Nielsen suffered some kind of power outage last night and as a result we’re told there will not be any Fast Nationals this morning, instead they will just publish final national numbers this afternoon. If the fast nationals wind up getting published before the final numbers, we’ll post a regular overnight report.
This will cause some delays with the normal weekly ratings information as well.
We’re not sure when data will begin to flow again, but we’ll keep you updated.
Update (10:15a PT): everything is still delayed. Nielsen sent a note to its clients saying the cause was a power outage in its Oldsmar data center this morning. Everything is back up and running and Nielsen will process the data as soon as possible. Nielsen expects to send out another update at 4pm ET/1pm PT.
Update (1:15p PT): Sorry folks, just heard from Nielsen that none of the normal weekly info (for week ending 11/15) would be processed today due to the problems mentioned above. Nielsen said it would update us tomorrow morning as far as the weekly numbers go. So no weekly rankings or Renew/Cancel Index until at least tomorrow. I’m still not sure about numbers for last night, but will post an update (or the numbers) when I hear.
Update (2:05p PT): Monday’s data isn’t coming today either. This is now the equivalent of a TVBTN snow day!
Update (8:00A PT November 18): The logjam is breaking. I’m just seeing the fast national numbers for Monday night…
Update (8:30A PT November 18): Tuesday night’s fast national numbers just arrived so it looks like things are finally back on track.
Conspiracy theory time! I’m betting the Castle fans will use this to excuse any drop. I mean, how can Nielsen possibly have the right data if they had a power outage???
(Of course, if Castle goes up, no one will think there could possibly be anything wrong with the numbers.)
Awwww, what am I gonna do the rest of the day? :’-( Does this mean I actually have to work now?
Dang it! I wanted to see how Heroes did! Hopefully went UP. Ehhh. And OTH & GG prolly went up too.
Julia, that’s hardly fair. I’d like to think some of us have more sense than that.
I’m just wondering when we’ll get the finals for Sunday- I can’t wait to see how Three Rivers did in the finals.
Wow Julia…cynical much!!!
It’s because so many people watched Castle, they had an outage!
this is one of the negative aspects of teh internet. people have not problem being nasty to others.
The last time there was a significant ratings delay we were waiting for Castle ratings too.
More than a coincidence?
Bummer. I’ll just have to check back later.
always when oth has aired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michy, some of you might, but last time there was a significant delay, lots of people claimed that the ratings didn’t count.
Shuzbut! There is no category on my bingo cards for power outages!
Bill:
And this time around Chuck is not even airing…
As we guessed, everything is delayed. No cable, no network averages, nothing until “later”.
i hear the twilight zone theme music in the backround…
haha lame excuse! this is all part of the big alien conspiracy!
I bet One Tree Hill scored higher than Gossip Girl yet again, even with Gossip Girl having Lady Gaga and Hilary Duff on!
Can’t stop OTH!
*Season 8* *Season 8*
nah i bet a castle fan cut power to Nielsen HQ so that the ratings were delayed
im j/k ofcourse.. I assume julia is too….
Get rid of GG and Oth they both bring in bad ratings. Just cancel them.
Even though people making excuses about certain shows ratings are annoying, what’s more annoying are the people complaining about the people making excuses, especially when its before they’ve even done anything!
damn. I was hoping to see how House went.
Mickey,
I completely agree with you.
Yes, Jonny
The network should definitely cancel them just because you think they bring bad ratings. Good job.
OTH earn a Season 8! best show ever.
Hopefully Castle went up or held in the ratings. Its the best procedural on any network outside of CBS except Dark Blue of course.
Toby, I have to agree OTH is on fire this season and so is 90210.
Mickey, who is complaining? Crazy fans are part of what makes this site so entertaining.
oh no! now i have to calculate if i’m going to see the ratings tonight…’cause here in croatia it’s 6PM
Perhaps Nielsen neglected to pay their cable or electric bill!
Dario, if they get the final ratings out on time, they should be available around 2 pm PST, so in about 4.5 hours. But that’s if there are no delays on that.
Julia
The problem is lumping all the Castle fans together as whiners. Some of us are fairly sane and simply come here to see how its doing numbers wise. In fact, many of us come without making extra remarks about other shows and their fans, no matter their circumstances.
Here’s to a kinder, gentler TBTN!
LETS GO CASTLE! LETS GO CASTLE!
