| Scoreboard |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating: Adults 18-49 | 3.5/9 | 3.2/8 | 3.1/8 | 2.3/6 | 1.4/4 | 0.9/2 |
| Rating: Adults 18-34 | 2.5/7 | 2.2/7 | 2.5/8 | 2.4/7 | 1.5/4 | 1.2/4 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.426 | 11.889 | 8.299 | 5.719 | 3.552 | 1.759 |
ABC’s V dropped 29% To A 3.7 adults 18-49 rating on Tuesday night. That’s the largest % drop from a premiere to a second episode this fall. Even with that big drop, a 3.7 rating is very good. V is still likely to be ABC’s #3 show this week behind Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, but where it settles is what matters, and that will likely not be known until it returns in the spring. For reference, for ABC scripted dramas the current “danger zone” is below a 2.7 rating.
As it has been this fall, CBS stayed atop the average ratings on Tuesday night with an overall 3.5 adults 18-49 rating, stretching its lead over ABC by a tenth of a point from last week as its shows held mostly steady. NCIS was down 2% to a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating, which was its lowest original episode rating of the season. NCIS:LA was up 3% to a 3.7 rating and The Good Wife was flat, tieing its lowest series rating.
Even as V was sinking, buoyed by a Susan Boyle guest visit, Dancing With The Stars was up 10% from last week to a 3.4 rating. And an In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts special (with interviews of country music stars in advance of the Country Music Awards) tallied a 2.4 rating, 26% better than last week’s results for the forgotten.
Winning the 9pm hour, NBC’s Biggest Loser was up 6% overall from last week to a 3.7 rating. And Tuesday’s continue to be The Jay Leno Show’s best night as it tallied a 1.9 rating, down 5% from last week.
For the CW, 90210 matched its season high for adults 18-49 with a 1.2 rating and had a 2.5 rating for women 18-34. The good news ends there however, as Melrose Place dropped back to a 0.7 rating for adults 18-49 (vs. .8 last week) and a 1.1 rating for women 18-34 vs. 1.4 last week. Next week Heather Locklear joins the sinking ship that is Melrose Place. Good luck with that.
In Late-Night Local People Meters Tuesday night:
- Conan O’Brien (1.0/4 in 18-49 in local people meters) defeated CBS’s Late Show (0.9/4) in Nielsen’s 24 local markets with People Meters.
- At 12:35 a.m., Jimmy Fallon (0.6/3 in 18-49 in local people meters) topped CBS’s Late Late Show (0.5/3).
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 8:00 | CBS | NCIS | 4.0 | 11 | 19.651 |
| ABC | V | 3.7 | 10 | 10.724 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 3.1 | 9 | 8.775 | |
| FOX | So You Think You Can Dance | 2.3 | 6 | 6.112 | |
| CW | 90210 | 1.2 | 3 | 2.264 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | NCIS | 4.3 | 11 | 20.739 |
| ABC | V | 3.7 | 10 | 10.405 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 3.5 | 9 | 9.249 | |
| FOX | So You Think You Can Dance | 2.4 | 6 | 6.169 | |
| CW | 90210 | 1.2 | 3 | 2.158 | |
| 9:00 | NBC | The Biggest Loser | 3.9 | 10 | 9.784 |
| CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles | 3.8 | 10 | 16.655 | |
| ABC | Dancing With The Stars | 3.4 | 9 | 15.290 | |
| FOX | So You Think You Can Dance | 2.4 | 6 | 5.494 | |
| CW | Melrose Place | 0.7 | 2 | 1.353 | |
| 9:30 | NBC | The Biggest Loser | 4.3 | 11 | 10.518 |
| CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles | 3.6 | 9 | 15.727 | |
| ABC | Dancing With The Stars | 3.4 | 9 | 15.780 | |
| FOX | So You Think You Can Dance | 2.3 | 6 | 5.099 | |
| CW | Melrose Place | 0.6 | 2 | 1.260 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | The Good Wife | 2.8 | 7 | 13.144 |
| ABC | In the Spotlight (special) | 2.7 | 7 | 10.824 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 2.0 | 5 | 6.037 | |
| 10:30 | CBS | The Good Wife | 2.6 | 8 | 12.639 |
| ABC | In the Spotlight (special) | 2.0 | 6 | 8.309 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.8 | 5 | 5.432 |
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You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
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.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
If it drops any further, it’s toast. If it stays the same, I could see ABC ordering a 2nd season.
Not bad, on the slightly steeper side of average for a second ep drop off
ABC did not promote the second episode nearly enough. I enjoyed week one and was interested in seeing week two but completely forgot. There were only 15 minutes left in the show before I remembered and I didn’t want to turn it on and ruin anything. There should be a re-air if ep 2 before ep 3 with heavy promotion for them both.
Two words: Bionic Woman…
Damn, if V continues dropping that way, I think it could be just 4 episodes and that’s gonna be all
It’ll probably rise again in finals, but still, fuck.
Parenthood, it’s still got a ways to drop before it’s in danger of not getting a second season. But a drop like this can’t be good after the supposedly great pilot. Particularly when we all know there are problems coming up.
It’s worse than Bionic Woman. When I did my “prediction” in the other thread, I predicted a 4/10 because I was copying BW’s numbers. I thought V would be down, I didn’t realize this much.
Bionic Woman didn’t insult half of its audience by implying they were dumb cultists. No wonder it did better.
@S.
Does look eerily like it, doesn’t it? Big open, goes out with a whimper inside of 3 months.
V is a show that will continue to drop….thats a huge drop from the first episode. 3.7 from a 5.1. Thats horrible….
I hope it evens out by the fourth episode…. oh wait. Then it won’t be on for months. ABC screwed up with this hiatus they planned. It will have between a 2.7 and 3.3 in two weeks. Thats respectable, but then it goes away and people get into American Idol, (this year idol should be pretty big – it’s one of those years in America….), and V will fall flat. Say, 2.5, maybe 2.7 come march.
Damn ABC. Get smarter – like FOX (outside of Friday).
Ouch…but not completely unexpected.
Given reports of troubles with production/storylines and the upcoming hiatus, I wouldn’t bet on V lasting for a second season.
Most people I know who like this kind of show didn’t care for the pilot, which is why I guessed a big drop to 3.8. Off by .1.
I like Elizabeth Mitchell but she’s woefully miscast. She does calm and porcelain well. A single mom fbi agent? Uh, no.
It’s only going to keep going down. After enjoying the pilot, last night’s episode was very mediocre and will be the last I watch.
…and yes, insulting more than half of is audience is not the way to do it ABC…..
If you voted for OBAMA your an evil alien….??? Wow V, wow.
Half hour show data table now added to the post.
After its huge opening, it’s already where FlashForward was in week 2.
everybody calm down.
the show is on against the #1 show in the country.
….AND FOX got good 18 – 34 demos for the night, like they are aiming for Tue and Wed.
SYTYCD will likely be back in the fall next year, seemed to work okay for them.
….. RON, the number one show in te country does not start until January. Then, is when they can all freak out
.
Holy GOD! From a 5.0 to a 3.7?
I’m interested to see where you put it on the Renew/Cancel index.
