JustTV News: March 2005
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series not so good on Wednesday With two new series airing on Wednesday, it was nearly Fox's and ABC's last chance of the season to pump out a new hit, but neither succeeded. Over on Fox, "Life On A Stick" debuted to an okay 9.3mil viewers, but was fourth in its timeslot in viewers, losing 62% of its "Idol" lead-in in viewers and 59% in adults, comparing very badly with how "House" is doing on Wednesday. It was a better second in adults, but for the kind of lead-in that "Idol" gave it (24.5mil, 10.5/26), it should have done better. Earlier in the evening, "That 70s Show" (7.2mil) continues to prove that an 8th season is not such a good idea, while "The Simple Life" (7.4mil) continues to lose fans. Like I said before, Fox, it's time to dump these crappy shows and go with dramas where you're doing well. "House" proves that. Over on ABC, "Eyes" premiered to an okay 8.4mil viewers at 10pm, but considering that it faced only a new "Law & Order" (13.5mil), it should have done better. "CSI NY" (9.2mil) was a repeat, but still managed to beat out ABC in viewers and adults. Earlier in the even for ABC, "Lost" opened with a weakened 17.6mil viewers (8pm series typical dip at this time of the year), while "Alias" was at a vastly improved 11.1mil viewers, up 66% over last week's poor results. "Alias" was second over in the hour in viewers and adults, but took the lead in both respects at 9:30pm with "Idol" off the air. The only other noteable news of the night was "Next Top Model" on the UPN which hit a season high 5.5mil viewers and a 2.5/7 in adults 18-49. It was actually third in the timeslot in the demo, over "60 Minutes" (9.4mil) and the likely series finale of "American Dreams" (6.1mil), and a repeat of "Smallville" (3mil). So far this week, 5 networks are up while 1 (guess who?) is down. ABC is leading to troops with a 28% jump in viewers (and with an all new Sunday line-up again this week, expect that number to increase by the end of the week). Fox is up 19%, CBS 9%, the UPN 8% and the WB 9%. And then there's poor NBC, which is down 13%. (March 31) "House" & "Race" overheating Tuesday's ratings brought few surprizes with the exception of two series, Fox's "House" and CBS's "The Amazing Race." First on Fox, "House" hit another series high at 18.3 million viewers and a 7.2/18 in adults, also holding onto more of of "Idol"s viewers than ever before- 70% in viewers and 66% in adults- the best retention rate Fox has ever had out of "Idol." That show opened the 8pm hour with another big win- 26mil viewers and a 11.0/26 in adults, although those are the lowest Tuesday numbers the show has drawn this season. Over on CBS, "NCIS" opened the night with a good 14.3mil viewers, while "TAR" held onto 13.2mil of those viewers from 9-11pm. That's actually near a series high for the show- the only time it drew better numbers was when it aired directly after "Survivor" on Wednesdays for 4 weeks in 2002 and 2003. Even then, the show peaked at just 13.5mil viewers, and with episodes like these, it's bound to break that record by the end of the season. Seriously, did you see that? WOW. Anyway, on the other networks, there was not a whole lot to talk about but broken dreams. At 8pm, ABC was a very distant third with "Kids" (6.8mil) and "Lopez" (6.7mil), while NBC was dead with 3.9mil viewers tuning in for a repeat of "Will & Grace" and just 3.6mil for a repeat of "Scrubs." "Gilmore Girls" was not that far behind with 2.7mil viewers, while repeats of the UPN sitcoms drew an average of 2.4mil viewers. Seriously, does NBC even look at the ratings anymore? How can they be satisfied with this? At 9pm, "According To Jim" (9.7mil) and "Rodney" (8.6mil) were, again, a distant third, but not as distant as NBC's "Scrubs" (6.3mil), which hit a series low for a new episode, and NBC debut of "The Office" (5.9mil), which already looks to be cancelled. I really like both of those shows, but there's simply no way to put a good spin on these ratings. Aside from "SVU" (14.5mil) at 10pm, NBC is dead on Tuesdays. It really has to take dramatic steps to do something here- it used to be one of their strongest nights. But then again, so was Thursday.... Over on the UPN, a repeat "Mars" (2.3mil) was enough to beat out "The Starlet" (2mil), another series which