Solid Early Returns for Fox's So You Think You Can Dance

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERFriday, May 29, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:CBS Wins, Fox Poised For Adult 18-49 Victory Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air This Weekend:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:Mary’s Mama_______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:CBS Wins, Fox Poised For Adult 18-49 Victory Thursday 5/28/09 HH Rtg/Shr CBS 6.8/11Fox 5.7/ 9ABC 4.0/ 7NBC 2.6/ 4CW 1.1/ 2 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, May 29, 2008):CBS: +13, ABC: + 3, NBC and Fox: -10 each, CW: -35 ---------- Note: The listing of winners and losers will return in September. ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: CBS led the Thursday overnights, finishing first in every half-hour with its encore combination of NCIS (6.4 rating/11 share), CSI (6.9/11) and Without a Trace (7.1/12), which should have been picked-up for next season. But a 5.7/ 9 in the overnights for another two-hour edition of So You Think You Can Dance should be enough for Fox to win the evening among adults 18-49. Comparably, while the still potent So You Think You Can Dance dipped by only 10 percent from its year-ago overnight performance (6.3/10 on May 28), I still personally think a fall edition of the dance competition is a bad idea. Simply put, it could be overkill. Third-place ABC opened the evening with annual special The 2009 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee, which averaged a typically uneventful (and approximate) 4.1/ 7 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown: The 2009 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee (ABC)8:00 p.m.: 3.8/ 7 (#3)8:30 p.m.: 3.8/ 6 (#3)9:00 p.m.: 4.1/ 7 (#3)9:30 p.m.: 4.8/ 8 (#3) The final few minutes of the Spelling Bee rose to a 6.6/11 in the 10 p.m. half-hour. A repeat of Grey’s Anatomy, which never plays well in non-originals, capped off the evening for ABC with a distant second-place 2.9/ 5. To the fans wondering if Katherine Heigl is coming back, I have no clue! NBC sunk to what could be one of its lowest rated Thursdays historically with its repeat line-up of canceled My Name is Earl (#4: 2.6/ 5), 30 Rock (#4: 2.4/ 4), The Office (#4: 2.5/ 4), another installment of 30 Rock (#4: 2.5/ 4), and two more encore telecasts of The Office (#3: avg. 2.7/ 4 from 10-11 p.m.). And The CW finished the night with repeats of Smallville (#5: 1.1/ 2), which heads to Fridays at 8 p.m. next season, and Supernatural (#5: 1.2/ 2). Anchoring Thursday for The CW in 2009-10 will be highly anticipated The Vampire Diaries. This is a new show to keep a positive eye (or two) on. Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Mixed Results on ABC Wednesday:ABC opened Wednesday, May 27 on a positive note, with the sophomore season-premiere of reality/competition Wipeout at 8.71 million viewers and a 3.3 rating/10 share among adults 18-49 -- second in the 8 p.m. hour in both categories. Comparably, this built from Wife Swap on this year-ago evening by 53 percent in total viewers and 50 percent in the demo. Wipeout finished as the top-rated non-sports show of the evening among teens 12-17 and lifted ABC to its best overall performance in the time period with regularly scheduled programming since November 2007. Despite the ample lead-in support, the series-premiere of animated sitcom The Goode Family sunk to 3.65 million and a 1.6/ 4 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m., ranking fourth in the time period in both categories. Even worse was the time period premiere of on the bubble Surviving Suburbia at 2.76 million viewers and a 1.0/ 3 in the demo at 9:30 p.m. -Strong Return for Oxygen’s Tori & Dean:The fourth season-premiere of Oxygen’s non-scripted Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood kicked-off on Tuesday, May 26 with a record performance in total viewers (763,000), adults 18-49 (539,000) and women 18-49 (424,000) at 10 p.m. Comparably, that was up by as much as 20 percent among adults 18-49 from one year earlier. And it was, historically, the network’s most-watched season-opener in women 18-49. Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air This Weekend:Prime-Time Programming Options Friday 5/29/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Wife Swap (R) 9:00 p.m. Un-Broke: What You Need to Know About Money 10:00 p.m. 20/20 CBS: 8:00 p.m. Movie: Walk the Line NBC: 8:00 p.m. Howie Do It (R) 8:30 p.m. Howie Do It (R) 9:00 p.m. Dateline (two hours) Fox: 8:00 p.m. Don’t Forget the Lyrics 9:00 p.m. Mental (R) CW: 8:00 p.m. Movie: Hair Show (R) MNTV 8:00 p.m. Friday Night Smackdown! --------------- Saturday 5/30/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Wipeout (R) 9:00 p.m. Here Come the Newlyweds (R)10:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies (return) CBS: 8:00 p.m. Numbers (R) 9:00 p.m. Harper’s Island 10:00 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (R) 9:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R)10:00 p.m. Law & Order (R) Fox: 8:00 p.m. Cops 9:00 p.m. America’s Most Wanted --------------- Sunday 5/31/09 ABC: 7:00 p.m. American’s Funniest Home Videos (R) 8:00 p.m. NBA Countdown 8:30 p.m. 2009 NBA Western Countdown Finals (if necessary, or repeats of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters) CBS: 7:00 p.m. 60 Minutes 8:00 p.m. Million Dollar Password 9:00 p.m. Cold Case (R)10:00 p.m. The Unit (R) NBC: 7:00 p.m. Dateline (two hours) 9:00 p.m. Miniseries: The Last Templar (R, part two) Fox: 7:00 p.m. King of the Hill (R) 7:30 p.m. American Dad (R) 8:00 p.m. The Simpsons (R) 8:30 p.m. King of the Hill (R) 9:00 p.m. Family Guy (R) 9:30 p.m. American Dad (R) CW: 7:00 p.m. Jericho (R) 8:00 p.m. Sunday Movie: Desperately Seeking Susan (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Crash Course on ABC:ABC will add another new non-scripted reality/competition to its schedule this summer called Crash Course, which will feature five different couples participating in extreme driving challenges. Seven one-hour episodes have been ordered. In addition to the return of Wipeout and the premiere of animated The Goode Family, other original series airing on ABC this summer are new sports competition The Superstars and the return of Here Come the Newlyweds, I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (with Regis Philbin). -Speaking of ABC:Canceled sitcoms In The Motherhood and Samantha Who? have been moved to new time periods for their summer burn-off episodes. In The Motherhood will now air Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. beginning on June 25. And back-to-back episodes sophomore Samantha Who? will fill the 9 p.m. hour on Friday, also in June. -Hispanic College Quiz Show Returns for Season Two:Distributor Timeless has announced Hispanic College Quiz Show as a firm “go” for year two. Co-hosted by Zoraida Sambolin and T Bone, the Jeopardy-like Hispanic College Quiz Show will air during Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October. For more information contact: Sean Deneny at sean@timelesstv.net or at 818.575.8428 -AOL End of Season Poll Results:Based on a poll of over 350,000 votes, here are the key results for AOL’s end of season TV poll. What was the best drama? Bones (Fox): 9 percentFriday Night Lights (NBC): 3 percentHouse (Fox): 10 percentLost (ABC): 7 percentThe Mentalist (CBS): 20 percentNCIS (CBS): 51 percent ----- What was the best comedy? 30 Rock (NBC): 9 percentThe Big Bang Theory (CBS): 13 percentChuck (NBC): 12 percentHow I Met Your Mother (CBS): 8 percentThe Office (NBC): 11 percentTwo and a Half Men (CBS): 47 percent ----- What was the best reality TV show? The Amazing Race (CBS): 11 percentAmerican Idol (Fox): 25 percentThe Biggest Loser (NBC): 10 percentDancing With the Stars (ABC): 31 percentSurvivor (CBS): 11 percentTop Chef (Bravo): 12 percent ----- What was the best new show? 90210 (CW): 2 percentCastle (ABC): 12 percentFringe (Fox): 14 percentLie To Me (Fox): 6 percentThe Mentalist (CBS): 58 percentSouthland (NBC): 8 percent ----- What was the worst new show? In the Motherhood (ABC): 18 percentKath & Kim (NBC): 34 percentKnight Rider (NBC): 25 percentMy Own Worst Enemy (NBC): 8 percentWorst Week (CBS): 15 percent ----- What show is SO over? 24 (Fox): 14 percentCSI (CBS): 15 percent Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): 16 percentHeroes (NBC): 17 percentThe Hills (MTV): 25 percentOne Tree Hill (CW): 14 percent ----- What was the best show nobody watched? Chuck (NBC): 26 percentFriday Night Lights (NBC): 31 percentPrivileged (CW): 9 percentReaper (CW): 11 percentTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox): 23 percent ----- What was your favorite reality guilty please? The Bachelor (ABC): 19 percentCelebrity Apprentice (NBC): 34 percentThe City (MTV): 7 percentReal Housewives (Bravo): 25 percentRock of Love Bus (VH1): 15 percent For a complete listing of the results, click on http://television.aol.com/insidetv/2009/05/22/2009-tv-season-end-poll. ___________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Mary’s Mama Who played Mary Richards’ mother on The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Rosemary DeCampNanette FabrayEileen HeckartNancy WalkerJane Wyatt The answer to yesterday’s trivia question… We all remember Elizabeth Montgomery, of course, for her long-running role as witch Samantha Stephens on sitcom Bewitched. But who was the first choice for the role? Whitney BlakeTina Cole Barbara EdenTammy GrimesDonna Reed Is: d) Tammy Grimes, who did, however, star opposite Dick Sargent (Darren #2) in four-episode sitcom The Tammy Grimes Show in 1966. -Current kudos goes to:Mark Amato, Gerry Bixenspan, Larry Collins, Tom Condosta, Reid Davis, Stephan Ferrara, John Ferlazzo, Arleen Fong, Jan Frazier, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Larry Grimes. Brad Hight, Bob Ingersoll, Deb Kainer, Michael Murphy, Gordon Purcell, Ron Salmon, Michelle Stanton, Stewart Wallace

Convergent TV

Solid Early Returns for Fox's So You Think You Can Dance

Marc Berman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Marc Berman