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| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.7/10 | 3.5/10 | 2.3/6 | 2.3/6 | 1.5/4 | 1.4/4 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 3.4/7 | 3.2/10 | 2.5/8 | 1.8/5 | 1.7/5 | 1.6/5 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 14.351 | 10.321 | 5.431 | 7.870 | 3.232 | 3.733 |
Almost every show on broadcast television was down last night vs. last week, FlashForward continued its ratings slide, Grey’s Anatomy tied a series low rating and even CW darling Vampire Diaries had a down night, as CBS edged ABC for the night’s overall adults 18-49 ratings win.
It was a very tough night for broadcast television.
ABC’s entire lineups hit lows. Flashforward was down 8% to a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating, its lowest ever. Grey’s Anatomy fell to a 5.0 rating, tieing its lowest original episode rating ever. Private Practice crashed, down 21% from last week to a 3.1 rating and a season series low.
CBS had the rare increase on the night as The Mentalist was up 3% from last week to a 3.7 rating. But Survivor fell 5% to a 3.8 rating, and CSI was down 15% from the “crossover” episode to a 3.5 rating.
NBC followed the downward trend. Community and Parks and Recreation each fell to a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating, both down 5% from last week. The Office hit a season low 3.7 rating, down 12% from last week. 30 Rock also hit a season low 2.9 rating, down 3% from last week. The Jay Leno Show was a relative rock of stability, flat with last week’s 1.6 rating.
No better for Fox. Bones fell 6% from last week to a 2.7 rating, and Fringe was down 9% to a 2.0 rating, which would be a season low if it stands up in the final ratings. Update: Not a season low. I plead bad list reading/memory.
Even the ratings sensation of the night took a hit, as Vampire Diaries fell to a 1.7 rating for adults 18-49 down from a 1.9 last week. Supernatural was another atypical show last night, managing to stay even with a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating vs. last week. Note: both CW shows were pre-empted in the Miami area for the local NFL broadcast of the Dolphins/Panthers game and so their results are subject to more than the usual revisions in the final numbers.
In Late-Night Local People Meters Thursday night:
- Conan O’Brien (0.9/4 in 18-49 in local people meters) topped CBS’s Late Show (0.8/4) in Nielsen’s 24 local markets with People Meters.
- At 12:35 a.m., Jimmy Fallon (0.5/3 in 18-49 in local people meters) tied CBS’s Late Late Show (0.5/4).
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (Millions) |
| 8:00 | CBS | Survivor: Samoa | 3.5 | 10 | 11.593 |
| FOX | Bones | 2.5 | 7 | 9.432 | |
| ABC | FlashForward | 2.4 | 7 | 8.166 | |
| NBC | Community | 2.0 | 6 | 5.056 | |
| CW | The Vampire Diaries | 1.6 | 5 | 3.660 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Survivor: Samoa | 4.1 | 11 | 13.034 |
| FOX | Bones | 2.8 | 8 | 10.260 | |
| ABC | FlashForward | 2.4 | 7 | 7.859 | |
| NBC | Parks & Recreation | 2.0 | 6 | 4.613 | |
| CW | The Vampire Diaries | 1.8 | 5 | 3.791 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | Grey’s Anatomy | 4.9 | 13 | 13.611 |
| NBC | The Office | 3.7 | 9 | 7.426 | |
| CBS | CSI | 3.5 | 9 | 14.845 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 2.1 | 5 | 6.040 | |
| CW | Supernatural | 1.3 | 3 | 2.792 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Grey’s Anatomy | 5.1 | 13 | 14.300 |
| CBS | CSI | 3.6 | 9 | 15.064 | |
| NBC | 30 Rock | 2.9 | 7 | 5.858 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 1.9 | 5 | 5.746 | |
| CW | Supernatural | 1.3 | 3 | 2.686 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | The Mentalist | 3.7 | 10 | 15.621 |
| ABC | Private Practice | 3.4 | 9 | 9.539 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.7 | 5 | 4.927 | |
| 10:30 | CBS | The Mentalist | 3.8 | 11 | 15.951 |
| ABC | Private Practice | 2.9 | 9 | 8.448 | |
| NBC | The Jay Leno Show | 1.6 | 5 | 4.705 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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.
Everyone was out watching NEW MOON
This is the first Thursday ABC lost to CBS in demo.
How did fringe?
nevermind
Damn, do u guys really think it was because of that crap of new moon someway?
“Everyone was out watching …”
Is that in the bingo cards? Does it count if it’s about shows that aren’t in any real danger?
Anyway, it doesn’t apply to Private Practice. It was a genuinely bad episode centered on Charlotte. Kadee Strickland might have perky implants, but act she can’t. The ast time she had a big episode PP lost 2M viewers at half time…
NBC up to 3rd, fantastic!
You put Community at 8 and 8:30 again.
1.9 fringe ouch!
Good for Bones!
Private Practice hit a season low.
Can we add Twilight to the bingo card? It seems younger shows took the biggest hit.
(You have Community on there twice instead of P&R.)
Everyone was out watching THE EMO’S VAMPIRES
Was community on the full hour???
I’m so glad Fringe is doing soooo bad, sorry for its fans
Way to go Bones! They did it again. Amazing how the show is in its 5th season and doing strong. I mean, after seasons 3 and 4 not being that good.
Depressing, since I’m a fan of both Fringe and FlashForward.
I thinkk Flash Forward is done.
Darnit! Parks & Rec down to a 2.0!
Flashforward’s in trouble- now it’s doing worse than Castle in the demo.
Fringe is a goner- after all the hype, it only got a 2.0 in the demo.
Is this the first time this season that 30 Rock went below a 3.0?
LOL New Moon didn’t come out until midnight, so that excuse is DEFINITELY not worthy of a bingo square.
@Lester’s Fan, it has gone below 3 in the prelims before, but it has ticked up to a 3.0 or higher in the finals every time it happened.
