real shame if the show wasn’t explored more. It would do much better on SyFy. It was produced by NBC Universal, and it’s another Ronald D. Moore show. I really hope to see more, but it’s very unlikely.
I was flipping around and caught some of virtuality. The writing was dreadful, so I didn’t keep it on. I didn’t know what show it was, so I figured it was a movie, but the special effects were too cheap-looking.
i didnt know it was even on i dont watch much fox Abc, NBC and Cbs in the summer cause i am mostly on TNT and Usa and HBO
I just watched Virtuality. Unfortunately, I will never get those two hours of my life back. What a horrible premise for a television show. I thought it would be cool with the virtual reality, and boy, was I wrong! It’s no wonder Fox burned off this mess now. 1.8 million viewers for a premiere-ouch!
I think it has to do with bad timing (death of celebrities) and not enough advertising that did this show in. I’d be interested in seeing if they allow for streaming and if more people watch it steamed, or sometime later they air it again. I doubt they will, this is Fox.
Considering that it was a Friday summer night, with everyone more concerned about coverage of Michael Jackson’s and Farrah’s deaths, how could there be good numbers for Virtuality? This wasn’t an accurate test. It was a *great* pilot, full of layers and complex possibilities. I hope FOX (or SciFi) will take the timing into consideration and give this show a chance. I would absolutely watch it as a series, and have already re-watched the pilot at fox.com.
BT, Virt was beat by a rerun of Ghost Whisperer and a canceled ABC sitcom. Anyone that greenlights more of this mess needs to be fired. I’d to see the numbers for this show as the night wore on. No doubt they go even lower.
It’s pretty sad that more people watched Surviving Suburbia than all three CW shows combined.
I quite enjoyed Virtuality. Unfortunately most viewers believe quality sci-fi is Eliza Dushku showing off her cleavage and kicking people.
I expected the pilot to be a mess for a “movie”.
I thought Virtuality was a confusing mess. Some aspects of it seemed interesting but overall, it was poorly handled. So… not disappointed that this one won’t go to series. Very split opinions on it, I see!
I think that Virtuality will get picked up by Sci-Fi(SYFy) after Stargate Universe crashes. For a Science Fiction movie with it’s premise, I think that the pilot was decent. Probaly would of helped if the movie was more during primetime, when people acculy watch TV.
We watched about 12-15 minutes of Virtuality because we were playing with the HD and it was on. My husband thought it was awful and it wasn’t holding my interest either. Did like the beginning with the Civil War setting but the part right after that was boring. Once it was established that he was on some sort of space station we didn’t need to watch him walk in real time to his next destination. Sci-fi really needs to grab your attention immediately and hold it.
Wired like it “Excellent acting bolsters thoughtful premise.”
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/review-virtuality/
But as a pilot, not a stand alone.
Fox wasn’t testing Virtuality to see if it would do well. There was no chance they were going to pick it up. It was a pilot for a series that they never ordered and they figured rather than let it sit in their vaults for eternity they might as well air it. There would be no point in airing it during the Fall season or on a different night because they didn’t really expect it to do well and if it did it wouldn’t have mattered.
The number of people that find Virtuality “confusing” is just mind boggling to me. I can understand if someone was bored by it, especially during the first 45 minutes or so, but confusing? I don’t get that. It had un-answered questions, as any good pilot should.
One of the FOX suits called it “dense” and I thought he was insulting his audience… maybe not.
Such a shame. Virtuality was one of the best SF shows I’ve seen. I really want more.
But I won’t get it. I only knew it was on because I saw an article in the newspaper about it.
I liked Virtuality a lot. I can also see why it would never work with the audiences. Not enough Horatio Cane putting glasses on and spewing one-liners every week. It’s a shame it came at this point in time which is pretty much the worst for serialized sci-fi ever.
It sucked Cylon balls. Boring as hell. Only good thing was that me and my friends took a shot ever time they said GO/NO GO, so we were hammered by the awful ending. Get use to those Friday numbers FOX, they are the new reality for the death of broadcast TV. Time to die off like newspapers and magazines.
“The Virtuality pilot was one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. I also haven’t watched FOX on a Friday night in probably over a year but did last night.”
I concur, I thought it was brilliant. It’s not their fault that two well known Celebrities passed away on the same day and the channels have been going crazy with specials and tributes. I found it a great distraction from all the hoopla.
