Another Midweek Victory for Fox

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, April 15, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Fox Wins, CBS Second, ABC’s Modern Family On 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: Tax Day________________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Fox Wins, CBS Second, ABC’s Modern Family On the Map Wednesday 4/14/10 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 9.4/15CBS 6.8/11ABC 4.6/ 8NBC 3.6/ 6CW 1.7/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, April 15, 2009):CBS: +15, ABC: +12, ABC: -12, Fox: - 9, CW: -15 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:American Idol (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), Modern Family (ABC), CSI: NY (CBS) -Honorable Mention:The Middle (ABC) -Series Finale:Ugly Betty (ABC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Fly Girls (CW), Cougar Town (ABC), High Society (CW) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown:Led by American Idol, Fox got over the Wednesday “hump” in winning fashion, with a 2.6 metered market rating point advantage over second-place CBS. Third overall was ABC, followed by NBC and The CW. Fox’s on the fence Human Target continues to dominate the soft 8 p.m. hour, with a 5.0 rating/9 share in the overnights. Mirroring recent weeks, this should translate into a low-2 rated performance among key adults 18-49. Next was standout American Idol, with a healthy 13.9/21 at 9 p.m. Needless to say, the departures of Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens are no surprise. Over at CBS, recently relocated Accidentally on Purpose is no improvement over recent occupant Gary Unmarried with a third-place 4.1/ 7 in the overnights at 8:30 p.m. Lead-in The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is always a question mark for renewal, finished second with a 4.4/ 8 at 8 p.m. Considerably stronger on CBS, as usual, was Criminal Minds with a second-place 8.8/14 at 9 p.m., followed by slowing eroding CSI: NY at a still dominant 7.3/12 at 10 p.m. This week, CSI: NY benefited by facing a repeat of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU (#3: 4.1/ 7). One of ABC’s main priorities for next season, of course, is finding an 8 p.m. anchor. Last night, a repeat of Modern Family kicked-off the night with a 3.8/ 7 in the overnights (#3), followed by The Middle at a second-place 4.6/ 7 at 8:30 p.m. Worth positively noting for The Middle was the growth of 21 percent. Next was the regularly scheduled edition of demo friendly Modern Family (#3: 6.3/10 at 9 p.m.), which always scores among adults 18-49, but lead-out Cougar Town at 9:30 p.m. remains a concern at a 4.3/ 6 (#3) at 9:30 p.m. Comparably, retention for Cougar Town out of Modern Family was only 68 percent. Should ABC really bring Cougar Town back next season? In series-finale news, ABC’s four year-old Ugly Betty concluded with an uneventful (and second-place) 4.5/ 8 in the overnights at 10 p.m. In an all repeat night, NBC aired encore telecasts of Minute to Win It (#4: 3.6/ 6) and two episodes of Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m. - #4: 3.1/ 5, 10 p.m. - #3: 4.1/ 7). At the risk of repeating myself, mixing the Wednesday and Sunday 8 p.m. hours with original and repeat telecasts of Minute to Win It is confusing for the audience. At least for this viewer it is. The CW, as always, had mixed results care of veteran America’s Next Top Model (#5: 2.8/ 5), which closes the season on May 12, and recent non-scripted duds Fly Girls (#5: 0.8/ 1) and High Society (0.6/ 1). Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Mega Piranha Scores on Syfy:The debut of original Syfy movie “Mega Piranha,” headlined by former Brady Bunch star Barry Williams, rose to the best performance of any movie on the cable net this season, with 2.16 million viewers on Saturday, April 10, based on the live plus same day ratings. Results among adults 25-54 (1.07 million) were the highest in the demo since “Megafault” in Oct. 2009. -Record Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo:Also based on the live plus same day ratings, Bravo’s The Millionaire Matchmaker closed the third season on Tuesday with a record delivery in total viewers (1.33 million) and adults 18-49 (841,000) at 9 p.m. ET. Comparably, that built from the season two-finale (on May 7, 2009) by 54 percent in total viewers and 78 percent in the demo. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 4/15/10 ABC: 8:00 p.m. FlashForward 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy (R)10:00 p.m. Private Practice (R) CBS: 8:00 p.m. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains 9:00 p.m. CSI10:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Office (R) 8:30 p.m. The Office (R) 9:00 p.m. Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again Saturday Night Live:A retrospective that highlights the highs and woes of the late-night show in the 2000s. Included are clips, backstage anecdotes and interviews with a slew of "SNL" performers, including Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Chris Kattan, Seth Meyers, Tracy Morgan, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig. Also: insight from memorable hosts, including Alec Baldwin and Christopher Walken. Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries 9:00 p.m. Supernatural (The 100th episode) ______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Fox Schedule Changes:Fox will move non-scripted utility player Kitchen Nightmares from Thursday to Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET effective on June 1 and 8, leading into Glee’s final two episodes of the season. One week later, Kitchen Nightmares expands to two-hours on June 15. The Gordon Ramsay hour will then return on Tuesday, July 27 at 8 p.m., leading into new reality/competition Masterchef at 9 p.m. and concluding for the season on August 10. To make room for relocated Kitchen Nightmares, perennial summer favorite So You Think You Can Dance will now air on Wednesday and Thursday (instead of Tuesday and Wednesday). -Football Wives on VH1:VH1 has ordered eight episodes of a new half-hour series called Football Wives, which will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of the women partnered football’s greatest stars. Production will begin immediately. -Coming Up on BET:In addition to new episodes of former CW sitcom The Game and a second season of talker The Mo’Nique Show, cable net BET will introduce Let’s Stay Together, The Laurieann Gibson Project and The Kennedys. Let’s Stay Together, which premieres in first quarter 2011, is a romantic comedy about two independently minded sisters. The Laurieann Project (third quarter 2011) is a non-scripted series focusing on chorographer and dancer Laurieann Gibson. And The Kennedys, which bows in fourth quarter 2010, takes viewers into the world of superstar skateboarder Terry Kennedy. -The Onion Sports Network Partners With Comedy Central:Comedy Central will team up with The Onion Sports Network for a new untitled half-hour scripted comedy that will poke fun at the sports world and the media coverage of sports. Ten episodes have been ordered for a premiere in first quarter 2011. -Sir Elton John on Idol Gives Back:Musical legend Sir Elton John will join the growing list of performers at next Wednesday’s Idol Gives Back on Fox, which has raised over $140 million in charity to-date. Other scheduled performers include Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, The Black Eyed Peas, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck & Joss Stone and Mary J. Blige & the All-Star Band. -Prison Break Heads to Si TV:Former Fox drama Prison Break will begin its off-network run on Si TV beginning on Monday, April 19 at 10 p.m., where it will air in the Monday to Friday block. -MyNetworkTV in Fall 2010:MyNetworkTV will add encore telecasts of dramas Burn Notice, Without a Trace and Monk to its primetime line-up next fall, plus game show Don’t Forget the Lyrics, which makes its debut in first-run syndication this fall. Each night of the Monday to Friday schedule will feature back-to-back telecasts, beginning with two encore episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Monday, followed by game shows Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don’t Forget the Lyrics on Tuesday, Burn Notice on Wednesday, Without a Trace on Thursday and Monk on Friday. Here is the schedule: Monday8:00 p.m.: Law & Order: Criminal Intent9:00 p.m.: Law & Order: Criminal Intent Tuesday8:00 p.m.: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?8:30 p.m.: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?9:00 p.m.: Don’t Forget the Lyrics9:30 p.m.: Don’t Forget the Lyrics Wednesday8:00 p.m.: Burn Notice9:00 p.m.: Burn Notice Thursday8:00 p.m.: Without a Trace9:00 p.m.: Without a Trace Friday8:00 p.m.: Monk9:00 p.m.: Monk _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Tax Day Which one of the following TV characters would likely have the greatest income to report to “Uncle Sam” today? a) Robert Baroneb) Ward Cleaverc) Sean McNamarad) Tony Micellie) Ken Reeves The answer to yesterday’s question… Who played New York City cop Frank Serpico in the short-lived TV series Serpico, which was based on the movie of the same name? a) David Birneyb) Tony Danzac) Michael Delanod) Gary Franke) Robert Urich Is: a) David Birney. Serpico on the big screen was, of course, played by Al Pacino. But this small screen version on NBC was headlined by Bridget Loves Bernie star David Birney in the 1976-77 season. -Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan, Barbara Bloomfield, Paul Certo, Larry Collins, Phyllis Epstein, John Ferlazzo, Maureen Goldman, Martha Gonzalez, Brad Hight, Bob Ingersoll, Marie Lefevre Karp, Steven Kurtzer, Howard Lieboff, Rick Locke, Becky McIntyre, Michael Natale, Bill Nuss, Sandra Pettway, Gordon Purcell, Michael Ratliffe, Joe Rubi, David Ruckman, Maxine Shulman, Michelle Stanton, Carol Teichman

Convergent TV

Another Midweek Victory for Fox

Marc Berman

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