Due to the nature of live sports programming the ratings for NBC (Sunday Night Football) and ABC (NASCAR), and CBS (NFL overrun) are approximate and subject to significant revisions in the final numbers. See below for more information on these Fast Affiliate Ratings.
| Scoreboard |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-49: Rating/Share | 4.8/12 | 4.5/12 | 3.2/8 | 2.7/7 | 1.2/3 |
| Adults 18-34: Rating/Share | 4.2/12 | 3.8/11 | 2.2/6 | 3.2/9 | 1.2/3 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 12.944 | 12.135 | 12.686 | 5.522 | 3.233 |
The American Music Awards drew football-style ratings (5.5 rating for adults 18-49), but NBC managed to edge ABC in the nightly ratings averages. CBS benefited from an NFL overrun and Cold Case didn’t seem to get much if any boost from moving to 9pm, while Fox’s normally strong Sunday lineup got pounded.
While CBS’ lineup and ratings were jumbled because of the NFL overrun, it does look like Cold Case averaged a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating, which is just above its season average of 1.93 (in final ratings), but below last weeks 2.1 rating (in fast overnight ratings). Break out the bingo cards, and tally the fan excuses!
Here’s more information on the American Music Awards from an early ABC press blurb:
Marking its 3rd straight year of Total Viewer gains and 4th straight with young adults, the “American Music Awards” surged year-to-year by 2.0 million viewers (14.2 million vs. 12.2 million) and by 8% in Adults 18-49 (5.5/14 vs. 5.1/12). In fact the “American Music Awards” attracted its largest audience since 2002 and its highest Adult 18-49 number since 2004.
I am awaiting more information on the Sunday Night Football ratings, but NBC’s nightly 18-49 ratings average fell from a 6.0 last week to a 4.8. Bears (pants or not) vs. Eagles is no Colts vs. Patriots.
Update: Sunday Night Football Game 11: Eagles vs. Bears delivered a 5.6 adults 18-49 rating /14 share from 830-11p, down from last week’s Game 10 (Patriots vs. Colts) which posted a 7.5/18 in the Fast Nationals before rising to an 8.6/22 from 8:31-11:46p in the Finals.
Presumably because of the youth focused American Music Awards (and vs. last week minus an NFL overrun), Fox’s line up got crunched. The Simpsons crashed from a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating last week to a 3.3 rating. The Cleveland Show was down a tenth also to a 3.3 rating. Family Guy fell 0.4 ratings points from last week to a 3.8 rating. And American Dad was down a tenth to a 2.8 rating for adults 18-49.
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 7:00 | CBS | NFL Overrun | 6.0 | 17 | 20.614 |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 2.3 | 6 | 6.922 | |
| ABC | NASCAR Ford 400 | 1.6 | 5 | 5.660 | |
| FOX | Brothers | 1.0 | 3 | 2.614 | |
| 7:30 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 3.4 | 9 | 16.268 |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 3.3 | 9 | 8.792 | |
| ABC | America’s Funniest Home Videos | 2.0 | 5 | 6.454 | |
| FOX | Simpsons (repeat) | 1.9 | 5 | 4.043 | |
| 8:00 | NBC | Football Night In America | 4.5 | 11 | 12.445 |
| ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 4.3 | 11 | 11.997 | |
| CBS | 60 Minutes | 3.4 | 8 | 15.013 | |
| FOX | The Simpsons | 3.3 | 8 | 7.036 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. Chicago | 5.7 | 14 | 15.888 |
| ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 4.9 | 12 | 13.646 | |
| CBS | Amazing Race | 3.5 | 8 | 11.942 | |
| FOX | The Cleveland Show | 3.3 | 8 | 6.532 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 5.9 | 14 | 15.446 |
| NBC | Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. Chicago | 5.5 | 13 | 15.396 | |
| FOX | Family Guy | 3.8 | 9 | 7.386 | |
| CBS | Amazing Race | 3.4 | 8 | 11.615 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 6.3 | 15 | 15.670 |
| NBC | Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. Chicago | 5.9 | 14 | 15.559 | |
| FOX | American Dad | 2.8 | 7 | 5.520 | |
| CBS | Cold Case | 2.0 | 5 | 9.041 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 6.1 | 15 | 15.179 |
| NBC | Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. Chicago | 5.6 | 14 | 14.322 | |
| CBS | Cold Case | 2.0 | 5 | 9.342 | |
| 10:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. Chicago | 5.5 | 15 | 14.227 |
| ABC | 2009 American Music Awards | 5.3 | 14 | 13.030 | |
| CBS | Three Rivers | 1.6 | 4 | 7.652 |
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You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101 and Numbers 102.
