CBS Wins Tuesday; Lackluster Start for Scrubs on ABC

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERWednesday, January 7, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings:CBS Wins; Lackluster Scrubs on ABC 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 a Guy!______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings:CBS Wins; Lackluster Scrubs on ABC Tuesday 1/06/09 HH Rtg/Shr CBS 10.7/17NBC 7.0/11ABC 4.9/ 8Fox 3.4/ 5CW 1.8/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008):CBS: +88, ABC: +53, NBC: -14, CW: -28, Fox: -44 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Tuesday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET (if there are no further delays). Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Tuesday, January 6, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:NCIS (CBS), The Biggest Loser: Couples (NBC), The Mentalist (CBS) -Respectable Sampling:Homeland Security USA (ABC) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):Scrubs (ABC), Privileged (CW) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: CBS scored an easy overnight Tuesday victory with its winning line-up of NCIS (11.4 rating/18 share), bona fide freshman hit The Mentalist (12.2/18), which built from NCIS by seven percent, and Without a Trace (8.7/14). Keep in mind, of course, that NBC’s competing Law & Order: SVU at 10 p.m. (7.4/12) will dominate among adults 18-49. The year-ago night on CBS featured the annual People’s Choice Awards (which airs tonight) at a historically low 4.3/ 6 as a result of the writers strike. Remember that disaster? NBC finished a comfortable second overall in the overnights care of the season-premiere of The Biggest Loser: Couples (6.8/10 from 8-10 p.m.), which built in every half hour, and the aforementioned Law & Order: SVU (#2: 7.4/12). Take a look at the half-hour breakdown for The Biggest Loser: Couples: The Biggest Loser: Couples (NBC)8:00 p.m. 5.9/ 9 (#2)8:30 p.m. 6.4/10 (#2)9:00 p.m. 7.2/11 (#2)9:30 p.m. 7.6/11 (#2) Given the competition, and considering The Biggest Loser: Couples always picks up steam among adults 18-49, this looks like a winning performance to me. In series-premiere news, ABC’s Homeland Security USA launched with a respectable third-place 5.5/ 8 in the overnights from 8-9 p.m. While that may not sound like much, this is a double-digit improvement over short-lived fall occupant Opportunity Knocks. The season-premiere (and network launch) of Scrubs, however, lost steam with a 4.6/ 7 (#3) in the 9 p.m. half hour. Comparably, that was 18 percent below the second half of lead-in Homeland Security USA (5.6/ 8 at 8:30 p.m.). A second episode of Scrubs dipped further with an also third-place 4.2/ 8 at 9:30 p.m. Why ABC needed this tired comedy is beyond me. Capping off the evening for ABC was the season-premiere of Primetime: What Would You Do? at a third-place 4.8/ 8 at 10 p.m. -- 14 percent above the 9:30 p.m. airing of Scrubs. Fox was out of the competitive loop as a result of repeats of House (#4: 3.9/ 6), which normally does better in non-originals, and Fringe (#4: 2.9/ 4). And the CW was at typical Tuesday overnight levels with its combination of 90210 (#5: 2.2/ 3) and Privileged (#5: 1.4/ 2). This week, retention for struggling Privileged out of 90210 was 64 percent. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -The Wizards of Waverly Place Scores on Disney Channel:Disney Channel’s New Year’s Day (12 p.m. – 12 a.m.) Wizards of Waverly Place marathon finished first overall in the 12-hour block among kids 6-11 (1.1 million) and tweens 9-14 (963,000), lifting the cable network to No. 1 for the entire day in the two kid demos. Comparably, this was Disney Channel’s most-watched day in both categories since August 22, 2008, and most-watched in total viewers since June 20, 2008. -Speaking of Disney Channel:The kids and tweens magnet rang in New Year ranking first from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. in kids 6-11 (1.1 million), tweens 9-14 (924,000) and total viewers 2.4 million). -Disney-ABC’s Legend of the Seeker Picks Up Steam:Based on ratings for the week of Dec. 15, a repeat of first-run weekly hour Legend of the Seeker from Disney-ABC rose to a 2.6 household (GAA – gross average audience) rating. Comparably, that was its best performance since debuting last fall. -Strong Showing for The Nanny Express on Hallmark Channel:Hallmark Channel’s latest original movie, The Nanny Express, debuted on Saturday, Jan. 3 as the highest rated ad-supported cable movie of the day with a 3.1 household rating, 2.7 million homes and 3.6 million total viewers. Comparably, this was the second highest rated non-holiday original movie premiere ever on the cable net. -Basic Cable Network Rankings – Week of Dec. 29:What follows are the top 10 rated cable networks in prime-time for the week of Dec. 29, 2008 based on households, adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and adults 18-34: Households:ESPN: 3.07 million, USA: 2.62 million, TNT: 2.34 million, Nick at Nite: 1.82 million, TBS: 1.77 million, A&E: 1.66 million, Hallmark Channel: 1.60 million, FX: 1.54 million, ABC Family: 