Intersting.
It’s good to know that even the sane Castle fans have no sense of humor!
Let’s go heroes c’mon go up, up, way up and up and away.
Who Dey Who Dey Who Dey Say Castle Won’t Do Good in the Ratings?!!!!!
Ya I bet Heroes went way up and killed the power to not work. This was probably done by sylar. Btw, last nights episode was just awesome.
Who Dey Who Dey Who Dey Say Castle Won’t Do Good in the Ratings?!!!!!
-Damn this is too funny!
@Untitled, we can only hope
LOL @ appropriating the Cincinnati Bengals “Who Dey” chant for Castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Dey
The CW network should get rid of Gossip Girl because it is a bunch of crap. The actors and actresses on the show will not have the longevity careers anyway. All of them are the “flavor of the month” group.
As for Castle, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic know how to get into their characters. Plus, they have paid some real dues. Plain and simple.
Just so you guys know, the MNF game last night aired on Fox in the NE Ohio market that includes Cleveland, Canton, and Akron.
This identifies yet another problem with the Nielsen monopoly…
ah bummer.. I’ll come back later then
thx for the update anyway
It’s easier to wait for something when you know WHY it’s delayed
“Nielsen expects to send out another update at 4pm ET/1pm PT.” UPDATE and not the ratings!? this sucks…I hope heroes did great!
I knew this was going to happen! I’ve been using a voodoo doll named “Nielsen” with the goal of bringing down that decrepit, corrupt organization! I was actually aiming for the Nielsen goons to get syphillis or something like that, but this is a good first step! My next step involves a voodoo doll that represents the executives at FOX! If any of those nitwits at FOX suddenly decide to leave their jobs, know that it’s because I made their crotches explode!
Dollhouse forever!!!!!!
The Bengals been using that Who Dey since 1981, that’s a long time.
As for Castle that show is a circus in a good way though. Stana Katic is tough.
Somebody forgot to check the battery string in the UPS (big). I hear a career limiting move occurring.
btw stana katic is from my country
hh
Awww this SUCKS! I was DYYYYYING to see how Jay Leno did last night!
Wow, the DULLHOUSE zombies are really crazy with rage. Instead of blaming Nielsen they should face reality. DULLHOUSE was dull, dull, dull. Mostly it was glassy eyed Whedonbots watched it. Whedon hasnt produced a watchable show since Angel. Thats why all his shows go up in flames. They should just be happy they got a season 2 at all after the dismal numbers for Season 1.
WHHEEEAAATTTOOONN!
If you’ve ever been in a data center and you hear nothing because all the fans are off it enough to make your stomach acid to boil. I imagine they had to restart all their machines. If an Mainframe that can take ours to bring back online.
Winston, you do realize that JBF is a parody, right?
I wish Castle was on earlier as my wife likes it too, but its on past her bedtime. (She goes to work early and we don’t DVR at all) Its nice to have another show, like Chuck, that we both enjoy. A fun show not heavy on pretension. House was good too and I’m glad they brought back Taub.(Peter Jacobson)
JBF is a parody? Aren’t those supposed to be funny?
damn i wanted to know how heroes did
I’m far more amused by this thread than I ever was by certain shows being discussed in it. And a JBF post as well in which he mentions crotch exploding? My life is now truly complete.
Rob and Bill, can Julia write a “Why I Don’t Watch Castle” post? Or do you think that’ll be too detrimental to her well being?
Shelly, I’m not sure how much of a post there is there. Three words sums it up: It bores me.
(Though I could go into defending myself about how much I wanted to like it, and how great Fillion and the rest of the Castle-clan is, but how the actual show is just dull dull dull.)
In response to this article: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9103986 , has there ever been any article you guys have seen showing if the popup ads are even effective/increase ratings in any way?
TBBT was amazing last night, so I’m curious to how many others watched. =D
Omg I need some comments from phisher to get over this dire period without ratings..
I didn’t realize how much I was addicted to ratings till today..
*Yawn*
To pass the time we could guess what the ratings will be!
ABC:
DWTS – 3.6
Castle – 2.4
CBS:
HIMYM – 3.5
AOP – 3.0
2.5M – 4.7
TBBT – 4.9
CSI: Miami – 3.8
NBC:
Heroes – 2.2
Trauma – 1.7
Leno – 1.2
Fox:
House – 5.3
Lie to Me – 2.9
CW:
OTH – 1.2
GG – 1.2
Anyone else want to play?
