Fox Wins Wednesday; President Obama Reaches the 100 Day Mark

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, April 30, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Fox Wins; President Obama Hits the 100 Day Mark Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: The King’s Sister______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Fox Wins; President Obama Hits the 100 Day Mark Wednesday 4/29/09 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 9.0/14CBS 6.9/11NBC 4.9/ 8ABC 4.6/ 7CW 2.0/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, April 30, 2008):ABC: + 5, Fox: - 2, CBS: - 4, NBC: -14, CW: -23 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Wednesday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Wednesday, April 29, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:American Idol (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):The Unusuals (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: Fox finished first in the overnights on this atypical night of programming (and it will, no doubt, win the evening among adults 18-49 on the strength of American Idol). The Big 3 networks preempted their regularly scheduled 8-9 p.m. programming in favor of President Obama addressing the country on his 100th day in office. Here is how the coverage fared in the overnights: Presidential News ConferenceNBC: 5.1/ 9ABC: 5.0/ 8CBS: 4.0/ 7 Combined, that is an approximate 14.1 rating/24 share in the hour. Rebel Fox nixed President Obama and left regularly scheduled Lie To Me intact, but the recently introduced drama did not benefit from the lack of entertainment competition with a third-place 4.8/ 8. Last in the hour was the CW’s still respectable America’s Next Top Model at a 3.0/ 5. Fox’s American Idol stood well above the competition at 9 p.m., with a 13.4/20 in the hour. One year earlier it averaged a 14.3/22. As for Adam Lambert landing in the bottom two, nothing will ever surprise me anymore when the voting results are in. But Matt, as expected, did depart. That leaves overrated Danny and Kris, aforementioned Adam and the oldest teenager in the world, Allison, in the top 4. Second behind American Idol in the overnights was CBS’ solid Criminal Minds (8.7/13), followed by ABC’s Lost (5.3/ 8), a repeat of Law & Order: SVU on NBC (3.7/ 6), and an unnecessary repeat of 90210 on the CW (1.0/ 2). As for Lost, Michael Burgi, Will Levith and I will be addressing the stellar installment on tomorrow’s PIPodast (www.marcberman.tv). Coming up on today’s podcast: American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice, TNT and unanswered questions from Mr. TV’s Midseason Update earlier this week. CBS moved into the overnight winner’s circle at 10 p.m. care of CSI: NY, which averaged an 8.1/14. The upcoming season-finale of CSI: NY out of CSI on Thursday, May 14 will, no doubt, get a boost. Second in the time period was NBC fossil Law & Order (5.8/10), followed by ABC’s struggling The Unusuals (3.6/ 6). No…there was nothing unusual about that performance. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -To Renew or Not to Renew:NBC has publicly said it is bringing back Heroes for fewer episodes next season. But based on the final national ratings for the season-finale on April 27 -- Viewers: 6.47 million, A18-49: 3.0/ 7 (fourth in the time period in both categories) -- it may want to rethink that. Leading into Heroes was the season-finale of Chuck at an also depressed (and fourth-place) 6.20 million viewers and a 2.4/ 6 in the demo at 8 p.m. Chances are this is the last we will ever see of Chuck. Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 4/30/09Night 8 of the May 2009 Sweeps ABC: 8:00 p.m. Ugly Betty 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy 10:00 p.m. Private Practice (season finale) CBS: 8:00 p.m. Survivor: Tocantins 9:00 p.m. CSI 10:00 p.m. Criminal Minds (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. My Name is Earl (part one) 8:30 p.m. Parks and Recreation 9:00 p.m. The Office 9:30 p.m. 30 Rock10:00 p.m. Southland Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Hell’s Kitchen CW: 8:00 p.m. Smallville 9:00 p.m. Supernatural MTNV 8:00 p.m. Movie: Transporter 2 (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -TNT Unveils Summer Sked:TNT, the home of must see dramas, has announced three nights of original programming this summer -- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday will kick-off on June 8 with the fifth season of The Closer, followed by season two of Raising the Bar. Effective Tuesday, June 16 is new non-scripted entry Wedding Day at 8 p.m., followed by new drama HawthoRNe at 9 