I was hoping for more from FlashForward but the story just crawls along. That would be fine if there was something interesting going on, but most of the character stories are dull.
30 Rock was very funny last night. ABC should ditcf FF, and go reality in the 8pm timeslot.
That was ditch, btw.
Wow, FlashForward is tanking hard, and I’m so sorry. It really was a good episode this week, I guess I’ll stop watching now, save the later Heartache. Damn, this is Studio 60 all over again, I just thought this had a better chance to stick around.
Damn It …… Fringe was already on the brink ….. 2.0 is quite low for it ….. Maybe they should move it to some other night …. Competing Against Grey, Office is quite difficult for it ………
Post now substantially updated with all the typical morning information. ^
I think Flash Forward will pick back up next year when it gets closer to the day they had the vision of their future.
No, that was bullcrap.
I think New Moon def. played a role in the demo being down.
PLEASE do not compare FlashForward, a giant ’sci-fi’ mess to Studio 60.
Nice to see Survivor doing great again, especially for a great show that is entering on its 20th season. And this was the season where the merge made the biggest difference in the game’s dynamic.
buzllcrap was aimed @reallytireds idea of killing FF for reality trash. Lazy fingers.
Is 5.0 a series low for GA?
Caught some errors, First of all thats a season low, not series low for Private Practice. Didnt the show have worst ratings last year when it was on Wednesdays at 9. Also, a 2.0 for Fringe wouldnt be a season low since 2 weeks ago, it got a 1.7
New Moon definitely explains why The Vampire Diaries was down…
Matt, thanks for the catch on my having Community in the 830 slot. Fixed.
There is a “X movie opened that night” excuse on the bingo cards, but as others pointed out, Twilight didn’t open until midnight.
Well I feel bad about those who didn’t catch fringe last night, amazing episode. FlashForward continues it’s trend downward, if only slightly. Does anybody think a 2.5 is good enough to get renewed? It could move FlashForward behind Lost on Tuesdays, much less competition.
I knew it! I hate teens! “New Moon” sucks!!!!!!!!!! It’s not worth all that “Twi-hype”! “The Vampire Diaries” rule! I bet even “True Blood” wil get beaten by “Eclipse”, and I don’t even watch that, because we can’t afford HBO! I was enjoying 4 million:(! Even the TB vamps are waaaaay hotter than “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob”!
I guess passing out the hot sauce didn’t have the desired effect on Fringe’s ratings. What next? Will Fox adopt ABC’s “quiet success” mantra.
Eduardo- as opposed to Studio 60, a giant dramedy mess?
Even though new moon didn’t premiere until midnight I think it still could have had a small impact on the ratings. I know a group of friends that were going to the midnight premiere and they all lined up hours before it started and went out to eat together before that. I might be wrong but id say at least vampire diaries had to have gotten affected by it some.
Normally we laugh off the “People were out watching a movie, but it appears that New Moon did exceptional business for its showing, I know in my town people were lining up before primetime started.
So I would expect shows with large young female viewers to take some hit.
@FringeFan
Possible, but V will need that Lost-boost even more after the long hiatus.
Everyone wasn’t watching NewMoon they were watching FOOTBALL
Where’s Julia aka Debbie Downer this morning? Can’t wait to hear her commentary on how every show is down down down! Mornings like this are her bread and butter.
At any rate, strange how everything was down. I wonder if there was a big event on cable. Bad news for flashforward. While I like the concept of the show along with the acting,the problem with it is its just moving too slowly and people are losing interest. I’m behind by two weeks and don’t even know if ill get to them.
Actually Im sure New Moon did play a role. People werent home watching tv last night. They were probably out with their friends until the movie started.
Last night will not be a series low for Fringe unless it drops a few ticks in the finals. Its low was on 11/5. Last night was still about 18% better than that.
Uhh, Fringe had a 1.7 two weeks ago, remember? But with Lost taking Tuesdays, there is no place for the show, other than Thur/Fri. Only 24 + Human Target + Lie to Me* + etc. not coming back next year can save it.
*Lie to Me probably just got a back nine, with the Lost scheduling.
Flashforward is sinking even lower than I expected. Not enough hard sci-fi for the geeks, weak relationship material for non-geeks. Again, ABC has nothing else to put in the hour. Will this drop below Betty levels by year’s end?
And hold onto your hats – I believe most nets air original programs on December 3rd, and suspect those ratings will produce many series lows…
FF appears to be done. If V continues to slide I don’t see ABC keeping either around.
Indeed. My note on Fringe season low was wrong. Not sure how I forgot about the 1.7 post World Series rating. Fixed.
I wonder how much stock networks will put into last night’s ratings considering everyone was down hitting season lows. Obviously something was up if every network was impacted so I hardly think networks would take those ratings too seriously. If it becomes a trend then yeah, I can see them worrying.
ok as a bones fan im starting to dislike fringe bleeding viewers like it does.
Anyway as usual solid as a rock from bones!
I think FOX should bring 24 on thursdays and move fringe to some other night… They are already quite good on mondays with house/Lie To Me…. bringing 24 on thursdays might give them a bump ….
i think everyone was busy with the new moon camotion
Laura…FYI….Your nuts.
Cancel Bones already!
What teenagers could have attended a midnight showing of New Moon on a school night? I just don’t see how the film could have affected TV ratings at all last night. Not at all.
Puzzled to see so many shows down across the board. World Series is over and there was a weak college football game on last night (although the CU-OK State game was surprisingly close.)
Also think it’s time to put Parks and Rec back on the cancellation watch list. Two straight weeks of noticeably declining ratings. And yet the show is getting nothing but critical praise right now – weird. I guess people aren’t paying attention to the critics.
So what’s the reason for all shows going down. OUCH OUCH for Private practice. After last week’s Fantastic episode, I thought the ratings would go up this week
excuse me, i thought all movie premiere in america were on friday, right? so why new moon premiered on thursday?
good numbers for Supernatural!