Lol, I think we’re all ratings junkies Emma.
CASTLE was very entertaining last night – I loved the episode. Yes, I remember this same thing happening with the Nielsen’s last season as we CASTLE fans held our collective breaths waiting for the overnights. I can’t remember if it happened with the very last episode of the season, or if it was the next to last episode? But when the ratings came out and were positive, people on this same board said they were suspect; perhaps Julia?
Having watched the COLTS beat the PATS on NBC Sunday night, the advertisements for Jay Leno had the big guest for Leno tonight, going against CASTLE as one of the TWILIGHT Movie Stars, so I’m curious since CASTLE has been kicking Leno’s behind on Monday’s if that will impact CASTLE’s ratings; probably not.
Go Castle!
Danny, I believe it was Holly who questioned the ratings. I was interning at a TV station at the time, and the results, when finally available, were kind of all over the place, so the research department said to look at that as an aberration. But that was on a local level, so, as I said at the time, who knows what that means for national figures.
I’m really hoping gossip girl went up! I know it most likly did with lady gaga on the show!!
I think for gossip girl will most likly get 2.97
Yes, I did question how accurate that day’s ratings were, especially since they were so different from the trends the weeks before and after (not just for Castle). My question had nothing to do with Castle specifically.
The last time this happened, it was also a much bigger deal than this is shaping up to be. This is a mere power outage, while last time I believe there were several days of corrupted data.
Julia, you’d already incurred the wrath of the Glee fandom with your earlier post, I figured why not give Castle fans an equal opportunity to get riled up, too?
(But I approve of your three-word review – way to be concise!)
Shelly, I should mention that I do want Castle to succeed and see another season or two. But that mostly has to do with pissing off a certain someone.
LOL, Julia. I don’t think you have to worry on that front, though (for all the fun we make of its fans, I honestly do think Castle will get another season).
@Julia says:
November 17, 2009 at 11:52 am
To pass the time we could guess what the ratings will be!
ABC:
DWTS – 3.6
Castle – 2.4
CBS:
HIMYM – 3.5
AOP – 3.0
2.5M – 4.7
TBBT – 4.9
CSI: Miami – 3.8
NBC:
Heroes – 2.2
Trauma – 1.7
Leno – 1.2
Fox:
House – 5.3
Lie to Me – 2.9
CW:
OTH – 1.2
GG – 1.2
Anyone else want to play?
I think Heroes got higher than that, c’mon on. For a demo, I’m pretty sure Heroes got 2.5, not 2.2 LOL
Amir, it was 2.3 last week. Who knows!
NOOOO!
I need to know Heroes’ ratings!
There was an important episode of House this week.. I’m curious about the ratings
Sorry but Heroes ratings are irrelevant…It`s not going to magically go up after going down for 3 years
I was waiting for this weekend’s artcile about ‘Why I don’t watch…’
Is there gonna be more Julia?
John S. (Bug) Sorry but a 2.97? Lady Gaga does not have that type of super star power yet! GG should consider themselves lucky if they hit the 2.5 mark
Sorry folks, no weekly rankings or Renew-Cancel will be posted today. I’ve updated the post above with the latest info.
I almost missed JBF post…..
Liban, if I feel inspired to write another, there will be more. Maybe you can all vote on which fandom you want to see trash me next?
Even though I love Chuck, we had some pretty crazy Chuck posters last May!
Perhaps suggestions
For Julia’s wrath be sent
In tidy haikus?
I am inspired
By the previous delay
To use poetry.
Any show is fair game
As far as I am concern’d
Except my True Blood.
Aww, where’s my numbers? I want my numbers!!! I have to say, it’s definitely the bright spot of my day.
Maybe I can just
Piss off everyone at once
One haiku per show
And I screwed up the last one (six in the first line)
I say, her target
May be any show airing
On those broadcasters.
Nice to hear Julia admit it’s the fans she likes trashing, not the shows.
Uh, Chad, read that again. I asked which fandom should trash ME next.
90210 and Castle are cool!
Let me guess…One Tree Hill beat Heroes and NBC paid Nielsen to cover it up, hence blackout.
@Julia
I would love to see another piece Julia…the caveat is you need to leave “Eureka” alone.
