Fiesta Bowl Leads Fox to Monday Leadership

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, January 6, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:The Fiesta Bowl Leads Fox to Victory; Compatible True Beauty on ABC Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:Failed Spin-Offs_______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:The Fiesta Bowl Leads Fox to Victory; Compatible True Beauty on ABC Monday 1/05/09 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 10.7/16CBS 6.2/ 9ABC 5.6/ 8NBC 5.2/ 8CW 2.2/ 3 ---------- -Note: Year-to-year overnight comparisons were not available. ---------- Note: The fast national results for Monday will be posted at PIFeedback.com by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Monday, January 5, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:The Fiesta Bowl (Fox) -Not Bad for Time Period Filler:Superstars of Dance (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Momma’s Boys (NBC) ---------- -Did You Know?:Only 15 percent of last night’s schedule was original scripted programming. ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: Fox dominated on this first Monday of 2009, with Ohio State versus Texas on the annual Fiesta Bowl at an approximate (and above average) 11.5 rating/18 share in the overnights for the prime-time portion from 8:30-11 p.m. For comparative purposes, take a look at how The Fiesta Bowl performed over the prior two years: The Fiesta Bowl (Fox)Wednesday 1/02/08: 8.3/13 (West Virginia vs. Oklahoma)Monday, Jan. 1, 2007 (Boise vs. Oklahoma): 8.9/15 Do the math, and last night’s performance was an increase of 39 percent from 2008 and 29 percent from 2007. Earlier in the evening on Fox was The Fiesta Bowl Pre-Game at an estimated 6.4/10 in the 8 p.m. half-hour. Don’t forget that results for any live sporting event are always approximate. CBS chose to face The Fiesta Bowl with a night of all repeats, which performed as follows: CBS/Monday 8:00 p.m. The Big Bang Theory (R): 5.6/ 8 (#3) 8:30 p.m. How I Met Your Mother (R): 4.8/ 7 (#4) 9:00 p.m. Two and a Half Men (R): 7.8/11 (#2) 9:30 p.m. Worst Week (R): 4.7/ 7 (#4)10:00 p.m. CSI: Miami (R): 7.2/11 (#2) Is there some strange reason why CBS dud Worst Week is still on the air? As for The Big Bang Theory, hey Emmy…have you noticed how good this sitcom is? Over at ABC, the two-hour season-premiere of The Bachelor kicked-off with what you would call a typical 5.6/ 8 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown: The Bachelor (ABC)8:00 p.m. 5.2/ 8 (#4)8:30 p.m. 5.5/ 8 (#3)9:00 p.m. 5.7/ 8 (#4)9:30 p.m. 6.2/ 9 (#2) Keep in mind, of course, that the strength of The Bachelor falls within the young female demos. In series-premiere news, The Bachelor led into compatible reality/competition True Beauty, which finished second in the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.4/ 8 in the overnights. Comparably, that put retention for True Beauty out of the last half-hour of The Bachelor at a comfortable 87 percent. Great? No. But compatible, yes. A two-hour edition of NBC’s Superstars of Dance moved into its regularly scheduled Monday 8-10 p.m. block with a not great/not terrible 6.0/ 9. Whoever apparently watched stuck with the reality/competition. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown: Superstars of Dance (NBC)8:00 p.m. 6.0/ 9 (#2)8:30 P.M. 6.1/ 9 (#2)9:00 P.M. 6.0/ 9 (#3)9:30 P.M. 6.1/ 9 (#3) Compared to ABC’s The Bachelor, that was an overnight advantage of nine percent for Superstars of Dance. NBC, unfortunately, tanked at 10 p.m. with the inane Momma’s Boys at a last-place 3.5/ 6. Has anyone seen this nonsense? Last was the CW’s combination of Gossip Girl (2.3/ 3) and One Tree Hill (2.1/ 3), which rely, of course, on the strength of the young female demos. Source: Nielsen Media Research data____________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -The First 48 Scores on A&E:The eighth season-premiere of non-scripted The First 48 opened on A&E on New Year’s Day with a record 2.3 million total viewers, 1.4 million adults 18-49 and 1.3 million adults 25-54 at 9 p.m. Comparably, that placed it first for the evening among all basic cable in both demo groups. -Record 2008 for ABC Family:Ignited by the annual 25 Days of Christmas themed programming and bona fide hit The Secret Life of an American Teenager, feel good ABC Family felt very good in 2008, with record prime-time yearly results in total viewers (1.31 million), adults 18-34 (316,000), adults 18-49 (588,000) and viewers 12-34 (518,000). Fourth quarter 2008, in fact, was ABC Family’s most-watched quarter ever in prime-time based on total viewers (1.6 million), adults 18-34 (357,000), women 18-34 (234,000), adults 18-49 (705,000) and women 18-49 (447,000). -Best Quarterly Performance for CBS’ Face the Nation:Veteran Eye net public affairs weekly Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer rose to a record 3.15 million viewers in fourth quarter 2008 -- up 24 percent from one year earlier. Face the Nation also increased by 16 percent in households (1.9/ 5 to 2.2/ 6) and 29 percent in adults 18-49 (0.7/ 4 to 0.9/ 4) compared to fourth quarter 2007. -Growing Ellen:Based on national ratings for the week of Dec. 15, Warner Bros.’ Emmy winning The Ellen DeGeneres Show rose to a season-high 2.7 rating in households -- up 17 percent from the comparable year-ago week. Results among women 18-49 (1.5: +15 percent), women 25-54 (1.7: 21 percent) and women 18-34 (1.3: +18 percent) were also on the plus side. -Preliminary Nationals for Sunday, Jan. 4:Since there were delays yesterday releasing data for Sunday, Jan. 4, here were the preliminary national results for the evening. Of note was the two-hour series-premiere of NBC’s Superstars of Dance at a respectable 10.41 million viewers (#3 in the block) and a 3.1 rating/7 share (#2) among adults 18-49. Fox’s inflated performance, meanwhile, comes from the Utah versus Alabama match-up on the annual Sugar Bowl. Households:CBS and Fox: 7.2 rating/11 share each, ABC: 6.4/10, NBC: 4.7/ 7, CW: 0.8/ 1 Total Viewers:Fox: 12.20 million, CBS: 11.28, ABC: 10.39, NBC: 8.04, CW: 1.14 Adults 18-49:Fox: 4.6 rating/11 share, ABC: 3.5/ 9, NBC: 2.7/ 7, CBS: 2.3/ 6, CW: 0.3/ 1 Adults 25-54:Fox: 5.1/11, ABC: 4.2/ 9, CBS: 3.2/ 7, NBC: 3.1/ 7, CW: 0.5/ 1 ---------- -Syndicated Game – Season to-Date Results:Based on data through Dec. 14, 2008, what follows are the national rating results for syndicated game shows in households, women 25-54 and adults 25-54 (with change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses): Households:Wheel of Fortune (CBS Television Distribution): 7.1 rating (- 7), Jeopardy (CBS): 5.8/ 8 (- 8), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC): 2.8 (-15), Deal or No Deal (NBC Universal): 2.2, Family Feud (Debmar Mercury): 1.9 (-21), Trivial Pursuit (Debmar Mercury): 0.7 Women 25-54:Wheel of Fortune (CBS): 2.7 (- 4), Jeopardy (CBS): 2.2 (no change), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC): 1.3 (- 7), Deal or No Deal (NBC Universal): 1.2, Family Feud (Debmar Mercury): 0.8 (-27), Trivial Pursuit (Debmar Mercury): 0.3 Adults 25-54:Wheel of Fortune (CBS): 2.3 (- 4), Jeopardy (CBS): 1.9 (no change), Deal or No Deal (NBC Universal): 1.0, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC): 0.9 (-18), Family Feud (Debmar Mercury): 0.7 (-22), Trivial Pursuit (Debmar Mercury): 0.3 Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 1/06/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Homeland Security USA (premiere) 9:00 p.m. Scrubs (season premiere, new network) 9:30 p.m. Scrubs10:00 p.m. Primetime: What Would You Do? (season premiere) 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 premiere, two hours)10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU Fox: 8:00 p.m. House (R) 9:00 p.m. Fringe (R) CW: 8:00 p.m. 90210 9:00 p.m. Privileged MNTV 8:00 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 9:00 p.m. Vice Squad (premiere) 9:30 p.m. Vice Squad ION 8:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) 9:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)10:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) New Program Descriptions Homeland Security USA (ABC)The federal workers who save our nation from illegal aliens, drug smugglers, terrorist threats and other ongoing problems are the focus of this new non-scripted hour. Vice Squad (MyNetworkTV)Real life local police units across the country in search of the nation’s worst vice criminals are the focus of this new non-scripted half-hour.________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -TV Land Celebrates Elvis’ Birthday:TV Land will commemorate the 74th birthday of the legendary Elvis Presley with a 9 pm. to 12 a.m. programming block on Thursday, Jan. 8 themed “The King’s Birthday Bash.” The festivities will kick-off with Myths and Legends: Elvis, followed by documentary Elvis and the Presleys and a repeat of the Myths and Legends episode. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Failed Spin-Offs Which one of the following spin-off flops actually ran for more than one season? a) Enosb) Gloriac) Gradyd) Joeye) Three’s a Crowd The answer to yesterday’s question. Remember when Bobby wrote a school paper about his hero on The Brady Bunch? Who was it? a) Mike Bradyb) Jesse Jamesc) Davey Jones d) Joe Namathe) George Washington Is: b) Jesse James. That’s right…the youngest Brady boy thought this notorious criminal was really groovy! To the masses who answered Joe Namath, the sports great guest starred in the episode when the youngest one in curls, Cindy, wrote him a bogus letter saying Bobby was on his death bed and wanted to meet him. Poor Mike and Carol -- they had their hands full with those mischievous kids. All together now: Here's the story of a lovely ladywho was bringing up three very lovely girlsall of them had hair of gold, like their mother.the youngest one in curls. Here's the story of a man named BradyWho was living with three boys of his own.They were four men living all togetheryet they were all alone Till the one day when the lady met this fellow.And they knew that it was much more than a hunch,That this group must somehow form a family,That's the way we all became the Brady bunch. The Brady bunch, the Brady bunch.That's the way we became the Brady bunch. -Current kudos goes to:Don Abel, Steve Albright, Vanessa Baker, Burt Benoliel, Gerry Bixenspan, Jocelyn Brandeis, Michael Campellone, Paul Certo, Larry Collins, Harold Cooper, Mark Cosenza, Chris Dykhuisen, Josh Emmett, Stephen Ferrara, Holley Ford, Adam Giagni, Maureen Goldman, Shannon Herlihy, Brad Hight, Michael Holland, Jodi Karp, Tom Kilgallon, Irene Kirschner, Synda Kollman, David Lutman, Kathy McClung, Mark Morano, Jim Muraco, Michael Murphy, Frank Nicotero, Cindy O’Connor, Alan Perris, Jodi Perris, Greg Phelan, Liza Reich, Mark Riley, Joe Rubi, Anthony Salerno, Myndi Weinraub, Maureen Winston, Jeanne Yonkers

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Fiesta Bowl Leads Fox to Monday Leadership

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