The “biggest show in the country” which hit a season low last night? That one? NCIS didn’t hurt V last week, why would it this week?
Melrose hits a series low…
American Idol, VS NCIS, VS V, VS The Biggest Loser??
Should be interesting.
FOXS Juggernaut, VS CBS’s Juggernaut, VS NBC’s #1 show, VS ABC’s well, we will see what happens there.
MichyGeary, 5.2, not 5.0. But at 3.7 it’s still well within renewal territory. But that all depends on where it stops dropping.
Ouch for V cant see it staying there. Ron yes its agaisnt the biggest show in the country but bet you werent saying that last week when it did a 5.1 and its dropped to a 3.7 thats a massive drop no matter whats its agaisnt.
melrose place has it lowest episode 1 week before amanda’s return right?
can amanda ressurect the show next week????i dont think so!!!& what r the cw prospects for her return.2..3.. millions???
@Julia: Ah sorry, I remember reading 4.9 and 5.1 for V’s premiere.
Bill, You have the wrong demo for Biggest Loser in the commentary.
Scott Rosenbaum (the new showrunner) has finished his work on Chuck and he’s switching to V full time. I think it will only get better, now that the “The 4400″ people are of the case.
Nevermind, I was just looking at the 9:00 hour
V and 90210 were also the only shows in that timeslot that lost audience share while playing, albeit by amounts so low they’re close to the margin of error. What’s clear though is that everyone else gained audience during the evening.
Maybe ABC can pitch V to Fox to take over for the rest of the season, as a way to shore up their ailing Friday nights?
look at Jay Leno back to 5million +. just goes to show you, TJL relies heavily on lead ins.
I don’t think the drop is a big deal. This show has a limited lifespan anyway, and it will end up being a vehicle to launch Morena Baccarin into stardom.
NCIS is once again on top…
People are calling a 3.7 bad? Yes, it was down… Of course, but a 3.7 is not BAD.
Darn, I loved the pilot episode but I completely forgot about this show last night. I agree with the other comments, this show is badly promoted.
The only thing funnier than people’s pie-in-the-sky predictions for the second episode (a 5.0? really?) is the 3.7=doomed talk in here.
People, please. There was no doubt that the pilot held a high curiosity and nostalgia factor and the initial drop-off would be steep. This is no indication of how the show will do in the next couple of episodes. Maybe it’ll level out. Maybe it’ll go down. But I doubt ABC is ready to pull the plug right this second with a 3.7, which ABC would likely still kill for with any of its new shows.
I thought the V pilot was okay – not amazing, but enough to keep me watching.
Episode 2 wasn’t great for me. The problem is I’m just not that interested in the characters. I think Anna is working well (nice mix of iciness and charm) but everyone else is kind of bland and one dimensional… a little like the Flash Forward cast.
As for Melrose… I watched the first 2 episodes and then gave up. Thought it was all a bit of a mess. But I will watch next week for Amanda… if she works and the show has found it’s feet I’ll continue… but this is absolutely the show’s last chance.
I think if V can float around 3.5 should be fine. It’s a 4 story arc with a big hanger at the end.. the break is long yes, but at least that means they can promote it into another time less crowed time slot when it returns..
my .02
A lot of people checked out V last week simply out of curiosity. They probably weren’t going to beome regular viewers. I also saw mostly negative reaction to the first episode at the boards I usually visit. I think there could be another substantial drop after this second episode. I mostly liked the first one, then this one was just too slow and rather boring. I’m not giving up on the show yet but I’d like better.
A 3.7 is still good. If V stays in that range (though it probably won’t), it’ll be fine. Otherwise, just depends on how much it drops.
NBC’s best night of the week (except for Sunday and football) thanks to “Biggest Loser” which even helps elevate Leno. Just think if NBC had a show like L&O SUV on after Biggest Loser–they might actually win the night.
That’s a big drop for V, NCIS recovered nicely will be interesting if it hits a 5.0 by December. SYTYCD did alright but the drop throughout two hours is not a good sign whereas Loser gained through two hours. NCIS LA seems to have stabilised but I think CBS will likely keep it after NCIS for the time being.
90210’s audience is flat which is fine but Melrose is definetly the weak link, a pairing of 90210 and Gossip Girl would work well.
per above I meant SVU not SUV
Maybe SyFy needs to run another V Original marathon this weekend.
A 3.7 rating is very good. V is still likely to be ABC’s #3 show this week behind Housewives and Grey’s, but as Julia points out, where it settles is what matters, and that will likely not be known until it returns in the spring.
For those defending 3.7, the issue is that ABC knows that there are problems with the post-pilot episodes. That’s why they shut down production and got a new showrunner. If it dropped nearly 30% after the one really good episode, where does it stop dropping? They have to be concerned, but of course they aren’t going to pull it. And they will start production back up. No one suggested otherwise.
A 3.7 is still really good. I think most people are just surprised by the huge drop from last week. Unless it continues to drop like that I don’t see why ABC wouldn’t renew it.
Watched the V premiere and didn’t find it worthy of further viewing. I predict the numbers to fall much, much farther. Elizabeth Mitchell is extremely talented and credible, but she won’t save this one.
Ouch, FlashForward all over again
The pilot episode of V was decent. The second episode was rubbish. I can’t get past the bad acting and terrible dialogue.
Samuel, FlashForward only dropped 8% in its second airing.
I actually really like this show and I hope it doesn’t drop any further.
I love NCIS, everyone knows I love NCIS, but I honestly doubt it could ever have much effect on V ratings. That was actually counter-programming at its best from ABC.
Besides with all the doom and gloom talk V got before its premiere and with how people think the sun shines out of Castle’s ass for a lousy 2.3, it’s still doing pretty well.
Alright! My pessimistic 3.9 was close!
I thought the premiere was okay but I chose not to watch it last night. Honestly the hype of the show during the past week turned me off. I can’t stand when a network puts out promos bragging about how “18 million people tuned in and this show is the biggest smash hit ever for all of mankind.” So when those of you say it was “badly promoted”…uh definitely! If you have a quality series, then you promote what the episode will be about not its rating stats. Science Fiction fans are not the typical “sheeple” like the Dancing of the Stars and American Idol tv audience (no offense). They aren’t just going to tune into a show just because of popularity.
Yet again, ABC knew it would start huge from nostalgia value before collapsing – that was the whole reason it was scheduled in February.
I personally thought it would end up somewhere between 3.5 and 3.8 – a lot of the first week audience was non sci-fi people watching once, again for nostalgia value.
As to the rest of the run:
3.3
2.9
That said, ABC’s Spring cupboards are so bare they will probably finish the rest of the order. Who knows, depending on the penalty WB applies, episodes 5-13 may cost them less than the makegoods from the ratings Copper/Happy Town would cause.
The thing is I was actually shocked by how WELL the first episode did. I expected it’s numbers to be a bit closer to where it ended up this week. I think the inflated initial numbers make these decent #’s look worse than they are. As you all are saying, what really matters is where it goes from here…
I am curious to see how many viewers will be gained by DVR play over the next few days. ABC shows seem to do pretty well with DVR numbers. That’s one of the drawbacks to appealing to a young and diverse audience, and contrary to what’s published here at times, I believe those numbers are not ignored in decision making. Either way, I would imagine that ABC would be happy with anything between 8-10 million viewers with good demo numbers.