What about Trauma. That is the best show on TV. I’m guessing that it hit a homer last nite and NBC doesn’t like that since it is cancelling the show!!
I remember once last year one tree hill hit a series high in Adults 18-34 of 3.0 +, wonder if it’s happened again?:S:L but just thinking about this begs the question, by how much in the demos are both Gossip and OTH down this season?
I watched Californication on SHO. Then ‘Curb’ on my dvr.
If there was an Emmy category for best portrayal of a daughter in a “dramedy” I would nominate Molly Quinn.
Unless there is a reversal of trends Maya will win DWTS.
Not OK Nielsen!
I will second that nomination for Castle’s daughter, played by the amazing Molly Quinn – She is beyond amazing!
Have any CASTLE fans noticed the awful Reality Show lead-in after Dancing With The Stars ends next week? Not only does it look awful, making Surviving Suburbia look like Emmy material; but it looks “Depressing As Hell!”
Danny-
I don’t think it is going to be depressing. I think finding your family is a wonderful thing.
However, I think it may hurt the demo ratings 18-49 for Castle. It just doesn’t seem like a program which younger viewers may follow.
Link to EW.com on the new show set to launch Nov.23.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/17/abcs-find-my-family-promos-are-so-eco-friendly/
Thank God its not friday (TGINF! Get it?) Otherwise Smallville ratings might get screws up.
Come on!
DWTS GO UP!
Since there isn’t a lot of other news at the moment, may I take a moment to remember actor Dennis Cole. He was never the biggest star in the television universe, but he was always a pleasant addition to any show on which he appeared. Thank you, Dennis, for many hours of television enjoyment. You were cool.
What outage? And where’s Nielsen based at?
Near Tampa.
I guess there was a thunderstorm over Tampa last night.
Oh, bummer
Tuesdays (Wednesdays in my country) is always the busiest day here at TVBTN so it feels weird. I feel empty LOL
My guess for the ratings:
ABC:
DWTS – 3.7
Castle – 2.5
CBS:
HIMYM – 3.6
AOP – 3.0
2.5M – 4.6
TBBT – 4.8
CSI: Miami – 3.9
NBC:
Heroes – 2.3
Trauma – 1.8
Leno – 1.3
Fox:
House – 5.2
Lie to Me – 2.8
CW:
OTH – 1.2
GG – 1.3
A song for the AC Nielsen Company (sing along if you remember the tune, a perfectly appropriate one for this purpose)…
We’re gonna shut you down
We’re gonna cut off your power
You’re going down the drain, losing half your brain,
through the courtesy of The Dollhouse Company!
And The Castle Company!
And Three Rivers Company!
darn, i wonder how heroes did
I have a feeling it did really good, strangely, I think they actully have a chance to continue for another season or two atleast.
Why can’t those power outages happen on Sundays?
I’m in constant sorrow
Where are my demos?
I want them now!
If I don’t get them
I’ll have a cow!
If we don’t get them
We’ll have a cow!
That Terminator Sarah Chronicles pop up keeps appearing and I can’t get rid of it! GRRRRR
THIS IS KILLING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ARGH
Sausageroll – try Wojciehowicz’s brownies – either the popup will be gone, or you’ll be too happy to care
Evil – Ask the Brain – my guess is it helps him be better able to take over the world (nark!!)
“Power Down” A power outage to celebrate NCIS’s newest episode. Hey, cross-promotion…I like it.
Nielsen Ratings are such a SCAM anyway! The total number of Nielsen homes only amounts to 0.0000814332248% of the total American population, meaning that 99.9999186% of Americans have no input at all into what is actually being watched. Leave it up to network morons to rely on these numbers to put on all the crap on tv. How else could Jimmy Fallon still be on the air. He’s the worst piece of crap to ever host a show.
i like fallon
Looks like tonight’s ratings will be delayed, too, damn it. I want to see how V did, thought tonight’s episode was really good.
cufan, “If you don’t believe in sampling theory, next time you go to the doctor and he wants to take a little blood, tell him to take it all.”
Must be that PMSNBC & CNN were involved in the power failure. They can’t draw on any power in their ratings, so they decided to shut down the power. PMSNBC & CNN should be shut down for impersonating news organizations.
@Julia
Have you hard of the saying “comparing apples and oranges”?
It’s the same general principle. But continue to cry foul at Nielsen if you’d like. Sampling works.
