Fox Opens Week of Feb. 23 on a Winning Note

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, February 24, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:Fox Outdelivers a Night of Repeats on CBS Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:Don’t Shoot Me _______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:Fox Outdelivers a Night of Repeats on CBS Monday 2/23/09 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 7.7/12CBS 6.4/10ABC 5.9/ 9NBC 4.6/ 7CW 1.0/ 2 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, Feb. 25, 2008):Fox: +48, CBS: + 8, NBC: -13, CW: -17, ABC: -39 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday 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 Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:The Bachelor: The Women Tell All (ABC), House (Fox), Two and a Half Men R (CBS), CSI: Miami R (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers:Chuck (NBC), Heroes (NBC), True Beauty (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: With CBS in all repeats, Fox opened the week on a winning note in the overnights with its combination of House (#1: 8.6 rating/13 share) and 24 (#2t, 6.8/10). While 24 is still certainly respectable, this is not the ratings powerhouse it once was. Second overall was CBS with its encore line-up of The Big Bang Theory (#3: 5.5/ 9), How I Met Your Mother (#3: 5.0/ 8), Two and a Half Men (#1: 7.9/12), a Monday edition of The New Adventures of Old Christine (#3: 6.1/ 8) and CSI: Miami (#1): 7.1/12). Notice how Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami still won their time periods in the overnights despite airing repeats. Next Monday, look for the return of former occupant Rules of Engagement at 9:30 p.m. Next was ABC care of a two-hour edition of The Bachelor: The Women Tell All (6.7/10 from 8-10 p.m.) and the season (or series) finale of True Beauty at 10 p.m. (#3: 4.6/ 7). Given the poor performance of True Beauty all season, you can consider this the series-ender. Next week, ratings improved The Bachelor closes the season from 8-10 p.m, followed by the first part of now two-hour special The Bachelor: After the Final Rose at 10 p.m. Are you as surprised as I am how well The Bachelor has done this season? NBC had little of note with its combination of Chuck (#4: 4.0/ 6), which sunk to a season low; Heroes (#4: 4.4/ 7), which is a shell of its former self; and Medium (#2: 5.6/10), which deserves accolades for building by 30 percent out of the second half of Heroes (4.3/ 7 at 9:30 p.m.). Even so, Medium is still way down from its heyday just a few years ago. Last were repeats of the CW’s Gossip Girl (1.0/ 2) and One Tree Hill (1.1/ 2), which are expected to return with original episodes on March 9. Source: Nielsen Media Research data____________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Academy Award Sunday Scores on ABC:Based on the fast national ratings, The 81st Annual Academy Awards on ABC averaged a hefty 36.3 million viewers with a 12.1 rating among adults 18-49 on Sunday, Feb. 22. Comparably, that makes it the most-watched entertainment telecast in all of television since the 79th annual festivities on Feb. 25, 2007, and highest rated among adults 18-49 since Fox’s American Idol on Feb. 12, 2008. Year-to-year, The Oscars built by 4.3 million viewers (36.3 vs. 32.0 million), 13 percent among adults 18-49 (12.1 vs. 10.7 rating) and as high as 22 percent among men 18-34 (8.9 vs. 7.3). ABC is reporting that The 81st Annual Academy Awards reached 67.56 million unique viewers (who watched at least six minutes of the telecast). Earlier in the evening on ABC was The Barbara Walters Special at 11.6 million viewers and a 3.2rating among adults 18-49 from 7-8 p.m., followed by Oscar’s Red Carpet 2009 pre-show at 24.3 million viewers and a 7.2 in the demo at 8 p.m. Comparatively, the Red Carpet special increased by 2.8 million viewers and 13 percent among adults 18-49 from one year earlier. In late night, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards averaged 4.3 million viewers (an increase of 600,000 viewers from one year earlier), with 2.2 million adults 18-49 (up 38 percent) and 1.2 million adults 18-34 (up 40 percent). Comparably, this was its largest ever post-Oscar telecast among adults 18-34. --------------- -Live From the Red Carpet Scores on E!:E!’s Live From the Red Carpet: The 2009 Academy Awards averaged 2.3 million viewers from 6-8 p.m. on Sunday, building by 12 percent from one year earlier in households (2.17 to 2.43). Comparably, that was more than five times what regularly scheduled programming has averaged in the time period this season. -Final Friday Nationals:Despite