| Scoreboard |  |
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 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 1.3/6 | 0.7/3 | 0.7/3 | 0.7/3 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 3.69 | 3.40 | 3.08 | 2.68 |
Dirty Sexy Money, one of last Fall’s canceled shows that elicited an outpouring of angst on our site (dirtysexyj, where are you now?), returned to burn off its remaining new episodes on ABC. Among mostly repeats it was nearly the lowest rated show of the night, but it did better than the even more pitiful numbers for Kings. As usual this summer, Fox reality crime rolled up another win on a very lightly viewed broadcast Saturday.
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 (million) |
| 8:00 | FOX | Cops (1 repeat, 1 new) (8-9p) | 1.1 | 5 | 3.28 |
| ABC | Wipeout (repeat) | 1.0 | 5 | 3.25 | |
| CBS | The Unit (repeat) | 0.5 | 2 | 2.61 | |
| NBC | Kings | 0.4 | 2 | 1.57 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | America’s Most Wanted | 1.5 | 6 | 4.11 |
| NBC | Law & Order: Criminal Intent (repeat) | 0.7 | 3 | 2.64 | |
| ABC | Castle (repeat) | 0.6 | 2 | 2.66 | |
| CBS | Numb3rs (repeat) | 0.5 | 2 | 2.64 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | 48 Hours Mystery (repeat) | 1.0 | 4 | 4.94 |
| NBC | Law & Order SVU (repeat) | 1.0 | 4 | 4.32 | |
| ABC | Dirty Sexy Money | 0.6 | 2 | 2.15 |
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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.
Best episode of Kings yet. Finale next week. And yes I blame NBC.
i can’t believe kings does so bad week after week come on people!!!!
I look forward to Kings every week…If NBC does not pick up a second season, I hope cable networks will (AMC, FX) so that it can be viewed along side Mad Men, Nip and Tuck, etc…….
LOL I remeber Dirtysexyj, they were really funny! Though I am sad that Dirty Sexy Money had to be cancelled, even in cancellation back in december it pulled a 1.8 (whereas a new episode of CASTLE brought in a 1.9 !)
LOL. The moment I read the title on twitter I thought of DirtySexyJ. Glad to see I’m not alone. Good times.
Ill Tell everyone what happened to the Kings TV Show: The Numbers were curved, made up, this is actually a move by the cultural masters of the U.S. Why should anyone know of the story of David, and of morality, how it plays out in government affairs? No, let them go like dumb washcloths, then we can use them when we want.
Guess what NBC? Kings is the #1 show on HULU – people like the show. The demographic you want like the show.
But people never heard of Kings when you aired it – no one under 50 watches NBC. We do not see ads on NBC and we do not sit at home watching TV on Saturday nights at 8 PM.
You should keep Kings and fire NBC staff.
Stupid programming decisions with Kings demonstrates why NBC is failing and few bother to click to your station anymore. For example, other networks and all cable bring out their new shows in the summer to play against reruns and build up an audience. They do this on weeknights during prime time. Often they show repeats later in the week. This is “Programming 101.” Even Dancing with the Stars started out in the summer.
Yet NBC introduced Kings in March, on a Sunday night, against shows with strong followings in the middle of their season. And unless people watched NBC, no one knew it started. It never had a chance to build an audience.
I think it’s great that NBC will have aired every single Kings episode despite the underwhelming viewer response. Yes, there are a vocal few (I emphasize “few”) who like the show, but it’s hardly an avalanche of support. Even at its highest viewership, Kings was a massive bomb. So many other low-rated shows never air all of their episodes; I’m glad Kings has been given that chance.
QUOTE: “back in december it pulled a 1.8 (whereas a new episode of CASTLE brought in a 1.9 !)”
Thats because Castle is in its first season and can grow. If Dirty Sexy Money is slipping in its 2nd, whats to say it wont do the same the following year?
“Guess what NBC? Kings is the #1 show on HULU – people like the show. The demographic you want like the show.”
For the last time, people, the number of people watching it on Hulu is small compared to the number of people watching an average NBC show live.
“But people never heard of Kings when you aired it – no one under 50 watches NBC.”
Actually Kings did horribly in every demographic, including viewers over 50. And it kept losing viewers each week.
“We do not see ads on NBC and we do not sit at home watching TV on Saturday nights at 8 PM.”
Actually, Kings has gotten the lowest ratings an original NBC episode has ever gotten. You can’t explain that any other way than people don’t like it.
I completely forgot about Dirty Sexy Money coming back.
Michael,
Do you work for NBC?
Actually, giving Kings bad weekend programming times is an easy way to explain the numbers. And I think the King’s scheduling is just one more example why NBC is failing so badly.
Here’s my viewer story:
Until I read about Kings on the a.v.club and then watched it on hulu two weeks ago, I never heard of Kings. Now my friends and I are all trying to get in all the episodes before it is over. And I have never been home on a Saturday night so I have never watched it live. Also, except for 2 nights of the new Conan, I have not watched anything on NBC for at least 6 months.
