The Programming Insider: Wednesday 7/13/11

In Today's Issue: Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings: 2011 All-Star Baseball Game Leads Fox to Victory National Ratings in Prime Time: Week of July 4, 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: Remembering Sherwood Schwartz ________________________________________________________________ PRIME-TIME METERED MARKET TUESDAY RATINGS: 2011 All-Star Baseball Game Leads Fox to Victory Tuesday 7/12/11 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: 7.5/13, NBC: 7.1/12, CBS: 4.9/ 8, ABC: 2.9/ 5, CW: 0.5/ 1 Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday 7/13/10): NBC: +18, CBS: - 4, Fox: -11, ABC: -15, CW: -17 Yesterday’s Winners: 2011 All-Star Baseball Game (Fox), America’s Got Talent (NBC) Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): Combat Hospital (ABC) Ratings Breakdown: The 2011 All-Star Baseball Game led Fox to overnight Tuesday victory, with an estimated 8.1 rating/13 share from 8:30-11 p.m. Keep in mind that results for any live sporting event are approximate. Comparably, this dipped by 11 percent from the year-ago overnight performance (9.1/15 on July 13, 2010). Here is the half-hour breakdown: 2011 All-Star Baseball Game 8:30 p.m.: 7.4/13 (#1) 9:00 p.m.: 8.1/13 (#1t) 9:30 p.m.: 8.5/14 (#1) 10:00 p.m.: 8.5/14 (#1) 10:30 p.m.: 7.9/13 (#2) Earlier in the evening on Fox was the half-hour pregame at a dominant 6.0/11 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Over at NBC, which trailed Fox by 0.4 rating points, a night of summer sensation America’s Got Talent began with an encore telecast from 8-9 p.m. (#3: 4.8/ 9), followed by the next two-hour installment at a hefty 8.2/13 from 9-11 p.m. Comparably, that 8.2/13 ran neck and neck with the All-Star Baseball Game, with the half-hour breakdown as follows: America’s Got Talent (NBC) 9:00 p.m.: 8.1/13 (#1t) 9:30 p.m.: 8.3/13 (#2) 10:00 p.m.: 8.4/14 (#2) 10:30 p.m.: 8.2/14 (#1) Results for the two among adults 18-49 should be a race to the finish line as well. Elsewhere, CBS aired repeats of NCIS (#2: 5.7/10) and spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles (#3: 4.9/ 8) from 8-10 p.m., followed by the Tuesday 10 p.m. summer telecast of 48 Hours at a third-place 4.2/ 7. ABC populated the evening with a repeat of Wipeout (#4: 3.3/ 6) and original telecasts of recent summer entries 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show (#4: 2.9/ 5) and Canadian drama Combat Hospital (#4: 2.6/ 4). And The CW aired encore telecasts of One Tree Hill (#5: 0.5/ 1), which returns in midseason, and cancelled Hellcats (#5: 0.5/ 1). While a 2.9 in the overnights is nothing spectacular for 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, a 2.7 last week translated into a respectable 1.9 rating among adults 18-49. Lead-out Combat Hospital skews much older. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) _____________________________________________________________ NATIONAL RATINGS IN PRIME TIME: Week of July 4, 2011 It was a holiday week of split leadership, with CBS first in households and total viewers and NBC No. 1 in the three key demos—adults 18-49, adults 25-54, and adults 18-34. NBC’s demographic dominance stems from the success of summer favorite America’s Got Talent. But the standout program of the week was the ABC News special, Primetime With Diane Sawyer—Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words at 15.07 million viewers (#2 overall) and a 3.8 rating/10 share among adults 18-49 (#2) in the Sunday 9-11 p.m. block. Comparably, this was television’s most-watched summer newsmagazine telecast since June 20, 2004, and ABC’s biggest audience in the two-hour time period with nonsports programming since Aug. 27, 2000. Also in the specials department, NBC’s annual telecast of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular averaged 8.71 million viewers, its largest audience in 11 years in the 9 p.m. hour on Monday. Results among key adults 18-49 (2.1 rating/ 8 share) was its best in four years, with growth of 25 percent from one year earlier. Total viewership was up by 1.79 million viewers from the year-ago telecast (8.71 vs. 6.92 million). The annual Boston Pops Fireworks on CBS delivered 6.65 million