WOW!! That was really surprising! Im thinking that many shows would have series highs exc. I log on here and theres series lows. One of the worst and lowest Thursdays ever.
Exactly, Private Practice didn’t hit a series low, but season low. It hit the series low last season, when it got 6.334 mln viewers and 1.8/6 in 18-49 demo.
Whether it was Twilight or something else, the relative number of adults 18-49 watching TV between 8p-11p last night fell by ~4% versus a week ago. H/P from 8-11 went from 37.8% last week to 36.4% last night.
The Mentalist has really rebounded and it looks like the crossover only boosted CSI: NY which probably wasn’t what the producers of CSI wanted. Vampire Diaries was a bit down but we could blame New Moon for that while Bones is still solid.
Here’s one thing I don’t understand with all the “Fringe is a goner” speculation:
Other than House, is there one show FOX has right now that would actually perform BETTER in that timeslot? Lie To Me is another crime procedural. The whole reason it’s on Monday after House is to build up some kind of audience, and if you moved it to Thursday it would have to go up against a long established hit that has the same type of viewership in CSI. And, as its DVD numbers demonstrate, it doesn’t have much of a fanbase.
So You Think You Can Dance? Ha! Don’t even try with that one. Glee is a new show on a much weaker night. Friday is a pit. So which show could do Fringe’s current numbers or better?
It’s a rhetorical question. The answer is: none. Surely FOX knows this. I imagine they may want to see how another show may perform in that slot, just for comparison, but outside of House FOX doesn’t have a single drama that wouldn’t tank, and tank badly, in this slot.
Keep in mind this is the first football season that Comcast is offering the NFL Network, a lot of people were watching the thursday night game…which turned out to be a pretty good game.
Good ratings for CBS: Yes a little down for CSI (expected) and Surivor, but still very good.
FlashForward is in trouble. I don’t see it getting pulled (yet), but it’s not getting a second season with those numbers.
Bones continues to be a solid performer for FOX. Fringe is down a little more…FOX may find a way to bring it back, but the cast and crew should probably save some of the money they’re getting off it now instead of going on a major spending spree.
Too bad for FlashForward, but in the worst scenario at least it will have a cult first – and last – season, for now the story doesn’t scream for more, either.
Vampire Diaries and Bones held quite well compared to others.
I think Grey’s Anatomy will beat CSI in total viewers for the end of the season. Also, it will probably tick up in the finals just as it did almost every time this season.
30 rock is bound to bounce back to 3.0. in the finals so it won’t be a low.
“Private Practice crashed, down 21% from last week to a 3.1 rating and a series low.”
I’m pretty sure it isn’t a series low. If it would have been able to deliver 3.0+ on Wednesdays in its second season, it wouldn’t have been rushed to its safe Thursday post GA-slot.
My guess based on these numbers is that both Fringe and Flashforward are goners now. Flashforward hasn’t stablized and is continuing to fall. I’ve got to admit that I recorded it last night but haven’t watched it yet. To me it seems that they’re suffering from a flawed concept for the show. It’s just not believable that you’d have millions killed and a world-wide cataclysmic event and then only 1 FBI office is investigating it worldwide. For something like that there would be a worldwide investigation and probably daily newsbriefings by the heads of state around the world. In addition, the economies would take a nosedive. But on Flashforward it seemed that after a week or so everybody has adjusted and the worldwide economies are back to normal with the exception of the “Ghosts”.
@NBCisaBUST
“Cancel Bones already!”
Ummmmm….????
Why should Fox cancel one its most solid, most ratings stable shows?
@The_GodfatherSJP
You are forgetting 24. It’s coming in January i guess and it can be a good competition on thursday night imo. It has it’s own fanbase which will never leave it.
The GodfatherSJP. I don’t think FOX would think of it in terms of “What SCRIPTED show can we stick at 9pm that will do better?” If they are thinking like that they put House or 24 there! But at some point they must think “Kitchen Nightmares might do a little worse than Fringe but it costs a LOT less.”
Not a fan of Fringe, but it’s one of the few remaining shows considered “science fiction” by the networks, and I’d like to see it survive so these figures make me concerned once again.
What concerns me is that they made a real push with this episode, did the whole viral marketing thing, and it ended up down compared to last week, suggesting that the disastrous ratings two weeks ago were, indeed, typical, and that it was last week that was the blip.
If Fringe goes, don’t expect to see any of the networks touch science fiction for the next few years. At this point, the only positive I can think of is that Fox obviously feels highly about the show, otherwise they wouldn’t be putting it against the competition it has. I’d expect a third season, but I’d be very concerned S3 will be scheduled for a Friday. I think it’s more likely than not at this stage.
Bill, as Carla pointed out above, that was just a season, not series, low for Private Practice – it’s done far worse in the old Wednesday timeslot.
Correct me if I’m wrong but doesnt Neilson measure ratings by the 59th minute rule? Say if you dont watch the vampire diaries but do watch supernatural and you tune in before 8.59pm even though VD may be over, rolling credits or comericial breaks are being shown before the start of Supernatural you add to the second half ratings of VD. Which is why there is such a huge increase in second half numbers for VD. Similarly if you watch Supernatural and it finishes before 9.59pm which it usually does this is deducted from second half numbers which is why there is always a drop in the ratings in the second half! This is aplicable to all shows and important as they take the average of the first and second half numbers to give the final rating! You could be doing your shows damage by tuning in before the 59th minute of the hour or tuning out before the 59th minute of the hour!
I think FF has cut its own throat. Last night’s show was filled with all the things that have been driving people away in droves. In other words, it was as boring as all get out, with people behaving stupidly because the plot needed them to do so. When plot drives character, rather than vice-versa, a show is basically a dead man walking.
So, I’ll be hard pressed to believe it’s not going to hit a new series low next Thurs after that outing last night. I think (I hope) I will finally stop watching. I took it off my Season Pass anyway, so hopefully that will prompt me to stop.
My name is Schmoker, and I am Sci-Fi-aholic.