Two data points added to the post:
NCIS rating was its lowest this season.
Confirmed that the 29% drop was the largest premiere > second episode ratings fall this season.
There was a one minute run-over into the 9pm hour prior to DWTS Results starting, so V may increase in finals, though the drop is bigger than one would hope.
I really like the show too. I really hope this is around where the rating level off.
The drop was predictable. The premiere was heavily hyped and I suspect a lot of people who remember the orignal V tuned in.
If it can hold a 3.7 or even a 2.7 against Idol it will be OK.
Its problem may be in the likeability of its characters.
Anna is the only compellingly interesting character.
With regard to the mandatory blond, kick ass female detective lead. I’m sorry, she is not really believable in this role. The female leads on Fringe and Castle are more believable.
Just in case anyone wondered: Robin Roberts was interviewing various country music stars last night in advance of the CMAs.
Her interview with Janet Jackson airs one week from tonight.
Is it just me or does about 70% of shows on television these days have people worried about cancellation. It’s really hard to even start watching a show until it’s been around a few years and you know it’s gonna be around. The Nielsen ratings system is an arcaic method that needs to be replaced with one that more accurately gauges exposure a show has over the half dozen different ways people view shows.
Advertisers and networks need to adapt to the fact that no one watches the commercials anymore and work on product placement as a better form of advertisment. DVRs, Hulu, torrents, DVD sales, YouTube, iTunes, network streamed episodes on their website.
The music industry and label recognize the downfall of physical copies of albums and increased sales via iTunes. Why can’t television also adapt to the route their industry is headed?
Zedman, considering both V and DWTS were even in both of their half hours, I don’t think that one minute makes much of a difference. But we shall see. At the most it’ll go up to 3.8, making it a 27% drop instead.
Get out your bingo cards everyone! Gleebo just filled in a square!
What a lie on wikipedia it says lost has moved to Friday
@Michael J,
We also already had “They didn’t promote it enough” and “But it’s up against [ratings juggernaut]“
Two words: Bionic Woman…
———————————
I don’t even know if that drop was this big. Not good at all and it will only continue to drop.
down analynn “drunkface” mccord
i Dont think anyone is saying a 3.7 is bad as it isnt its still acutal very good. The problem is the pilot was ok the 2nd episode was rubbish imho and seems like many others agree. The worry is how far is it going to drop as i can see it dropping again nexted week with what people are saying about the 2nd episode
I’d bet V goes up to 3.8 or 3.9 in the finals…still a big drop but I don’t think the “non scifi people tuning into a heavily hyped premiere” factor can be overestimated.
I think it can settle at a 3.0 and ABC will be fine with it.
Not that bad- I was expecting a similar drop (I had been saying that even if it dropped 30%, that would bring itto 10m- which is a lot higher than what ABC had been getting in the time slot). And, it fared a little better, with an average 10.56 million (overnights, anyhow).
There definitely wasn’t the crazy amount of promo for the second episode (which is to be expected).
Question: Are “On Demand” viewings taken into account at all? I catch some of the ABC shows that way- not that I have a Nielsen box.
Still wish the Nielsen survey was bigger than it is- 99%+ of the population not counting toward the ratings doesn’t seem all that fair, does it?
Leno’s numbers were up. NBC started having the biggest loser eliminated contestants on Leno. Smart move.
I cant believe people to continue to tune into the borefest that is NCIS. I guess i’m not old enough to get why it attracts so many viewers.
And we’ve got Nielsen doesn’t work!
When you insult a guy and he turns his back on you for 5 seconds, what do you think is coming next?? That’s right, a bloody punch in the nose. And the fat kid drooling over pretty “girl”. The strong female agent, the confused priest. The writers better drop the tired cliches. They should also borrow from NCIS and blur the entire ‘area’ if they’re going to show somebody on an alien table; it’s not believable that aliens will let you to keep your underwear.
I’ll give them one more episode (that be the 3rd episode) to fix things. If the signs of misandry continue, I won’t watch any more.
ur right gleebo..but common sense would take the fanatics who post here out of the equation!
They need to chat to each other about % and have opinions!
What happened to the days when we just watched the show or saw the movie and didnt worry about how much it was making!
Im sure v will be around for a long time it aint no bionic woman,I got some spare complaint forms for this post if anyone needs any.
The V and Bionic Woman comparisons are spot on. Both shows were both highly-touted, had well-performing pilots but both are just incredibly mediocre when it comes to content (being nice). I don’t think it will drop as low as Bionic Woman since people are more forgiving to lousy shows these days, but we’ll see.
what on earth was in the spotlight?
The “new showrunner for episodes 5+” thing isn’t going to work either. Dollhouse’s ratings didn’t suddenly climb after episode six, despite the fact it was virtually a different show from that point on and started getting critical acclaim. Indeed, the new season has, with one blip, shown a ratings decline consistent with the end of Dollhouse’s first season.
In other words, just because ABC have recognized they have a dud on their hands and rolled some heads doesn’t mean that the first four episodes aren’t going to sink the show. V has an uphill climb to make from here on. People were turned off by the first episode. The second episode seems to have attracted very poor reviews. Three and four will, apparently, be just as bad. Nobody’s going to buy a “We made it better, honest, it isn’t the poorly written Glennbeckish thing we started out with” excuse for episodes five onwards, even if its true.
And bear this in mind too: Dollhouse’s first five episodes were shown because Fox genuinely thought that they were something audiences could stand, perhaps even better than what Whedon would have preferred to do (which doesn’t excuse Whedon – Belle Chose proved he could write great standalones.) The only reason Ep 6 on were radically different is because after they’d already started screening them, heads rolled at Fox itself, and Whedon was told to do it his way by new people who didn’t agree with their predecessors.
ABC, likewise, thinks the first four episodes of V are worth screening, but unlike Dollhouse the same people who think that are also responsible for the changes in V. Whatever changes they want made must be seen in a framework by which they see what they’re showing as “good enough”. If you’re expecting massive improvements from the fifth episode onwards, you may be in for a shock.
I predicted this last week for V, Big Premiere, Big Drop second episode, will continue to drop in the next two episodes. will return in march to lousy numbers because by then the audience will be fixated on American Idol. V will not return for a second season but hey cheer up, the entire series will be available on dvd by june!
Thanks Holly! I missed those two.
I think the problem with a show like V, or FlashForward for that matter, is that the show creators take a plot that is best-suited for a movie (aliens invade earth or the world experiences a strange phenomenon) and try to sustain interest week and week. The story starts with a bang, but then it meanders with perhaps only one major plot advancement in every episode. People get bored with the pace and move onto something else. Say what you will about procedurals or medical shows (I find them a bit boring myself), but they are well-suited to a television format with a case of the week and the occasional longer story arc.
The show is a great timeslot improvement for ABC even with a 3.7 or 3.8 for episode 2 V is still a winner. We know this is a short run of 4 episodes kinda like a mini series and it held stead thru the hour in viewers and demos so I believe that at most the next show will be similar in the 3.5 to 3.9 range.