viewers (#16) and a 1.1/ 4 in the demo (#41t) in the 10 p.m. hour on Monday. On Tuesday, a special edition of CBS’ long-running 48 Hours Mystery, focused on the Casey Anthony case, averaged 5.53 million viewers (#27) and a 1.3/ 3 in the demo (#30t) at 10 p.m. In season-premiere news, Big Brother on CBS dominated both the Thursday 9 p.m. and Sunday 8 p.m. hours (see rankings below), with its best opening season Sunday results ever. What follows are the live-plus-same-day ratings for the week of July 4, 2011 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago week in parentheses), followed by the freshman summer series report card, the top 20 rated programs for the week, and the top rated networks on basic cable. -Households: CBS: 3.8 rating/7 share (- 5), NBC: 3.5/ 6 (+ 9), ABC: 3.2/ 6 (+ 3), Fox: 2.1/ 4 (-22), CW: 0.5/ 1 (-29) -Total Viewers: CBS: 5.85 million (- 7), NBC: 5.79 (+12), ABC: 5.15 (+ 6), Fox: 3.52 (-19), CW: 720,000 (-29) -Adults 18-49: NBC: 1.6 rating/ share (+ 5), ABC: 1.4/ 5 (no change), CBS: 1.3/ 4 (no change), Fox: 1.3/ 4 (-19), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-25) -Adults 25-54: NBC: 2.0/ 6 (+11), ABC: 1.7/ 5 (no change), CBS: 1.7/ 5 (-11), Fox: 1.5/ 4 (-17), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-25) -Adults 18-34: NBC: 1.3/ 5 (-13), ABC: 1.1/ 4 (no change), NBC: 1.1/ 4 (- 8), CBS: 0.8/ 3 (no change), CW: 0.3/ 1 (-25) Freshman Series Report Card (ranked in order of total viewers) Love in the Wild (NBC) – Wednesday 10 p.m. Viewers: 5.83 million (#21), A18-49: 1.9/ 5 (11t) Grade: C Expedition Impossible (ABC) – Thursday 9 p.m. Viewers: 5.65 million (#24), A18-49: 1.7/ 5 (#15t) Grade: B- 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show (ABC) – Tuesday 9 p.m. Viewers: 4.92 million (#36), A18-49: 1.9/ 5 (#11t) Grade: B- Combat Hospital (ABC) – Tuesday 10 p.m. Viewers: 4.28 million (#44), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#52t) Grade: C- Love Bites (NBC) – Thursday 10 p.m. Viewers: 1.98 million (#78), A18-49: 0.7/ 2 (#74t) Grade: F Top 20 Rankings -Total Viewers: America’s Got Talent – Tuesday 9-11 p.m. (NBC): 15.78 million, Primetime With Diane Sawyer—Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words (ABC): 15.07, America’s Got Talent – Wednesday (NBC): 12.85, America’s Got Talent – Tuesday 8 p.m. (NBC): 12.58, NCIS R (CBS): 8.90, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks (NBC): 8.71, 60 Minutes R (CBS): 8.39, Big Brother – Thursday (CBS, season premiere): 7.89, CSI R (CBS): 7.21, Big Brother – Sunday (CBS, time period return): 7.18, NCIS: Los Angeles R (CBS): 7.01, Wipeout (ABC) and Blue Bloods R (CBS): 6.81 each, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS): 6.79, The Mentalist R (CBS): 6.72, Boston Pops Fireworks (CBS): 6.65, So You Think You Can Dance – Wednesday (Fox): 6.46, Flashpoint (CBS): 6.37, CSI: N.Y. R (CBS): 6.05, Criminal Minds R (CBS): 5.93 -Adults 18-49: America’s Got Talent – Tuesday 9-11 p.m. (NBC): 4.6 rating/13 share, Primetime With Diane Sawyer—Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words (ABC): 3.8/10, America’s Got Talent (NBC, Tuesday 8 p.m.) and America’s Got Talent – Wednesday (NBC): 3.6/11 each, Big Brother – Thursday (CBS, season premiere): 2.8/ 8, Big Brother – Sunday (CBS, time period return): 2.5/ 8, So You Think You Can Dance – Wednesday (Fox): 2.4/ 8, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks (NBC): 2.1/ 8, Masterchef – Tuesday (Fox): 2.1/ 6, Wipeout (ABC): 2.0/ 7, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS): 1.9/ 7, 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show (ABC) and Love in the Wild (NBC): 1.9/ 5 each, Family Guy R (Fox): 1.8/ 5, So You Think You Can Dance – Wednesday (Fox): 1.7/ 6, Expedition Impossible (ABC) and The Simspons R (Fox): 1.7/ 5 each, Wipeout – Tuesday R (ABC): 1.6/ 5, Dateline – Friday (NBC) and Kitchen Nightmares R (Fox): 1.5/ 5 each, Rookie Blue R (ABC), CSI R (CBS) and American Dad R (Fox): 1.5/ 4 each CABLE What follows are the top 10 rated networks on cable in prime time for the week of July 4 based on total viewers and the three key demos. -Total Viewers: USA: 2.89 million, Disney: 2.65, TNT: 2.42, History: 1.84, ABC Family: 1.66, Fox News: 1.63, A&E: 1.44, Syfy: 1.39, HLN: 