And now I have Violent Femmes stuck in my head.
Cold Case aired at 930ish due to NFL
I’m sure that the Cold Case and Three Rivers fans will blame footballs 30-45min overrun for the shows ratings. But if that was the case wouldn’t The Amazing Race be doing just as poorly as the other 2? The writing is on the wall for both Cold Case and Three Rivers, it says “canceled.”
Break out those Bingo tokens.
There’s always a reason why it’s not the show’s fault it didn’t do well on x night — at least according to a particular show’s fans.
Looks like animations performed badly.
Show ratings table now added to the post.
I was trying to find out how Animation Domination did same time, last year and realized 24: Redemption aired in its place.
Looks like The Cleveland Show is settling and it’s really not doing any better than King of the Hill did.
But the American Music Awards DOES make it a non-typical Sunday…
How did this week’s football game compare to last week’s? Last week had some 18 million viewers, correct?
Well at least Family Guy is number one again. Proving last weeks Simpsons win was due (obviously) to NFL lead in.
Fred, I think the combo of football and the AMAs really hurt fox last night.
sad Animation Domination was down. I don’t watch Cleveland anymore, but Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy were all better than they were last week. Simpsons was probably the best episode so far this season.
Wow! TR got a 7.652 with a 1.6? Just doublechecking. That’s a big loss from CC to TR if I’m reading that correctly
Ouch, tuff break for Animation domination. The Combo of Fottball and the Ama really hurt them. But Simpsons was great last night.
Didn’t see Simpsons last night. Haven’t watched it for a while now. Is it better? Old Simpsons are probably the best TV ever. Sad to see it go massively down hill. Family Guy was great! Best since the season premiere. Glad to see it number one again in the lineup. By “again” I mean back to usual, discounting last weeks anomaly.
I’m not sure how much I’d rag on Cold Case/TR; the AMA had much higher competition at 10pm than B&S offers.
Don’t get me wrong, TR should have been canceled weeks ago, and CC should end this spring, but you can’t simply conclude “CC does no better at 9(:30)!”
Looks like any day now CBS should pull Three Rivers. The flip flop didnt work so, despite the fact they can burn the series off Dec-Jan, This would be a natural time to axe the series. CBS has outlasted its own record of November 23, 2005. As the latest time in the fall to cancel a series.
Tom, what CC will do in the future at 9pm is anybody’s guess. Last night, based on these admittedly jumbled numbers, it did no better at 9pm(ish), and that’s what’s written in the post.
Yes Tom. CC still did better than TR has ever did in that timeslot even with the demo if I’m not mistaken.
Bill / Tom – My guess is that CC will do probably the same at 9. Everyone knows the series is done by May 2010, it barely got renewed last spring.
Amazing Race hung right in there against the big dogs.
And the Three Rivers fans will start a kidney donation drive to try and save the show. They’ve got two…they’ll figure they can afford to lose one.
lol Realistic. That’s disturbing, but funny. And I have no doubt that at least 1 fan will think that’s the greatest save our show idea out there.
The Amazing Race continues to do solid numbers.
How can someon judge this night based upon previous Sundays? ABC was getting high fives and six demo numbers! That is not the norm! DH and BS doesn’t get those types of numbers! I am sure next weeks hallmark movie will do WORSE than Cold Case and Three Rivers in 18-49 so that is what CBS is thinking. They have this commitment to Hallmark movies that get low demos but good overall numbers and the shows they air will get lower overall numbers but higher demo numbers. That must be what CBS is thinking. Also that Football was bound to ruin all the later shows because of the fact that Three Rivers and Cold Case frequently end at 11:30! That must be kept in mind by everyone.
