Barbara Walters Special on ABC Leads Midweek Troops

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, January 8, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:ABC and CBS Tie for First, Barbara Walters Special Top Rated Overall National Ratings in Prime-Time:Week of December 29, 2008 Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Life After Miami Vice______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:ABC and CBS Tie for First, Barbara Walters Special Top Rated Overall Wednesday 1/07/09 HH ABC 6.1/10CBS 6.1/10NBC 5.3/ 8Fox 4.8/ 7CW 1.3/ 2 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008):Fox: +85, ABC: +15, CBS: -13, CW: -32, NBC: -34 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Wednesday 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 Wednesday, January 7, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Barbara Walters Special – Patrick Swayze: The Truth (ABC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Knight Rider (NBC), 13: Fear is Real (CW) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: ABC and CBS tied for overnight dominance on this lackluster Wednesday, beating third-place NBC by 15 percent. Fourth overall was Fox, followed by the CW in its usual distant No. 5 spot. In series-premiere news, bizarre CW reality competition 13: Fear is Real was left at the starting gate with a mere (and last-place) 1.7 rating/ 3 share in the overnights from 8-9 p.m. Comparatively, that was only equal to failed year-ago occupant Crowned: The Mother of All Beauty Pageants. Remember that monstrosity? Leading out of 13: Fear is Real on the CW was a repeat of 90210 at a 0.9/ 1 at 9 p.m. ABC was off, but not necessarily running, with back-to-back repeats of Scrubs fourth in the 8 p.m. hour with an average 3.5/ 5. But the network picked up steam as the night progressed with a 9 p.m. edition of 20/20 (#2: 5.9/ 9), followed by 10 p.m. special, Barbara Walters – Patrick Swayze: The Truth at a dominant 9.0/15 in the overnights. Comparably, that was the highest-rated show of the evening. Repeats of 8-9 p.m. CBS sitcoms The New Adventures of Old Christine (#1: 5.5/ 9) and People’s Choice Award winner Gary Unmarried (#1t: 5.0/ 8) led their time periods despite not being original. Next was The 35th Annual People’s Choice Awards at a 6.5/10 from 9-11 p.m. Take a look how it lost steam in every half hour: The 35th Annual People’s Choice Awards (CBS) 9:00 p.m. 7.4/11 (#1) 9:30 p.m. 7.0/11 (#1)10:00 p.m. 6.2/10 (#3)10:30 p.m. 5.4/ 9 (#3) While this was an improvement of a significant 51 percent over the historically low performance from one year earlier (4.3/ 6 on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008), this is nothing exceptional. And that version of The People’s Choice Awards was not live and featured no celebrities. In the event you missed it, here are the list of winners from television: Favorite…-Competition/Reality Series: Dancing With the Stars (ABC)-New TV Drama: The Mentalist (CBS)-New TV Comedy: Gary Unmarried (CBS)-Animated Comedy: The Simpsons (Fox)-Sci Fi/Fantasy Show: Heroes (NBC)-Male TV Star: Hugh Laurie -Female TV Star: Christina Applegate-TV Drama Diva: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer, TNT)-Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres-Scene Stealing Guest Star: Robin Williams (Law & Order: SVU, NBC) NBC opened the evening with waiting-to-be canceled Knight Rider at a distant second-place 3.6/ 6 at 8 p.m., followed by a repeat of Law & Order: SVU (#3: 5.2/ 8) and granddaddy parent Law & Order at a second-place 7.1/12 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Fox capped off Wednesday with back-to-back repeats of Bones at an average 4.8/ 7 from 8-9 p.m. Not bad considering those were not original telecasts. Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ National Ratings in Prime-Time:Week of December 29, 2008 Led by Indianapolis versus San Diego on last Saturday’s NFL Playoff, NBC scored a rare weekly victory, with a first-place finish in households, total viewers and the three key demos -- adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and adults 18-34 (tied with Fox) for the holiday week of Dec. 29, 2008. But it was still not enough to stop the bleeding, with erosion of 20 to 31 percent from the comparable year-ago period. Two nights of sports (the Fedex Orange Bowl on Thursday and the All-State Sugar Bowl on Friday) lifted Fox to first among adults 18-34 (tied with NBC), third in households and second elsewhere at total viewing levels on par with one year earlier. Elsewhere, ABC, CBS and the CW were all down across the board, with the CW finishing in last place (behind stable MyNetworkTV) in all surveyed categories. Erosion on the CW, in fact, was as much as 43 percent in adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. There were two series premieres this week -- CBS’ Game Show in My Head (two episodes opposite the top-rated NFL Playoff on NBC) and NBC’s Superstars of Dance. They performed as follows: Game Show in My Head (CBS) Saturday 8 p.m. (premiere)Viewers: 3.31 million (#75 overall), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#71t) Saturday 8:30 p.m.Viewers: 3.43 million (#74), A18-49: 1.1/ 3 (#68t) ----- Superstars of Dance (NBC) – Sunday 9-11 p.m.Viewers: 10.55 million (#11), A18-49: 3.1/ 8 (#8) Also worth noting was Tuesday’s telecast of The Kennedy Center Honors on CBS, which rose to 10.51 million viewers. Comparably, that was its largest audience since 2005 and best rating among adults 25-54 (2.7/ 7) since 1999. Here are the final national ratings for the week of December 29, 2008 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago week in parentheses) and the top 30 rated programs of the week. -Households:NBC: 5.7 rating/10 share (-20), CBS: 5.3/ 9 (- 7), Fox: 5.2/ 9 (- 2), ABC: 3.9/ 6 (-26), MNTV: 1.0/ 2 (+11), CW: 0.8/ 1 (-38) -Total Viewers: NBC: 9.35 million (-20), Fox: 8.71 (no change), CBS: 8.39 (- 5), ABC: 6.46 (-23), MNTV: 1.72 (+19), CW: 1.27 (-35) -Adults 18-49:NBC: 2.9 rating/8 share (-31), Fox: 2.8/ 8 (-12), ABC: 2.1/ 6 (-22), CBS: 2.0/ 5 (-13), MNTV: 0.6/ 2 (no change), CW: 0.4/ 1 (-43) -Adults 25-54:NBC: 3.5/ 9 (-26), Fox: 3.3/ 8 (- 3), CBS: 2.7/ 7 (-10), ABC: 2.5/ 6 (-22), MNTV: 0.6/ 2 (no change), CW: 0.5/ 1 (-29) -Adults 18-34:Fox: 2.3/ 7 (-26), NBC: 2.3/ 7 (-30), ABC: 1.7/ 5 (-19), CBS: 1.2/ 4 (-20), MNTV: 0.5/ 2 (no change), CW: 0.4/ 1 (-43) -------------------- Top 30 Rankings -Total Viewers:NFL Playoff (NBC, Indianapolis at San Diego): 27.79 million, NFC Wildcard Post Game (Fox): 16.42, Desperate Housewives (ABC), 14.39, NCIS R (CBS): 13.43, All-State Sugar Bowl (Fox): 13.37, Cold Case (CBS): 12.67, 60 Minutes (CBS): 12.32, Two and a Half Men R (CBS): 11.87, CSI: Miami R (CBS): 11.36, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC): 10.93, Superstars of Dance (NBC, premiere): 10.55, Kennedy Center Honors (CBS): 10.51, Million Dollar Password (CBS): 10.41, CSI R (CBS): 9.76, The Unit (CBS): 9.73, Law & Order: SVU R (NBC, Tues. 9 p.m.): 9.62, Deal or No Deal – Thursday (NBC): 9.49, Fedex Orange Bowl (Fox): 9.32, Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 9.09, Law & Order: SVU R (NBC, Tues. 10 p.m.): 8.88, Rose Bowl Post Game (ABC): 8.87, Gary Unmarried R (CBS): 8.78, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (ABC): 8.55, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS): 7.77, Eleventh Hour R (CBS): 7.74, How I Met Your Mother R (CBS): 7.70, Numb3rs R (CBS): 7.60, Ghost Whisperer R (CBS): 7.34, Deal or No Deal – Monday (NBC): 7.29, America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC): 7.12 -Adults 18-49:NFL Playoff (NBC, Indianapolis at San Diego): 10.0 rating/27 share, NFC Wildcard Post Game (Fox): 6.2/16, Desperate Housewives (ABC): 5.2/12, All-State Sugar Bowl (Fox): 4.3/12, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC): 3.7/ 9, Two and a Half Men R (CBS): 3.6/10, Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 3.2/ 8, Superstars of Dance (NBC, premiere): 3.1/ 8, Fedex Orange Bowl (Fox): 3.0/ 8, Rose Bowl Post Game (ABC), How I Met Your Mother R (CBS) and CSI: Miami R (CBS): 2.9/ 8 each, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (ABC): 2.8/10, Gary Unmarried R (CBS) and Cold Case (CBS): 2.8/ 7 each, Law & Order: SVU R (NBC, Tues. 10 p.m.): 2.7/ 7, The Big Bang Theory R (CBS) and NCIS R (CBS): 2.6/ 8, Law & Order: SVU R (NBC, Tues. 9 p.m.) and CSI R (CBS): 2.6/ 7 each, The Unit (CBS): 2.5/ 6, How I Met Your Mother R (CBS): 2.3/ 6, House R (Fox), Deal or No Deal (NBC – Thursday), 20/20 (ABC) and SNL: Sports Extra (NBC): 2.2/ 6 each, 24: Redemption R (Fox): 2.1/ 5, 60 Minutes (CBS) and