I think that a better comparison might be Studio 60. It started out big, went out of its way to portray a large portion of its audience as idiots (people who like reality shows, people who take the Bible literally,etc.) and wound up losing viewers each week.
gmyers, it was interviews with country music stars. I will edit that into the post.
Diane, glad to see someone agrees with me. I’ve been saying basically the same thing about FF for the last month or so.
I have watched idol since like season 2 or something mostly becuase my wife likes it. But isnt it getting old? Now they have a judge in ellen that doesnt even havea music backgroud. Its the same formula every year. I am so sick of that show and am tired of it killing other good scripted shows.
@ Bill Gorman – Thanks
I really dont get why Melrose Place is doing so badly. The show’s quality has gone up since the pilot and is already much better than GG, 90210 (when comparing to other CW shows). Its a solid soap opera with everything that this genre should have. I definitely recommend it.
If V stays above a 3.0 by episode 4, I will eat my hat. And my hat has some sharp parts on it, so it’s not going to go down easy, may even cause some internal bleeding.
I think V will fall weekly, and then there’ll be the hiatus due to lack of episode production, and bam. cancelled.
Dropoff for V was a little steeper than I anticipated but to be expected I guess. It’s still got a decent amount of falling room before it’s in danger though, but then again look at how FlashForward’s been falling.
Again Leno is actually making good use of the Biggest Loser lead-in by having the castoffs as a guest.
I wouldn’t know if V is bad or not – they play it at midnight here in the midwest because of the Phil Fisher show (LAME!!!)…I’m not going out of my way to see a show and chase it down through different air times…I’ll wait for the DVD if at all, now…If ABC re-runs it and the affiliate here plays it on normal time…then I’ll try and catch it…
…in the mean time…I’m still counting down to “24″…
A big drop is to be expected because the tune-in factor was soooo high for the premiere. There was a lot of pent up demand to see the premiere – but even if it was the best show ever, a decent % was going to bail. ABC should be happy if it stays above a 3 – which I think it will for the 4 week run – who knows about what might happen when it comes back next year
Yes 3.7 is a great rating (there isn’t a show I like that wouldn’t make a deal with the devil for that type of rating, hell the highest any show I watch this season has got is 3.5). And if last week it had only got a 4.0, then damn, its time to break out the champagne at ABC.
But it debuted with a 5.2 . So that is a very scary drop, for just one episode. And with the reported problems with (I think ) two showrunners. Then the break to save it from the Olympics, we could be seeing a serious drop by May to the 2.5 level. Hell in the next two weeks I wouldn’t be surprised if it dropped down right near a 3.0.
Mark, even if it debuted to 4.0 and dropped to 3.7, I don’t think that’s champagne time. I mean, that’s exactly what FlashForward did, and look at it now.
I wouldn’t know if V is bad or not – they play it at midnight here in the midwest because of the Phil Fisher show (LAME!!!)…
Pjil Fisher??? Do you mean Steve Fisher The coach of the Tennesee Titans.
is the Phil Fisher show anything like the Jeff Fisher (head coach of the Tennessee Titans” and if so does Tennessee really count as the midwest?
Melrose Place, boy I can’t comment about the quality of it (or 90210) as I have never watched even a minute of either programming. But just from ratings, you are killing the CW’s Tuesday.
THis is Beautiful Life type numbers.
Hell, look at Smallville a show that’s audience is almost 2/3rd men and on a night with a significant lower Hut level (and facing a bunch of female driven shows Ghost Whisper, Ugly Betty, ect) and it still got the same w18-34 last week, and of course significantly higher male demos. Thats just sad.
One expects these female driven soaps to do better in the w18-34 then other shows with a more even male/female audience breakdown.
If Heather can’t generate any real significant up tick, then if I was the CW I think I might change my plans for there mid season shows.
Julie
Well thats true, but that was still a much softer initial drop (where you can at least hope for a quick leveling off), this is a scary drop (though for all I know t could level off immediately, but I doubt it).
@ Diane and john:
I said that I was very doubtful about the success of both FlashForward and V in the summer, because I didn’t think that kind of concept could be a winner in today’s tv business. Guess I wasn’t too wrong.
They can easily work as movies, but as tv series, not so much. Wrong medium.
Julia
Sorry for calling you Julie but I am sick as a dog.
No one seems to know the name of this Fisher guy. I wonder if the one market that he airs in is concerned by that.
V opened big due to nostalgia and a huge promotional campaign. The show itself has excellent production values, but lacks emotional impact at the character-relationship level for viewers to care. Wowee zowee incidents will not carry the show. This show will continue to plummet. New show runners may improve this, but will viewers tune in when a revamped show starts in March?
I think V would benefit from a time frame. I like the show, and I wonder if people would be more compelled to watch if it had a definitive end (of course pending the initial ratings before something like this happens). This is a show that should probably be on the air for 2-3 years, have a fantastic story arc, and then be done. I’m actually curious why, with the television market the way it is, that some studio has not decided to try this out (excluding Lost).
The Neilsen families are idiots. That system is sooo outdated or they have no attention span. I’ve seen the old V and it was OK so didn’t expect too much of the new V but I was pleasantly suprised. Why 14 million didn’t watch the 2nd week is because most of them have no attention span!
So many bloggers here sound like idiots to prematurely doom a new show that has a 3.7 in its second episode against stiff competition. ABC was getting like a 1.5 average prior to “V”. I’d say, at this point, that it has a fighting chance for a second season and leave it at that. Weeks 3 and 4 will give us a picture of what’s to come.
How it does in the coming weeks, I suspect, will have to do with how much exposure it gets from what seems to be a mounting controversy.
To the liberals who keep complaining about the subtle (or perhaps, not so subtle) Obama criticism:
Seriously, smarten up and just don’t watch if it bothers u so much. Continuing to complain will only provide “V” with even more exposure and fuel the conservatives.
Trying to silence the shows voice, regardless to whether it is critical of our president or ANYBODY, is very un-American. We are still protected by the 1st Ammendment in this country, but then again, your typical liberal likes to enforce that freedom only when it suits their own agenda.
I guessed right with 10 million but I was a little higher in the demo.
And we have “People are too stupid to get the show”
thats really disappointing for v. then again it is a sci fi show and its up against ncis for goodness sake. i think if it was at 9 instead it would have done better. this sucks i can’t see how things are going to get any better.if it could just consistently get around those numbers its safe but i won’t bet money on that. guess i’ll go back to watching 90210 soon instead of online.
Punisher
The funny thing is that I think the show is moving way, way to fast. Not to slow at all, not in the slightest. I thought the pilot covered material that should have been fleshed out over say 3 or 4 episodes.
Love V, sorry to see the viewers dropped so much, but it was expected. Hopefully it will stay at about this level.
Still can’t figure out why so many people like NCIS.
3.7 is not bad at all, it’s the drop that is scary, especially considering it usually takes a show 4-5 episodes to stabilize. I think if this was a later episode people would be cheering and calling it a success, but it’s only more likely to drop as time goes on. While I watched the pilot for nostalgia, I actually ended up enjoying it. Episode 2 on the other hand barely kept my attention.
