Strong Series Openers on ABC Family and SyFy

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, July 9, 2009 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: Feeding Urkel______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:America’s Got Talent Leads NBC to Victory Wednesday 7/08/09 HH Rtg/Shr NBC 4.9/ 9CBS 4.4/ 8Fox 4.4/ 8ABC 3.7/ 6CW 0.8/ 1 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, July 9, 2008):NBC: +40, ABC: + 3, CBS: -17, CW: -20, Fox: -28 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:(Expectations are, of course, lower in the summer months)America’s Got Talent (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC), The Philanthropist (NBC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: NBC led this second Wednesday in July with its combination of a repeat of America’s Got Talent (#3: 4.3 rating/8 share), the regularly scheduled edition of America’s Got Talent (#1: 7.1/12 -- #1 for the evening) and week three of drama The Philanthropist (#3: 3.5/ 6), which continues to lose steam. Take a look at the three week overnight track for The Philanthropist: 6/24/09: 4.8/ 97/01/09: 4.0/ 77/08/09: 3.5/ 6 Comparably, that is a loss of 27 percent in just two weeks. CBS, which tied Fox for second overall in the metered markets, was in all repeats care of The New Adventures of Old Christine (#4: 3.0/ 6), Gary Unmarried (#4: 2.9/ 5), underrated Criminal Minds (#2: 5.3/ 9) and CSI: NY (#1: 5.1/ 9). That rotation will remain intact next season. Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance has sprung a noticeable leak this summer, meanwhile, with the 4.4/ 8 in the overnights for the two-hour edition last night down by a significant 28 percent from the year-ago evening (6.1/10 on July 9, 2008). With erosion this severe, is airing a fall edition of the dance competition really such a good idea? I don’t think so! Here is the half-hour breakdown: So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)8:00 p.m.: 4.0/ 7 (#3)8:30 p.m.: 4.5/ 8 (#2t)9:00 p.m.: 4.6/ 8 (#3)9:30 p.m.: 4.7/ 8 (#3) Elsewhere, ABC’s Wipeout remained on the 8 p.m. map, with a dominant 4.6/ 8 in the overnights. But lead-out I Survived a Japanese Game Show is an ongoing sore spot at a fourth-place 2.4/ 4 from 9-10 p.m. Comparably, retention for I Survived a Japanese Game Show out of the second half of Wipeout (4.6/ 8 at 8:30 p.m.) was just 52 percent. Summer newsmagazine Primetime: Crime closed the evening for ABC with a second-place 4.1/ 6 at 10 p.m., which was a vast improvement from its lead-in. Two repeat episodes of The CW’s America’s Next Top Model (which does not need to constantly be re-telecast) finished with a mere 0.8/1 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) _____________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Over 30 Million Viewers Tune in for Michael Jackson Memorial Service:According to Nielsen Media Research, the memorial service for Michael Jackson on Tuesday, July 7 totaled a combined 20.5 household rating with 30.92 million viewers on the 19 networks carrying it from approximately 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. The participating networks were ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Headline News, BET, E!, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Guide Network, TV ONE, and MUN2. Comparably, this was third most-watched memorial service behind President Ronald Reagan’s burial on Friday, June 11, 2004 (35.07 million) and Princess Diana’s funeral on Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 (33.25 million). National results for other notable funerals include 20.81 million for President Reagan (on Friday, June 11, 2004), 15.03 million for President Ford (Tuesday, January 2, 2007) and 7.89 million for Pope John Paul II (on Friday, April 8, 2005). ---------- -The Children of Michael Jackson Score on ABC’s Primetime: Family Secrets:ABC summer newsmagazine Primetime: Family Secrets, which was themed “The Children of Michael Jackson,” finished first in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour this week in total viewers (8.6 million), adults 18-49 (2.6 rating) and adults 25-54 (3.2). Comparably, it placed second overall for the night (behind America’s Got Talent on NBC) in the two demos. -Record Launch for ABC Family’s 10 Things I Hate About You:ABC Family’s 10 Things I Hate About You opened on Tuesday, July 7 as the cable net’s top-rated comedy on record in total viewers (1.6 million), adults 18-34 (509,000), women 18-34 (396,000), adults 18-49 (734,000) and women 18-49 (574,000). Comparably, 10 Things finished first among all basic cable in women 18-34, women 18-49, viewers 12-34 (936,000) and females 12-34 (762,000), with growth over the prior four week time period average of 681,000 total