ABC Dominates Final Monday of The Traditional Season

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, May 25, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins; Respectable Series-Ending Performance for Fox’s 24 Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:Is That You, Mr. Grant?____________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins; Respectable Series-Ending Performance for Fox’s 24 Monday 5/24/10 HH Rtg/Shr ABC 8.9/14CBS 7.8/12Fox 6.6/10NBC 4.2/ 6CW 0.6/ 1 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, May 25, 2009):Note: The year-ago Monday marked the first week of the summer season.ABC: +154, Fox: +83, CBS: +62, NBC: -14, CW: -25 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners: Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Two and a Half Men (CBS), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), CSI: Miami (CBS) -Honorable Mention:Law & Order (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Chuck (NBC) ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday 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 Monday, May 24, 2010. ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: ABC led this final Monday of the May 2010 sweeps (and the traditional TV season) in the overnights, with a 14 percent advantage over second-place CBS. Next was Fox, which featured the series-finale of 24, followed by lowly NBC and a night of repeats on The CW. The final performance show on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars stood well above anything else in the 8 p.m. hour, with a considerable 13.6 rating/21 share. My pick to be named the winner of this 10th edition of Dancing With the Stars tonight: Nicole Scherzinger. Next on ABC was the two-hour season-premiere of sappy The Bachelorette, which scored an improved 6.5/10 from 9-11 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows: The Bachelorette (ABC)9:00 p.m.: 7.5/11 (#2)9:30 p.m.: 6.7/10 (#3)10:00 p.m.: 6.0/ 9 (#2)10:30 p.m.: 5.8/10 (#3) Comparably, this built from the year-ago 8-10 p.m. portion of The Bachelorette (3.7/ 6 on May 25, 2009) by a hefty 76 percent. Leading out of Dancing With the Stars was, no doubt, beneficial. ABC will remain intact on Mondays next fall with a two-hour edition of Dancing With the Stars and crime solver Castle, which heads into season three. CBS aired a night of season-finales with its combination of How I Met Your Mother (#3: 5.3/ 8), creatively improved Rules of Engagement (#3: 5.1/ 8), Two and a Half Men (#1: 10.1/15), The Big Bang Theory (#1: 9.6/14) and CSI: Miami (#1: 8.4/13), which moves to Sundays at 10 p.m. (out of Undercover Boss) in the fall. As much as I enjoy The Big Bang Theory, which heads into the Thursday 8 p.m. anchor spot next season (into new comedy $#*!My Dad Says), I can’t help but wonder why the writers saved the perfect-match for Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik, until the very last scene. Hopefully, we will see more of Sheldon’s potential love interest in 2010-11. Next fall, new comedy Mike & Molly inherits the 9:30 p.m. time period out of Two and a Half Men and into the revival of Hawaii Five-O. Over at Fox, the two-hour series-finale of 24 was on the map with an above-average 6.6/10 from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown: 24 (Fox)8:00 p.m.: 6.3/10 (#2)8:30 p.m.: 6.3/10 (#2)9:00 p.m.: 6.7/10 (#3)9:30 p.m.: 7.1/10 (#2) This fall on Fox, look for returning House into new drama Lonestar. Elsewhere, the two-hour season-finale of NBC’s Chuck limped along with a 3.4/ 5 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m., which only proves the show should be concluding (and not leading into new dramas The Event and Chase, which will not benefit from the lack of support this fall). At 10 p.m., the series-finale of Law & Order perked up to a second-place 5.9/10, which was 69 percent above the 9:30 p.m. portion of Chuck (3.5/ 5). To the fans outraged over the lack of an official final episode of Law & Order, my guess is NBC will announce a two-hour wrap-up for next season. Stay tuned. The CW capped off the night with repeats of Gossip Girl (#5: 0.7/ 1) and One Tree Hill (#5: 0.5/ 1), which moves to Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in the fall. Returning 90210 will shift to Mondays at 8 p.m., leading into Gossip Girl. As a reminder, here is what you will be seeing on the networks on Monday this fall (with the new shows capped and in bold): ABC8:00 p.m.: Dancing With the Stars (two hours)10:00 p.m.: Castle CBS8:00 p.m.: How I Met Your Mother8:30 p.m.: Rules of Engagement9:00 p.m. Two and a Half Men9:30 p.m. MIKE & MOLLY10:00 p.m.: HAWAII FIVE-O NBC8:00 p.m.: Chuck9:00 p.m.: THE EVENT10:00 p.m.: CHASE Fox8:00 p.m.: House9:00 p.m. LONESTAR CW8:00 p.m. 90210 (new day)9:00 p.m.: Gossip Girl Source: Nielsen Media Research data_____________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not -Lost Departs on a High Note:No, it did not break the record books. But based on the fast affiliate ratings, the series-finale of ABC’s Lost averaged 13.5 million viewers and a 5.8 rating/15 share among adults 18-49 on Sunday, May 23. Comparably, that was its most-watched episode since Feb. 