That’s about what I expected… below 10 million next week. Doesn’t mean the show is over, just that it’s not the powerhouse some crazy people were claiming it would be.
Like Heroes – I think V would be better if it were just one season. That would give me a reason to watch the WHOLE SEASON. But instead it will drag out and lose its luster.
Michael wrote: “…Still can’t figure out why so many people like NCIS…”
NCIS is like family: it takes some time to get used to, but once you do, it sticks with you. Someday you’ll see the cast posing for a publicity shot in a bedroom setting.
Tom – ooh, the “People disagree with me, therefore they’re trying to quash my first ammmmmmendment rights” argument. That’s original.
V is obnoxiously insulting to half of its audience (more than half, actually.) With that, and with the not insignificant issues of being poorly written, directed, paced, and generally being crappy all around, it’s going to hemorrhage viewers. We’re just pointing that out.
Someday you’ll see the cast posing for a publicity shot in a bedroom setting.
…. What sort of family do you come from?
V is here to stay. =)
I know everyone here is all about the numbers, but after 2 episodes, some of you are already proclaiming this is DOA?? Good God It still got over 10M viewers and a 3.7 is still pretty good considering it’s competing directly with the most watched show in the country right now.
I recall a few people here proclaiming NCIS LA and The Good Wife were DOA and look where they are sitting right now.
Melrose Place appears to be on life support right now. 1.3 and 0.6 is awful. I’ve watched every episode thus far, but I wonder if Heather really has a strong enough fanbase to tune in next week and give the show a boost.
Don J, no one who knows anything about numbers said that NCIS: LA was DOA. It was one of the highest rated premieres this season, and has kept very decent numbers. The Good Wife on the other hand, while it got a full season order is very unlikely to get a second season. So anyone who proclaimed those numbers to be bad was right.
Again, I don’t see a single comment in this thread that thinks ABC is about to pull the show or anything. All that’s being said is this is a very severe drop, worst this season, and it most likely is not done dropping. Where it finishes in two weeks will be interesting to see, but when it takes a four month hiatus after that, it will likely kill any sort of momentum that may be left in the show. (And I’m guessing there won’t be much left to kill at that point.)
Michael,
NCIS is a procedural drama and all the plots are self contained. The show has developed solid cast chemistry over the years and the characters are a little bit quirkier than your typical CBS drama, which I think is part of the appeal of the show.
The show is well-liked, but on message boards I typically visit, it doesn’t gather much discussion since the show doesn’t have alot of serialized elements that carry over week to week.
I had expected a solid 25% drop in the demo, and I expected the audience drop to not be quite as severe. The limited surveys that were done indicated the pilot provided everything the curious wanted to know, and younger viewers in particular were more likely to be done with the show.
The on-going problem, as it was in the first iteration, is that there is nothing new about this show to discover after the pilot. The aliens are reptiles, the aliens mean us harm in some way, and the resistance will fight a never ending battle against them because obviously no one can truly win if the show is to continue.
There is one twist that I was told was pitched/discussed for the series that introduces an element not present (but apparently briefly mentioned) in the original miniseries/TV series, but it doesn’t solve the overall problem, and it doesn’t come into play until near the end of the first season. This is not a tease as in “give it a chance until the end of the season,” because I don’t think it’s going to help much.
Gleebo says at November 11, 2009 at 9:17 am:
“Is it just me or does about 70% of shows on television these days have people worried about cancellation. It’s really hard to even start watching a show until it’s been around a few years and you know it’s gonna be around.”
I’m really tired of this comment. First of all, it’s not true – at least for the emotionally well balanced. Second of all, why struggle to watch a show? Why struggle to do anything related to passively observing entertainment programming? Well, because no one does.
“Advertisers and networks need to adapt to the fact that no one watches the commercials anymore and work on product placement as a better form of advertisment.”
On behalf of the creative people that have to regularly fight against obnoxious product placement from being hammered into the context (or even STORYLINE) of a show and often fail at it because money usually wins over everything else, kiss my buttocks.
V is done. Why do the broadcast nets even bother with scripted programming? It costs a fortune and no one watches it. I expect every broadcast net to look just like the E! channel two years from now. It least there are still some good shows on cable.
Julia,
The Good Wife IMO has a significant advantage over it’s past Tuesday at 10pm predecessors (Shark, The Unit and Without a Trace) is it being a CBS Production with a lower licensing fee. The other shows got similar numbers, but were produced by different studios (FOX and WB) and had larger production budgets with higher licensing fees, which was the main reason all of them get the axe. Plus, The Good Wife has a smaller “series regular” cast.
Even Shawn Ryan, the producer of The Unit, said a few months ago The Unit would have stayed on the air if it was owned by CBS.
Maybe all the people who bought Modern Warfare 2 yesterday recorded V for today
Too Bad….You obviously have no idea what the hell your talking about. Look at the grid above. Plenty of people watch scripted TV.
Julia wrote: “…. What sort of family do you come from?”
Sort of like The Waltons.
“Is everybody in bed?”
“1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10… Where is John-Boy?”
“I’m finishing tonight’s narrative.”
“Hurry up and turn off the lights.”
“OK. G’night granmaw! G’night, granpaw! G’night paw, g-night maw, Mary Ellen, Erin, Jason, Ben, Elizabeth, Jim-Bob!”
“G’night John-Boy!!!”
Don J, CBS has to cancel shows to make room for new shows. The Good Wife is their third worst performing drama (not counting Fridays.) This year they have three new dramas on the air Sunday – Thursday. If they stick to that (and when you look at their past history, it’s not too difficult to imagine them sticking to that) The Good Wife is gone.
Hmmm… my prediction was percentages only and it dropped the entire 3 weeks I predicted in just one (17/8/2-3% was my call over 3 weeks). 29% vs my call of 27-28% for episodes 2 – 4. I guess I was a bit of an optimist. Yipes.
Still, it’s not (yet) in danger of joining Hank and Eastwick in Cancel-land. If drops like that continue, though…
@Julia,
The only thing making me think that it might survive is the shortened order for Numb3rs. Assuming they cancel the Sunday shows and Numb3rs, that gives them three open hour-longs, which could be enough for them. Of course, a lot depends on their development this year.
Still impressive given its competition. NCIS is the #1 scipted show on television. I actually know several people who have expressed a desire to watch V but won’t give up NCIS to do so. I suspect V might have a healthy DVR and iTunes sales tally.
Holly, CBS has canceled one show from Fridays and replaced it with something else most years. Unless Numb3rs and Medium or Ghost Whisperer are gone, Numb3rs doesn’t count in my calculations.
That’s too bad. The second episode was much better than the pilot, I thought. Then again, that was the problem: the pilot. Even though I liked parts of it it left me with no faith the show itself would turn out to be any good. I was pretty shocked when the show turned out to be good.
Also, promotion was where?
