Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, February 12, 2009 February 13, 2009 6:20 pm
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Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, February 11, 2009 February 12, 2009 6:14 pm
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USA Network Cancels The Starter Wife February 12, 2009 5:52 pm
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The USA Network has canceled the Debra Messing-starring drama series The Starter Wife. The show premiered last fall after a successful six-hour miniseries in 2007. The 10-episode first season had a lower than expected audience, drawing an average of just 2.4 million (low for a network whose top shows regularly pull in 4-6 million viewers).
USA tells Entertainment Weekly that the show was a “critical and creative success,” adding that the Dec. 12 season finale served as a “satisfying conclusion” to the franchise.
Samuel Bayer to Direct Nightmare on Elm Street Remake February 12, 2009 4:33 pm
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Samuel Bayer has been tapped by Platinum Dunes to direct the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street. Bayer’s background is that of a music video director, responsible for directing Nirvana’s award-winning Smells Like Teen Spirit. The film is being scripted by Wesley Strick (Arachnophobia).
Source: Risky Business
Broadcast TV Ratings for Tuesday, February 10, 2009 February 11, 2009 9:52 pm
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CBS’s impressive procedural lineup of NCIS, The Mentalist and Without a Trace managed to push the network to first place for the evening among households, beating Fox by nearly one full rating point (10.9 vs. 10.0). Among viewers, the network was second, but just barely (17.39M vs. 17.49M).
Moving to Fox, American Idol declined from last week’s numbers but it was the numbers of Fringe that were more concerning. The show’s retention fell to below 50% among both viewers and adults 18-49 with week-to-week declines of 18% among viewers and 14% among adults 18-49.
Although in third place overall, NBC was competitive among adults 18-49, finishing in a tie for second place with CBS in the demo thanks in large part to another solid outing from the two-hour Biggest Loser and better-than-normal numbers from a special episode of Dateline.
Rounding out the rest of the evening, ABC was in fourth place with two ‘Charlie Brown‘ specials, each of which performed poorly, back-to-back episodes of Scrubs (which has unfortunately not been able to capture any significant audience) and True Beauty, which away from normal lead-in The Bachelor, performed very poorly. The CW’s lineup of 90210 and Privileged failed to break even 2 million viewers. My full analysis of the night’s ratings follow after the jump.
Showtime Renews The United States of Tara February 11, 2009 7:45 pm
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Showtime has renewed its freshman series The United States of Tara for a 12-episode second season. The half-hour drama, starring Toni Collete as a woman with dissociative identity disorder (also referred to as multiple personality disorder) premiered with an impressive 2.67 million viewers, the best for the network since 2004, and has performed well in subsequent weeks.
“It has been pure pleasure working with Diablo Cody, Toni Collette, Steven Spielberg and everyone at Dreamworks on United States of Tara,” said Showtime entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt announcing the pickup. “This show is a perfect fit for our premium brand and we’re thrilled that critics and audiences have responded to this groundbreaking show so well. I look forward to many more alternate personalities emerging from this unique series.”
Diablo Cody will be returning as a writer and executive producer for season two, which begins production this summer for an early 2010 premiere. Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank also serve as executive producers.
Source: Broadcasting & Cable
ABC Picks Up Superhero Comedy February 11, 2009 7:20 pm
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ABC has greenlit No Heroics, a single-comedy pilot based on the British series of the same name. No Heroics is about a group of superheroes with less-than-formidable powers who hang out at a bar. The pilot was co-written by Will & Grace alum Jeff Greenstein and original show creator Drew Pearce. Greenstein and Pearce are executive producing for ABC Studios with Andrew Zein of Tiger Aspect, which produces the British series for ITV.
