The Bachelor Lifts ABC to Monday Victory

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, March 3, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:The Bachelor Lifts ABC to Dominance Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:What Would We Do Baby, Without Us? _______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:The Bachelor Lifts ABC to Dominance Monday 3/02/09 HH Rtg/Shr ABC 9.7/15CBS 8.0/12Fox 6.3/ 9NBC 4.4/ 7CW 1.0/ 1 ---------- Note: The year-to-year comparisons were not available today. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:The Bachelor (ABC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), The Bachelor: After the Final Rose (ABC) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):Chuck (NBC), Heroes (NBC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: A night of rejuvenated The Bachelor led ABC to overnight Monday victory, with a 22 percent advantage over second-place CBS. Third overall was Fox, followed by NBC and the CW. ABC is also expected to win the night in total viewers, adults 18-49 and, of course, all the female demos. The two-hour season-finale of The Bachelor rose to a season-high 9.2 rating/14 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m., building by half-hour as follows: The Bachelor (ABC)8:00 p.m.: 8.3/128:30 p.m.: 8.7/139:00 p.m.: 9.3/149:30 p.m.: 10.5/16 That led into part one of special The Bachelor: After The Final Rose at an also dominant 10.7/18 at 10 p.m. Part two airs tonight at 10 p.m. Needless to say, the success of veteran The Bachelor is one of the biggest surprises this season. Aside from CSI: Miami slipping to second at 10 p.m., CBS scored a typically potent Monday. Laugh-out-loud The Big Bang Theory kicked-off the evening with a solid 6.7/10 in the overnights, followed by How I Met Your Mother (#2: 6.9/10), Two and a Half Men (#1: 9.5/14), the season-premiere of Rules of Engagement (#2: 7.5/11) and the aforementioned CSI: Miami (#2: 8.8/14). For more on The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, see TV Tidbits below. Retention for Rules of Engagement out of Two and a Half Men was a typical 79 percent. Next up was Fox care of a two-hour edition of 24 at a 6.3/ 9 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown: 24 (Fox)8:00 p.m.: 5.8/ 9 (#3)8:30 p.m.: 6.1/ 9 (#3)9:00 p.m.: 6.5/10 (#3)9:30 p.m.: 6.8/10 (#3) While 24 is not the powerhouse it once was, there is still an audience for it. NBC, however, remained out of the competitive loop on Monday with its combination of Chuck (#4: 3.9/ 6), which lost any momentum it once had, Heroes (#4: 4.3/ 6), which is one of the fastest declining shows currently on the air, and Medium (#3: 5.0/ 8). The only positive for NBC was the growth of 17 percent for Medium out of Heroes. Last, and very least, were repeats of the CW’s Gossip Girl (1.1/ 2) and One Tree Hill (0.9/ 1). And there you have it…that’s Monday. Source: Nielsen Media Research data____________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Final Friday Nationals:CBS remains the only network of substance on Friday, with its older-skewing combination of Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint and Numb3rs finishing well above any of the competitors. And MyNetwork is certainly more competitive care of young male favorite Friday Night Smackdown! (which will remain on the network next season despite switching to off-network repeats). But the pickings remain slim elsewhere, with Fox’s recently updated line-up of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Viewers: 3.38 million; A18-49: 1.2/ 4) and Dollhouse (Viewers: 4.18 million; A18-49: 1.6/ 5) unable to generate much interest. The one positive for Dollhouse is, of course, the growth out of waiting-to-be-canceled Sarah Connor. But that does mean a second season will come calling. What follows are the final national ratings for Friday, Feb. 27 broken out by households, total viewers and adults 18-49. Households:CBS: 6.4 rating/11 share, ABC: 3.8/ 7, NBC: 3.0/ 5, Fox: 2.4/ 4, MNTV: 2.3/ 4, CW: 0.9/ 2 Total Viewers:CBS: 10.05 million, ABC: 5.71, NBC: 4.73, MNTV: 4.00, Fox: 3.77, CW: 1.28 Adults 18-49:CBS: 2.2 rating/7 share, ABC: 1.7/ 6, NBC, Fox and MNTV: 1.4/ 4 each, CW: 0.5/ 1 Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 3/03/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Homeland Security USA 9:00 p.m. Scrubs (R) 9:30 p.m. Scrubs (R)10:00 p.m. The Bachelor: After the Final Rose CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (R) 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) 10:00 p.m. Without a Trace (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples 10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R) Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol (two hours) CW: 8:00 p.m. Reaper (season premiere) 9:00 p.m. 90210 (R, new time period) MNTV 8:00 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 9:00 p.m. Whacked Out Videos (R) 9:30 p.m. Whacked Out Videos (R) Of Note on Cable:-Leverage (TNT): 10 p.m. (season finale) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -More Rita Rocks:Lifetime Television has renewed freshman sitcom Rita Rocks, its first original prime-time comedy in 10 years, for a second season. Twenty episodes have been ordered. -ABC Cancels Life on Mars:ABC has announced that critically acclaimed, but minimally seen drama Life on Mars, which recently moved to Wednesday at 10 p.m. out of Lost, will end production after 17 episodes. The series-ender is expected to air sometime in April. -TVS Targets Teens:The Television Syndication Company (TVS) has announced two weekly teen oriented programs from the producers of VJLAM.tv for fall 2009: Go for Gold TV and Green Generation TV. Described as a motivational sports series, Go for Gold TV will cover the daily challenges and successes