Here’s the full Melrose Place trailer featuring Heather Locklear!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awPlxMiyuYc&feature=player_embedded
GLEEs on tonight, going to be amazing
julia – they ordered an additional episode of the good wife expanding from 22 to 23 episodes clearly they are satisfied with it
woah bad for V such a drop
I’m really surprised that V dropped so much. I thought that the first episode (and the second episode, for that matter) was outstanding. Indeed, I thought that it was one of the best pilots that I have ever seen and was sure that the ratings would either stay pretty much the same for the second episode or go higher. But I guess there’s no accounting for taste. Apparently, most people want to watch the same old, boring crime dramas or reality shows.
However, on the bright side the ratings for the second episode are still good. If V can retain those ratings and build upon them then it should be around for quite a while. V would actually probably still be in good shape even if it fell a little bit more, though hopefully it doesn’t.
Even if the drop was only 15% from the premiere what really matters is what happens when it comes back in 2010.
The competition will be different, tastes change and depending on how the fourth episode ends, you may not wet the whistle enough of the viewer to get them excited about its return in the spring. Audiences tend to be fickle with short attention spans. I dont think four episodes solidifies the characters and plot in the mind of the viewer to care whether the show returns or not.
Tar, Yes quite true. I’m not a great fan of THE GOOD WIFE but a show that airs a complete season without being yanked has done alright overall.
I don’t understand all of this poo-poo’ing about The Good Wife. Yes, it’s demos may not be that impressive considering the competition in the timeslot; however, as noted, it is a lower cost show, and it does have one other benefit that The Unit, Shark, and WaT didn’t have – it’s a new show with room to grow, especially if the critical acclaim leads to award nominations.
Personally, I’d like to see them leave the show on Tuesday for the rest of this season, and move it to lead off Friday next season as part of a TGW/GW/Medium block. CSI:NY could then move to Tuesday at 10:00, and they could use CM to launch a new show (ahem, CM spinoff).
V blundered a badly on audience demographics. After a Summer of stupid pot shots at liberals all over the media they made the most ridiculous pot shot. At the same time there were even more anti-religious pot-shots in the pilot. Honestly, I’m not too sure what the writers expected.
NCIS: LA seems to be growing in its slot and I think 5 years from now just like the original it could be carrying Tuesday Nights if NCIS isn’t around.
90210 has become Must See TV, its the best show on Tuesday Nights. I love the new feel and look of the show season to season. Its like a whole new show and so many people are missing out. Tristan Wilds called out Aunt Becky and says, “You’re Not My Real Mom Anyways.” Classic TV moment.
The Good wife does fairly well so I say move the good wife on Sundays and put a new show Tuesday at 8pm. Get rid of Cold CASE and Three Rivers.
Great Job NCIS. Last Night’s Episode was really good and Next Tuesday’s episode looks good too.
As for SYTYCD it is doing alright but not great so I say move it back to Summers, it is more of a Summer Show anyways
ABC is so stupid for airing V at 8pm on Tuesday with CBS, NBC best shows and FOX best show coming back in January….. move it….. NOW….ABC
Really Good Idea for putting the eliminated contestant from BL on Leno
I mean Tuesday at 10
If you all are wondering where many of the 18-49 viewers were last night, many of them were playing their new Call of Duty video game which released on Tuesday and will sell a record estimated 10-15 million copies this week alone. I know I wasn’t watching TV last night and was playing it (great game BTW) although I do have a few Tuesday night shows on my DVR which I will be catching up on a later date.
Really? Good Wife is getting cancelled? It’s getting 12 million viewers an episode, it’s at least interesting, as opposed to the CSi franchise, there seems to be a storyline to it.
YOu’d expect a drop liek that from V, it’s one of those show where people either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it, obviously about half of the 30% drop of viewers hated it, and the other half either missed it or DVR’d it.
V is already getting put in the same category as other sci-fi failures. Not good news for ABC. ABC is in really bad shape right now. They can’t find a hit to save them.
Meanwhile CBS continues to get it done as its the only broadcaster remaining that actually puts up good numbers.
“90210 has become Must See TV, its the best show on Tuesday Nights. I love the new feel and look of the show season to season. Its like a whole new show and so many people are missing out. Tristan Wilds called out Aunt Becky and says, “You’re Not My Real Mom Anyways.” Classic TV moment.”
I normally download 90210 but I had a chance for the first time since the pilot to watch it live and I like what I see. The CW actually did something right with this show. The problem is its on The CW.
Certain people need to stop being hungry to write off tv shows after 2 episodes. All new series drop after the pilot. I believe “V” will stabilize at 10 mil or more and 3.5- 4.0 demo. Plus we won’t know the DVR numbers until the 4 episodes are aired.
Julia said:
“…the issue is that ABC knows that there are problems with the post-pilot episodes. That’s why they shut down production and got a new showrunner.”
I would not necessarily believe ABC regarding the showrunner replacement. This is speculation but I imagine they shut it down and replaced showrunners (twice?) because they wanted to meddle and tinker with the show, not because it was actually considered “bad” by anyone other than network execs, and not because production was taking too long or going over budget. (Again that’s speculation and I’d be curious to know otherwise, if anyone can cite sources.)
I didn’t think last night’s episode was bad. The characters and dialogue could’ve been more fleshed-out and sharper but the pace was good and there was a powerful sense of paranoia and suspense. I like the concept that anybody might be a visitor in disguise. It’s not nearly as good as the original 80s miniseries though.
ABC has probably made a major blunder here. If they had left well enough alone and allowed production to continue then maybe they would have had 13 episodes ready to go, all in a row, straight through early February just before the Olympics, meaning the ratings would’ve had a better shot at leveling off. And a back nine could’ve been ready by April and May. Instead the execs just had to interfere and act like they know something about writing a TV show. Didn’t they say they shut it down because it was “too hard to follow” or something like that? Sheesh.
melrose….wow…locklear has her work cut out for her.
For the people who mentioned that V should set a time frame — V does have a definite run worked out — they were planning to do 4 seasons of 13 episodes, assuming the show didn’t get cancelled.
Arghhhh I really hope the numbers don’t fall too much more. I was expecting a drop off from the pilot of course, but this is pretty bad. And the 4 month hiatus isn’t going to help anything, even if the next 2 episodes are amazing. Hopefully they can at least keep above a 3, but I’m not even sure that will happen. It’s really too bad, since I think it has such potential, and the cast is top notch.
If the GREATEST program in TV history in LOST pulls in under 10 million viewers a week is any one surprised that Flash Forward and V will do the same.
Chuck
@ Alex c-Perfect, u summed it up,people are being hungry to write off tv shows after 2 episodes,
It’s crazy..people predicting bad things because it fell to a 2 point whatever 20 minutes into the broadcast…it’s like crazy superhero fans fussing about the colour of the cape!
@never mind,
Why do you come here if you hate discussions on the numbers?
Squiggleslash,
Blasting my earlier comments for lack of originality does not make it untrue. Just thought I’d point that out. Obviously I struck a nerve with you. Its all good, we can agree to disagree.
However, you are way off base in thinking that, because of its possible criticism of Obama, “V” is insulting to half the population. Not every democrat is so liberal that they’d be insulted by the Obama criticism in “V”. Most democrats, unlike you, are smarter than that.
Perhaps you should get over yourself and realize that you don’t speak for all democrats. I should know, since I am one. There is a difference between liberal and democrat, you know.