1.38, HGTV: 1.20 -Adults 18-49: USA: 1.11 million, TNT: 889,000, ABC Family: 816,000, History: 768,000, TBS: 697,000, A&E: 691,000, FX: 612,000, Discovery: 566,000, Syfy: 547,000, Food Network and MTV: 525,000 each -Adults 25-54: USA: 1.22 million, TNT: 1.05 million, History: 863,000, A&E: 744,000, ABC Family: 692,000, Syfy: 672,000, TBS: 634,000, Discovery: 618,000, FX: 578,000, Food Network: 577,000 -Adults 18-34: ABC Family: 492,000, USA: 465,000, MTV: 405,000, TBS: 361,000, Comedy Central: 322,000, FX: 312,000, Adult Swim: 307,000, TNT: 300,000, A&E: 280,000, History: 276,000 Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat; t = tie) ______________________________________________________________ RATINGS BOX: What’s Hot/What’s Not Strong TNT Monday: TNT drama The Closer opened its seventh (and final) season on Monday with 7.2 million viewers at 10 p.m.—basic cable’s biggest drama audience of the year to date. That led into the second season-premiere of Rizzoli & Isles, with a healthy 6.4 million. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________ ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Prime-Time Programming Options ABC: 8:00 p.m. Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown (R) 8:30 p.m. The Middle (R) 9:00 p.m. Modern Family (R) 9:30 p.m. Modern Family (ABC) 10:00 p.m. Primetime Nightline—Beyond Belief (The Miracle Mysteries) CBS: 8:00 p.m. Big Brother (time period premiere) 9:00 p.m. Criminal Minds (R) 10:00 p.m. Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Minute to Win It 9:00 p.m. America’s Got Talent 10:00 p.m. Love in the Wild Fox: 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance (two hours) CW 8:00 p.m. America’s Next Top Model (R) 9:00 p.m. America’s Next Top Model (R) Of note on cable: -Ghost Hunters International (Syfy): 9 p.m. ET/PT (season premiere) -Legend Quest (Syfy): 10 p.m. ET/PT (series premiere) ____________________________________________________________ TV TIDBITS: Notes of Interest Ted Danson Heads to CSI: Two-time Emmy winner Ted Danson, a current series regular on HBO comedy Bored to Death, will join the cast of CBS’ CSI next season as the new supervisor for the grave shift. Danson will make his first appearance on the season opener in CSI’s new Wednesday 10 p.m. time period on Sept. 21. More Braxton Family Values: WE tv has renewed docudrama Braxton Family Values, featuring Grammy winner Toni Braxton and her sisters for a second season, with an expanded order of 19 episodes. The new season begins on Nov. 9. Sad News: Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch, died in his sleep yesterday of natural causes. He was 94 years old and was surrounded by his wife of 69 years, Mildred Schwartz, and their four children. For my take on this behind-the-scenes TV icon, click here. __________________________________________________________ TV TRIVIA TIME: Remembering Sherwood Schwartz Note: To respond to the trivia, please click HERE. Do not click Reply Sherwood Schwartz is remembered for creating Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch. But what was the name of the syndicated comedy he also masterminded that aired in the 1973-74 season? a) Check It Out b) Dusty’s Trail c) Marblehead Manor d) She’s the Sheriff e) Wait Till Your Father Gets Home The answer to yesterday’s question… Where was the character of Randy Taylor sent when Jonathan Taylor Thomas exited sitcom Home Improvement in the eighth and final season? a) Costa Rica b) London c) Orlando d) Paris e) Spain Is: a) Costa Rica. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was a teen heartthrob at the time, refused to even return to Home Improvement for the final episode. Current kudos goes to: Steve Albright, Gerry Bixenspan, Kimay Bloch, Larry Collins, Andy Ehlen, John Ferlazzo, Mike Fitzgerald, Adele George, Maureen Goldman, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Bob Ingersoll, Tom Kilgallon, Katie Kuyper, Howard Lieboff, Tom Mertes, Aaron Paquette, Gordon Purcell, Mark Riney, Colleen Roth, Carly Schinzing, Maxine Shulman, Michelle Stavrou, Ted Zavales

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The Programming Insider: Wednesday 7/13/11

Marc Berman

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