CBS Wins Wednesday; Solid Sampling for NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, September 30, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:CBS Wins; Solid Sampling for NBC’s Law & Order: Los Angeles Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Happy Birthday, The Flintstones ________________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:CBS Wins; Solid Sampling for NBC’s Law & Order: Los Angeles Wednesday 9/29/10Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. HH Rtg/Shr CBS 8.0/13NBC 6.4/10ABC 5.3/ 9Fox 4.4/ 7CW 2.1/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, September 30, 2009):NBC: +36, CW: +24, CBS: + 8, ABC: + 6, Fox: + 2 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Survivor: Nicaragua (CBS), Criminal Minds (CBS), Modern Family (ABC), Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC) -Honorable Mention:Law & Order: SVU (NBC) -Losing Steam:Hellcats (CW) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Cougar Town (ABC), The Whole Truth (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown:CBS led this second Wednesday of the 2010-11 season, with a metered market advantage of 25 percent over second-place NBC, which benefited by the arrival of dominant Law & Order: Los Angeles at 10 p.m. Third overall was ABC, which has sprung a leak at 10 p.m., followed by Fox and The CW. In series-premiere news, NBC’s Law & Order: Los Angeles ruled at 10 p.m., with a 7.6 rating/13 share. Comparably, that bested year-ago failed occupant The Jay Leno Show (4.5/ 8 on Sept. 30, 2009) by a hefty 69 percent. And it outdelivered the 9:30 p.m. portion of lead-in Law & Order: SVU (7.0/11) by nine percent. You can’t ask much more for a series-opener. Earlier in the evening on NBC, week two of spy drama Undercovers finished third in the 8 p.m. hour, with a 5.1/ 8 in the overnights. Compared to its series-opener (6.2/10 on Sept. 22), that was a loss of 19 percent. Failed year-ago occupant Mercy averaged a 4.3/ 7 on Sept. 30, 2009, so this is still an improvement. Leading out of Undercovers was aforementioned Law & Order: SVU at a competitive third-place 6.7/11 in the overnights from 9-10 p.m. Comparably, that was an improvement of 22 percent from it’s year-ago performance (5.5/ 9 on Sept. 30, 2009). Over at CBS, relocated Survivor: Nicaragua is the show to beat Wednesday at 8 p.m., with a solid 7.7/12. While I will not give away the outcome for anyone who has not seen it yet, I will say that was a deadly dull Tribal Council last night and an unfortunate outcome. Next on CBS was old faithful Criminal Minds (#1: 9.6/15), followed by week two of drama The Defenders at a second-place 7.0/12 in the overnights at 10 p.m. While that was only a loss of 11 percent for The Defenders from last Wednesday’s series-premiere (7.9/13 on Sept. 22), year-ago occupant CSI: NY was considerably stronger at a 9.1/16 on Sept. 30, 2009. Next up was ABC, which opened the evening with sophomore sitcom The Middle at a second-place-place 5.6/ 9 in the overnights at 8 p.m. One year earlier, failed comedy Hank averaged a 5.3/ 9 on Sept. 30, 2009. Week two of lead-out sitcom Better with You is a good fit, with a third-place 5.0/ 8 at 8:30 p.m. (and retention of 89 percent out of The Middle). One week earlier, Better with You opened with a 5.2/ 8 on Sept. 22. At 9 p.m., ABC standout Modern Family perked up to a second-place 8.6/13 at 9 p.m., which will be more than enough to totally dominate the time period among adults 18-49. Comparably, that was up by a significant 48 percent from the year-ago telecast (5.8/ 9 on Sept. 30, 2009). But Cougar Town at 9:30 p.m. is completely squandering the lead-in support, with a third-place 5.3/ 8 and retention of only 62 percent out of Modern Family. ABC is wasting a plum opportunity here. At 10 p.m. on ABC, week two of legal drama The Whole Truth dipped to a last-place 3.6/ 6 in the overnights, which was a loss of 12 percent from failed year-ago occupant Eastwick (4.1/ 7 on Sept. 30, 2009). One week earlier, The Whole Truth opened with a 3.8/ 7 on Sept. 22. Over at Fox, two-hours of Hell’s Kitchen was compatible from one week earlier, with a 4.4/ 7 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. While that may not sound like much, it did translate into a respectable 2.9 rating among adults 18-49. Here is the half-hour breakdown: Hell’s Kitchen (Fox)8:00 p.m.: 4.1/ 7 (#4)8:30 p.m.: 4.3/ 7 (#4)9:00 p.m.: 4.3/ 7 (#4)9:30 p.m.: 4.6/ 7(#4) Last, and very least, was The CW’s combination of veteran America’s Next Top Model (#5: 2.7/ 4 at 8 p.m.) and week four of Hellcats, which sunk to a series-low 1.5/ 2 at 9 p.m. Regardless, this was still an improvement for Hellcats of 67 percent from a repeat of the failed remake of Melrose Place one year earlier (0.9/ 2 Sept. 30, 2009). Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -New Tuesday Series Report Card:Based on Live Plus Same Day ratings, here are the results (in order of total viewers) for the series-premiere of ABC’s No Ordinary Family and the second week telecasts of ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7 and Fox’s Raising Hope and Running Wilde.Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC) – Tues. 10 p.m.Viewers: 8.71 million (#2 in time period), A18-49: 2.1/ 6 (#2)Grade: C- Retention out of Dancing With the Stars (Viewers: 17.34 million; A18-49: 3.8/10 at 9 p.m.) was just 50 percent in total viewers and 55 percent among adults 18-49. Last Tuesday, Detroit 1-8-7 opened with 9.34 million viewers and a 2.3/ 7 in the demo.