That’s a fair question holly,I get what u r saying.but the truth is this site is very good for straight up info that i like to know if my favourite new show will make it or not-thats the good part.
The part that gets me is that we are all in our 20s,30,40’s and for the posts to be so in depth as to if a show will make it because it slipped by 29%in its 2nd week is taking the whole thing too far.
Coupled with the fact that america is the best entertainment factory for tv in the world but judges what it will continue to make with a rusty bean counter(nielsons)just does my head in!
So in an extreme naive way im hoping that people will post if they enjoyed the episode or not.
For anyone to say a show is doing poorly is mad-im from uk,we have dr who,u might of heard of it.
that on av does 6 to 7 mill viewers a week in tiny uk with fits inside some of ur states!-how tiny is england vs some of ur states?-You telling me lost does only 10?????????
More 90 to 100 mill viewers,Eastwick prob about 25,dollshouse 20 and so on.
Its mega hyperthetics to go on about numbers that truly do not exsist!!!
peace
oh and march will be here in no time,u can’t put anything on in the olympics!
I work in the industry,longer u work a project the better it will be-expect some cool action sequences come march
A shame that so many people see V as insulting to liberals or “Obama voters” or whatever. The Visitors on the 80’s show came offering peaceful technology. Same thing here, except among those gifts are “healing centers” which one character describes with a currently hot buzzword, “universal health care”. It’s a detail, completely peripheral to the story. I’ll take odds that by next spring others are complaining that the V writers are equating the fascist Visitors with Republicans. Decent writers always take digs at the real world like this intentionally in their work, but maybe mainstream network TV isn’t the arena for it.
I agree with Robozilla. Anyone offended by V’s supposed politics are reading WAY too much into the text. Thank goodness these thin skinned people didn’t watch Battlestar Galactica, which actually was sci-fi with a strong political bent. Their heads would have exploded.
Curious to see the ratings for next week. Will V continue to decline? Will the increasingly horrible Melrose Place see a tick up?
Robozilla,
I agree completely. Its pretty sad that its come to this, but it has. Everyone crys foul over nothing these days.
NCIS is more your like a ABC show, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s, quirky humour. It really doesn’t fit the CBS mold of crime shows.
V, Elizabeth Mitchell, love her, but they designed the character wrong for her strengths, maybe they’ll make adjustments, after long break.
Here’s the thing that bothers me alittle.
Procedurals like NCIS tend to be fairly consistent, i’m guessing the same people watch week after, week.
So why is it so hard for others to watch serials, consitently.
I know it might seem like it’s hard to catch on, after missing a few episodes.
First point: the pilot’s pace for “V” was a little rushed and if I had not viewed the original on the weekend before the pilot I might not have been able to follow everything (especially if I was watching with out a pause and replay option). I think the pilot should have been made to end with them going to the secret meeting and then hyped this meeting to promote the second episode ( kind of a mini cliff hanger).
I noticed the higher (extra) viewer total for the night (all viewers all network shows)appear to have watched the pilot of “V”. This week the total viewers number was down about the amount of “V” second episode loss. This makes me think these folks tuned in to watch “V” and were not necessarily viewers of Tuesday night shows so “V” was down and the total viewers were down.
Several folks have posted here that they FORGOT to turn on the TV and watch “V” making me think “Vs” viewers were not regular viewers. My DVRs do not forget but everyone does not have DVRs.
Maybe next week more will REMEMBER and turn on the TV on Tuesday night next week? Just a thought.
I don’t watch any of these shows except Jay Leno. I have never seenan episode of NCIS nor do I plan on it. I’d never heard of the series until I kept seeing across USA’s schedule this summer. taht annoyed me because it gave less time for Criminal intent reruns. And this will just be another franchise if CSI does fail in the future. I;m just tirted of hearing NBC being in fourth place. And if they are this year, it will be their 6th consecutive year. Why can’t people watch the Law & Order’s and not the CSI’s and the NCIS’s? I hope none of them ever go past any of the LAw & Order’s. And I hope Criminal Intent Gets Brought bACK to NBC. Maybe fo the 10th season you could do a 2011 midseason. People like Jeff Goldblums caharcter. and bring goren back for 5 or 6 epuisodes that season. And bring some old cast like Courtney Ba vance and Jamey Shriedan. MAybe the ratings could be high enough thsat it cood fine a wy bakk theereeeeeeee.
Okay for all those ripping on me for “filling a bingo square” or “using tired excuses” tell me one thing. Why are YOU also here posting comments and responses on a message board that has the main purpose of reporting and analyzing television ratings….because you care about the shows and their ratings just like I do?
Of course people become emotionally invested in shows….its why they watch them or on the flip side why they don’t watch them. Its easy to sit back and not give a crap about whats on and then entertain yourself with a daily dose of ripping on shows with low ratings and the people that are worried about them. I read and or post at several different sites around the internet that discuss ratings and the people who do this always seem to be the ones that never commit or admit to being a fan of a show. Its just “cancel this”, “why is this still on?”, “The CW should just fold up and quit”, “Chuck fans are idiots”, “Heroes fans are idiots”, “ha ha your show is DOA”, and poking fun at people who care enough about their show to find out if it will continue to be on every week.
Ill continue to use the “Nielsens are an outdated system” as a blanket argument for the overall trend of television in the past few years. The TV landscape is so much different than the 1980’s when there were 3 big networks with very little options on cable and successful shows were expected to pull in 30 million viewers to stay on the air.
Look no further than this to see what I mean…http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/31/we-look-back-at-the-top-tv-shows-of-1987/3984
Allen Charles, I am writing this on my phone and I don’t have last nights data in front of me, but the majority of primetime viewers on any night are not watching broadcast networks. Figure about 60% are watching cable networks, so basing any “this was the total number of viewers” calculation on the numbers above is misleading.
Gleebo, I’m not sure what your point is. That Nielsen measurement was more accurate in 1987? If anything, they’ve become a lot more accurate since then.
last night in primetime roughtly 66% of adults 18-49 were not watching ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC or the CW, in household ratings it was closer to 60%
am i the only one who doesnt give a sh** bout this show?
cmon, it sucks!
Bill Gorman says:
November 11, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I defer to your knowledge and access to the numbers, I just noticed that the numbers for JUST the BROADCAST networks seemed to make me think the forgot to turn on the TV group might have affected “Vs” numbers, and I agree if they had the TV on and would have been watching SOMETHING (cable or broadcast networks) then my point certainly was MUTE.
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the GOOD job you do on this Site!!
I think ABC should switch V to Monday nights at 10 and Castle should switch to Weds at 8:00. Castle is more of a family kind of show and V is more adult. Maybe it just needs to be one later?
Oh yes, please. Move Castle to Weds at 8:00. PLEASE.
V is just not very good. At all. It’s just as dumb and implausible as the original, without any of the good campy fun. Of course it had a big drop, and it’ll have more. It will go down as another ABC genre fail. And since it was a cheesy rightwing remake, not even an honorable fail.