I’m really surprised by the numbers. I was randomly flipping channels and came across Virtuality. I didn’t find it dense at all. Once they got past introducing the characters, I was hooked and glued throughout the whole show and the ending was mind-bending astonishing! It’s too bad that this cool and smart scifi will not find a series because of the low numbers.
It’s funny – there’s no middle ground: people either loved it or got bored and flipped the channel. I’d love to believe there’s a market for sci-fi that strays off the familiar territory of summer blockbuster films, but it’s obvious there isn’t. Ah, the curse of being less likely to be popular, yet requiring a lot more money to make…
Even Privileged, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Game reruns look kind of competitive in the demos compared to Virtuality.
Yikes.
@ Budo: There certainly is that market. Plenty of Sci Fi shows have been succesfull in the past. And Currently as well (Fringe is doing OK). I think the many years of Star Trek meant that it had been popular enough.
It’s just that right now there isn’t something to measure up to it; although in general demos seem to be down across the board.
Virtuality was a pilot turned into a 2 hr movie supposedly when Fox renewed Dollhouse. Regardless I just finished watching it and it’s flipping horrible. I honestly thought this would be decent based on reading a little about it. They spent way too much time focusing on insignificant parts that were pointless. I expect more out of Peter Berg and Ron Moore then this crap definitely a F rating that would have been yanked from TV had this been the start of a show.
Well, I was also bored by it, and I love sci-fi (BSG, Firefly, TSCC, STNG, STV, DS9, STE), the biggest problem for me was the characters in Virtuality were not memorable or interesting, I neither liked them or hated them, I just didn’t care about them… compared to Caprica, this pilot was weak. But like Dollhouse, which also started weak for me, and I only watched out of respect for Joss, I would probably continue watching this show even though I especially disliked the reality TV show angle…
cant wait for new Flashpoint July 17th
I just finished watching virtuosity and quite liked it. I did feel a lot like 2001 (which I also liked). I agree with those who say people will have very opposing views on it (as we can read here). Too bad it didn’t turn into a series. I think it would have made a nice little mini series.
I love it!
Brian D Said
“Virtuality turned into a two hour movie when Dollhouse got renewed”
Dollhouse is a machine! First it killed TSCC and now Virtuality before it was born.
~Lanie~
PS For you hardcore LG haters, the above is said sarcastically
I didn’t even know it was on Friday night. So as far as advertising for the show it wasn’t done properly. Second, two big time celebrity deaths occurred and would grab anyones attention over a show with some basically unknown cast set in the Sci-fi genre on a Friday night. Fox should have known better and this should have aired on a Sunday or Monday night.
I watched it on Hulu, where it was labeled a movie. I thought it seemed original but short sighted. I don’t think it could make a a few seasons even if it was picked up.
This should have stayed on a Universal network like SciFi, where the ratings it made would be called decent. I feel bad that Peter Berg was associated with this.
Little thing I noticed was the Captain was named Pike, which I guess was a nod to Star Trek’s original captain in its own TV pilot.
Virt is confusing because the ending pretty much cancels out everything you saw before making you wonder if anything you saw was real. Critics and some Sci-Fi fans love that kind of stuff. General public not so much.
Not a big Ronald D. Moore fan, so I’m not cryin’ over this result. Cable is where its at today.
I thought Virtuality had potential. I was quite annoyed that it wasn’t a series when I went to record the next episode. Hopefully a cable station will pick it up. I wonder how much the death specials took away from the ratings.
This entire thread proves why networks shouldn’t be bothered burning off unsold pilots anymore — particularly ones with high geek appeal.
Instead of being happy they’re getting to see the thing at all, it’s “Waaaah! They didn’t promote it!” Yeah, no shit. It’s an unsold pilot. What were you expecting? A national convention? I doubt you’ll be seeing the pilots for “Cop House,” “Boldly Going Nowhere,” “Two Dollar Beer,” “Eva Adams,” “Maggie Hill” or “Masterwork” on the air anytime soon, but I guess geeks don’t care about any of them. And what is FOX’s fascination with people in wheelchairs all of a sudden? Is that going to be the theme of FOX Fridays from now on? Because I’m not sure shows have high crip appeal.
I thought Virtuality had a lot of potential. Certainly more original then Mental, which is a House re-tread, and more watchable than the first episodes of Dollhouse.
A waste but it was probably too intelligent for Fox.
Virtuality was not good. A show that made a point about getting the science right, then got it wrong. A show that was about a reality show that would be boring as hell to watch. A show with maybe one memorable character that was supposed to be character driven.
Just a mess.