2008 and highest rated in the demo for any season-finale this year. ABC is estimating that 20.5 million unique viewers tuned in during the two-and-one half hour broadcast. Source: Nielsen Media Research data ________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 5/25/10 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars (R) 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars (season finale, two hours) CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (season finale) 9:00 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles (season finale)10:00 p.m. The Good Wife (season finale) NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser (season finale, two hours)10:00 p.m. Parenthood (season finale) Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol (final performance show) 9:00 p.m. Glee CW: 8:00 p.m. Life Unexpected (R) 9:00 p.m. 90210 (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Midseason 2011:This is still a work in progress. But based on the 2010-11 programming announcements last week, here is a listing of what is coming up in midseason on the five broadcast networks: ABCNew: Happy Endings (comedy), Mr. Sunshine (comedy), Off the Map (drama)Returning: The Bachelor, Supernanny, V CBSNew: Criminal Minds spin-off, Got to Dance (reality/competition) NBCNew: America’s Next Great Restaurant (reality/competition), The Cape (drama), Friends With Benefits (comedy), Harry’s Law (drama), The Paul Reiser Show (comedy), Perfect Couples (comedy)Returning: The Celebrity Apprentice, Friday Night Lights, Parks and Recreation FoxNew: Bob Burger’s (comedy), Mixed Signals (comedy), Ride-Along (drama), Terra Nova (drama)Returning: American Idol, Kitchen Confidential CWNew: Shedding for the Wedding (reality/competition) ---------- -Miss America Returns to ABC:Annual The Miss America Pageant, which has not aired on network television since 2004, will return to ABC in a new three-year deal. Next year’s competition, which marks the 90th anniversary of the pageant, will air on ABC on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011. -Sean Hayes to Host The Tonys:Former Will & Grace star Sean Hayes, who is currently starring on Broadway in his Tony nominated role in musical Promises, Promises, has been named host of The 64th Annual Tony Awards. It airs live on CBS from New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13. -MythBusters Hosts Announce New Agreement:Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, co-hosts of Discovery Channel’s MythBusters, have signed a multi-year deal to co-executive produce the ongoing science show and create and develop additional television series with Discovery and distributor BermanBraun. Hyneman and Savage will extend their activities to video games and a live show, which will tour around the country. -2010 Lucy-Desi Days Fan Appreciation Weekend:As a reminder, this weekend is the 2010 Lucy-Desi Days Fan Appreciation Weekend in Lucy’s hometown, Jamestown, New York. Scheduled from Friday, May 28 through Sunday, May 30, events will include Suzanne LaRusch’s “An Evening With Lucille Ball: Thank You for Asking” on Saturday; a Lucy Show tribute with We Love Lucy Fan Club President Tom Watson; the Tropicana Dinner Theatre with impressionists Diane Vincent and Adrian Israel; a Tropicana Entertainment Tribute with Dann Cahn, film editor of I Love Lucy; a memorabilia auction, trivia contest and Life With Lucy Film Festival presented by Lucy’s No. 1 fan, Michael Stern; ongoing LucyTown tours; and much more. For more information, click on http://www.lucy-desi.com/festival/festival_info.html. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Is That You, Mr. Grant? We all, of course, remember Ed Asner as gruff but lovable Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spin-off Lou Grant. But he also appeared regularly on four of the following series. Which one was he not on? Ask HarrietThe Bronx Zoo The Closer George & LeoSlattery’s People The answer to yesterday’s question: Which one of the following former series will not be returning this summer? America’s Got Talent (NBC)Big Brother (CBS)I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC)The Last Comic Standing (NBC)Wipeout (ABC) Is: c) I Survived a Japanese Game (ABC), which aired on the network the prior two summer seasons. -Current kudos goes to:Steve Albright, Michelle Yarborough-Bauer, Barbara Berman, Gerry Bixenspan, Barbara Bloomfield, Kevin Brault, Cory Chapman, Larry Collins, Harold Cooper, Audrey Davis, Bob Eisenstaedt, Phyllis Epstein, Navid Falahpour, Maya Garner, Maureen Goldman, Barb Hemberger, Shannon Herlihy, Brad Hight, Bob Ingersoll, Deb Kainer, Tom Kilgallon, Irene Kirschner, Andi Kupersmith, Howard Lieboff, Patty Lynch, Michael MacCray, Debbie Mirr, Lenora Nickerson, Aaron Paquette, Ken Penney, Alan Perris, Greg Phelan, Gordon Purcell, Colleen Roth, Joe Rubi, Mary Ryan, Maxine Shulman, Kristen Strauss, Ron Strauss, Nina Tomlinson, Trenna Underhill, David Young, Meredith Wayne, Myndi Weinraub, Meg Williamson

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ABC Dominates Final Monday of The Traditional Season

Marc Berman

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