I mean, an FBI agent finds out that his wife is receiving texts about what happened in his Flash Forward–information that he has only given to two people–and when he tells his boss, one of those two people who know about what happened, his boss doesn’t say, “We have to get on this right away. That person sending the text must be involved in the Blackout in order to have that information.”
Nope. Instead he says, “Douchey, you have wounded me by thinking I would tell your wife that personal info about you. How dare you accuse me. Get out of my office. I just can’t look at your face right now.”
Yeah, right, that would happen exactly that way. Christ, even General Hospital isn’t that soapy and stupid.
People who are saying New Moon didn’t open til midnight. You are aware that those fans line up might earlier? I work at a theater and right after school let out most of the people were at the theater waiting……..it was retarded xD
Haven’t you people read about the fans who waited in line for the past 3 days?
Tom, Carla, you are both correct on the PP season not series low, that was yet another mistake today. Time for me to take a break!
And yes, FlashFoward was really great yesterday and Survivor was extremely good last week and this week was still extremely really very good, but nothing compared to last week.
Michael – FlashForward had a good premise but its development is being way boring and is showing a really mediocre writing, with a really bad music timing. And even in the ’sci-fi’ – if that’s how we can call – sequences it does a pretty bad job.
Studio 60, at least for me, had a very good premise and pilot, and developed well – alright, so it had some bumps along the way and a bad character development on some parts, but indeed was a very good, complex and intelligent dramedy.
CBS Thursday is going to be increasingly interesting as the season progresses.
Just how much longer can CSI hang on? And just how much longer does The Mentalist need to grow into the Thursday 9PM slot? At this stage The Mentalist has to be getting the post-Super Bowl slot, right? And when CSI does go will it be cancelled or moved to a different slot?
Aman, Nielsen measures every minute (if you’re a Nielsen family, if you’re not, you don’t matter). There is no “59th minute rule” any more than there is a “58th minute rule”. All viewing is measured, if you watch 59 of 60 minutes of a show, you’re counted as 59/60ths of an average viewer. if you watch 55 minutes of a 60 minute show you count as 55/60ths of an average viewer.
@squiggle: The show is far too expensive to air on Fridays as anything other than burnoff. I’m not willing to write off the show yet, without seeing the fates of 24, Lie to Me, Human Target, etc., but the outlook is not good.
And I’ve already worried that 2009/10 would turn into the sci-fi apocalypse: Day One was preemptively killed, Lost is over, Heroes should end, neither V nor Flashforward look likely to return, and Fringe is done, unless Fox’s schedule collapses. Only CW looks like they will renew any sci-fi shows.
Maybe it’s cause Bill and Robert are old (
) but Tweens lined up since mid-afternoon to be the first to see New Moon at 12:01 Am and many Theaters replayed Twilight at 9pm. It’ll likely have the biggest opening on a Friday never ever beating The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Harry Potter etc.
I’d wager it did play a role in the lower ratings for every show. Tweens took their parents.
The fact of the matter is that The Mentalist would crumble against the demo powerhouses GA and Office so it will never be moved there.
never ever never. CSI is solid it is doing fine.
Brad, old I am (I lined up at 5am to receive opening night tickets to Empire Strikes Back from a costumed Darth Vader), but the “everyone lined up for tickets” as a reason broadcast ratings were down is just silly. Far more likely is (a) pre-holiday personal schedule disruptions, (b) Minor NFL network viewer siphoning.
I would say The Mentalist would need to reach a 4.5 demo to be moved to 9.
Maybe 4.5 is too high. At least a 4.0 or more in both half hours for a few weeks.
Eduardo, Studio 60 was HORRIBLE. To start with, the premise made it impossible to create drama- who cares if a fictional television show fails? The skits were awful, many episodes were just plain boring. Let’s not forget “Your little brother is standing in the middle of Afghanistan!” And Sorkin portrayed two people from Columbus,Ohio, the 15th largest city in the nation, as small town hicks!
That’s too bad for Vamp and Grey’s fans who may not have watched last night. They both had very good episodes. I am guessing that they will have higher dvr #s this week, and one week does not a season make. I think ABC should be looking for the next Grey’s or Desperate rather than the next LOST. Enter The Deep End about 4 young lawyers just starting out their careers and Happy Town about citizens of a small town filled with mystery and quirky behavior.
See the issue is one return appearence from WIlliam Peterson, maybe a funeral for Ray (Fisburne) could get CSI to a 4.5 or 5 demo. Peterson coming back for more than one episode? GOLD!
The 4% drop for the night with A18-49 across all TV may be attributed to New Moon (maybe) but that percentage is smaller than the drops for most of the shows that dropped. So it doesn’t work as an excuse.
Robert, do you see why I was so confused yesterday? You compare everything to prelims, Bill compares everything to finals! In the prelims, 30 Rock was even with last week.
Actually, my comparisons tend to be to the preliminaries, today I just defaulted to making (a) incorrect comparisons, and (b) bad typing.
Vampire Diaries is now on a 2 month hiatus i hope it doesnt hurt it too much
Yea get rid of Bones….without question worst show on TV
I DVR’d Flashforward, and then wound up deleting it and not watching later on that night to make room for White Collar. I just had no will. It’s an indicator. The characters are just not interesting, and the acting is so flat. Especially Fiennes and Cortese. Which, I hated Cortese in Supernatural so I’m not surprised, but Fiennes? Loved him in Shakespeare in Love so I am definitely surprised.
smallville suprnatural is also on hiatus for 2 months or more (Gossip Girl,Melrose ,90210,One Tree Hill will still air new eps with GG taking over the wednesday repeats from Melrose and VD)
Julia, the prepacked comparisons we get (in spread sheet form) compare preliminaries to last week & last years finals. But to avoid confusion and keep things apples-to-apples, I try to look (not always, but frequently) I try to look at the table I posted the week before when making comparisons, with the year-to-year comparisons i am usually comparing prelim to final numbers. Bill uses what he gets out of the box (edit: or did here).