Sampling a television audience – MAD Magazine once did a blurb about a redneck who controlled the Nielsen diary in a household, and a) helped cause the cancellation of Paper Chase, b) singlehandedly kept the Dukes of Hazzard on the air…
…so, if a man thinks that FOX News discusses how to shoot a fox or deer with an AK-47, he just might be a redneck :p
OK,
who here has drained all of the power to make Nielsen ratings go?
The whedon fans?
The visitors impersonating some of the regular posters?
Automan? (obscure TV reference, I know.)
Or the yesterday’s night’s NCIS episode in which there was a power down blackout ? ^^
Hope the ratings will come soon anyway.
Really wanted to know how Trauma was doing. i know most have given it up for dead, but i just can’t give up. I’m campaigning to NBC to keep Trauma on the air. If you like it, Let your voice be heard. Call, Email, Mail, Tweet, Facebook, Myspace, Digg, linked in. Get the word out and encourage your friends to do the same! Early and Often. Let’s Save Trauma!!!
Most important of all WATCH TRAUMA & encourage your friends and family to do the same! Keep Trauma on the air!
Trauma is just a wannabe ER. Its going bye bye.
I love the endless moaning about Nielsens sampling methods. If advertisers didnt believe the numbers were worth anything they wouldnt be paying Nielsen for them. Many have tried to and failed to produce numbers with larger sample sizes – problem is the methods are not cost effective. Once you get to a certain sample size, adding more people to the sample doesnt change the results. Then again, schools really dont teach much math these days, let alone statistical analysis and sampling, so its not suprising people dont understand how sampling could possibly work. Its the same reason people cant figure out why political polls with sample sizes around 1,000 can accurately predict election results the day before the election when millions of voters are involved.
I’m curious to see how “V” did last night. It was a good episode. I suppose I should get my bingo cards and Sharpie at the ready…with two days of Nielsen’s in one day it’s likely we’ll be filling in a lot of squares!
Traumagrl, it’s already been cancelled. They’re not going to change their minds.
According to an article on Tampbay.com, a transformer blew which affected about sixty customers including Nielsen. The problem was when the transformer went boom it sent a surge through Nielsen’s electrical systems.
I won’t post the link without an okie dokie from Rob or Bill.
I’d like to see last night V’s ratings I hope it didn’t drop too far again like last week
Winston Smith (TruthMin) says:
November 18, 2009 at 4:48 am
Trauma is just a wannabe ER. Its going bye bye.
I love the endless moaning about Nielsens sampling methods. If advertisers didnt believe the numbers were worth anything they wouldnt be paying Nielsen for them. Many have tried to and failed to produce numbers with larger sample sizes – problem is the methods are not cost effective. Once you get to a certain sample size, adding more people to the sample doesnt change the results. Then again, schools really dont teach much math these days, let alone statistical analysis and sampling, so its not suprising people dont understand how sampling could possibly work. Its the same reason people cant figure out why political polls with sample sizes around 1,000 can accurately predict election results the day before the election when millions of voters are involved.
———————————————————————
You say that and yet there have been more than one election that the networks have missed calls on certain states or elections based on small polling samples. It has happened. A bigger sample will and can bring about even better acurate results. Do I think that the tv nubmers are way off no however I am positive there are some that are off a significant amount.
Does neilsen account for events like sports where people gather together. I insist that as good as many sports ratings are good they would be even better if that were factored in.
Again, larger sample sizes cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$ to collect and advertisers wont pay for it. There is always a point at which adding to the sample produces no meaningful change in the results. People with poor math skills will never “get it”.
Nielsen and Arbitron tried an expanded ratings system, project Apollo by combining traditional, internet and alternative collection methods – the problem? COST. Advertisers wouldnt foot the bill. Google “apollo nielsen arbitron terminated” and see for yourself.
Again, its COST, COST, COST. Its why no successful attempt to produce a better ratings system has succeeded. I guess some people will never understand that it costs money to collect data.
Sure, when elections are close there are suprises but they are few and far between, especially when they are within the margin of error – usually +/- 3%. So if a candidate is down 6% the day before, the could still win in a squeaker and the poll would be accurate (the leader loses 3% and the trailing candidate gains 3%)
If some day someone figures out a way to give advertisers a superior ratings system at equal or lower cost that Nielsen, those advertisers will beat a path to their door and dump Nielsen. Problem is advertisers understand the methods Nielsen uses and know they are reliable.