America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC): 2.0/ 5 each Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) ______________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Another Record Performance for Nickelodeon’s iCarly:Nickelodeon’s red-hot iCarly (a favorite in Mr. TV’s household) rose to another ratings record on Saturday, Jan. 3 among target kids 6-11 (12.6 rating / 2.7 million: +144 percent from one year earlier) and tweens 9-14 (11.9 rating / 2.6 million: +170 percent). Comparably, that placed it first for the week in both demos. And iCarly finished the week as the most-watched entertainment telecast overall on all of cable, with 5.9 million total viewers. -Record Fourth Quarter for SOAPnet:Based on the final results in fourth quarter 2008, SOAPnet in prime-time reached a new zenith, with an average of 363,000 total viewers. Comparably, that was up by 23 percent from one year earlier. -Growing The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family:Original ABC Family drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager returned on Monday, Jan. 5 with the cable net’s best season-premiere ratings to-date in total viewers (4.4 million), adults 18-34 (1.2 million), adults 18-49 (1.9 million) and viewers 12-34 (2.8 million). Comparably, this outdelivered its launch last July by double-digit percentages across the board. And it ranked as Monday’s No. 1 show on cable in women 18-34 (966,000), women 18-49 (1.5 million), viewers 12-34 and females 12-34 (2.4 million). Congratulations, Brenda Hampton. -CBS’ The Mentalist Soars to a Series High:CBS freshman drama The Mentalist rose to a record high, with 19.62 million viewers on January 6. Comparably, that placed it first in the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour in households (12.2/18), total viewers (19.62 million) and adults 25-54 (5.9/13). Source: Nielsen Media Research data ______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 1/08/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Ugly Betty 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy 10:00 p.m. Private Practice CBS: 8:00 p.m. CSI: NY (R) 9:00 p.m. CSI (R)10:00 p.m. Eleventh Hour (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. My Name is Earl 8:30 p.m. Kath & Kim 9:00 p.m. The Office (R) 9:30 p.m. 30 Rock 10:00 p.m. ER Fox: 8:00pm BCS Bowl Pre-Game 8:15pm BCS Championship Game: Oklahoma vs. Florida CW: 8:00 p.m. Smallville (R) 9:00 p.m. Supernatural (R) MTNV 8:00 p.m. Movie: No Way Out (R) ION 8:00 p.m. Movie: For Your Eyes Only (R) ____________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -CBS Pulls Million Dollar Password:Despite ranking No. 13 overall in total viewers for the week of Dec. 29, CBS has pulled older-skewing game show Million Dollar Password from the schedule. Airing in the Sunday 8 p.m. time period on Jan. 11 will be a later edition of 60 Minutes. The following Sunday will feature The NFL Playoff: AFC Championship. -Coming Up on TNT:TNT, the home of quality original scripted programming, has ordered two new dramas for this year: Time Heals and The Line. Time Heals will feature Jada Pinkett Smith as a recently widowed mother who is employed as the director of nursing at Richmond Trinity Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Line features former The Practice star Dylan McDermott as the head of an undercover team of police officers. Ten episodes of both dramas have been ordered. ___________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Life After Miami Vice What city was crime drama Nash Bridges set in? a) Chicagob) Houstonc) Milwaukeed) Pittsburghe) San Francisco The answer to yesterday’s question… Which one of the following series was not a sitcom? a) Lennyb) Martinc) Reggied) Rodneye) Sam Is: e) Sam, which was a short-lived 1978 half-hour drama on CBS about a man and dog patrol car team. Mark Harmon was the man; Sam was a yellow Labrador retriever. -Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan, Jordan Breslow, Lillian Buchman, Brian Carney, Adam Giagni, Maureen Goldman, Scott Groneman, Michael Holland, Bob Ingersoll, Michael Murphy, Alan Perris, Con Rigg, Colleen Roth, Meg Voss, Stewart Wallace, Myndi Weinraub

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Barbara Walters Special on ABC Leads Midweek Troops

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