ABC Opens Week on a Winning Note

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, May 12, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins; NBC’s Deal or No Deal Falls Off the Map Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Calling Dr. Stone ______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins; NBC’s Deal or No Deal Falls Off the Map Monday 5/11/09 HH Rtg/Shr ABC 10.1/16CBS 7.1/11Fox 6.7/10NBC 3.9/ 6CW 1.6/ 3 ---------- Note: The overnight comparisons to the year-ago evening are not available. ---------- 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 11, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Dancing With the Stars (ABC), House (Fox), Two and a Half Men (CBS), CSI: Miami (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):Deal or No Deal (NBC), Medium (NBC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: ABC danced its way to another Monday overnight victory with a two-hour edition of padded Dancing With the Stars at an 11.6 rating/18 share from 8-10 p.m., building by half-hour as follows: Dancing With the Stars (ABC)8:00 p.m.: 10.5/17 (#1)8:30 p.m.: 11.5/18 (#1)9:00 p.m.: 12.1/18 (#1)9:30 p.m.: 12.5/19 (#1) I refer to the show as “padded” because the first half-hour was nothing more than a recap of last week. As for who is departing tonight, it has to finally be wooden Ty Murray. At least I hope so. Dancing With the Stars led into the season (or series) finale of freshman drama Castle at a second-place 7.1/12 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Comparably, that put retention out of the last half of Dancing With the Stars of 57 percent. As to whether or not Castle will be returning, my guess is yes. If it comes down to the three recently introduced hours -- Castle, Cupid and The Unusuals -- the familiarity of Castle could work to its advantage. Over at CBS, laugh-out-loud The Big Bang Theory closed season two with a third-place 5.6/ 9 in the overnights at 8 p.m. (which should translate in the respectable mid-3 range among adults 18-49). Keep in mind that The Big Bang Theory has already been picked-up for two more seasons. Next was compatible How I Met Your Mother (#3: 5.3/ 8 at 8:30 p.m.), followed by Two and a Half Men (#2: 8.0/12), which always builds significantly, Rules of Engagement (#2: 6.4/10) and CSI; Miami (#1: 8.8/15). Fans of Rules of Engagement should mark your calendars for an 8 p.m. edition of the comedy tomorrow, leading into a later edition of The New Adventures of Old Christine. Next up was Fox with its combination of House (#2: 7.5/12), which is expected to win the 8 p.m. hour among adults 18-49, and 24 (#3: 6.0/ 9), which no longer has the buzz it used to have. NBC’s now anemic Deal or No Deal sunk to a mere 2.7/ 4 in the overnights from 8-9 p.m., finishing a distant fourth in the time period. That led into two episodes of Medium, which was fourth in the 9 p.m. hour with a 4.1/ 6 in the overnights, and third from 10-11 p.m. with a 4.9/ 8. Here is the half-hour break-down for the two-hours of Medium: Medium (NBC) 9:00 p.m.: 3.9/ 6 (#4) 9:30 p.m.: 4.2/ 6 (#4)10:00 p.m.: 4.8/ 8 (#3)10:30 p.m.: 4.9/ 8 (#3) Although NBC has yet to officially confirm a renewal for Medium, chances are it will be back in midseason. The CW’s Gossip Girl, which featured the proposed “Lily” spin-off was fifth in the 8 p.m. hour, with a 1.5/ 2 in the overnights. That led into veteran One Tree Hill at a 1.8/ 3 -- 20 percent above Gossip Girl. Since the strength of these dramas falls within the young female demos, let’s wait and see what those results look like before passing any judgment. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Fading CSI on CBS:Under normal circumstances, 14.91 million viewers and a 3.6 rating/10 share among adults 18-49 is a positive. But nine-year old CSI has a sprung a leak on CBS, with these national rating results from Thursday, May 7 down by a hefty 3.16 million viewers and 28 percent in the demo from one year earlier (Viewers: 18.07 million; A18-49: 5.0/13 on May 8, 2008). Comparably, that placed it second behind competing Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, which averaged 15.55 million viewers and a 5.4/14 among adults 18-49. -Final Friday Nationals:CBS remains the network to beat on Friday, but under 10 million viewers and a mere 2.0 rating among adults 18-49 means the networks have plenty of work to do next season. Here are the final national rating results for Friday, May 8: Total Viewers:CBS: 9.24 million, ABC: 5.02, NBC: 4.31, Fox: 2.85, CW: 1.44 Adults 18-49:CBS: 2.0 rating/7 share, ABC: 1.3/ 4, NBC: 1.2/ 4, Fox: 1.0/ 3, CW: 0.6/ 2 Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 5/12/09Night 20 of the May 2009 Sweeps ABC: 8:00 p.m. According To Jim 8:30 p.m. According To Jim 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars Results Show 10:00 p.m. Cupid CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist10:00 p.m. Without a Trace NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples (season finale, three hours) Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol 9:00 p.m. Fringe (season finale) CW: 8:00 p.m. Reaper 9:00 p.m. 90210 (part one) MTNV 8:00 p.m. Street Patrol 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol 9:00 p.m. Jail 9:30 p.m. Jail (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -TCM Remembers World War I:Turner Classic Movies (TCM), a Mr. TV favorite, will remember World War I with a showcase of five films on Memorial Day. Sergeant York with Academy Award winner Gary Cooper will kick-off the tribute at 8 p.m. ET, followed by The Dawn Patrol (10:30 p.m.), The Fighting 69th (12:30 a.m.), The Big Parade (2:15 a.m.) and John Ford-directed The Lost Patrol at 4:30 a.m. ET. Joining host Robert Osborne will be Eli Paul, the vice president of the National World War I Museum. -ABC’s Nightline Spins Off Twitter Program:ABC News’ veteran Nightline will launch a half-hour digital spin-off called NightTline where viewers can simultaneously discuss the news and events of the day on Twitter. It debuts Wednesday, May 13 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Hosted by the regular anchors and correspondents, it will be available at http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline and can also be viewed on ABC News NOW, the network’s 24-hour digital channel -More The Suite Life on Deck:Disney Channel has ordered additional second season episodes of spin-off The Suite Life on Deck, bringing the total episodes of the Suite Life franchise to 138. Comparably, this is now the longest running continuous characters in the history of Disney Channel. -ABC Announces Next CMA Air Date:ABC will air The 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards live from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, Nov. 11 from 8-11 p.m. -Speaking of ABC:Remember summer 2008 non-scripted hit Wipeout? It returns on Wednesday, May 27 at 8 p.m. ET. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Calling Dr. Stone What kind of doctor was Alex Stone on The Donna Reed Show? CardiologistObstetrician OptometristPediatricianPodiatrist The answer to yesterday’s question… Which one of the following five options was not the real title of a TV series? The Fifty-Fourth Street RevueHester Street100 Centre StreetPark Place704 Hauser Is: b) Hester Street, which was a 1975 theatrical movie with future Taxi star Carol Kane. As for the real TV shows, according to resident TV guru Bob Ingersoll: -The Fifty-Fourth Street Revue was a variety series on CBS in 1949 and 1950. Carl Reiner and Bob Fosse were probably the most notable people to come out of it.-100 Centre Street was a courtroom drama on A&E in the 2001-2002 season that starred Alan Arkin-Park Place was a courtroom comedy on CBS in 1981 that starred Harold Gould (Rhoda’s “Pop.”)-704 Hauser was the last (and least) official series spun-off from All in the Family. This time the house itself was the spin-off, with a black family headed by John Amos now living there. 704 Hauser aired for only five episodes in the spring of 1994. -Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan, Larry Collins, Sue Doron, Arleen Fong, Maureen Goldman, Bob Ingersoll, Greg Janover, Deb Kainer, Debbie Mirr, Tony Naldrett, Alan Perris, Gordon Purcell, Ron Salmon, Ronnie Tallant, Ted Zavales

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ABC Opens Week on a Winning Note

Marc Berman

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