TV Week’s Joe Adalian gets access to Saturday ratings demographic breakdowns earlier than we do, and points out a few goose eggs among teens scored by Kings and 48 Hours Mystery.
Not surprisingly, the sliver of the viewing audience that literally didn’t register with Nielsen on the July 4th holiday: Teenagers, aged 12-17.
For NBC, the show that snagged a goose egg was the long-ago cancelled drama “Kings.” During the 8-8:30 p.m. half hour, it earned a 0.0/0 among men 12-17 and all adults 12-17. (Teen girls were a bit more enthusiastic, giving the show a 0.1/1).
Over at CBS, “48 Hours Mystery” was the program cursed with no teens from 8-8:30 p.m. It also notched (or is that failed to notch?) a big 0.0/0 with all viewers 12-17 and women 12-17. (Teen boys handed “48″ a 0.1/1).
Both shows also scored goose eggs for the full 8 p.m. hour, with “Kings” zeroing out among men 12-17 and “48″ doing a swan dive with women 12-17.
via TVWeek.
Ages 12- 17 are adult, men and women, now? They are only teenagers in the first paragraph. I’m sure NAMBLA is happy with that.
Are there adults in the 12-17 category? There may be some children that age group who shoulder adult responsibilities, but they are not adults.
Well gosh, as I remember, way “way” back to the sixties, when I was 12-17, I wasn’t watching TV on the Fourth of July either. We went somewhere to eat and then watched fireworks.
Network ratings are so low, they are tracking any demo they can think of.
+1 to hiki for the NAMBLA reference.
I guess a person could find out if Nielsen kids 12-17 are watching TV on their own sets, or family’s, or a dorm loungue, etc. ( I recall getting a black and white TV as a rite of passage in 1974 or so because I was always fiddling with the discarded Philco in the back room. The color TV had been a Magnavox which lasted … hell, it must have lasted 15 years and never blew the tube; just got replaced. I took that b and w tv to college and used it,sparingly, until 1985 or so.) Point is, today I notice adults use the teens they are watching with to figure out what the hot shows are. Teerns are the trend setters, esp, teenaged women. ( One of the few funny episodes of Sex in the City dealt with that medialand truth in the episode where the guy … well, anyway, I’m sure some rfans of the show remermber which one I mean.)
These are awful numbers for teens, yes, but it’s not like teens are typically tuning in to the broadcast networks on other Saturday nights. Nickelodeon/Nick-at-Nite easily wins Saturday nights among teens most weeks, and that’s with or without new episodes.