Though I can see why it is confusing, I’ll probably keep doing it the way I do it, and I’m guessing Bill will, too.
Bill-do you work for Neilson or this site by any chance? Or are you just a regular poster?
Robert, I agree that Kitchen Nightmares would cost less, and it’s ratings were only marginally worse. But the network has also made a commitment to scripted TV, and FOX in the past has paired Reality TV programs together, vs. splitting them with a scripted show if I remember correctly (I’m sure there are nights that are exceptions, I’m talking about a general trend, for example Fall Fridays 2009 were 5th Grader and Don’t Forget The Lyrics back to back).
So once they picked Bones to lead off, another scripted show was probably going to follow regardless. The point is, of all the scripted shows they consider, Fringe was probably the one that was (and is) performing the best. 24 is going to be massacred if its put in that timeslot. Any FOX show will be. As you said, they can’t reasonably expect to win the night.
Nor should they try. No one’s going to stop watching a series of veteran, well established shows in Greys, CSI, 30 Rock, or The Office for a comparatively new show. I really don’t care how good it is, I don’t care what its ratings are even. It’s going to lose, and lost badly, to the best shows the networks have in this hour.
See for me, the question with Fringe at this timeslot is how the hell could FOX ever expect it to do well, given what it is and its competition? I can’t think of a single show in its second year in TV history, you name it, even Seinfeld, MASH, etc, that could possibly thrive in such an environment.
Bill doesn’t work for Nielson, or even Nielsen. Perhaps Harry Nilsson though.
gmyer I don’t think its out of the question that The Mentalist can hit a 4.0+ by the end of the season, especially not if it gets the post-Super Bowl slot. However the much bigger issue is that if CSI continues to slide (and it looks like it will) then by the end of the season its going to be struggling to stay above a 3.0 and there’s no way CBS can keep that at 9PM Thursday next season and The Mentalist (or maybe NCIS) are the only real alternatives they have. The Mentalist was moved to 10PM to be groomed for a move to 9PM the question is was CBS expecting to make the move this quickly?
Grey’s is also sliding so it won’t be as strong as it once was come next year either.
I think the real issue is what does CBS do with CSI, end it or move it next year?
Eduardo, Studio 60 was terrible. It had good production values, I’ll give you that, but it was so nauseatingly pretentious. I mean, every character in that show made it seem like they were doing important work that common Americans were too stupid to understand when in reality they were just making a crappy TV show. A show calls the entire middle class of America morons and they actually expected it to be a success? I was so happy to see that show fail. It was like everyone in the audience that they insulted flipped the producers the bird in unison.
Godfather: the network made a commitment to trying something else. I think they can argue they have tried. Though I’d love to see them stick House (or Idol even) on a Thursday to make the night mortal combat, I don’t think they will remain committed for long to something that doesn’t make much sense for them.
What the hell happened to ABC last night? Private Practice wasn’t advertised outside of GA, but I saw a ton of commercials for GA and FF.
Here’s another vote in support of the Twilight movie affecting last night’s VD ratings. My local paper has coverage of the teen hordes for the midnight showings. This was definitely not the type of event where people could just stroll in a few minutes beforehand. The article mentioned teens standing in line for hours. Since Vampire Diaries is aimed squarely at the Twilight demographic, how could the movie premiere not affect the tv show?
I think we’ll see a much higher than normal DVR % increase for VD this week and likely other Thursday female-skewing shows too.
I can buy “New Moon” being one of the reasons ratings were down. The football game last night wasn’t worth high ratings. NBC needs to put “Community” back after “The Office” and “30 Rock” earlier
I don’t know about other cities but here the movie theater had a showing of Twilight at 9 (central) just before the New Moon showing. That would affect the TV viewing depending on how early people might have arrived at the theater.
So it really could have affected the younger female TV audience as well as the male audience, (boyfriends dragged to it).
I imagine tonight’s low Friday numbers will be even lower than usual.
Alex, I don’t they will end CSI but I can see it moving to Thursday and dropping Laurence Fishburne, it is essentially CBS’ version of L&O where it is still making money while ratings have dropped.
In the end, it is up to CBS but it is a worry that CSI: Miami skews younger than the parent show.
This is supposed to be the last season of 24, right? Maybe dumping it after Bones and putting Fringe on after House is a smart move.
New Moon played a part. I’ll post its Friday ‘midnight’ numbers when they hit.
and betty wasn’t good enough for you abc?
Well, that was depressing to read. COME ON PARKS!
Gotta love Nielsen families, they decide the fate of some of our favorite shows. Are dvr numbers measured by nielsen families only? When is the flawed system supposed to get better??
Glad to see Survivor holding up well. The season has improved over the last three episodes. I thought the February – May season 20 would be the last, but with the numbers that CBS is seeing, I’m guessing they will come back again. Nothing thrown at Survivor seems to be able to beat them.
FlashForward took a good concept for a closed-end series and tried to make it into a multi-season show. Bad idea, I lost interest because I didn’t want to wait several years to get to the good stuff.
Fringe has a smiliar problem, the best episodes are the ones that focus on the Observer and the other dimension. Viewers are turn offed by the “monster-of-the week” episodes.
USA Today’s television critic had an interesting article yesterday about Fishburn and CSI. Said good actor in the wrong show. I totally agree – I stopped watching this season. It’s painful and the crossover shows were terrible. CSI will continue to decline.
To Alex.
GA is sliding but the demo is so strong that I feel that putting The Mentalist would be a mistake. Same thing with The Office. You really think that The Mentalist or NCIS could keep its present Demos against those two shows?
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I dont like to be misinformed!
Melissa,
Private Practice is never advertised outside of GA, so it’s an exception.
Aman, Robert Seidman and I run the site, but we’re not in the employ of anyone!
