Harper's Island and Sit Down, Shut Up Downgraded

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, April 28, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins, CBS and Fox Competitive Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Workin’ 9 to 5 ______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:ABC Wins, CBS and Fox Competitive Monday 4/27/09 HH Rtg/Shr ABC 8.9/14CBS 7.1/11Fox 6.6/10NBC 4.0/ 6CW 1.5/ 2 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, April 28, 2008):CBS: - 1, ABC: - 5, Fox: -17, CW: -21, NBC: -35 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday 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 Monday, April 27, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Dancing With the Stars (ABC), House (Fox), Two and a Half Men (CBS), CSI: Miami (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):Chuck (NBC), Gossip Girl (CW), Heroes (NBC), Surviving Suburbia (ABC), One Tree Hill (CW), Medium (NBC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: ABC, as usual, opened the week on a winning note, but its strength on Monday is solely dependent on Dancing With the Stars. A 90-minute edition of the dance extravaganza averaged a solid 11.9 rating/19 share in the overnights from 8-9:30 p.m., building by half-hour as follows: Dancing With the Stars (ABC)8:00 p.m.: 10.9/17 (#1)8:30 p.m.: 12.3/19 (#1)9:00 p.m.: 12.5/19 (#1) Comparably, that was right on par with the year-ago telecast. Next on ABC was sitcom Surviving Suburbia at a third-place 6.3/10 at 9:30 p.m., followed by on-the-fence drama Castle at a second-place 5.8/ 9. Although no one expects Surviving Suburbia to maintain the Dancing With the Stars lead-in, retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion was just 50 percent. That makes it a “loser.” Overnights for Castle may have been weaker than Surviving Suburbia, but compared to year-ago occupant The Bachelor: London Calling (4.8/ 8 on April 28, 2008) it was an improvement of 21 percent. As for Dancing With the Stars, Melissa Rycroft’s unfortunate injury means she is the most likely to be exiting tonight. Poor Tony Dovolani! CBS had what you could call a consistent Monday, with its combination of laugh-out-loud The Big Bang Theory (#3: 5.4/ 9), compatible How I Met Your Mother (#3: 5.1/ 8), old faithful Two and a Half Men (#2: 8.6/13), potentially underrated Rules of Engagement (#2: 7.0/11) and veteran CSI: Miami (#1: 8.2/13). I refer to Rules of Engagement that way because CBS is testing the waters as a potential Wednesday anchor on May 13. We’ll see what happens. While CSI: Miami is still the show to beat at 10 p.m., year-to-year it was down by 14 percent in the overnights (8.2/13 vs. 9.5/14 on April 28, 2008). Fox was on the map, meanwhile, with its successful pairing of House (#2: 6.8/11) and 24 (#3: 6.3/10). And House could very well dominate the 8 p.m. hour among adults 18-49. But NBC left little to be desired with the season (or series) finale of Chuck (#4: 3.5/ 6), the season-finale of sinking Heroes (#4: 3.8/ 6), and aging Medium (#3: 4.7/ 7). If I had to predict, that was probably the last you will ever see of Chuck. As for the CW, while I understand that the strength of Gossip Girl does not fall within the overnights, a distant 1.4/ 2 from 8-9 p.m. last night and a loss of 26 percent from one year earlier (1.9/ 3 on April 28, 2008) is a “losing” performance. Lead-out One Tree Hill may have also not been much, but did it did manage to increase to a 1.6/ 3 in the overnights at 9 p.m. One year earlier, however, One Tree Hill also averaged a 1.9/ 3. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Dominant Disney Channel:Led by the debut of original movie Hatching Pete, Disney Channel finished Friday, April 24 as the top-rated network for the entire day among kids 6-11 (607,000) and tweens 9-14 (496,000), and most-watched in basic cable with 3.3 million viewers. Hatching Pete was the most-watched cable telecast of the day, with 4.1 million viewers, and No. 1 overall in kids 6-11 (1.7 million) and tweens 9-14 (1.6 million). Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 4/28/09Night 6 of the May 2009 Sweeps ABC: 8:00 p.m. According To Jim 8:30 p.m. According To Jim 9:00 p.m. Dancing With the Stars Results Show 10:00 p.m. Cupid CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (part one of the spin-off pilot featuring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J). 