If NBC had played Kings on a weeknight during prime time me and my friends would have watched it. I imagine many from hulu would have joined us. We are the younger, more desirable demographic advertisers want.
And just think how much farther things would go if NBC actually advertised the show and put the stars on talk shows.
Kings costs are higher than most any other show. If I remember right it was 5 or 6 million for the pilot and about 3 or 4 for every episode… I cant remember what the exact numbers were, I read them a long time ago.
Kings is a good show and got much better towards the end. I am surprised it lost so many viewers in the beginning.
I saw many ads on tv for kings before it aired. I guess I watch tv at the right time. Might have been hulu instead of tv … I watch alot of hulu.
Considering the viewers and cost per episode… there was no way they would pick it up for another season.
I read it was originally pitched to hbo or one of those type stations before nbc took it. Again ,, that was something I read a long time ago .. my memory might be wrong.
Bill, is TV By The Numbers a wordpress.com site?
This is site is wordpress
Kings is a great show. At least NBC is finishing it properly instead of just taking it off the air.
I forgot about DSM returning too.
TheMediaFan, the site is run on Wordpress software (wordpress.org) , but is self-hosted and not run on Wordpress.com
Kings is a great show. One of a few I watch. But I agree NBC worked hard to destroy it.
I think if the Mentalist had been given the King’s schedule and promotion this spring, it would have had the same results.
Gosh Darn I missed Dirty Sexy Money, I just setup the computer to record next weeks.
I still have to watch the last 4 episode of Kings but I am not at all surprised that it was canceled.
Poor ‘Kings’. What will NBC be doing next? Day One looks promising but apart from that they don’t have much to look forward to. I would consider looking into an American ‘MasterChef’. It just finished here in Australia last night and the finale was the highest rating broadcast on Australia TV since ratings began. Think about it
Jane, no, I don’t work for NBC. I’m just tired of people who like Kings making excuses for the show that produced the lowest-rated new episode in NBC history.
I stumbled on Kings as it was offered for “free” on Verizon Fios on demand. I watched the first two episodes on Fios, and have watched all the rest as aired (or recorded and watched the same night). Everyone who has criticized NBC for its poor marketing decision is correct. It’s a shame that it will all end this Saturday.
Kings didnt fail because of marketing it failed because it has a limited audience. Its more suited to cable than network television. BSG in its final season had about the same number of viewers. Kings has gotten a bit better and less stiff, but most people abandoned it after the first few episodes. Its just too dense for the masses – stiff acting and lame plotlines early on didnt help matters. Unfortunately the masses today want lame talent and reality shows along with crime shows (at least those require some brain power) and not much else. Its easy to blame the network, but if Kings was what 10 million people wanted it would still be around. Another strike against it was its cost – relatively high.
The most annoying thing about Kings is they never got into any of the background of why the world in Kings turned out the way it did. At least with movies like ROLLERBALL (original not the awful remake), it explained a bit of how the world became the way it was. And it was never explained what the rest of the world looked like. It was like the Earth had only 2 small countries Gilboa and Gath and that was it.
You know there was no promotion of DSM AND if my tivo didn’t catch it for me I would not have known it was on. They canceled an amazing show and I am psyched these 4 eps will air but really they should bring it back. Cable is better suited for such an awesome show. There are a lot of DSM fans who had no idea it was even back on last Saturday.
This discussion is interesting, and I agree Kings is a great show and only NBC could have put it in the worst possible time slot and destroyed it so well.
Marketing 101 – know your target market. I don’t think intelligent people in their teens – 40’s were looking at leaving their programs mid-season on a Sunday (if they watched at all) or watch TV on Saturdays in the summer. Who watches TV programs for adults on Saturday nights at 8 PM – probably people 30 years older than the target. So someone at NBC really screwed up.
Examples of good scheduling making all the difference – The Closer on Monday nights with no competition but reruns or wrestling. Also the new show by NBC’s subsidiary USA called Royal Pains at 10 PM on Thursday nights after Burn Notice. Royal Pains is mediocre, but it follows a hugely popular show on cable and has a great time slot that largely works for its demographics.
Imagine if Kings had followed Burn Notice, as both shows appeal to the same age demographics (teens – 49) with a higher education and income than average. Kings would have had at least the numbers of Royal Pains, and probably better. (Note: RP beat all NBC new shows).
Yes Kings was expensive, so NBC should have taken extra pains to do it right, publicized it well, and trotted all the stars onto Leno, Conan, and the morning shows.
If NBC keeps relying on cheap reality shows, no one will watch. In May, Nielsen reported record TV watching while a plummet in network watching – despite it being sweeps month. Smart viewers are moving to cable.
Kings is your canary in the mine shaft.
I think Kings and Dirty Sexy Money are looking back
I don’t think their networks will renew them….