-----No Ordinary Family (ABC) – Tues. 8 p.m. (series premiere)Viewers: 10.69 million (#3), A18-49: 3.2/ 9 (#3)Grade: B+ Considering the competition (CBS’ NCIS and Fox’s Glee), this is very good sampling for No Ordinary Family. But will viewers en masse return next week? ----- Raising Hope (Fox) – Tues. 9 p.m.Viewers: 7.08 million (#4), A18-49: 3.1/ 8 (#3)Grade: C- The positive news was a second week performance on par from last week series-opener (Viewers: 7.31 million; A18-49: 3.1/ 8 on Sept. 21). But retention out of Glee (Viewers: 13.51 million; A18-49: 5.9/17 at 8 p.m.) was still only 52 percent in total viewers and 53 percent in the demo. -----Running Wilde (Fox) – Tues. 9:30 p.m.Viewers: 4.47 million (#4), A18-49: 1.9/ 5 (#4)Grade: F Given Fox has already canceled Lone Star, it might be more patient with Running Wilde. But tick, tock…the cancellation clock is ticking. Last week Running Wilde opened with 5.59 million viewers and a 2.4/ 6 among adults 18-49 on Sept. 21. ---------- -Final Tuesday Nationals:What follows are the overall results for this second Tuesday (Sept. 28) of the new TV season: Total Viewers:CBS: 16.17 million, ABC: 12.29, Fox: 9.72, NBC: 6.40, CW: 1.67 Adults 18-49:Fox: 4.2 rating/12 share, CBS: 3.4/10, ABC: 3.0/ 8, NBC: 2.5/ 7, CW: 0.9/ 2Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 9/30/10Night 11 of the 2010-11 Season ABC: 8:00 p.m. My Generation 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy10:00 p.m. Private Practice CBS: 8:00 p.m. The Big Bang Theory 8:30 p.m. $#*! My Dad Says 9:00 p.m. CSI 10:00 p.m. The Mentalist NBC: 8:00 p.m. Community 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock 9:00 p.m. The Office 9:30 p.m. Outsourced 10:00 p.m. The Apprentice Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries 9:00 p.m. Nikita ______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Happy Anniversary, The Flintstones:Amazingly, today marks the 50th anniversary of animated comedy The Flintstones, which debuted on ABC on Friday, Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. (opposite Route 66 on CBS and The Westerner on NBC). And I will be featured on the CBS Evening News today talking about this ageless classic. Boomerang, the home of classic animation, will celebrate this milestone with the first full episode, “The Flintstone Flyer,” at 8:30 p.m. ET tonight -- 50 years exactly to the day and hour of the original series premiere on ABC. Immediately following will be two additional episodes, “The Hot Piano” and “The Blessed Event” from 9-10 p.m. and animated film, The Man Called Flintstone, at 10 p.m. ET. Then on Saturday, Oct. 2 Boomerang will air a 24-hour marathon of The Flintstones beginning at 6 a.m. ET. CartoonNetwork.com, meanwhile, will showcase a free online game, Bedrock Bowling, which challenges players to help Fred improve his game and earn a perfect score. All together now…Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones. They're the modern stone age family. From the town of Bedrock, They're a page right out of history. Let's ride with the family down the street. Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet. When you're with the Flintstones you'll have a yabba dabba doo time. A dabba doo time. You'll have a gay old time. ---------- -Fox Shifts Human Target to Wednesday:Following the abrupt cancellation of Lone Star yesterday, Fox announced it is moving sophomore Friday night drama Human Target to Wednesday at 8 p.m. effective on Nov. 17. The Wednesday anchor slot opened once Lie to Me was shifted to Monday. There is no word at present what will fill the Friday 8 p.m. hour into struggling returnee The Good Guys. -Speaking of Lone Star:Despite swinging the axe, Fox will still air a repeat of the second episode of Lone Star this Saturday, Oct. 2 at 11 p.m. ET. -The Facts of Fashion:Former Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn (a.k.a. Natalie), the godmother to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s brood of six, will get a fashion makeover in the season-premiere of TLC’s What Not to Wear on Friday, Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. Stacy London and my former Q2 colleague, Clinton Kelly, host. _____________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Happy Birthday, The Flintstones Fred, apparently, never finished high school. But he did attend college in one episode of The Flintstones in the hopes of getting a promotion. What was the name of that college? a) Bedrock Ub) Cobble State c) Prinstone University d) Rockmouthe) Stony Brook Which one of the following series is based on a novel called The Fifteenth Pelican? a) Birds of Preyb) Father Dowling Mysteries c) The Flying Nun d) Hell Town e) I’ll Fly Away Is: c) The Flying Nun, the inane ABC comedy about a nun (Sally Field) who can fly that aired from 1967 to 1970. -Current kudos goes to:Suzanne Ackley, Kimay Bloch, Barbara Bloomfield, Larry Collins, Audrey Davis (2x), Reid Davis, John Ferlazzo, Maureen Goldman, Ed Griffis, Kerry Hughes, Bob Ingersoll, Mary Kalnin, Synda Kollman, Steve Kurtzer, Rick Locke, Melinda Lujan, Patty Lynch, Tracie Millen, Alan Perris (2x), Gordon Purcell, Nick Rice, Bruce Robinson, Colleen Roth, Antony Salerno, Maxine Shulman, Michelle Stanton, Larry Weinstock

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CBS Wins Wednesday; Solid Sampling for NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles

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