is only on the schedule because the WB doesn't have anything else to air. At 10pm, after "SVU" and "TAR," ABC's "Blind Justice" is not making a case for a second season as it slid to just 7.9mil viewers and a 2.6/6 in adults, worse numbers than even the lowest rated episode of "NYPD Blue." Perhaps if "Grey's Anatomy" shows some strength on Sunday, ABC could move "Boston Legal" here. Or maybe they could sell the series to NBC, because god knows, that network needs anything it can get. (March 30) Series lows galore on Wednesday With repeats and shifted series, the bottom fell out of a number of series ratings on Wednesday, not helped by the fact that CBS was at double its normal strength. The eye went with "Survivor" (19.2mil), and repeat "CSI" (16mil) and "CSI NY" (16.5mil). CBS won every timeslot by 9pm, where a repeat "Idol" still managed to draw 20.6mil viewers and a 8.9/22 in adults 18-49. Are viewers of "Idol" so stunned that they'd watch the same thing two nights in a row? Considering that there's only about 12 minutes of singing spread out over 60 minutes, there wasn't much to see in the first place. Oh, those wacky people at Fox... And that was pretty much it for the winners list. Starting out at 8pm, "Lost" (8.3mil), which looks to have a SPECTACULAR new episode next week, was second, while Fox was third. The numbers for "That 70s Show" (8.3mil) were fairly typical, but "The Simple Life" dropped to 7.8mil viewers, losing 6% in viewers and 12% in adults, and setting a series low to boot. Nope, not even last summer did the show draw numbers this low, which is pretty sad considering that the show has had the benefit of an "Idol" lead-in for the part 3 weeks. "American Dreams" (6.1mil) over on NBC is dead, while "Top Model" hit a cycle low of 4.5mil viewers. At 9pm, after CBS and Fox, NBC's 'The West Wing" hit a brand new series low of just 9mil viewers, while ABC's "Alias" plunged to just 6.6mil viewers and a 2.7/6 in adults, series lows in both respects. Numbers will pick up next week, however, with a new "Lost," CBS going back to its comedies, and Fox going back to a half hour of "Idol." Over on the WB, a repeat "Smallville" (2.7mil) beat out a new "Kevin Hill (2.4mil), a series that is likely heading for cancellation land. And in the last hour of primetime, "Law & Order" (9.6mil) was not at a series low, but was for a repeat, it's numbers were fairly weak. Over on ABC, yet another series low was set, this time with a "Wife Swap" vacation variation hitting just 5.2mil viewers, representing ABC's worst numbers in the timeslot in years. (March 24) "Third Watch" canned, and other news I've been predicting it for a few seasons now, but NBC has finally gone ahead and confirmed the cancellation of "Third Watch," which will end in May and is currently on hiatus. This is actually good news for "Medical Investigation," which sees it chances increase for a second season. With the new "Law & Order" series, it was a nobrainer that at least one would be gone. "Third Watch" currently ranks 55th on the season with 9.3mil viewers (flat from last season) and 72nd in adults (down 10%). "Investigation" in 60th in viewers and 66th in adults, while "Law & Order: TBJ" sits at a much better 27th in viewers and 48th in adults. Also on the networks, although this is really old news, "House" got an early secon season order. The series currently ranks 43rd in viewers and 29th in adults, and is averaging 10 million more viewers now than it did last fall thanks for "Idol." Surprizingly, "House" is doing dramatically better than any series has post-"Idol," teaching Fox an important lesson. The younger viewers who tune into "Idol" are a fickle bunch who won't necessarily tune into "The OC" or "The Simple Life" just because it's on immediately afterwards. But the significant number of older viewers that "Idol" attracts, while not into seres such as the aforementioned, will stick around for a quality older-skewing drama. If Fox is smart, it'll repeat the same strategy for Wednesdays next season. Last week, "House" ranked 4th overall. Somewhat foolishly, NBC has also given another season to "The West Wing." While I can see NBC's logic that it needs some stability in its line-up, "Wing," which used to rank in the top 10 just 2 seasons ago, currently ranks 36th in viewers (down 6%) and 53rd in adults, down 12%. The