Broadcast TV Ratings for Monday, February 9, 2009 February 10, 2009 11:53 pm
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The 8:00pm hour featured the first press conference of President Barack Obama. Airing on all four major nets, the conference averaged a 23.4 household rating, 36.94 million viewers and a 12.4 rating among adults 18-49. ABC drew the largest portion of that audience (11.49 million viewers and a 4.1 A18-49 rating) while Fox drew the smallest share (5.92 million viewers and a 2.2 A18-49 rating). Here’s the breakdown:
ABC: 7.5/11 HH rating/share, 11.49M viewers, 4.1/10
CBS: 6.2/9 HH rating/share, 9.78M viewers, 3.0/8
NBC: 6.0/9 HH rating/share, 9.75M viewers, 3.1/8
FOX: 3.7/6 HH rating/share, 5.92M viewers, 2.2/6
Elsewhere on the evening, The Big Bang Theory posted series high ratings airing out of an original episode of Two and Half Men. The second-year comedy managed to retain an impressive 98% of its lead-in’s A18-49 demo rating and 88% of its viewers. CSI: Miami then closed the night for CBS as the evening’s second most-watched program, rounding out another solid Monday night lineup for CBS.
Following in second place for the night was ABC, which as noted above, was paced by President Obama’s press conference. The Bachelor, airing one hour later than normal, managed to retain nearly all of its viewers and adults 18-49 rating from the week prior (-1 and -2 percent, respectively).
NBC finished in third this week, one spot better than last week’s outing, but the network saw disappointing ratings from both Heroes (which is now back to where it was before its post-Super Bowl episode) and Medium. Both shows were off by upper single digits.
With no lead-in support an original episode of 24 dipped by 7% among viewers and 8% in adults 18-49 rating, falling slightly below its more usual numbers.
And rounding out the night, The CW decided to run repeats of both Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.
My full analysis follows after the jump.
Rob Thomas on Veronica Mars Movie: “It’s close” February 10, 2009 8:05 pm
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Very good news for Veronica Mars fans. Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello is reporting that series creator/writer Rob Thomas is preparing to pitch the show to Warner Bros.:
“I’m preparing the pitch now — literally now,” Mars’ main man, Rob Thomas, told me this morning. “I hope to go in and talk to [executive producer] Joel Silver and [Warner Bros.] in the next week or two to see if they’re interested.”
Thomas says he still has a couple things to figure out, specifically the final act: “I haven’t figured it out yet,” he says of the final act. “That’s what I’m working on now. It’s close. A few key details left to solve.”
As EW notes, Thomas is quick to caution that the possible film is still in the very early stages:
“I have some fear that Veronica Mars fans believe that the chief hurdle in getting the movie made is my writing it,” Thomas confesses. “Unfortunately, that’s only one of several hurdles. I’m going to give it my best shot and let the chips fall where they may.
“It’s entirely possible I won’t have an answer at the end of the pitch,” he continues. “They will want to consider [the pitch], look at some numbers — whatever it is people on the business side do — and then they’ll give me some sort of response. Then, if they want to move forward, there’s the deal-making that’ll need to go on.”
The CW Picks Up Vampire Diaries February 10, 2009 6:21 pm
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The CW has picked up a pilot based on the Vampire Diaries book series. Vampire Diaries was originally launched in 1993 and revolves around a young woman who’s torn between two vampire brothers — one good, one evil — who are battling for her soul, and the souls of her pals, family and the small town where they live.
Source: Variety
Broadcast TV Ratings for Sunday, February 8, 2009 February 9, 2009 11:48 pm
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Broadcast TV Ratings for Saturday, February 7, 2009 February 8, 2009 9:55 pm
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Broadcast TV Ratings for Friday, February 6, 2009 February 7, 2009 6:35 pm
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Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, February 5, 2009 February 6, 2009 1:59 pm
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With CBS out of the loop (the network aired a full lineup of repeats), ABC easily won the night across all three main categories, with growth from two of the network’s three shows (Ugly Betty was down). Grey’s Anatomy led the network (as the night’s most watched program among households, viewers and adults 18-49) with more than 15 million viewers, leading into a crossover-themed episode of Private Practice, which held onto a strong 85% of its total lead-in audience and an even more impressive 91% of its A18-49 audience.
In second place for the evening was Fox, which was led by timeslot winner Bones among households and viewers. It seems like no matter where Fox places the show, it performs solidly. The show posted gains from its timeslot premiere by more than 750,000 viewers. Lead-out Hell’s Kitchen declined by double-digits from the week prior (when it aired out of an original episode of American Idol) but managed to grow from its lead-in by 9% in the key A18-49 demographic, placing a competitive third place for the hour in that demo.