How is Nielsen accurate? It counts 20 million households, right?
Now, 20,000,000 is about 16% of the adult population (~150,000,000). Let’s say that for a given hour, the ratings are as follows:
1 5 mil (CBS)
2 5 mil (FOX)
3 3 mil (NBC)
4 3 mil (ABC)
5 2 mil (CW)
with demos of 1.2/1.2/1/1/.8 (5)
How does this, especially in a technologically advanced age, represent anything? Why not have a transmitter in each TV that can record data when someone pushes the accompanying button on their remote? I’d guess (educated guess) that audiences and demos could jump anywhere from 3-5X. This would bring numbers more in line with the actual American population. Also, the jump in demos from this would generate ad revenue for the networks that could justify keeping certain shows that seem in constant danger of cancellation. [B]This might also encourage show-runners, as a larger potential audience might keep more pilot shows on air for at least a second season as other shows drop in ratings demos and viewers over the years[/B].
With all the digital boxes becoming more predominant in homes, one day it will be possible to track what people are actually watching. Of course this brings into play the privacy issues but on an opt-in basis I would have no problem with that.
Of course you would still have to keep power to the systems that keep track of all of this
20,000 is a statistically significant sample size so I can see the current arguments for validity.
JC, Nielsen has 20,000 households on the national panel. Read up on sampling size. 20,000 is more than sufficient.
And everyone always forgets that if every single TV in the country were monitored, you could just as easily see your favorite shows go DOWN in the ratings as up.
The networks must be going be going buggo without this information.
I have always wondered why cable and satellite providers haven’t figured out a way to offer the same service as Nielsen by having a tracking system in the boxes they provide. It wouldn’t be as robust and would obviously include errouneous data, but the sample size would be much larger and would make up for that. The averages would still win out I would think.
They could offer a small discount to the customer for allowing them to track their channel choice.
There’s probably some legal issue I’m not thinking of that prohibits it, though. (maybe conflict of interest or something like that)
@ MRWood
My guess is that Nielsen probably owns some sort of patent on the business model. As far as the data goes, it isn’t just about gathering the data (that’s the “easy part”). The real trick is processing that data into information that subscribers can readily use to make business decisions about whether or not to cancel a show, or to but advertisment time.
There have been attempts to do that, but the problem is that cable/satellite companies 1. don’t have representative samples, and therefore you can’t read much into the numbers other than however many people in the sample watched, and 2. there is no demo info available through them. Without those two points, no matter how large the sample size, the information is pretty much useless.
Couldn’t household demos be provided? It wouldn’t say what member of the house is watching, but who says the existing demo break down is more relevant than what could be provided this way.
Single individual (certain age)
Mariied Couple (age break down)
Family with dependents (age break down)
The info would still help networks/ advertisers have a broader picture of viewing by household make up and we all know that it doesn’t matter that Mommy and Daddy don’t watch something as long as the kids are watching, because children often dictate purchasing decisions. This is especially true when considering media industry.
As far as analyzing the data and processing into relevant info for networks and advertisers, it would take an investment, but they could establish a small department within the company to do just that. In addition, the networks could do more with the somewhat raw data provided. They are the ones who have to sell advertising spots. They could analyze it further on their own dime.
Berman’s pifeedback.com has the monday ratings online!
oh now tvbtn has it too
20,000 households? Worse and worse.
That’s less than a percent of a percent of the American over-18 population. And yet people think that this is representative? You can’t compare it to elections. Election polls work because a majority vote determines a winner. A majority can exist even among 10 people. With Nielsen, however, 20,000 people is not a majority. Also, Nielsen is not a one-click or one-view system.
My idea would involve limiting results to one click=one view for each household. At most, 20,000 households equals ~80,000 viewers based upon the standard two-parent, two-child model. Expanding allows for way more than ~80,000 viewers to determine shows’ fates. If the nation can’t participate, then obviously something somewhere does not work as intended. Nielsen touts itself as national? Well, its time for Nielsen to either adapt or perish. If good shows aren’t given the time of day, Nielsen shouldn’t have a backdoor method for defending its flawed system.
I’ll sum it up at this: Why defend a system that doesn’t count you when determining what airs? Your views only fail to matter if you resign yourself to defending a half-baked idea.
Can’t wait to see if Glenn Beck beat out Oprah 11/16/09!!!