viewers and as much as 580 percent among female teens. -Solid Start for Warehouse 13 on Syfy:Also on Tuesday, new drama Warehouse 13 debuted on Syfy with a 2.5 rating in households, 3.5 million total viewers, 1.3 million adults 18-49 and 1.7 million adults 25-54. Comparably, Warehouse 13 scored the third largest audience for a Syfy original series (behind Stargate Atlantis on July 16, 2004 and Eureka on July 18, 2006), topping the launch of Sanctuary last October by as much as 29 percent in total viewers. And it finished first for the night among all basic cable in total viewers, with a second-place rank among adults 25-54. -Updated Cable Rankings:What follows are the top 10 rated basic cable networks in prime-time for the week of June 29. Total Viewers:TNT: 2.75 million, USA: 2.43, Fox News: 1.90, Nick at Nite: 1.70, TBS: 1.54, FX: 1.40, CNN: 1.33, Food Network and Discovery: 1.22 each, Hallmark: 1.20 million Adults 18-49:USA: 1.11 million, TNT: 1.04 million, TBS: 931,000, FX: 738,000, Discovery: 699,000, BET: 608,000, Spike TV: 601,000, Nick at Nite: 581,000, Food Network: 571,000, Comedy Central: 563,000 Adults 25-54:TNT: 1.26 million, USA: 1.16 million, TBS: 826,000, Discovery: 712,000, FX: 695,000, Food Network: 642,000, Spike TV: 577,000, A&E: 568,000, History and SyFy: 548,000 each Adults 18-34:TBS: 519,000, USA: 484,000, FX: 394,000, TNT: 362,000, BET: 360,000, MTV: 344,000, Comedy Central: 303,000, Nick at Nite: 296,000, VH1: 285,000, Spike TV: 284,000 Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 7/09/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Samantha Who? 8:30 p.m. Samantha Who? 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy (R)10:00 p.m. Private Practice (R) CBS:8 8:00 p.m. Big Brother (season premiere) 9:00 p.m. CSI (R)10:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. 30 Rock (R) 8:30 p.m. The Office (R) 9:00 p.m. The Office (R) 9:30 p.m. 30 Rock (R)10:00 p.m. The Listener Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones (R) 9:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance Results Show CW 8:00 p.m. Smallville (R) 9:00 p.m. Supernatural (R) MTNV 8:00 p.m. Movie: Passenger 57 (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -30 Rock Cleared in Off-Net Syndication for Fall 2011:NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold Emmy winning sitcom 30 Rock to Tribune Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations, including WNYW-New York (Fox), KTTV-Los Angeles (Fox), WGN-Chicago (Tribune) and WPHL-Philadelphia (Tribune). Additional stations cleared include Fox stations KDFW/KDFI (Dallas), KRIV-KTXH (Houston), KSAZ/KUTP (Phoenix) and WOFL/WRBW (Orlando); and Tribune stations WDCW (Washington, D.C.), KCPQ/KMYQ (Seattle), KRCW (Portland), WSFL (Miami) and KTXL (Sacramento). Deals in the two station groups combined account for seven of the top 10 markets, and 13 of the top 20. -Great American Road Trip Moves to Monday:New NBC reality/competition Great American Road Trip, which opened on Tuesday with a disappointing 4.63 million viewers and a 1.3/ 5 among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m., has a new home: Mondays at 8 p.m. effective on July 13. There is no word at present what will now anchor Tuesday on NBC this summer. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Feeding Urkel What was Steve Urkel’s favorite food on Family Matters? a) beefaronib) cheesec) flounderd) hot dogse) meat loaf The answer to yesterday’s question… What state is animated comedy King of the Hill set in? a) Arkansasb) Louisiana c) New Mexicod) Texase) Virginia Is: d) Texas. Debuting on Jan. 12, 1997, soon-to-retire King of the Hill is now the second-longest running animated sitcom in the history of television (behind The Simpsons, of course). -Current kudos goes to:Suzanne Ackley, Gerry Bixenspan, Kimay Bloch, Kevin Brault, Dave Carfolite, Paul Certo, Larry Collins, Tom Condosta, Kristin Conner, Kay Copeland, Annie Courtney, James Davison, Ric Dittman, Josh Emmett, Navid Falahpour, John Ferlazzo, Arleen Fong, Jan Frazier, Karen Gardner, Harold Goetz, Barb Hemberger, Sherrie Hentschel, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Kevin Jones, Deb Kainer, Kathryn Kieser, Kristopher Koller, Synda Kollman, Joel Kunkel, Stephen LaRue, Michael Lehman, Julia McCray, Lyle Merdler, Rich Miller, Tony Naldrett, Stephen Narissi, Laura Pardy, Aaron Paquette, Alan Perris, Gordon Purcell, Con Rigg, Bruce Robinson, Alan Rosenfeld, Paul Rule, Ron Salmon, Barry Schiffer, Michelle Stanton, Mickie Steinmnn, Kelly Swindell, Julie Syers, Trenna Underhill, Brent Vogel, Myndi Weinraub, Zoë Zakhem, Ted Zavales

Convergent TV

Strong Series Openers on ABC Family and SyFy

Marc Berman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Marc Berman