Liked this episode better than the first. There is a good dynamic between the priest and the FBI agent and both actors are likeable.
pisher says:
Just so you will know, Republican President Nixon first proposed universal health care in the 1970’s and the Democratic controlled Congress voted it down. I just can not see anything in “V” that was about Obama. The Patriot Act was under President George W. Bush and it is responsible for removing many of our civil rights and Constitutional protections. Obama is yet to really do much of anything one way of the other because it take time to get stuff done.
I like this show but I think they made an enormous mistake by showing us so much so fast. If they kept us in the dark more about the V’s and dragged out the pilot for a few episodes it could have been really great.
I think it’s going to be like Life on Mars where it’s usually fun and has cool visuals but in the end just not enough to keep people watching.
Is it just me or does about 70% of shows on television these days have people worried about cancellation.
Well, only about 30% of scripted shows appear to be safe from cancellation.
Not surprised…. people tuned in to see what it was like and didn’t care for it. I didn’t like it at all.
Why not have Dancing with the Stars as a lead in?
V is such a big hit <3
“http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/31/we-look-back-at-the-top-tv-shows-of-1987/3984″
I’m sad I was only lurking on this site last spring so I never got to comment on this thread. Just imagine if Bill was doing the index back in ‘87. The “Nothing in Common” adaptation would have indexed, like, gosh, a 1.eleventybillion or something… and he would have been perplexed as to why it was cancelled.
(It aired after “Cheers” for those who have forgotten. And it was really bad. So, I have no reason to doubt Nielsen accuracy in ‘87.)
As for “V,” while I couldn’t care less about alien invasion nonsense (even though ABC’s promotional campaign was so good, it nearly hooked me), I hope that show works out for them. They’ve been in desperate need of a Tuesday 8:00 hit for several years now.
Poor ABC,
They just can’t seem to really score a new hit show can they? This reminds me of the NBC situation back in the beginning of the decade when the only shows they were riding on were “Friends” and “Fraiser” and NBC knew that once they lost those shows their network was going to sink. And Boy did it happen. Now the same thing will happen with ABC once they lose “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” aging shows which are nearing the end of their runs in 2 or 3 more years. What does ABC have once they leave? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. And that’s not a good sign.
My DVR said that “V” was unavailable for some reason. Nevertheless, I did not miss the show, really. I wasn’t compelled by episode one, and the half a second they showed of Scott Wolf in the shower wasn’t nearly long enough. LOL
FlashForward > V
was the original V a hit? was it a series or a miniseries?
starting V in Nov. was not a great idea. people have already formed their viewing habits, what days their shows come on and what time etc.
several people posting here said they forgot it was on . I forgot what day it was on. I still managed to see it, and 2nd ep wasnt bad, or great.
the story is already known
this should have maybe been a miniseries?
this would have been a better show if it wasnt based on the original V, and had been a “new” story of aliens coming to earth.
it is one of the few sci-fi shows on so I hope it gets more shows for midseason.
I’d be enormously surprised, having seen Ep 2 last night (my wife was a fan of the original series and wants to watch the new version, but she too has massive misgivings about what she’s seen thus far), if the ratings don’t drop again next week by a fairly indecent amount.
Even ignoring the insulting politics, the fact is the show doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself. Both episodes have been a jumbled mess, and Ep 2 was worse than Ep 1 in that regard. In their desperation to get to the meaty part of the story, they’re unable to tell a story.
The more I look at it, the more the comparisons with Bionic Woman seem unfair. V is definitely worse than Bionic Woman. Bionic Woman made a real effort to set up the show’s mythology, to tell a tight story around a small number of characters, to make each episode tell something resembling a story. It just wasn’t very good, the lead character was awful and everything else was as mushy as an early Dollhouse episode.
V has none of Bionic Woman’s qualities, it’s a sprawling mess and if it wasn’t for the fact most viewers have seen the original and therefore know the general gist (the aliens are bad! They’re going to enslave and kill us all!) I suspect, actually, that 3.7 would probably be a 3.0, as confused and lost viewers switch over to NCIS or So You Think Stars Can Dance or whatever.
ABC would be better off canceling the show right now, and starting afresh (with a full reboot) in a year or so with someone who knows what they’re doing.
I actually would think that severe drop was because of how MUCH happened in the first episode and the preview. I was watching the Pilot with a group of people, all mid 20’s who never even heard of the original. To find out in the very first episode that the aliens are evil and have been living on Earth for years, was just too much information for a pilot. That could’ve went half the season before revealing that.
On top of it… and I’m a firm believer in it. Previews ruin connected shows. They give away major plot twists in an attempt to bring viewers back next week. Guess what… if you actually make a really good episode, you don’t need to give away major plot twists for people to come back.
I have not read all of the posts but has anyone mentioned that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out on Tuesday? I heard that it sold at least a few million copies that day. I know I and several of my friends missed V to play the game. I’m sure MW2 had to have impacted V’s ratings. The question is how much was the impact?
Did the release of a major game make it to the bingo cards?
I guess I disagree with most of the posts here since I really enjoyed V…both episodes, and I think it has a lot of potential. The hiatus will be somewhat treacherous, but I hope the show survives it.
The first episode had a somewhat accelerated reveal, but the second episode slowed things down quite a bit into a more normally paced narrative. IMHO, I think the writers chose the quick reveal of the first episode because they want to tackle a different side of the story instead of rehashing the original V with the more drawn out reveal. Now we get to delve more into the build up of the resistance and how that plays out in terms of human and V relationships and who will defect from both sides of the fence.
This is not the original V and as with any good remake of something that was popular in its version 1.0 iteration, you don’t copy the original…you build on it. However, I can see how some people who loved the original V might be disappointed with the quick reveal and might have hoped that it would be closer to the original. Those people and the people who don’t generally go for sci-fi, and only tuned in to episode 1 because of the hype, are probably what accounted for most of the episode 2 drop off.
To the 20 something newcomers, like Peter’s group above, that never heard of the original, check out the original series and then come back to this new series with an open perspective.
The comparisons to Bionic Woman…seriously? Bionic Woman sucked and that’s why it died. V is so much better that Bionic Woman ever was.
Oh, I forgot to mention one last thing…
To the people that think there is some seedy underlying attempt to push a political agenda or brain wash people with a certain ideology, GET A LIFE and stop reading into things so much.
S., no, “A big video game was released that night” will have to be added to the next addition.
As big as Modern Warfare 2 is in the game industry, its highly unlikely it has an outsized effect on TV ratings (vs. the squinty jillion other things happening that same day).
I have not yet watched the 2nd episode yet and did not think that the first was as good as the ratings it got. Perhaps a lot like me were curious to see it.
I did read that Marc Singer has a cameo and I hope they do advertise that as I would watch that episode live.
Overall I predict that this show will decline over the year but I am saying that based only on watching the pilot.
Modern Warfare is mostly a Male 20’s crowd, so it could affect live viewers, but i doubt much.
Doodz, can we get univision added to the table with programming breakdowns? They seem to be pretty solid and are definitely outperforming CW and occasionally others.
I definitely think you have something against the Good Wife which is 18-49 leader for that night with a 2.7..
I voted for Obama and I’m not really a fan of being called a mindless idiot by a tv show.
That’s what the internet is for!