Cold Case is gone after May and Three Rivers will be gone after January, The AMA did very well as did NFL on NBC. The Animation block was down and I think after the sixth season of American Dad! I think FOX may axe it. Not sure what would replace it though,
Cold Case was doing so much better last season.
I think having the weak TR as a lead in for 7 episodes has damaged CC and there is no cure now.
When viewers leave , it is dificult to make them come back.
Anyway , the AMA is a stronger competion than DH , and if numbers are correct CC demo 2.0 is very bad but better that TR demos the previous weeks.
And CC got a few more viewers in the second half hour , it did not lose viewers as TR usually does in the second half.
Still, sadly I know CC is a goner.:(
For the first time ever in six seasons, ABC actually benefited more from airing The American Music Awards instead of “Desperate Housewives”. Last nights show benefited from an A list line up including Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Adam Lambert and Rihanna.
gmyers, why CBS airs those dreadfully rated Hallmark movies (other than they are perhaps free) is anybody’s guess. Don’t mistake it for wanting “good overall numbers”. Those “overall numbers” are meaningless.
And for those playing bingo, that was a trifecta:
It was delayed by football
The network shouldn’t focus on the demo
It ran opposite [insert name of ratings juggernaut]
It always surprises me how many people watch these meaningless awards shows, especially one like the American Music Awards. It’s cheesier than most, with flash-in-the-pan awardees and performers, playing as if its teenybopper “artists” are participating in the Oscars. Plus, the live performances are never suited to the venue. Yet they always pull in enviable ratings.
The Amazing Race is the best it’s ever been this time around. Hate to see the finale. I forgot about the Cold Case and Three Rivers swap and missed Cold Case totally. Typical…I knew that would happen.
The American Music Awards…I’ve never seen such a bunch of over-hyped acts in my life. What the hell was Whitney singing? There was music in the background but she sure wasn’t singing along with it…Eminem, slim shady, or whatever he goes by…What’s he washed up 5 years ago? Green Day were pretty good. Alicia Keys…give me a break. Annoying.
I figured I’d wait and watch the last performance which turned out to be that Idol guy. Guess he just wanted to shock us…Didn’t work. So much “performaing” going on that the music part of it was lost and he just left it all up to a few loud screams at the end. Fail…
What’s really sad about these shows is that is showcases those at the “top” apparently, when most of the unique, original and true music is ignored and generally only heard on underground, collage or indie radio.
Why was Michael Jackson nominated for awards? Did he had a record out before his death? Was he nominated just because he’s passed on? I didn’t think anyone got a nomination unless you had a record out in the past year or at least something to promote? Just asking, not complaining.
Oh, don’t worry, PizzaLegs.
Much like L Ron Hubbard apparently continuing to write books after his death, Michael Jackson will continue to be nominated for and win music awards.
And here I thought the only certainties out there were Death and Taxes.
All most people are talking about this morning are former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert’s sexually charged performance last night. Personally, I liked his performance.
I wonder if The Hallmark Movies are a way of filling in slots between new episodes and I imagine they are very cheap to acquire and CBS probably pays very little for them. The Jesse Stone films skews ancient but viewerwise it does well which is probably why CBS order a new installment every year,
I generally like Lambert, but I thought the whole display ended up overshadowing the song/music. It all got lost. I guess though if it shocked a few grannys it’s good. I’m never shocked by nothing but I like when others are.
I liked cold case at the new(old) time….Dont care how it did cause i know it is done after this season but enjoy it just the same! Last nites episode was really good!!
I do not know why any network puts a good show on air on Saturday nights. Cold Case and Three Rivers get shafted almost every week. It’s a school night and most teens do not watch TV that late, even the adults who have an early start, go to bed before eleven. CBS needs to put these shows on a decent night. I love Cold Case and have trouble staying up so late to watch it.
I’m not so sure I would call it a huge win for the Awards show. I mean, there’s a signifcant displacement of viewers. extreme Home Makeover and Desperate Housewives have large audiences and if they don’t normally go to the other networks for football, where else were they going to go?