The biggest disappointment came from NBC. The network’s attempts to heavily advertise their Thursday night lineup during the Super Bowl (which as everyone knows included airing The Office directly after the Super Bowl/postgame) failed and failed badly. Every single episode for the evening declined from their last original airings including The Office. This was NOT the result that NBC wanted from their advertising push. I mean, a loss of viewership from the Super Bowl episode of The Office was expected, but for the show to have returned even below its last original episode — even if by just a little bit (-4% among viewers and -6.5% among adults 18-49) — is just horrible, horrible news.
Rounding out the night’s remaining programs, CBS followed in third place for the evening among viewers and fourth place among adults 18-49, while The CW held up decently against strong competition with its lineup of Smallville and Supernatural (more so Smallville).
My full analysis of the night’s ratings follows after the jump. (more…)
Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, February 4, 2009 February 5, 2009 7:21 pm
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New Fox Terminator/Dollhouse Promo February 4, 2009 6:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Dollhouse, News, Television, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Videos.2 comments
While we’re all well aware of the uphill battle Fox is facing in terms of finding success from their upcoming Friday night Terminator/Dollhouse lineup, this new promo at least proves they’re trying. I’d say they did a good job with this new Grindhouse-like promo for the two shows (premiering Friday, February 13th). Watch the promo below, and lets hope the shows do well in the ratings.
Broadcast TV Ratings for Tuesday, February 3, 2009 February 4, 2009 2:08 pm
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Fox easily won the night, outpacing #2 CBS by nearly six million among viewers and NBC by nearly 4 rating points among adults 18-49. The network saw week-to-week growth for both American Idol, and Fringe, more specifically Fringe, which grew by double-digits among households and viewers and more than 8% among adults 18-49.
CBS followed in second place, but perhaps more impressive, is that the network had just one original show air for the evening, 10pm time slot winner (among households and viewers), Without a Trace. Any network that manages to draw over 14 million viewers for two repeats, both of which outpaced the original program at 10pm, deserves major kudos.
Finishing in third place was NBC, which actually managed a second place finish among adults 18-49 thanks to strong showings from both Biggest Loser, which continues to hold up strongly against American Idol (with just slight week-to-week declines) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which won its time slot among adults 18-49 by a comfortable margin, despite losing out among viewers by more than 1.5 million.
ABC was in fourth place, with not much good news to report. All of the networks programs were below 6 million viewers.
In terms of overall audience, The CW, always in fifth place these days, performed quite poorly — the networks best show was 90210 which drew 2.40 million viewers. However, was actually an improvement over the last original episode and the show posted an improvement of 18% in the demo. My full analysis follows after the jump. (more…)
Preview: Rescue Me Season Five February 3, 2009 9:24 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in FX, Rescue Me, Television.1 comment so far
Check out this new preview clip from the upcoming fifth season of FX’s hit drama Rescue Me, starring Denis Leary.
The CW Sets Earlier Premiere for Reaper February 3, 2009 6:35 pm
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Reaper is coming back a couple weeks earlier than expected. The network announced today that the supernatural drama will return March 3 at 8:00pm, two weeks sooner than originally announced. With the programming change, 90210 will air after Reaper, a move that will protect that show from the American Idol juggernaut.
What hasn’t changed is that the show will air all 13 ordered episodes straight through without any repeats. Another change will come to low-rated drama Privileged, which will now conclude on February 24, with less repeats scheduled.
Despite low numbers for both 90210 and Privileged, the two shows actually enjoy the highest percentage of DVR gains across all networks.
Source: THR Feed
Broadcast TV Ratings for Monday, February 2, 2009 February 3, 2009 4:45 pm
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Despite heavy promotion during their telecast of the Super Bowl on Sunday night, NBC saw only a minimal increase in viewership for its lineup, placing a disappointing fourth place for the evening. Both Chuck and Heroes improved by an average of 9% among viewers and 9.5% among adults 18-49. Medium drew the largest audience for the network, but actually failed to match its season four premiere numbers (down 11% among viewers and 12% among adults 18-49).
As for the rest of the evening, CBS and FOX split first place, with CBS taking households and viewers with its amazingly strong comedy lineup and original episode of CSI: Miami and Fox taking Adults 18-49 (although the network did experience a weekly dip in both measures).