of amateur athletes on their way to gold. Green Generation TV will report in inspirational stories of today’s internet generation trying to make our planet cleaner and greener. Both shows will be added to TVS’ current syndication line-up of Real Life 101, What’s Up! ¿Que Pasa and VJIAM.tv. -Upcoming on TV Guide Channel:Season four of Idol Tonight, the exclusive live pre-show for Fox’s American Idol, will open on Wednesday, March 11 at 8 p.m. ET. Former contestants Kimberly Caldwell (season two) and Justin Guarini (the season one runner-up) will return as hosts. Let’s just hope that neither host decides to “sing! -Alexis Bledel Heads to ER:Former Gilmore Girls co-star Alexis Bledel has a new short-term gig: guest shot on NBC’s departing ER. Bledel will play a new intern at the hospital in the two-hour series finale on April 2. -CW Plus Adds Brian McKnight Show to Weekend Line-up:Upcoming Litton Entertainment weekly The Brian McKnight Show has been cleared by the CW Plus for a fall 2009 premiere. Other station groups committing to the weekly entertainment hour include Tribune’s WPIX-TV in New York, Weigel’s WCIU in Chicago, and stations from the CBS, Barrington, Hubbard, LIN, McKinnon, Newport and Sinclair groups. -Rumor Alert:It looks like CBS’ veteran Two and a Half Men is about to be renewed for three additional seasons, taking it through the 2011-12 season, while sophomore The Big Bang Theory is being picked-up for two more years. If this is indeed true, little Jake will be ready for college! -Speaking of Rumors:Former The O.C. star Mischa Barton is apparently in conversations to join the cast of the potential upcoming remake of Melrose Place on the CW. Let’s just hope that Mischa has taken some acting lessons! -Coming Up on G4:G4, the destination for young males, will be introducing a new investigative reporting series called G4 Underground on Sunday, March 29. Hosted by Morgan Webb of X-Play and targeted to the digital generation, G4 Underground will focus on some of today’s most controversial issues and hot trends. It airs at 9 p.m. ET. -Just a Reminder:Rock legends U2 are performing every night this week on CBS’ The Late Show With David Letterman. -Brothers & Sisters Rant:This comes from L.S. in New York: “What was with those incessant "someone will die" promos on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters? As a veteran of the serialized drama wars going back to when they really were an art form (and, yes, Brothers & Sisters comes pretty close!), flat-lining for a moment, then being revived did not warrant "a major character will die" promos to flood the airwaves for weeks. This was a cheap shot for an otherwise classy show. And I still can't understand why there are so few Emmy nods!” -The P.I.:I agree…that was false advertising. While I was not convinced Rob Lowe’s Robert was ready to meet his maker, I did expect someone else to die suddenly. As always, it’s all about getting the viewer to watch (and that is exactly what Brothers & Sisters successfully did). As for the lack of Emmy attention, I am also perplexed. Although Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths have warranted attention (and Sally was named Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama last season), next in line should be the mesmerizing Patricia Wettig as Holly, the other woman. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:What Would We Do Baby, Without Us? Who was the original choice to play Alex on sitcom Family Ties? Alec BaldwinMatthew BroderickTim DalySean PennTim Robbins The answer to yesterday’s question. Remember “Boom Boom” Washington on 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter? What was his real first name? ArnoldClarenceErnieFreddieWendell Is: d) Freddie. All together now… Welcome back, Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about. Well the names have all changed since you hung around, But those dreams have remained and they're turned around. Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya) Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya) Yeah we tease him a lot cause we've hot him on the spot, welcome back, Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.-Current kudos goes to:Anna Alvord, Vanessa Wikham-Baker, Mary Bancroft, Thomas Becktold, Burt Benoleil, Matthew Berriman, Laurie Biddle, Gerry Bixenspan, Randy Blake, Kimay Bloch, Marshall Boone, Lisa Brause, Peggy Campbell, Angela Cannon, Paul Certo, Larry Collins, Shelia Collins, Tom Condosta, Harold Cooper, Kay Copeland, Annie Courtney, Reid Davis, Deborah Duncan, Donna Ebbs, John Emmett, Holley Ford, Jan Frazier, Julie Friedlander, Karen Gardner, Harold Goetz, Gary Goldberger, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Sharron Harmening, Michelle Harrington, Brad Hight, Melissa Hodgdon, Heidi Hoffmeister, Michael Holland, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Ken Jobe, Kathryn Kieser, Irene Kirschner, Synda Kollman, Anne Leahy, Charmaine Leary, David Lederman, Audrey Lewin, Tom Maiellaro, Keith Marder, John Merrill, Judah Mezey, Debbie Mirr, Michael Murphy, Mochael Natale, Jim O’Heir, Steve O’Rourke, Scott Osbourne, Laura Gazzana Pagel, Joe Pedri, Mochael Pendell, Alan Perris, Greg Phelan, Darlene Pietrak, Mary Politano, Cliff Pozner, Arthur Reinstein, Lisa Tatum-Roehrig, Jim Romanovich, Deanna Rosolen, Colleen Roth, Joe Rubi, Marilyn Rutkowski, Mary Ryan, Greg Salerno, Dewayne Snype, Lonnie Staley, Michelle Stanton, Eric Steinberg, Elaine Stevens, Christy Stratton, Jeff Stuewe, Julie Syers, Noah Syken, Wes Thompson, Pam Tierney, Carson Turrell, Don Webb, Myndi Weinraub, Larry Weinstock, James Wilson, Patricia Wockley, Jim Wright, Ged Young

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The Bachelor Lifts ABC to Monday Victory

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