I meant of course:
Private Practice is never advertised outside of GA, so it’s not any exception that it wasn’t advertised this time.
brad this isnt conrimed to be the finale season they said they’d decide if its the final one or not before it premiere and right now i hear they’re leaning on renewing for season 9
With an estimate of 2.3 million in attendence for the New Moon if even just 25% of them arrived significantly early then you could see noticable difference, especially since most are most likely in a very specific demo.
Then we also have to remember this wasn’t just a mid night show. Most of the theatres with midnights also offered Twilight starting around 9pm. Now of course that would be a smaller number but it would also impact those numbers.
And almost all of these would be young females.
Then of course you have the cable broadcast of Football which also should have syphoned some of the viewers as well, but on this one it should be a much larger male audience.
For all the folks still thinking New Moon drove down TV audiences, they were nearly identical to last Thursday’s.
Definitely not a fan of LF on CSI. He could disappear and go with the rest of the cast and I’d be cool with that. Despite him, it’s funny the show is still Top 5 in viewers — it’s not a total trainwreck. The demos are shocking — was WP that much of an 18-49 magnet? Did they really underestimate GSR?
Yeah
But bill nearly identical, doesn’t mean that there was no impact.
Afterall at best I thought it would have an impact of in hundreds of thousands (not all who are going to watch tv). But even part of that is still an impact.
Just as Football (a larger number) would also have an impact.
Thee was an NFL game. But more than likely with the weekend before Thanksgiving starting today, that must have pulled people away from their TV’s
call me a crazy fan, but I just found this data I’d like to share. It’s a bit of good news for us FF fans anyway:
“FlashForward” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC freshman “FlashForward” outperformed NBC’s comedies (“Community”/”Parks and Recreation”) in the 8 o’clock hour by 3.2 million viewers (8.0 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 20% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/7 vs. 2.0/6).
The top gainer overall for any new series this season in DVR playback, “FlashForward” surges over the first-reported numbers by 1.9 million viewers and by 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+24%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
Vampire Diaries still managed to do well. It has 2 things going against them 1) It didn’t show in Florida 2) New Moon midnight screening yes this is an excuse because teenagers were lined up for hours to see this shit.
At some theater’s in Canada New Moon started at 10pm, plus people would have to get in line for seats. Some people lined up 3-5 hours early just for a good spot.
Wow! All the “Observer” hype over Fringe amounted to absolutly nothing. People just aren’t interested without being dragged into it via American Idol. And every week there are about 300,000 viewers who start the show then leave in the first half hour…What’s up with these people? Are they hoping for something amazing? Time to stop.
@Diogo,
That’s from the ABC press release: of course it sounds positive. If a pr flack has to tout how well a show did in the “vital” “men 18-22 named George” demo, they’ll make the ratings sound positive.
omg, CBS finally beat ABC today
come ABC, put Lost on thursday 8pm !!!! to replace flashforward
Hooray for The Mentalist!! Back on top again and its demo is improving. Last nights Red John episode was fantastic! I still really wish it was on earlier though and I will probably say that every week!
gmyers, traditionally NCIS has held up against American Idol (along with Biggest Loser) so I see no reason why it couldn’t in theory at least hold up against Grey’s and The Office. In fact didn’t it continue to grow last year opposite Idol? If The Mentalist doesn’t get the nod to move to 9PM then NCIS is the only other realistic option that CBS has.
Jon I almost agree with you and I don’t believe CSI’s numbers put it anywhere near cancellation danger in its own right however my thoughts on CSI going rather than moving are more PR based. From a PR perspective its a little embarrassing to have to move your ‘flagship’ to another timeslot because its getting its arse handed to it, whereas ‘ending its run’ has a better ring to it. In general that’s the only reason I think CSI in any danger of not returning next year. Unless the numbers get really bad by the end of the year.
Alex, it’s a good thing the PR dept. doesn’t run CBS.
I watch FF, but I’m not as edge-of-my-seat as I was for the first handful of episodes.
ABC is promoting the last “V” of the year pretty well, and will air a preview of some movie during the show. The episode preview looks pretty good- will be interesting to see how it fares.
NFL Network has Thursday night games, starting last week.
This will affect Thursday’s ratings.
Shame about Fringe but it will never get ratings on thursday nights. I really don’t think it matters though cause nobody is going to cancel a JJ Abrams series anytime soon.
Flash Forward will pick back up in the second half of the season. ABC would be stupid to not heavily promote it during episodes of LOST, if not switch it to Wednesday and put it on right after Lost. It’s not too late to put character development into it, which is really what it needs. Right now Bryce is the only character I honestly care about, it’s like… OK, Demetri is gonna die, but since I don’t know anything about him why should I care? In hindsight I honestly almost think they should have waited a few episodes before doing the actual blackout and spent the first few episodes showing why people should care about the people. Characters are what made Lost golden. If Sawyer or Ben or Hurley or even Kate were killed off I’d go on a rampage, whereas with Flash Forward I don’t care about the characters. I still have hope for the show but they need to turn it around or they’re going to end up like Heroes… And the only reason Heroes has a Fourth Season is because the rest of NBCs shows suck as well.
You say that now Julia, you say that now.
Why not? Does FOX have to keep a show that is stinking up the ratings week after week just becasue JJ Abrams is connected? They would be crazy to do that. People talk about JJ the same way they talk about the Buffy & Dollhouse guy. A name don’t make a show a hit. It needs viewers.
If it’s a hit in ratings it will stay, if not it will be cancelled. Sooner or later.
Has there ever been a major slaughter of a police cast like on the Mentalist last night? What is the plan behind it? Quite a dramatic show on a par with a season ender.
Darn, hate seeing “Community” sliding. It’s my favorite new show. And “Parks and Recreation” I think has really improved.
@NBCisaBUST
“Yea get rid of Bones….without question worst show on TV”
Are you sure you’re not thinking about “Hannah Montana”?
But seriously, what do you have against “Bones”? It’s no worse than any other crime procedural drama out there. In fact, I’d even say it’s better than any of the three CSIs out there.
You can’t compare Joss Whedon to JJ Abrams at this point. The difference between Buffy/Dollhouse and Lost/Star Trek is like a few billion dollars.
