The Programming Insider: Thursday 6/02/11

In Today's Issue: Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings: So You Think You Can Dance Leads Fox to Victory National Ratings in Prime-Time: Week of May 23, 2011 Ratings Box: What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight: Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Come and Knock on His Door PRIME-TIME METERED MARKET TUESDAY RATINGS: So You Think You Can Dance Leads Fox to Victory Wednesday 6/01/11 Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT. Household Rating/Share Fox: 6.1/10, CBS: 4.3/ 7, ABC: 3.6/ 6, NBC: 3.2/ 6, CW: 1.0/ 2 Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday 6/02/10): ABC: +24, CW: +11, Fox: + 5, CBS: -12, NBC: -32 Yesterday’s Winners: So You Think You Can Dance (Fox) Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): The Stanley Cup Finals, Game 1 (NBC) Ratings Breakdown: Fox dominated this first Wednesday of the summer season with a two-hour installment of So You Think You Can Dance, which averaged a 6.1 rating/10 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Compared to one year earlier (which also featured a two-hour episode), this was an increase of five percent. And this was 1.8 overnight rating points, on average, ahead of second-place CBS’ encore combination of Mike & Molly (#3: 3.4/ 6), Rules of Engagement (#4: 2.9/ 5), Criminal Minds (#2: 4.9/ 8) and Blue Bloods (#1: 5.0/ 9). Repeat episodes of Blue Bloods will be airing this summer in both the Wednesday and Friday 10 p.m. hours. ABC also traveled the repeat route last night with its sitcom combination of two episodes of The Middle (#2: avg. 3.8/ 6 from 8-9 p.m.), two episodes of Modern Family (#3: avg. 4.4/ 7 from 9-10 p.m.), and Cougar Town (#3: 2.9/ 5) and Happy Endings (#3: 2.5/ 4) from 10-11 p.m. Note to Bill Lawrence: I happen to think Cougar Town rocks. It's unfortunate, however, that it lost so much steam out of Modern Family this season. Over at NBC, Game 1 of The Stanley Cup Finals, Bruins at Canucks, trailed with a fourth-place 3.2/ 6 in the overnights from 8-11 p.m. And The CW capped off the evening with two encore telecasts of America’s Next Top Model at an average 1.0/ 2 from 8-10 p.m. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________ NATIONAL RATINGS IN PRIME-TIME: Week of May 23, 2011 Led by 29.29 million viewers for the season-finale of American Idol, Fox swept the week of May 23 with a first-place finish in households and total viewers and the three key demos: adults 18-49, adults 25-54, and adults 18-34. Keep in mind this week included the last batch of season and series-enders, plus the official start of the summer season. Comparably, Fox was on par with year-ago levels. Lifted by the season-finale of Dancing with the Stars, which just concluded its most-watched edition ever, ABC ranked second across the board, building by as much as 15 percent in adults 25-54 from one year earlier. Erosion was the visible observation elsewhere, with CBS, NBC, and The CW all down by double-digits. In season-premiere news, So You Think You Can Dance on Fox returned for season eight on Thursday with a solid 9.45 million viewers (#9 overall) and a 3.3 rating/10 share among adults 18-49 (#9) in the Thursday 8-10 p.m. block. What follows are the live plus same day ratings for the week of May 23, 2011 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago week in parentheses), followed by the top 30 rated programs for the week, and the top rated networks on basic cable. -Households: Fox: 5.9 rating/11 share (+ 5), ABC: 4.4/ 8 (+ 5), CBS: 4.1/ 7 (-20), NBC: 2.7/ 5 (- 7), CW: 0.5/ 1 (-29) -Total Viewers: Fox: 10.62 million (+ 9), ABC: 7.13 (+12), CBS: 6.40 (-20), NBC: 4.22 (- 9), CW: 810,000 (-21) -Adults 18-49: Fox: 3.3 rating/11 share (no change), ABC: 1.8/ 6 (+12), NBC: 1.3/ 4 (-19), CBS: 1.3/ 4 (-28), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-25) -Adults 25-54: Fox: 3.9/11 (no change), ABC: 2.3/ 6 (+15), CBS: 1.8/ 5 (-28), NBC: 1.5/ 4 (-21), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-25) -Adults 18-34: Fox: 2.5/10 (- 4), ABC: 1.3/ 5 (+ 