I’d say all the nets did about what they normally do, NBC seems to be down a bit, the match-up wasn’t great.
crystalabel:
Cold Case and Three Rivers air on Sunday nights.
If you’re trying to watch them on Saturdays…
…you’re doing it wrong.
Major Mike, Fox ratings took a hit last night vs. the AMA. CBS it’s hard to say 100%, but they seem to have been about normal factoring in the overrun. The SNF game was down from last week, but the numbers were pretty typical compared with other less marquis matchup SNF games.
actually Cold Case did alot better in the 9pm slot, they had over 9 million total viewers which is the first time they topped that this season. You have to consider that it was going up against the AMA’s which had a huge audience. I am pleased with CC’s ratings
I think CBS did a mistake moving Three Rivers , the old ladies that usually watch this show probably go to bed early.
Even worse , just a 1.6.
I wonder how many people watch the last 30 minutes, probably less.
BTW ,I loved the AMA , poor J.Lopez.
I think it evens out. Cold Case did better than Three Rivers in the 9 pm timeslot — I think the only time Three Rivers got a 2.0 was with the Mandy Patinkin episode last week — but Three Rivers did worse than Cold Case in the 10 pm timeslot.
Cold Case should have stayed at 9 beginning this season. Theres no way a new series would fare well at 9 unless it aired out of NCIS (The Mentalist, NCIS LA) Also ABC got a nice bump from the AMAs so that may be why both CBS and FOX were slightly down.
What did others think of Adam’s performance last night? It’s that is most talked about right now.
Shaz:
By the time all the numbers were in, Three Rivers did a 1.8 last week. There was no 2.0.
What happened with JLo at the AMAs? I checked out of the AMAs during Twitney Houston’s performance so I missed Adam Lambert. YouTube here I come…
Adam did nothing that Madonna didn’t do 15-20 years prior- and better.
He’s a definite showman, but the “scandalous” aspect of his performance seemed kinda awkward.
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys were great; Lady GaGa did good, as did Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Black Eyed Peas.
Jon – The Hallmark movies are filling in for otherwise repeats, and its a nice holiday annual special CBS does. If CBS miraculously leaves Three Rivers on the sched, the series is likely to burn off 12/6, 12/13, possibly 12/27, 1/3, 1/10, and 1/17.
I thought the 2.0 for TR last week was wrong. Thought it ended up at 1.8 in the end.
TR lost me weeks ago. I’ve never been so bored. Why haven’t they canceled it yet?
I watched TLC – ROFL
It’s funny, Lambert didn’t even win American Idol but he’s the most talked about and popular. Did the winner guy even put out a single or record?
MaddiePaddie, to be clear, the 2.0 adults 18-49 rating noted for TR last week wasn’t “wrong” any more than any of the fast overnight ratings we get is “wrong”. They are preliminary and subject to adjustment.
Maddie Paddie – Thats what Ive been wondering too. But I have a couple of guesses. The accountants theory is one, and the fact that Alex O’Loughlin is the lead may have something to do with it. Its interesting that every other network has cancelled a series, ABC (Hank & Eastwick), CW (The Beautiful Life), FOX (Brothers & Dollhouse), and NBC (Southland and Trauma). Ironically both NBC’s axed series have been uncancelled. My guess is Three Rivers will be pulled soon but CBS may surprise us and keep it around. However with 22 Flashpoint, 13 Miami Trauma, and 13 The Bridge waiting, it still seems odd TR is still around.
I dont see wha the big deal about Cold case is. Its on Sunday when everyone is watching football. Its ratings are better than CBs on friday nights. My suggestion b4 CBS makes a final decision, put CSI or CSI Miami on a couple sundays. Bet they wont fare as well as they usually do. Cold Case is a very good show and I may even go as far as saying this season is better than some seasons past. The only problem I see on sunday is Three rivers. Anyone else noticed that they had less than 8 mil viewers. Keep Cold Case. Goodbye three rivers!!!
I apologize Bill. Unadjusted then not wrong.
Has TR ever achieved a 2.0 in the final adjusted numbers? I don’t think TR has so maybe CC did do better?