Howard – Terry Kinney (Sam Bosco) was only supposed to be in seven episodes so you kinda knew that something bad would happen to him! Thankfully they only killed off his team and not the main cast. It was abit of a bloodbath though and I wasn’t expecting so many to be killed.
Its answers the question though that The Mentalist isn’t always light and fluffy.
It will be interesting to see in future episodes how they keep the Red John story going as the leads they get always end up dead!
Without Katherine Heigl, GA hit a series low :-p
@NBCisaBUST
“Yea get rid of Bones….without question worst show on TV”
You sure you’re not thinking about “Hannah Montana”?
But seriously, what do you have against “Bones”? It’s no worse than any other crime procedural drama out there. In fact, I’d say it’s better than most. Certainly better than any of the three CSI shows.
My bad, Katherine Heigl was on GA last night
sorry
Yay, Mentalist rules …
)
“You can’t compare Joss Whedon to JJ Abrams at this point. The difference between Buffy/Dollhouse and Lost/Star Trek is like a few billion dollars.”
That’s not the point. The point is they can cancel something that is not a success regardless whos name is on it.
Ouch, poor FlashForward.
I figured the ratings would decline but not this fast. Also, it’s the only show at 8:00 that decreased in viewers (with the exception of NBC’s two shows) throughout the hour. Not good, especially for an 8pm show.
ABC has canceled 2 of JJ Abrams shows in the past: What About Brian & Six Degrees. They were both canceled post-Lost. Granted, JJ has now become a big movie director/producer.
THE MENTALIST was absolutely AMAZGING last night. One of the best episodes of the series if not THE best episode ever! I hope more viewers give this series a try. It’s the most Outstanding series on television and in my opinion, is every bit as good as NCIS! And for me, that a RAVE!!!
Does anyone know that if you are not on nielsen’s “radar”- does any of what you watch get noticed at all?
In other words, nobody really knows what the whole population is actually watching?
Can anyone answaer this?
answer sorry
“Private Practice” is awful! Send Addison back to Seattle Grace ASAP! Also ABC needs to get rid of “FlashForward” soon and provide a better lead-in for “Grey’s Anatomy” before the show really starts to take a nose dive.
BINGO!
I never watched Bones until this season (supposedly it had weak middle season), but man, that is a good show. That and The Mentalist are the best procedurals on TV now, for my money.
Bones wins because of the sheer charisma of the actors (and because the writers, after 5 years, know exactly how to write for them), but The Mentalist isn’t far behind at all.
Really, someone name a procedural better than those two shows. I will now travel forward in time for my rebuttal: you’re WRONG!
My reviews for last nights shows:
Communiy–6/10
Parks and Recreation–9/10
The Office–6.5/10
30 Rock–8.5/10
FlashForward–8/10
Grey’s Anatomy–9/10
Private Practice–8/10
The Vampire Diaries–9.5/10
NO surprise, causal people have no idea who the THE OBSERVER is. He’s like the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files, only the hardcore fans like myself want to see him.
Man everything is dropping to low’s. I guess DVR #’s, online will be higher.
FOX is more concerned because they probably have to give back something to advertisers, because FRINGE isn’t doing as well as expected.
Last year FRINGE got about low-mid 3’s in second half, after you strip away people that left channel on after IDOL/HOUSE on.
So it’s lost 1 demo point.
Alright, everyone seems to think that FlashForward is so dead and may get pulled. But, ABC has already ordered a full 25 episode season. When has a network last canned a show after ordering a full season and not letting it finish out? I mean the only one I can think of is E-Ring on NBC a few years ago, it got a full season ordered and was pulled for good with 8 episodes left…but that was a very rare exception. With all the money and promotion ABC has put into it, I think they will definitely let it at least finish it’s 25 episodes.
If your still watching the show, you should read the new Entertainment Weekly, David S. Goyer answers alot of questions about the show and what he has planned for the new year and the April 29, 2010 episode. I don’t care what the demos are saying, what he said in the article sounds promising creatively and I’m sticking with it.
For anyone who think Laurence Fishburne was not a good choice for CSI, I highly disagree with you. I think Ray Langston has been developed into a solid character and the CSI crossover really helped establish him as a solid lead for the show. Creatively this season has been a great success IMO. Petersen was burnt out from doing the show for 9 seasons, I don’t blame him for leaving. Yeah, the ratings are down and the demos are down, but this show is in it’s 10th season. As shows like this age, the numbers will go down.
And there is no way in Hell FOX will put 24 in the Thursday at 9pm timeslot. They already have a solid 1-2 punch on Monday’s with House and the ratings were up last season.
i might give up flashforward only watched 4 eps so far anyway lol
Flash Forward is not what I thought it would be. I still watch it but I sorta don’t care. They should have made a show with a smaller cast and kept the focus on just those few. Too many people who we don’t know or care about.
Got to say too that the bit they run at the start of every show…”On bla bla bla the entire world blacked out for bla bla bla”…Is hella annoying. If I have to hear the word “black out” on that show one more time I really will have to throw something at the TV. Every second line is “black out” this or “black out” that…Give it up already and make a better show.
TGS, on the one hand, I agree with you. They need more focus. But, on the other hand, I sort of feel like they sometimes forget that the entire world blacked out, and not just the people the show focuses on. I don’t know how to fix that, though.
Although a series low in 18-49, it should be noted that Grey’s Anatomy hit its viewers low in January with 13.1.
Didn’t Greys air a new episode on Thanksgiving a couple of years ago? Was this really lower than that airing?
so I was right the first time : Katherine Heigl was not on GA last night. Maybe it can explain that last episode had lower ratings yesterday night than previous one ?
@Julia,
That episode got 14.11 million/ 5.1, so it was slightly above last night.
Wow. Remember how that was ridiculously low at the time?
@uglyboy: I don’t think that is the reason. It’s an ensemble show, if a character disappears for an episode I don’t think people suddenly tune out right away.