show airs its season finale in just 2 weeks to make way for the new series "Revelations." NBC also gave another season to "Joey," three more to "ER" and new seasons to "Crossing Jordan" and "Las Vegas." (March 24) "American Dreams" nearing death NBC's last ditch attempt to save "American Dreams" (yeah, right) has gone down in flames as the show skidded to new series lows once again. It drew just 5.8mil viewers at 8pm and a tiny 1.9/5 in adults 18-49. Not helping was the fact that "Survivor" (18.2mil) was airing on the night, but both "Lost" (8.9mil) and "That 70s Show" (8.3mil) were in repeats, freeing up some viewers in the hour. "Dreams" even got beaten out by "Next Top Model" (5.1mil, 2.3/6) in adults, and would have been dead last were "Smallville" (2.6mil) not in repeats. The news didn't get much better for 9pm as "The West Wing" skirted a series low. It drew a weak 9.8mil viewers and a 2.8/7 in adults, despite weaker competition in the hour than last week. CBS was second with both "King of Queens" (11.4mil) and "Yes, Dear" (10.9mil) taking advantage of a stronger lead-in, while ABC was fourth with "Alias" (8.5mil). Oh yeah, Fox was first with "Idol" (24.4mil) and "The Simple Life" (13.1mil). The good news for Fox is that "The Simple Life" is holding up well even considering "Idol"s typical results show decline, the bad news is that "Idol" is finally starting to show that decline, although ratings were still up 7% over last season. At 10pm, even with both "Law & Order" (12mil) and "CSI NY" (10.2mil) were in repeats, ABC's "Wife Swap" (7.7mil) could not take advantage. (March 17) "House" hits another series high Fox's best news of this season is probably not that "Idol" is not declining, but rather that "House" is becoming a huge hit. The show soared to yet another series high 17.4mil viewers and a 6.8/17 in adulta 18-49, ranking an overwealming first in the timeslot in both respects. Retention from "Idol" was also near or at another series high- 62% in viewers and 60% in adults 18-49. Although the comparison to last season in unfavorbale because of a two hour edition "Idol," from the next week, "House" is typically up some 60% over "24" last season. "House"s strong performance didn't hinder "Amazing Race," which hit a season high 12.6mil viewers and a 5.0/13 in adults. After that, "Jim" was second with 9.5mil viewers, while NBC's "Scrubs" (5.7mil) and "Committed" (5mil) fell flat once again. Over on the WB, "The Starlet" (2.2mil) is not doing much for the WB, getting beat out by a repeat of "Veronica Mars" (2.4mil). At 8pm, "Idol" (28.8mil), of course, blew away the competition, while a repeat "NCIS" (11.8mil) held up extremely well. Not holding up so well were "My Wife & Kids" (6.3mil) and "George Lopez" (6.4mil), while repeats of "Will & Grace" (4mil) were invisible on NBC. "Gilmore Girls" (3.2mil) held up well, while the UPN was last. At 10pm, even a repeat "SVU" (11.1mil) still won the hour, while ABC's "Blind Justice" (10.5mil) held up well, and "Judging Amy" (10.3mil) trailed. (March 16) "Nanny 911" soars, "Summerland" sours Monday was actually a pretty good night for the networks despite a plethora of repeats and generally declining audience levels at this time of the year. "Nanny 911" was particularly good for Fox, as the return of the show soared to 10.5mil viewers, tying for first in the timeslot with a repeat of "Fear Factor" (10.1mil). While it was no "Idol," it was 98% better than Fox did in the hour on this week last season. CBS was third with the dying duo of "Still Standing " (9.5mil) and "Listen Up" (8.5mil), while "How'd They Do That?" (8.7mil) continues to be a solid, cheap player for ABC. Over on the WB, a repeat of "7th Heaven" (3.8mil) drew a million more viewers than the UPN. On the flip side, "Summerland" is not looking to make a third season with its ratings declining each week. This week the show drew 2.9mil viewers, the lowest ratings the series has drawn for an original episode. That allowed the UPN to a rare 5th place (3.2mil) in the hour. The overall winner was CBS with "Raymond" (15.2mil) and "Men" (15mil), both repeats, while "24" and "Las Vegas" tied for second at 12mil viewers apiece. ABC aired "Extreme Makeover" to a weak 7.3mil viewers. At 10pm, thanks to a "CSI Miami" repeat (14.4mil), "Medium" (15.4mil) won the hour. A repeat of "Supernanny" (7.2mil) was