airing a night of repeats, CBS was still the most-watched network on Friday, Feb. 20. ABC and CBS were tied for first among adults 18-49, each with a 1.7 rating in the demo. Week two of Fox drama Dollhouse lost steam from an already lackluster debut, with just 4.25 million viewers (#3) and a 1.7/ 5 among adults 18-49 (#2t) at 9 p.m. And colossal CW reality/competition flop 13 – Fear is Real exited with a paltry (and last-place) 800,000 viewers and a 0.4/ 1 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Here were the overall results: Households:CBS: 5.1 rating/9 share, ABC: 3.6/ 4, NBC: 2.9/ 5, Fox: 2.5/ 4, MNTV: 2.2/ 4, CW: 0.7/ 1 Total Viewers:CBS: 8.11 million, ABC: 5.43, NBC: 4.50, Fox: 4.05, MNTV: 3.72, CW: 1.04 Adults 18-49:ABC and CBS: 1.7 rating/5 share each, Fox: 1.5/ 5, NBC: 1.4/ 4, MNTV: 1.3/ 4, CW: 0.4/ 1 Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 2/24/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Homeland Security USA 9:00 p.m. ABC News: Presidential Address to Congress 10:30 p.m. Primetime: What Would You Do? CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS 9:00 p.m. CBS News: Presidential Address to Congress 10:30 p.m. Two and a Half Men (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples (part one) 9:00 p.m. NBC News: Presidential Address to Congress 10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R) Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fox News: Presidential Address to Congress CW: 8:00 p.m. 90210 (R) 9:00 p.m. Privileged (season or series finale) 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 -Melrose Place Remake in the Works at the CW:The CW has, as rumored, ordered a pilot for a remake of classic 1992-99 Fox drama Melrose Place. But there is no word on whether or not Heather Locklear will be reprising her role as conniving Amanda Woodward. -History.com Introduces First Original Web Series:History.com has launched Great and Telling Tales with Timothy Dickinson, its first-made-for-the-web video series at www.history.com/timothydickinson. The short-form online series will feature historian and storyteller Timothy Dickinson talking about the twists and turns of history. -America’s Next Top Shrinking Model:After 12 cycles of a minimum height requirement of 5’7”, CW favorite America’s Next Top Model will go in search of contestants 5’7” and under (in the age category of 18 to 27). Open calls for cycle 13 next fall will begin on Saturday, Feb. 28 in Miami, Florida. For more information, click on www.cwtv.com. -Coming Up on Playhouse Disney:Playhouse Disney will introduce a new interactive animated series called Special Agent Oso, featuring Academy Award nominee Sean Astin as the voice of a lovable but bumbling stuffed panda bear who is a special agent-in-training. The goal is to entertain and emphasize discovery, humor and organizational skills. It premieres on Saturday, April 4 at 8 p.m. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Don’t Shoot Me Which one of the following supermodels did former model Nina Van Horn despise on sitcom Just Shoot Me? Christie BrinkleyCindy CrawfodJanice Dickinson Cheryl TiegsTwiggy The answer to yesterday’s question. Remember the episode of I Love Lucy when the Ricardos and Mertzes stayed at that rickety motel in Cincinnati en route to Los Angeles? What was the only item available on the menu to eat at the café there? cheese sandwichhamburgerhot dogsalami sandwichspaghetti Is: a) cheese sandwich. When I think of this episode (“First Stop”), which is my all-time favorite, I always recall when the foursome kept passing signs for Aunt Sally’s Pecan Pralines. It reminds me of driving through North Carolina or South Carolina and seeing endless road signs for one of the biggest dives in the country, South of the Border. Word of advice: don’t stop there! Mr. Skinner is probably one of the owners!-Current kudos goes to:Frank Agzarian, Vanessa Baker, David Ballarotto, Ric Beddingfield, Michael Berman, Gerry Bixenspan, Kimay Bloch, Barri Bronston, Mitch Burg, Maram Canawati, Kurt Carstensen, Larry Collins, Tom Condosta, Annie Courtney, Reid Davis, Christina D’Esposito, Stephen Ferrara, Adam Giagni, Jerry Gibbons, Adam Goldberg, Ron Goldman, Maureen Goldman, Martha Gonzalez, Geoffrey Gordon, Vicky Gregorian, John Hezlep, Angela Holden, Bob Ingersoll, Tom Kilgallon, Kathy Martin, John Merrill, Rich Miller, Debbie Mirr, Mark Morano, Tony Naldrett, Lisa Tatum-Roehrig, Colleen Roth, Kristen Signore, Mark Simmons, Kim Smith, Joe Swaney, Robyn Swart, Ronnie Tallant

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Fox Opens Week of Feb. 23 on a Winning Note

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