The Programming Insider: Thursday 6/09/11

In Today's Issue: Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings: America’s Got Talent Leads NBC to Victory Ratings Box: What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight: Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: A Real First Name Note: The Programming Insider will not be published tomorrow. Have a great weekend. PRIME-TIME METERED MARKET WEDNESDAY RATINGS: America’s Got Talent Leads NBC to Victory Wednesday 6/08/11 Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT. Household Rating/Share NBC: 6.0/10, Fox: 5.4/ 9, CBS: 3.8/ 6, ABC: 3.0/ 5, CW: 0.8/ 1 Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday 6/09/10): NBC: + 9, ABC: + 3, Fox: - 7, CW: -20, CBS: -24 Yesterday’s Winners: America’s Got Talent (NBC), So You Think You Can Dance (Fox) Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats): 20/20 (ABC) Ratings Breakdown: Summer sensation America’s Got Talent led NBC to another overnight Wednesday victory, with a 0.6 rating point advantage over a night of So You Think You Can Dance on Fox. In the distant No. 3 spot were all repeats on CBS, followed by ABC and lowly The CW, which has nothing original on tap for this summer. America’s Got Talent, which is really featuring some zany acts these days, scored a healthy 7.5 rating/12 share in the overnights from 9-11 p.m., building from a repeat of canceled game show lead-in Minute to Win It (#4: 3.0/ 5 at 8 p.m.) by a whopping 150 percent. Here is the half-hour breakdown: America’s Got Talent (NBC) 9:00 p.m.: 6.8/11 (#1) 9:30 p.m.: 7.5/12 (#1) 10:00 p.m.: 7.8/13 (#1) 10:30 p.m.: 7.8/13 (#1) Over at Fox, two-hours of So You Think You Can Dance was on the map, with a 5.4/ 9 from 8-10 p.m. and the half-hour breakdown as follows: So You Think You Can Dance (Fox) 8:00 p.m.: 5.3/10 (#1) 8:30 p.m.: 5.6/10 (#1) 9:00 p.m.: 5.3/ 9 (#2) 9:30 p.m.: 5.5/ 9 (#2) One year earlier, So You Think You Can Dance averaged a similar 5.8/ 9 (on June 9, 2010), which translated into 8.15 million viewers with a 3.0/ 9 among adults 18-49. Consider this an ongoing positive for an early summer evening. Elsewhere, CBS populated this second Wednesday in June with encore telecasts of Undercover Boss (#4: 3.0/ 5), which returns with new episodes in midseason (by now, you would assume the employees would know that the new employee being filmed is the CEO of the company), Criminal Minds (#3: 3.9/ 6), and Blue Bloods (#2: 4.5/ 8), which also airs in its regularly scheduled Friday 10 p.m. hour this summer. ABC aired back-to-back repeats of The Middle (#3, avg. 3.1/ 6) and Modern Family (#4: avg. 3.2/ 5) from 8-10 p.m., followed by a special edition of 20/20 ("Reality Rule$: When TV Gets Real") at a last-place 2.8/ 5 at 10 p.m. The CW filled the night with two repeat episodes of America’s Next Top Model, which finished last with a mere 0.8/ 1 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. As a reminder, here is what you will be seeing on the broadcast networks on Wednesday this fall (with new shows in caps). Seven new shows will populate the evening (four sitcoms, one drama and two non-scripted), with two returning series (CSI on CBS and Harry’s Law on NBC) moving to the night. Comparably, Wednesday has the most number of changes this fall. ABC 8:00 p.m.: The Middle 8:30 p.m.: SUBURGATORY 9:00 p.m.: Modern Family 9:30 p.m. Happy Endings (new time) 10:00 p.m.: REVENGE CBS 8:00 p.m.: Survivor: Nicaragua 9:00 p.m.: Criminal Minds 10:00 p.m.: CSI (new day and time) NBC 8:00 p.m.: UP ALL NIGHT 8:30 p.m.: FREE AGENTS 9:00 p.m.: Harry’s Law (new day and time) 10:00 p.m.: Law & Order: SVU Fox 8:00 p.m.: THE X FACTOR (Performance Show) 9:30 p.m.: I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER CW 8:00 p.m.: H8R 9:00 p.m.: America’s Next Top Model Source: Nielsen Media Research data _____________________________________________________________ RATINGS BOX: What’s Hot/What’s Not Over 16 Million Viewers for Oprah’s Final Telecast: The final episode of CBS Television Distribution talker The Oprah Winfrey Show on Wednesday, May 25 drew 16.4 million viewers—its most-watched episode since Feb. 15, 1993. It was also the highest-rated single episode in households (11.5 AA – average audience – rating) since Jan. 6, 1995. Speaking of Syndication: Here is a ranking in households for all syndicated programming (first-run and off-network) for the week of May 23: Oprah’s Final Farewell – Wednesday, May 25 (CBS Television Distribution): 11.5 rating. Judge Judy (CBS) and Wheel of Fortune (CBS): 6.3 each, Two and a Half Men (Warner Bros.): 6.2, Oprah (CBS): 5.9, Jeopardy (CBS): 5.4, Family Guy (Twentieth): 4.5, Entertainment Tonight (CBS): 3.9, Dr. Phil (CBS): 3.2, Inside Edition (CBS): 3.1, My Wife and Kids (Disney-ABC), Wheel of Fortune – Weekend (CBS) and Criminal Minds (CBS): 3.0 each, How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) and George Lopez (Warner Bros.): 2.7 each, Judge Joe Brown (CBS), Seinfeld (Sony Pictures Television), Monk (NBC Universal) and Two and a Half Men – Weekend B (Warner Bros.): 2.6 each. The Office (NBCU), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) and Without a Trace (Warner Bros.): 2.5 each Highest-Rated NBA Game 4 Match-Up in Seven Years: Game four of The NBA Finals on Tuesday, June 7 finished first overall for the evening in total viewers (16.1 million), adults 18-49 (6.7 rating/19 share), adults 25-54 (6.8/18) and adults 18-34 (6.9/22). Comparably, these were the highest-rated game four results since the Lakers-Pistons match-up in 2004. NBC, however, was still the most-watched show of the evening thanks to America’s Got Talent and a two-hour edition of The Voice, with 12.52 million viewers. Next was ABC (11.09 million), followed by CBS (7.97 million), NBC (3.64 million) and The CW with a mere 580,000. ABC finished first overall among adults 18-49 (4.5/14), followed by NBC (4.3/12), Fox (1.5/ 4), CBS (1.2/ 3) and The CW (0.2/ 1). Source: Nielsen Media Research data ____________________________________________________________ ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 6/09/11 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live 8:30 p.m. NBA Pre-Game 9:00 p.m. NBA Finals, Game 5 CBS: 8:00 p.m. The Big Bang Theory (R) 8:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement (R) 9:00 p.m. CSI (R) 10:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Community (R) 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock (R) 9:00 p.m. The Office (R) 9:30 p.m. Parks and Recreation (R) 10:00 p.m. Love Bites Fox: 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance (two hours) CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries (R) 9:00 p.m. Nikita (R) ________________________________________________________________ TV TIDBITS: Notes of Interest Fox Summer Scheduling Update: Fox has announced Monday, July 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT as the launch date and time for the new season of Hell’s Kitchen. A second weekly telecast will also air in the Tuesday 8 p.m. hour, leading into relocated Masterchef, also hosted by Gordon Ramsay. Also at Fox, Buried Treasure, a new non-scripted series featuring identical twin brothers Leigh and Leslie Keno (Antiques Roadshow) traveling across the country to help ordinary people discover the unknown treasures in their homes debuts in the Wednesday 8 p.m. ET/PT hour on Aug. 24. Busy Gordon Ramsay: In addition to his three series on Fox, Gordon Ramsay will return on BBC America in Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape, an upcoming four-part series that will take the loudmouth chef to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia on the hunt for authentic South East Asian cooking. It premieres on Tuesday, July 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. TLC Orders New Pilot High Stakes Sweepers: Cable net TLC has commissioned a new pilot called High Stakes Sweepers, which will tell the stories of die-hard “sweepers” who spend an extraordinary amount of time each week trying to win something. Production on the special began this week and it will premiere later this summer. TNT Acquires Castle: TNT has acquired the exclusive off-network cable rights to ABC detective drama Castle from Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Seasons one and two will begin airing on the cable net in summer 2012. As part of the rollout, Castle will also be available for online viewing through mobile phones, computers and other devices. Recently, TNT also picked-up repeat airings of The Mentalist and Hawaii Five-O. NBC Announces Start Date for It’s Worth What?: Upcoming NBC game show It’s Worth What?, hosted by comedian Cedric the Entertainer, will launch on Tuesday, July 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In each episode, a pair of contestants will compete for up to $1 million as they guess the price of various items in each round. Rob Schneider on CBS: Former Saturday Night Live star Rob Schneider has been tapped for a CBS pilot in midseason as a conformed bachelor who has just married into a tight-knit Mexican-American family. At present, the only confirmed new series on CBS in midseason is crime solver The 2-2, which focuses on six young NYPD rookies. Leeza Gibbons Returns to Daytime: Former talk show host Leeza Gibbons has been named co-host of America Now, a daily news program from Raycom Media focusing on lifestyle topics. Gibbons will appear opposite Bill Rancic, who has found a career on camera after winning the first season of NBC’s The Apprentice. ____________________________________________________________ TV TRIVIA TIME: A Real First Name Note: To respond to the trivia, please click HERE. Do not click Reply Mr. Howell always referred to his wife as “Lovey” on classic 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island. But what was her real first name? a) Edna b) Eunice c) Gladys d) Lillian e) Mimi The answer to yesterday’s question… Which one of the following classic sitcoms aired after I Love Lucy in its final three seasons on CBS from 1956 to 1957? a) December Bride b) Father Knows Best c) The Jack Benny Show d) My Little Margie e) Private Secretary Is: a) December Bride, which featured Spring Byington as attractive widow named Lily Ruskin. It aired on CBS from 1954-60 and spun-off sitcom Pete and Gladys (with Harry Morgan and Cara Williams) from 1960-62. Current kudos goes to: John Beadle, Gerry Bixenspan, Paul Certo, Steve Clements, Larry Collins (2x), Julie Friedlander, George Gardner, Maureen Goldman, Bob Ingersoll, Deb Kainer, Marie Lefevre Karp, Steven Kurtzer, Michael Murphy, Alan Perris, Gordon Purcell, Anthony Salerno, Carol Teichman

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The Programming Insider: Thursday 6/09/11

NBC Leads Night with 'America's Got Talent'

Marc Berman

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