a very distant third. (March 15) Why Doug can't update You've probably noticed a dramatic decline in the number fo updates on this site in the past few weeks. Aside from the fact that it's a very slow time in the tv world, I'm drowning in work. I have two 25 page papers, a thesis proposal and two 20 minute presentations upcoming in the next 3 weeks. And a huge pile of tests, assignments and compositions that need to be corrected. So yeah, I'm a bit overwealmed. Hold with me- regular updates should resume in mid-April, just in time for what promises to be a very busy May sweeps. (March 15) ABC gets "Justice", "House" hits high ABC got some more good news on Tuesday with the premiere of "Blind Justice," which drew 12.3mil viewer at 10pm and 4.5/12 in adults 18-49, beating every episode of "NYPD Blue" this season (except for the finale, of course). It wasn't enough to beat out a particularly creepy episode of "SVU" featuring Martin Short, which drew 14.7mil viewers, but it did slam "Judging Amy," which fell to 9.6mil viewers, a series low for a new episode. The show also lost 41% of its "Amazing Race" lead-in in adults (2.9/8 vs 4.8/12). Move it out already, CBS. At 8pm, "Idol" (27.5) mil is not seeing the typical dip that the performance rounds bring (which is good news for Fox), while "NCIS" (11.7mil) continues to hold strong, even in repeats, while ABC was a distant third with "My Wife & Kids" (7.6mil) and "Lopez" (7.6mil). The WB was an unusual third with "The Gilmore Girls" (5.4mil) beating out repeats of "Will & Grace" (4.5mil avg) on NBC. Yes, that show is so over. Nothing on the UPN was close. 9pm saw "House" take over with another series high at 16.3mil viewers and a 6.6/16 in adults 18-49. Retention out of "Idol" was 60% in viewers 57% in adults, in line wth the last few weeks. After CBS, ABC was third with two episodes of "According To Jim" (10.4mil), while NBC continues to flounder with 6.8mil for a repeat of "Will & Grace" and just 5.5mil for "Committed," which will soon get the boot. The WB's "The Starlet" drew a disappointing 2.5mil viewers, losing, 55% of it's lead-in. No matter how much the WB tries, it just can't buy itself a reality hit and the one it had, "The Surreal Life," it gave away. Go figure. (March 9) Shorter Idol benefits rivals Who was the winner from Fox's abbreivated Wednesday edition of "Idol" ? Certainly not Fox who fell across the board. "Idol" was, of course, first, but fell to a season low 23.9mil viewers, down from last week by the tune of nearly 10%. "Idol" typically drops once it gets past the audition rounds, so this could certainly be a sign of that. This was little spin, however, for "The Simple Life 3" as that shoow could muster only 12.9mil viewers and a 5.7/13 in adults. That was first in the timeslot, but down some 40% from its lead-in. While that was similar to losses shown by "House" and "24," but "The Simple Life" is supposed to be much more compatible with "Idol" than those two. Who knows, maybe viewers are finally fed up with Paris & Nichole, or maybe the show is not capable of drawing more than 13 million viewers. "That 70s Show" drew 8mil for two episodes in the 8pm hour. So who, exactely, benefitted? CBS, oddly enough. While "King of Queens" was at a typical 10.2mil viewers against "Idol," "Yes, Dear" zoomed to 10.9mil at 9:30pm once "Idol" ended. "The West Wing" (10.9mil) drew its best numbers since "Idol" came back and "Alias" (10.5mil) was at a 4 week high. Over on the UPN, the finale of "Road To Stardom" zoomed to 4.2mil viewers, giving the show a slight hope of coming back next season. As for the rest, as 8pm, "Lost" drew a typical 19mil viewers, although going into repeats for the next 5 weeks certainly puts a damper on that. NBC was an unusual second with a special "Dateline," while CBS slipped to fourth with "60 Minutes" (7.7mil). Over on the UPN, "America's Next Top Model" came back with avengeance, drawing 5.2mil viewers and ranking 4th in the timeslot in adults. "Smallville" was a solid sixth with 4.5mil viewers. At 10pm, "Law & Order" (14.7mil) once again overcame "CSI NY" (13.5mil) and actually beat the series for the very first time in adults 18-49 (4.9/13 vs 4.6/12). Maybe NBC's 60% "Law & Order" week will work after all... (March 3) "Blue" goes out with a bang The last episode of "NYPD Blue" was certainly an