CBS had the most-watched show for the evening among households (a 10.2 rating for CSI: Miami) and viewers (16.52 million for Two and a Half Men) while the network tied with Fox for the night’s most watched show among adults 18-49 (Two and a Half Men had a 5.5 rating in the demo, tied with Fox’s House).
ABC meanwhile placed third, with another solid performance for The Bachelor (which continues to tick upward) and okay numbers for True Beauty.
And finally, after a one-week break, The CW’s Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill both returned on track with their most recent performance, but failed to break 2.3 and 2.6 million, respectively, resulting in a poor performance overall. My full analysis follows after the jump. (more…)
TNT Orders New Pilot Called First and Last February 2, 2009 7:07 pm
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TNT has ordered a new non-fiction pilot titled First and Last. According to Broadcasting & Cable, the series would be an hour-long show split into two parts. The first half-hour would feature the stories of the first time something happens in a person’s life, while the second half-hour would focus on what happens in the second-half of their lives.
TNT Renews Leverage for a Second Season February 2, 2009 6:28 pm
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TNT Has announced that they’ve given a renewal to the freshman drama Leverage, which has become ad-supported cable’s #1 program in the Tuesday 10pm (ET/PT) timeslot. The series has averaged 3.2 million viewers and scores well when time-shifted viewing is factored in.
The full press release follows after the jump. (more…)
ABC Family Renews Greek and Lincoln Heights; Orders Three New Series and Cancels Kyle XY February 2, 2009 6:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 10 Things I Hate About You, ABC Family, Greek, Lincoln Heights, News, Perfect 10, Ruby and The Rockits, Television.add a comment
ABC Family today announced the renewal of two of their shows, Greek (for 20 episodes) and Lincoln Heights (for 10 episodes). Both shows are scheduled to return with new episodes this summer.
The network also announced that three of their pilots have each received 10-episode orders. They are:
“Perfect 10,” a One-Hour Scripted Drama Starring Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”), Making Her Return to Series Television
“10 Things I Hate About You,” with Director Gil Junger, Executive Producer and Writer Carter Covington, and Starring Ethan Peck (Grandson of Gregory Peck), Lindsey Shaw (“Aliens in America”), Meaghan Jette Martin (“Camp Rock”) and Larry Miller (Reprising His Film Role)
“Ruby and The Rockits,” Starring Alexa Vega (“Spy Kids”), David Cassidy and Patrick Cassidy, and Executive-Produced by Shaun Cassidy
Kyle XY, meanwhile, has gotten the axe.
The full press release follows after the jump. (more…)
Broadcast TV Ratings for Sunday, February 1, 2009 February 2, 2009 12:47 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Broadcast TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.1 comment so far
UPDATED ON 2/3/2009 AT 5:35 PM:
I’ve edited my analysis to reflect the final national numbers and have edited in the final numbers for NBC and ABC, the two networks that aired original programming for the evening.
According to final national numbers, Super Bowl XLIII on NBC drew 98.73 million viewers and a 36.7/72 rating/share among adults 18-49, making the telecast the most-watched Super Bowl of all-time, and second most-watched program of all time. Overall, the game was up 1% or 1.28M among viewers, while down slightly among adults 18-49 from last year’s game (-2%) over last year’s numbers (97.45M viewers and a 37.5/73 A18-49 rating/share).
Meanwhile, The Office drew a series high 22.91 million viewers and an 11.0/28 rating/share among adults 18-49. Those are impressive numbers, but it rates on the lower end of post Super Bowl shows, and is in fact the lowest rated such episode since ABC’s 2003 airing of Alias (17.36M).
Elsewhere on the evening, the only original programming came from ABC (which placed third on the evening) who aired Wipeout Bowl I: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes which managed to actually improve upon its season one finale by a healthy 20% among adults 18-49 (from a 2.0 to a 2.4 rating). It’s performance among viewers was flat (+1%).
The non-Super Bowl winner on the evening (with the exception of The Office) was a repeat of The Mentalist on CBS. While the show skewed older, it managed a very healthy overall audience.
Fox was fourth with repeats of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and animated comedy repeats, while The CW was a dead last with a repeat of Jericho and the movie Throw Momma from the Train, each of which failed to drew more than 700,000 viewers. My full analysis follows after the jump. (more…)
Broadcast TV Ratings for Saturday, January 31, 2009 February 1, 2009 11:46 pm
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