MaddiePaddie, No. Here are the final 18-49 ratings for TR through Nov 15. 1.9 1.7 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.8
That was a really good Simpsons episode. It’s a shame relatively few people watched it.
Surprised the AMAs were such a draw. I thought the AMAs were to the Grammies what the Golden Globes were to the Oscars. And neither the Oscars nor Grammies are especially respected in the first place.
RealisticExpectations: Thanks. I thought Three Rivers was lower in the finals but I couldn’t find the reference again.
Don’t know if it means anything, but Alex O’Loughlin visited his MySpace account 3-4 times last week (as opposed to the usual 2-3 times a month or less when he’s busy with filming or doing promotion, etc.). Does he suddenly have more downtime or suddenly have more interest in what fans are saying?
The Oscars aren’t respected? They were the most respected awards show for years.
Seriously, Maddonna did it better than Lambert? I don’t think so.
Shaz , Alex has more time now that when he was in Moonlight , because he had more screen time there.
I am afraid Alex has lost part of his fans because of this Dr Andy.
I don’t think he is that interested in what fans are saying , because at his page it is always the same people posting over and over about how great he is and how amazing Three Rivers is. He may just want to keep the fans he still has happy.
Lucia, I wasn’t comparing how often Alex visited during Moonlight vs. Three Rivers. I was comparing how often he visited since Three Rivers started filming vs. last week. Last week he started visiting more often. As CBS’s crime procedurals have taught me, something’s afoot when someone changes their pattern.
Alex approves all the posts before they show up on his page, so it’s not surprising that only the praise gets posted. But since he’s being selective, he must read ALL the comments, including perhaps much less flattering ones that don’t get posted.
I can’t believe more than 5 mil people watched the NASCAR race. The redneck roundy rounds put me to sleep. BORING. Who’s watching this garbage?
I skipped Cold Case for the first time since the show started. I am sick of it running late so I will not bother for the rest of the season, so they can go ahead and cancel it.
Ok Shaz , sorry , I missunderstood you. Who knows then? . CBS has said nothing about TR ,but it doesn’t look good and I bet the actors involve in the show are just waiting for the bad news.
Maybe you’re right and there is something behind Alex being in myspace now more than previous weeks. It sure means he has more free time.
All the sex appeal Alex got because of Mick is gone now. And I am afraid some of his fans are gone too ,thanks to Dr Andy.
G, interesting. Even though it got pushed back, CC still started at its earliest time so far this season. And you still skipped it. What’s up with that?
Cold Case was against the AMA , this is so much worse than being against Desperate Housewives
I think CBS should be fair to Cold Case and leave the show at 9 pm.
After all nothing is going to improve Three Rivers. CBS should try at least to be fair to Cold Case.
Since this is a site about numbers, I looked up some stats on Alex’s visits to his MySpace page
July 29, 30
Aug 10, 26
Sept 6 (just to post a blog, not post comments), 13, 16 (blog only), 21, 22, 29
Oct 1 (blog only), 2, 16, 19, 23
Nov 3, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
I don’t think losing fans because of Three Rivers means much. Most actors are only as popular as their last role anyway.
I agree. I’ve come to terms with Cold Case being done at the end of the season… but no reason it should stay at 10 p.m. which among other things has helped its demise this year.
I thought The Cleveland Show last night was the best one so far! the Aunti Mama charachter was BRILLIANT! my mom even laughed!!
Bring back The Unit. Didn’t they usually get better than 9 million viewers just about every Sunday night?
The most recent “scandal” is nothing but trying to drum up media attention, Madonna, the wardrobe malfunction, letterman are all just trying to get “the mothers of America” mad, get a letter writing campaign going and maybe a lead in on Fox news, it is so old, it is not even worth mentioning, wake me up when they work their way up to live human sacrafices, which should still be a couple a years away
I heard that there was a lot of ads for Chuck during Sunday Night Football. That’s great!!!
Shaz and Lucia, what do O’Loughlin’s visits to his MySpace page have
to do with anything. Do you think he goes there for an ego boost? When
Three Rivers gets cancelled he’ll survive and just go on to something
else. The vitriol for this show seems out of proportion. Not everyone
has to like the same shows.