event for many viewers, but the ratings didn't quite reach the highs the series did even 3 years ago. The 12th, and final, season closed with 16mil viewers, ranking first in its timeslot for the first time this season. Earlier in the evening, a retrospective on "'Blue" drew a respectable 13.4mil viewers, ranking second in the timeslot. It was actually a very competitive night and a number of series showed good ratings despite everything. At 8pm, "Idol" (26.8mil) continues to slip a little every week, while "NCIS" (13.6mil) was second in both viewers and adults. From there, it was a long way down with ABC ranking third with "My Wife & Kids" (7mil) and "George Lopez" (7.7mil). A repeat "CI" (6.1mil) was a distant 4th, while "Gilmore Girls" (5.4mil) continues to go strong despite the heavy competition. On the UPN, both " All Of Us" (2.3mil) and "Eve" (2.6mil) drew their best ratings in several weeks. At 9pm, "House" (15.7mil) won despite the heavy competition. Retention out of "Idol" was a series best 59% in viewers and 56% in adults. Compared to last season and the premiere of a long since forgotten "Forever Eden," where loss was 59% in viewers and 56% in adults, this is another positive sign for Fox. After "Blue," "The Amazing Race" kicked off season 7 with 11.8mil viewers from 9-11mil, ranking third in both timeslots. Over on NBC, neither "Scrubs" (7.2mil) nor "Committed" (5.9mil) were anything to talk about, while "One Tree Hill (3.8mil) and a "Next Top Model" special were in a virtual tie. At 10pm, "SVU" drew a season low 12.3mil. (March 2) Oprah and Phil smashing daytime Okay, I'll admit it- I tuned in. Not to Phil, but to Oprah's post-Oscar show, which drew an amazing 10.8/23 in the overnight ratings. Remember when this show was sinking? Not anymore. After dipping into the low 5 ratings a few years ago, Oprah has battled back to 8.4 rating (the week ending February 13), ranking second in all syndicated series. That would rank in the top 30 of all primetime series. Dr. Phil, meanwhile, is also going for a ride- up to a 7.7 rating for a recent episode. The show drew a 5.6 rating for the week ending February 13, which is a bit above what it was drawing last season. (March 2) Lead-outs benefit from "Idol" What a difference a year makes. Last season, "24" was struggling after "American Idol" on Tuesdays, but since moving to Mondays, the show has seen a surge in ratings and is taking better advantage of is temporary "Idol" lead-in. The show drew 14.7mil viewers on Monday and 6.3/14 in adults 18-49, for retention out of "Idol" (23.2mil, 10.0/24) of 63% in viewers and adults. Last season that percentage was just 41% in viewers and adults. Considering that "House" is also in the 15 million viewer range on Tuesday, this is definitely a positive development for Fox. The other big news on Monday was the return of "Summerland," which drew an okay 4mil viewers, although it lost out in adults to "Girlfriends" (3.9mil) and "Half & Half" (3.8mil). It did noticeably worse than "Everwood," however, although "7th Heaven" (5.5mil) is also doing noticeably worse than it did last season. Over on ABC, the two hour "Bachelorette" final sunk to just 8.3mil viewers, although the "After The Final Rose Special," which saw Jenn reject both men, notched a solid 11.3mil viewers and second in adults. Helping was that "CSI Miami" (13.8mil) was in repeats, giving "Medium" (15.2mil) the hour. CBS was all repeats, with "Raymond" (15.2mil) and "Men" (14.6mil) holding up well, but "Still Standing" (8.4mil) and "Listen Up" (7.8mil) sinking to season lows. (March 1) Fox cuts "Idol" Huh? Yes, you read right- Fox is actually reducing its "Idol" content. Possibly because of the backlash last Wednesday in the way the eliminations were handled (which is what happens when 5 minutes worth of content is stretched to an hour), Fox is moving back at a half hour of "Idol" on Wednesdays, sticking the show at 9pm to stay out of the way of "Lost." "The Simple Life," which is not having an easy time in the ratings this season, will move to 9:30pm which 8pm will go to two episodes of "That 70s Show." "Idol" Wednesday ratings typically sink to under 20 million viewers once the voting rounds begin because there's really not much to the show. This will likely benefit "Alias," which has been having a tough time on Wednesday of late. (March 1) |