Right
Kings was the best show on NBC in years. I never saw any advertising for it. And yes, time slots, following a popular show, advertising and talk show promotion, and audience availability in the summer or new season do make all the difference to build an audience.
I guess the network is putting all their eggs in the Conan, Leno, Tina Fey basket (and yes, they make an effort to promote those).
SyFy + Kings = Perfect match?
SyFy couldnt afford it… and even if they could … not so sure it is a good match.
The way things are going, Kings fans, you never know when the producers of the show, or like-minded talent, will figure out a way to bring a product similar to Kings to some platform or other before you know it. Maybe it won’t be exactly the same show – maybe it will be streamlined and cheaper to make. Almost nothing ever dies in tvland or hollywood anymore – it just gets recycled.
William, sorry, but Kings is dead, and it’s not coming back. It was an extremely expensive production that didn’t work out. It won’t air on cable anywhere other than perhaps in reruns. It certainly won’t air on Syfy where movie reruns even on Saturday night in the summer perform around as well as or better than Kings!
I love Kings. I hope they renew it. I watch it on demand because I am not home on Saturdays. This show is one of the greatest. Lost and Kings are my all time favorite.
i missed dirty sexy money, i forgot it was comming one saturday
Kings is awesome! I am never home on Saturday nights but I have been watching it on demand. Based on the numbers I doubt it will be renewed. I think that the problem is not only its time slot but the migration of viewers to cable. At least that is my problem with the networks… I just hate commercials soooooo much.
I have turned a bunch of people onto Kings and there still hasn’t been one person who watched, that didn’t love it! NBC sucks and if they can’t figure out how to get the word out on this show…well…
A thought : I have said, after Kings was cancelled the first go around, that it could have been a runaway hit as a miniseries…I still believe that and it might not be a bad idea to pick it up for a second season and run the episodes as a miniseries. They would capture the miniseries jolt and the fans would get a second season!!
Michael, sorry you’re tired of folks ranting about KINGS and how good it is. Fact is it has a “growing” audience. I’ll predict that the show will come back for another season and start hitting the 10-12 million viewers mark.
^I can’t decide whether that was sarcasm ala Joss’ Biggest Fan or serious…
I was thrilled to see Dirty Sexy Money reappear in my recorded shows. To be honest, it took me by surprise because I thought they were repeats until I watched it. How many new episodes can I expect to see? I would love to see this show get renewed.
Christine, Dirty Sexy Money is dead. Two more unaired new episodes remain to be shown on August 1 and 8.
“The most annoying thing about Kings is they never got into any of the background of why the world in Kings turned out the way it did. At least with movies like ROLLERBALL (original not the awful remake), it explained a bit of how the world became the way it was. And it was never explained what the rest of the world looked like. It was like the Earth had only 2 small countries Gilboa and Gath and that was it.”
We essentially know why the world of Kings was the way it was. Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth will all explain it for you. They also mean a few extra TV series just to get to Kings, and do you REALLY want them to start at the very beginning, even if it is a very good place to start? If you don’t want to read all that, just visit any Rabbi, Minister, or Priest, who would be happy to give you a Cliff’s Notes version.
I Samuel 17 doesn’t really mention many countries except Philistine (or Philistia) and Israel in conjunction with the David and Goliath story, but those are the ones of primary importance to the participants so it is to be expected. You’ll note that Goliath is thought to be from Gath, so for the TV series they named the whole country Gath to remove it slightly from being direct proselytization. Likewise, they used Mount Gilboa — the site of a Philistine victory against the Israelites — as the name for David’s own country, rather than the more obvious Israel. Shiloh was the capital city of Israel, and they kept the name for the series.
In I Samuel 19, Saul ordered David to be killed, but Jonathan ended up saving him. Again, for the TV series they slightly altered the events to heighten dramatic tension, but it’s pretty much the story as written. The major difference is that they made David and Jonathan enemies instead of friends, but we’ll never know where they would have gone with that story over time. As with many Biblical accounts the story glosses over most of the details so that you need to fill in most of the blanks yourself, hence lots of dramatic license for the show.
The final episode of the series is probably I Samuel 19:18, unless I’m missing the show’s storyline somewhat. David fled a lot, since he was always fighting somebody or other, so I may be equating the show’s final scene with the wrong flight.
The show’s name is pretty obviously a reference that they intended to keep going through II Samuel and both I and II Kings, since all main characters keep either being killed or dying of old age. If you ignore the whole religious overtone, the Bible is full of fairly rip-snortin’ tales of intrigue, sex, and betrayal, and most of them are better than any dramas on TV today. Several, such as David and Goliath, also happen to have lots of references in other works from around the same time, so it’s easy to add some additional flavor to the tale.
The failure of Kings on TV, though, is a pretty good indicator that what the Christian right have been saying, namely “we want more Christian stories on TV” is simply not true, since they avoided the show in droves.