CBS trying to salvage Cold Case’s 22 episode vs 13 episodes of TR, didn’t work. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t against normal competition, ratings aren’t going to increase.
It’s not like CBS viewers switched to AMC awards. It got it’s normal viewers, just like like ABC & CBS haven’t benefited from LENO. People go to cable or turn off tv.
Linda, no, I suggested that the change in pattern may be an indicator of a change (or soon-to-be change) in the show’s production status. As for an ego-boost, Alex has already admitted that the fan adulation is an ego-boost. And what’s wrong with that?
I’ve read a lot of responses to the show and they fall into three groups in general: (1) fans who love him in everything and thinks he deserves an Emmy for reading the phone book, (2) fans who think he’s doing his best with what he’s getting but is generally being wasted on the show, and (3) people who haven’t seen Alex in anything but Three Rivers and think he’s an awful actor and vastly overrated.
So what I have against Three Rivers is that I hate seeing Alex tied up in a bad show instead of moving on to something better. If the show ends now, then he can start looking for a new (and hopefully better) show for fall 2010. If CBS for some explicable reason drags this show out for more episodes, then it’ll still get canceled and Alex will have missed any chance to find work for the fall 2010 season.
For someone who doesn’t like O’Loughlin, you sure spend a lot of time posting about him, Shaz. Your research on the stats on his MS visit is impressive. Or is it that you yourself don’t like Three Rivers and are rooting for its demise and ruin it for others?
I like Alex fine. I don’t like Three Rivers. And it took all of three minutes to look up the MySpace stats.
Why would rooting for Three Rivers’ demise ruin the show for anyone other than (1) people who can’t think for themselves and need validation from others in order to feel good, and (2) people who think that the network will make cancel/renew decisions based on random opinions posted on the web and not a show’s ratings?
If all you want to read are positive reviews of Three Rivers, there are plenty of fan boards for that. I’m not going on those boards and “ruining” those people’s “fun” so it’s a bit rude of you to come here and expect me to either act like a dooling fangirl or say nothing at all.
Shaz writes, “I’ve read a lot of responses to the show and they fall into three groups in general: (1) fans who love him in everything and thinks he deserves an Emmy for reading the phone book, (2) fans who think he’s doing his best with what he’s getting but is generally being wasted on the show, and (3) people who haven’t seen Alex in anything but Three Rivers and think he’s an awful actor and vastly overrated.”
You forgot my group. (4) people who have seen Alex in most of the things he’s been in and think he’s an awful actor and not vastly overrated by anyone sane.
Why is “Three Rivers” still on? Why shouldn’t it still be on? They’ve shot 2 more episodes which have yet to air and have 3 more to go. It’s certainly not done “well” in any technical sense of the word, but it has maintained the bulk of its premiere audience. The people who “liked” the premiere have stayed with it. Unless you’re a stupid, gutless, panic-stricken, penny-pinching, cheapskate network executive (which many certainly are), you keep those shows on until they run out of original episodes before you move on to the next thing.
And contrary to what awful actor’s insane fanhags will tell you, the audience is every bit as big as that vampire junk that was justifiably cancelled because it wasn’t a time slot improvement (hi Julia!) and because it sagged in between 2 hits and because it did the Showrunner Shuffle and because CBS wasn’t happy with it creatively and because the viewers were actor-centric and because Joel Silver didn’t want to make it anymore and because “Flashpoint” and “Medium” hold the “Ghost Whisperer” lead-in better and because it was a bad show. Any questions?
Riff, I haven’t come across too many people in group (4) but I don’t doubt they exist.
Three Rivers is following much of the same path Moonlight did: Reshot/recast pilot. Ratings down slightly from the premiere but overall holding steady. And ratings for the shows that precede and follow it are higher.
However, Moonlight won its timeslot and aired during the strike year, so CBS was limited in what they could replace it with if they canceled it early. Three Rivers regularly comes in last in its timeslot (but I’ll grant that its up against tougher competition) and CBS has plenty of shows that can replace it.
But I agree that Three Rivers will air out its 13-episode run. Since only two shows got pulled prematurely this fall (three if you count Southland), letting weak shows air out their episodes seems to be the new standard.