1.48 million, Fox News: 1.39 million Adults 18-49:ESPN: 1.29 million, USA: 1.22 million, TNT: 1.11 million, TBS: 1.03 million, A&E: 822,000, FX: 796,000, Discovery: 662,000, ABC Family: 646,000, History Channel: 636,000, Spike TV: 614,000 Adults 25-54:ESPN: 1.42 million, USA: 1.27 million, TNT: 1.18 million, TBS: 962,000, A&E: 851,000, FX: 814,000, Sci Fi: 764,000, History Channel: 691,000, Spike TV: 665,000, Discovery: 657,000 Adults 18-34:TBS: 563,000, USA: 559,000, ESPN: 557,000, TNT: 486,000, Comedy Central: 407,000, A&E: 363,000, VH1: 358,000, ABC Family: 349,000, FX: 345,000, Discovery: 318,000 --------------- -Syndicated Programming Rankings – Week of Dec. 15:What follows are the top 20 rated programs in syndication -- first-run and off-network -- in households based on the week of Dec. 15, 2008: Wheel of Fortune (CBS Television Distribution): 7.7 rating, Jeopardy (CBS): 6.4, Two and a Half Men (Warner Bros.): 5.2, Judge Judy (CBS): 4.6, Oprah (CBS): 4.5, Entertainment Tonight (CBS) and Family Guy (Twentieth Television): 4.3 each, CSI: NY (CBS): 3.9, Seinfeld (Sony Pictures Television): 3.7, Dr. Phil (CBS): 3.6, Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), Law & Order: SVU (NBC Universal) and Wheel of Fortune – Weekend (CBS): 3.3 each, Seinfeld – Weekend (SPT): 3.2, Inside Edition (CBS): 3.1, Live With Regis & Kelly (Disney-ABC) and George Lopez (Warner Bros.): 2.9 each, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) and Two and a Half Men Weekend (Warner Bros): 2.8 each, Ellen (Warner Bros.) and Friends (Warner Bros.): 2.7 each Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Wednesday 1/07/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Scrubs (R) 8:30 p.m. Scrubs (R) 9:00 p.m. 20/2010:00 p.m. Barbara Walters Special – Patrick Swayze: The Truth CBS: 8:00 p.m. The New Adventures of Old Christine (R) 8:30 p.m. Gary Unmarried (R) 9:00 p.m. The 35th Annual People’s Choice Awards NBC: 8:00 p.m. Knight Rider 9:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R)10:00 p.m. Law & Order Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones (R) 9:00 p.m. Bones (R) CW: 8:00 p.m. 13 – Fear is Real (Premiere) 9:00 p.m. 90210 (R) MTNV 8:00 p.m. World’s Funniest Moments (R) 9:00 p.m. Tony Rock Project (R) 9:30 p.m. Under One Roof ION 8:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) 9:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)10:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) New Program Descriptions: 13 – Fear is Real (CW)Described as Survivor meets The Blair Witch Project, the last person standing out of 13 contestants stranded in the Louisiana bayou wins a grand prize of $66,666 in this new reality/competition. Eight episodes have been ordered. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -CBS Announces Return of Rules of Engagement:As expected, CBS will replace struggling Worst Week on Mondays out of Two and a Half Men with the return of former occupant Rules of Engagement. Look for its return on March 2. -Kelsey Grammer Heads to ABC:Former Frasier star Kelsey Grammer, who came and quickly went on Fox’s Back To You last season, is looking for his next long-running sitcom as star of an untitled ABC half hour. The sitcom pilot will feature Grammer as a former Wall Street executive who loses his job and is forced to move back with his wife and kids in his hometown. -USA Picks Up Royal Pains:USA Network has pick-up an original series called Royal Pains, with Mark Feuerstein has a young, prosperous doctor who suddenly loses it all and becomes an on-call doctor for the rich and famous. Eleven episodes have been ordered. -Paul McCartney Fans Take Note:The first season-finale of Crash, Starz’ first original drama, will feature Paul McCartney’s new hit single, “Nothing too Much, Just out of Sight.” The episode airs Sunday, Jan. 9 at 10 p.m. ET. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:What a Guy! Which one of the following series was not a sitcom? a) Lennyb) Martinc) Reggied) Rodneye) Sam The answer to yesterday’s question… Which one of the following spin-off flops actually ran for more than one season? a) Enosb) Gloriac) Gradyd) Joeye) Three’s a Crowd Is: d) Joey, which aired from September 2004 to December 2005, with the remaining episodes burned off in March 2006. Whoa!!! -Current kudos goes to:Amy Aills, Steve Albright, Mark Amato, Michelle Yarborough-Bauer, Thomas Becktold, Gerry Bixenspan, Jordan Breslow, Brian Carney, Larry Collins, Mark Cosenza, James Davison, Andy Ehlen, John Ferlazzo, Joseph Ferrara, Adam Giagni, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Robert Gori, Scott Groneman, Keith Hopkins, Kerry Hughes, Bob Ingersoll, Marie Lefevre Karp, Dave Kern, Trevor Kimball, Mary Kinoshita, Kristopher Koller, Marc Miller, Michael Murphy, Michael Natale, Jim Negri, Aaron Paquette, Alan Perris, Greg Phelan, Francine Purcell, Jay Rossi, Joe Rubi, Marilyn Rutkowski, Mark Simmons, Dewayne Snype, Julie Syers, Stephanie Watson, Myndi Weinraub, Joel Wolk

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CBS Wins Tuesday; Lackluster Start for Scrubs on ABC

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