p.m. and season three of Saving Grace at 10 p.m. Wedding Day will feature deserving couples given the wedding of their dramas. And HawthoRNe is a medical drama told from the point of view of the nurses, headlined by Jada Pinkett Smith. Wednesday will feature the new season of Leverage at 9 p.m., followed by Dark Blue, with former The Practice star Dylan McDermott as the head of an undercover team, at 10 p.m. Here is the schedule: Monday (Effective June 8)8:00 p.m. The Closer9:00 p.m. Raising The Bar Tuesday (Effective June 16)8:00 p.m. Wedding Day (new)9:00 p.m. HawthoRNe (new)10:00 p.m. Saving Grace Wednesday (Effective July 15)9:00 p.m. Leverage 10:00 p.m. Dark Blue (new) ---------- -More Celebrity Apprentice:As expected, NBC has renewed Celebrity Apprentice for the 2009-10 season, with the third “celebrity” edition of the veteran franchise slated for spring 2010. Season to-date, Celebrity Apprentice is averaging 8.6 million viewers and a 3.5 rating/9 share among adults 18-49 in the Sunday 9-11 p.m. block. In the event you missed the now classic clip of sore loser Melissa Rivers being fired in the last episode, click here: http://beta.sling.com/video/show/146727/49/Week-9---You're-Fired -Speaking of Celebrity Apprentice:My personal wish list of the participants for next season are Danny Bonaduce, Gary Coleman, Joan Collins, Corey Haim, Pee Wee Herman, Whitney Houston, Pamela Lee, Heather Locklear, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Nolte, Rosie O’Donnell (imagine the fireworks in the boardroom!), Burt Reynolds, former baseball great Pete Rose, Mike Tyson and one of the Bradys. No celebrity reality series is really complete without someone from The Brady Bunch. Who would you like to see on Celebrity Apprentice?-Face the Ace on NBC:NBC has also announced Face The Ace, a poker competition debuting this summer with contestants selected from an online search who compete with professional players in Las Vegas. The series will debut on Saturday, August 1 at p.m. ET, with future airdates expected on Saturday afternoons in the fall. Former Sopranos mobster Steve Schirripa hosts.-TCM Celebrates The Clios:Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Mr. TV’s favorite cable network, will honor the 50 year anniversary of the CLIO Awards with a special four film salute on Monday, May 11. The movies featured will be drama The Hucksters (1947), spoof Callaway Went Thataway (1951), musical It’s Always Fair Weather (1955) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), the story of an Arkansas hobo (Andy Griffith) who becomes an overnight media sensation. TCM host Robert Osborne will be joined by New York Times advertising writer Stuart Elliott, who will offer insight on the history of the CLIO Awards. -BBC’s The Office Heads to Adult Swim:The home of non-kids animation, Adult Swim, has acquired the broadcast rights to the BBC version of The Office with Emmy winner Ricky Gervais. It debuts on the cable net this summer. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:The King’s Sister Who played Doug’s sister Stephanie on sitcom The King of Queens? Kirstie AlleyJenna ElfmanRicki LakeDonna PescowMelissa Jaret Winokur The answer to yesterday’s question… Remember McMillan and Wife, one of the three original rotating elements in the old NBC Mystery Movie? What was the name of Commissioner Stewart McMillan’s wife? DorisGloriaLoisMildredSally Is: e) Sally, who was played by the wonderful Susan Saint James, who belongs back in prime-time. To the numerous people who answered Mildred, she was their maid (and she was played, of course, by Rhoda’s Mom, Nancy Walker). -Current kudos goes to:Mark-Allen, Laurie Biddle, Gerry Bixenspan (2x), Michael bobble, Barri Bronston, Larry Collins, Annie Courtney, Pauline Dittrick, John Ferlazzo, Arleen Fong, Michael Fruchtman, Harold Goetz, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Carolyn Becker Hayes, Barb Hemberger, Brad Hight, Michael Holland, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Deb Kainer, Mary Kalnin, Kathryn Kieser, Audrey Lewin, Mary Ann McAleer, Becky McIntyre, Debbie Mirr, Beverly Morris, Michael Natale, Jay Ogletree, Alan Perris, Alex Petrilli, Bob Rall, Arthur Reinstein, Con Rigg, Lisa Tatum-Roehrig, Colleen Roth, Russell Schwartz, Mindy Staley, Michelle Stanton, Ron Strauss, Joe Swaney, Ronnie Tallant, Carol Teichman, Bobbie Termeer, Melissa Toyofuku, Evan Weinstein, Joel Wolk, Ged Young, Ted Zavales, Ted Zawislak, Abyna Zimmerman

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Fox Wins Wednesday; President Obama Reaches the 100 Day Mark

Marc Berman

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