I mean, otherwise I could say that this season GA is lower because of the absence of George. (and I don’t think that’s the reason).
@Julia,
The week before, it got over an 8.0
“New Moon” broke the all time box office record for midnite showings with $26.3 million.
And another thing: the demo went up at the half hour, so it’s not that the viewers didn’t find Izzie and decided to change the channel.
What it can be notice is that the initial sampling was lower than last week’s and we can fairly assume that this brought down the overall performance of the night.
Now, why less people than last week decided to initially sample GA, well, 2 possible main factors (well 3):
- They didn’t like the previous episodes and didn’t bother to check it this week
- The lead-in negatively affected its sampling
- Yesterday the night overall was down (at least broadcast) for whatever reason, and as a consequence, even GA was lower than usual.
FlashForward needs to focus on the big picture rather then the personal crap the chaaracters face, sure, your life isn’t all pixie dust and daisies, but neither will the 6 billion other people on the earth… shouldn’t they be trying to find out exactly what happened, and who is behind it rather then who you’ll be on top of in 6 months time…?
FlashForward and Fringe should limp to the end of the year. Problem with these shows is that they have a goal to reach to make it worth the time for the fans. I remember when JMS, with network and time-slot issues, shot the last ep of Babylon 5 very early and had it in the can, just in case. It turns out he didn’t need it that early, but he was ready, just in case for sake of the fans. I hope the FF and Fringe producers are that considerate of the fans.
In the real world yeah, everyone would want to know what happened. But on a TV show it’s got to be about the characters and their lives. If they aren’t going to just say up front what caused it then the constant “what caused the black out” gets really annoying. For me at least.
I think “black out” is probably the wrong word anyway. When I hear black out I think of seeing nothing, or just lost time. Not some linked dream like vision that you share with the rest of the world. But, I’m being silly with picking on the word. I just wanted the show to be a lot better than it is right now. As it sits, I don’t see it being a TV staple for too long. Which is a let down.
Don’t you think New Moon had any effect on the Miami/Carolina NFL game?
Fringe always seemed like a good show to me…i thing the girl is so gorgeous and the show is authentic. too bad its doing poorly. maybe if they put an emo vampire in it people might watch.
Like I said elsewhere, Fringe may have ‘jumped the shark’ right off the bat with the start of S2: no William Bell in ep 1 of S2 to answer the “twin towers” cliffhanger of S1, then they killed off Charlie Francis, then the female agent who came and went really fast, then Bell had not much to say. But mainly it’s just slow, like FlashForward, very slow.
I agree with USAmerica1st – the pace of Fringe this season has been uneven.
What about all the “we’re training you to be a soldier against the invasion” stuff about Olivia from last season? Did they just drop that? Where’s Nimoy? A flash in the pan? What about the obvious fact that Peter Bishop is from the the other dimension? Did they just drop that?
I mean, really, at this point it’s obvious Abrams has no idea where to take this show. And that’s the kiss of death.
I no longer think Fringe will make it to season three. Unfortunately.
Flash Forward I knew was going to be worthless. No surprise there.
Grey’s Anatomy–2/10 (An absolutely awful episode. One of the worst yet.)
Private Practice–7.5/10
The Vampire Diaries–9.5/10
The “New Moon” premier obviously affected the “Vampires Diaries” … Im not even a fan of the show or the movie, actually I guess I never liked Twilight, I felt asleep at the theater once I thought was quite hard it would happen to me.. but it did.. I do share a bit the sense of some kind of Emo’s airs.. Im really not up to watch a second part.. but the teather got the bunch of teens waiting earlier of midnight instead the screen at houses.
I do like better shows and Im agree with the person that said Bones and the Menthalist are best out there… as long as GA is boring and more.. Is nice to see shows well done and originals.
Not good for ABC. Last week “Desperate Housewives” hit a series low. This week “Grey’s Anatomy” did.
I mean, really, at this point it’s obvious Abrams has no idea where to take this show.
If I recall correctly (and I may not), hasn’t that been a trend for Abrams? He has a strong initial plan so the first season is strong, but after that the series tends to lose direction.
Holly, the same thing happened to Lost when it comes to the show’s direction. Lost was lucky enough to have a rabid fanbase that was willing to stick with the show by the end of the 1st Season, (and it had to face Idol starting in it’s second season) Fringe can’t say the same thing about it’s fanbase or holding up against competition.
HELP! I have been trying to find out what episode of Grey’s Anatomy has had the most viewers and what its 18-49 ratings were? does anyone know
For the most viewers I think you can look up on wikipedia. I don’t know if they also give you the 18-49 ratings, but I doubt it.
Rich, the most watched episode of Grey’s Anatomy was “It’s the End of the World.” It’s season 2 episode 16 and aired on 2/5/2006. It had 38.1 Million viewers. The Episode was aired after the Super Bowl that year. As far as 18-49 Demo numbers I couldn’t tell ya.
Still wondering if New Moon affected the NFL game on Thursday.
well..people who missed Grey’s didnt miss anything speical
Thanks Tommy! Me and my partner had a bet going on and i lost, I forgot all about that super bowl episode! He picked “It’s the end of the world” and my guess was “Losing my religion” the 2nd season finale. oh well thanks!
Grey’s should have hired a quality known actress to replace Heigl the minute she left the show.
Fringe 1.9 5 5.746… tscc numbers move the show to fridays, with dolhouse.
v only has one more show, so it will be back, hopefully with better writing. I agree that the acting is good, but the story and dialogue need help.
so Heigl left greys ? LOL good for her.
I wish Community and Parks and Rec would go up!
The Office and 30 Rock are doing pretty good this season. Not down too much from last year…
Give Parks and Rec a chance. It has changed from a boring show to a hilarious one. Also, Community is really good too.
What does anyone think of Kim Raver having a recurring role on the show? I haven’t been watching Grey’s Anatomy but I was just wondering what anyone’s thoughts were.
OH