8), NBC: 0.9/ 3 (-25), CBS: 0.7/ 3 (-42), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-40) Top 30 Rankings -Total Viewers: American Idol – Wednesday (Fox, season finale): 29.29 million, Dancing with the Stars – Monday (ABC): 22.86, Dancing with the Stars – Tuesday (ABC, season finale): 21.42, American Idol – Tuesday (Fox): 20.57, Glee (Fox, season finale): 11.80, Dancing with the Stars R (ABC): 10.36, Modern Family (ABC, season finale): 10.31, NCIS R (CBS, Tues. 8 p.m.): 9.83, So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, season premiere): 9.45, The Mentalist R (CBS): 9.26, House (Fox, season finale): 9.11, The Bachelorette (ABC): 9.02, NCIS R (CBS, Tues. 9 p.m.): 8.67, The Voice (NBC): 8.49, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS): 8.28, The Biggest Loser (NBC, season finale): 8.20, Two and a Half Men R (CBS): 8.03, NCIS R (CBS, Tues. 10 p.m.): 7.91, CSI R (CBS): 7.74, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS, series finale): 7.45, The Middle (ABC, season finale): 7.33, Mike & Molly R (CBS): 7.27, The Chicago Code (Fox, series finale): 7.11, Clash of the Commercials: USA vs. the World (CBS): 6.84, Rules of Engagement R (CBS): 6.82, Blue Bloods R (CBS): 6.53, CSI: NY R (CBS): 6.38, Criminal Minds R (CBS): 6.07, Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC): 5.91, 60 Minutes Presents (CBS): 5.90 -Adults 18-49: American Idol – Wednesday (Fox, season finale): 9.2 rating/26 share, American Idol – Tuesday (Fox): 6.4/19, Dancing with the Stars – Monday (ABC): 4.7/14, Dancing with the Stars – Tuesday (ABC, season finale) and Glee (Fox, season finale): 4.6/11 each, Modern Family (ABC, season finale): 4.2/11, The Voice (NBC): 3.8/ 9, House (Fox, season finale): 3.4/10, So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, season premiere): 3.3/10, The Biggest Loser (NBC, season finale): 3.1/ 8, The Bachelorette (ABC): 2.8/ 7, NASCAR (Fox): 2.5/ 9, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS): 2.2/ 8, The Middle (ABC, season finale): 2.2/ 7, Two and a Half Men R (CBS): 2.2/ 6, Chicago Code (Fox, series finale) and Cougar Town (ABC, season finale): 2.0/ 5 each, Mike & Molly R (CBS), Clash of the Commercials: USA vs. the World (CBS) and Modern Family R (ABC): 1.9/ 5 each, Rules of Engagement R (CBS): 1.8/ 6, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS, season finale): 1.8/ 5, Happy Endings (ABC, season finale): 1.7/ 4, NCIS R (CBS): 1.6/ 5, NCIS: Los Angeles R (CBS) and The Mentalist R (CBS): 1.6/ 4 each, How I Met Your Mother R (CBS, Mon. 8 p.m.): 1.5/ 5, Minute to Win it (NBC, Mon. 8 p.m.), How I Met Your Mother R (CBS, Mon. 8:30 p.m.), NCIS R (CBS, Tues. 10 p.m.) and CSI R (CBS): 1.5/ 4 each CABLE What follows are the top 10 rated networks on cable in prime time for the week of May 23 based on total viewers and the three key demos. -Total Viewers: TNT: 3.20 million, USA: 2.60, Disney: 2.12, ESPN: 1.91, History: 1.85, Fox News: 1.68, FX: 1.28, Nick at Nite: 1.25, ABC Family: 1.19, A&E: 1.17 -Adults 18-49: TNT: 1.67 million, USA: 985,000, ESPN: 927,000, History: 801,000, FX: 701,000, TBS: 658,000, Discovery: 630,000, Comedy Central: 538,000, ABC Family: 529,000, Adult Swim: 524,000 -Adults 25-54: TNT: 1.64 million, USA: 1.09 million, ESPN: 929,000, History: 901,000, Discovery: 669,000, FX: 626,000, TBS: 578,000, A&E: 557,000, VS: 540,000, Syfy: 503,000 -Adults 18-34: TNT: 880,000, ESPN: 488,000, USA: 400,000, FX: 397,000, Comedy Central: 379,000, TBS: 373,000, MTV: 359,000, Adult Swim: 348,000, History: 321,000, ABC Family: 292,000 Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat; t = tie) _______________________________________________________________ RATINGS BOX: What’s Hot/What’s Not My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Scores on TLC: The two-episode two-hour premiere of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TLC averaged 2.2 million viewers in the Sunday 9-11 p.m. block on Sunday, May 29, finishing first among all ad-supported cable overall for the evening in women 18-49, women 25-54, and women 18-34. Comparably, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding posted double to triple digit percent gains over the 2011 to-date prime-time average for TLC in all demos. Final Traditional Season Network News Rankings: Based on results through May 27, The NBC Nightly News finished first in total viewers and key adults 25-54. But second-place World News on ABC narrowed the gap, with 8.06 million viewers and a 1.8/ 7 in the demo, building by two percent in total viewers from one year earlier. The CBS Evening News remained third, with the rankings as follows: Households: NBC: 5.9 rating/12 share, ABC: 5.4/11, CBS: 4.0/ 8 Total Viewers: NBC: 9.13 million, ABC: 8.06, CBS: 5.99 Adults 25-54: NBC: 2.2/ 8, ABC: 1.8/ 7, CBS: 1.5/ 6 Source: Nielsen Media Research data _________________________________________________________________ ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 6/02/11 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live 8:30 p.m. NBA Pre-Game 9:00 p.m. NBA Finals, Game 2 CBS: 8:00 p.m. The Big Bang Theory (R) 8:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement (R) 9:00 p.m. CSI (R) 10:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Community (R) 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock (R) 9:00 p.m. The Office (R) 9:30 p.m. Parks and Recreation (R) 10:00 p.m. Love Bites (series premiere) Fox: 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance 9:00 p.m. Glee (R) CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries (R) 9:00 p.m. Nikita (R) New Show Descriptions Love Bites (NBC) Originally scheduled to debut last fall, hour-long comedy anthology Love Bites features three loosely connected stories of love, sex, dating, and marriage in each episode. If you're a fan of classic Love, American Style this will feel awfully familiar. _______________________________________________________________ TV TIDBITS: Notes of Interest Upfront Sales Update: First out of the box, Fox benefited with what could be its strongest fall schedule to-date with reported upfront TV time deals at an average 11 percent increase from one year earlier in the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers. ABC is pricing itself at reported 9 to 10 percent growth, while optimistic CBS is making an initial request of price hikes in the vicinity of 18 percent. The Event Pitched to Syfy: Failed NBC science fiction drama The Event, which did not benefit by the three-month hiatus, could find life after cancellation. The Event is currently being pitched to cable net Syfy as an original miniseries next season. Sad News: Clarice Taylor, who is remembered as playing Bill Cosby’s mother on sitcom The Cosby Show, died on Monday as a result of heart failure. She was 93. Earlier in her career, Taylor received notoriety as the grandmother on Sesame Street in the 1960s. She also appeared opposite Liza Minnelli in 1970 theatrical Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, and played the role of Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in Broadway musical The Wiz, which she recreated on the big screen in 1978. Taylor is survived by her two sons, William and James, and five grandchildren. __________________________________________________________________ TV TRIVIA TIME: Come and Knock on His Door Note: To respond to the trivia, please click HERE. Do not click Reply What was Larry’s occupation on classic sitcom Three’s Company? a) Actor b) Clothing store owner c) Nurse d) Pediatrician e) Used car salesman The answer to yesterday’s question… What college did Malcolm announce he was attending in the final episode of sitcom Malcolm in the Middle? a) Columbia b) Harvard c) UCLA d) Vassar e) Yale Is: b) Harvard. Malcolm was a brilliant kid living in a very nutty household. Current kudos goes to: Gerry Bixenspan, John Brooker, Audrey Davis, John Ferlazzo, Martha Gonzalez, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Deb Kainer, Synda Kollman, Steven Kurtzer, Michael Murphy, Colleen Roth, Michelle Stanton

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The Programming Insider: Thursday 6/02/11

Marc Berman

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