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist10:00 p.m. Without a Trace NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples (two hours)10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R) Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW: 8:00 p.m. Reaper 9:00 p.m. 90210 MTNV 8:00 p.m. Street Patrol 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol 9:00 p.m. Jail 9:30 p.m. Jail (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -CBS Buries Harper’s Island on Saturday:As expected, CBS will move recently introduced Thursday murder/mystery Harper’s Island from the plum Thursday 10 p.m. CSI lead-out spot to low-HUT level Saturday at 9 p.m. Based on national ratings for its most recent April 23rd telecast, Harper’s Island sunk to 7.02 million viewers with a 1.9 rating/5 share among adults 18-49. Comparably, retention out of CSI (Viewers: 14.60 million; A18-49: 3.7/ 9 at 9 p.m.) was just 48 percent in total viewers and 51 percent in the demo. A repeat of CSI will fill the Thursday 10 p.m. slot this week, followed by the season-finale of CSI: NY on May 14. -In Other CBS Scheduling News:The Eye net will air a Wednesday 8 p.m. telecast of Rules of Engagement on May 13, leading into The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8:30 p.m. (which is, no doubt, a test to see if Rules can anchor the evening). -Fox Revamps Sunday:Two low-rated episodes into its run, Fox has announced that animated Sit Down, Shut Up will move from Sunday at 8:30 p.m. (out of The Simpsons) into the Sunday 7 p.m. anchor position. In other words, there is no reason to think this is anything more than a burn-off maneuver. Leading out of relocated Sit Down, Shut Up will be repeats of American Dad at 7:30 p.m., followed by aforementioned The Simpsons, relocated King of the Hill, Family Guy and original installments of American Dad from 9-11 p.m. -Speaking of Fox:The Big 3 networks will air President Obama’s third live address to the country since taking office tomorrow from 8-9 p.m., but Fox has politely declined. The network chosen to keep regularly scheduled drama Lie to Me in the hour instead. -Why ABC, Why?ABC is apparently in conversations to keep fading comedy Scrubs on the air next season with either all or part of its cast members back on a recurring basis. At present, the actors have no deals beyond the current season and Donald Faison, John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn have all filmed pilots that are waiting word on a potential pick-up. -WBDDT Announces Harry Potter Sweepstakes With Six NBC O&Os:In anticipation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 15, the sixth title in the ongoing franchise, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution is teaming up with six NBC owned-and-operated stations on a sweepstakes promotion for The Bonnie Hunt Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Extra. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince London Premiere Sweepstakes will run over the next two weeks in May in New York (WNBC: May 11-22), Los Angeles (KNBC: April 27-May 8), Chicago (WMAQ: May 11-22), San Francisco (KNTV: April 27-May 8), Dallas (KXAS: April 27-May 8) and Miami (WTVJ: May 4-15). Viewers in these six markets will need to tune into Bonnie, Ellen and Extra each day to watch for the daily magic word, then log onto the local NBC stations’ website, search “Harry Potter,” and enter for a chance to win. Each correct answer will put viewers in the running for the grand prize and daily prizes. The grand prize is a trip for two to London for four nights, plus two tickets to the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Workin’ 9 to 5 What was the name of the department store that Rhoda worked at on The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Bullock’sDonaldon’sGertzHempel’s Tattinger’s The answer to yesterday’s question… How old was Maude Findlay when she found out she was pregnant in middle age on sitcom Maude? 4245464749 Is: d) 47. Originally telecast in a two-part episode that aired on Nov. 14 and Nov. 21, 1972, there was a storm of protest over the show’s content that resulted in two CBS affiliates canceling the episodes and 32 affiliates not rerunning it that summer. A massive 41 percent of the audience tuned into the conclusion, which translated into approximately 65 million viewers. All together now: Lady Godiva was a freedom rider She didn’t care if the whole world looked. Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her She was a sister who really cooked. Isadora was the first bra burner And you're glad she showed up. (Oh yeah) And when the country was falling apart Betsy Ross got it all sewed up. And then there's Maude. And then there's Maude. And then there's Maude. And then there's Maude. And then there's Maude. And then there's Maude. And then there's That old compromisin', enterprisin', anything but tranquilizing, Right on Maude. -Current kudos goes to:Ric Beddingfield, Gerry Bixenspan, Larry Collins, Sue Doron, Arleen Fong, Jim Forkan, Jerry Gibbons, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Michelle Harrington, Sherrie Hentschel, Brad Hight, Bob Ingersoll, Deb Kainer, Synda Kollman, Charmaine Leary, Danny LeClair, Audrey Lewin, Lenora Nickerson, Gordon Purcell, Arthur Reinstein, Colleen Roth, Ron Salmon, Kristen Signore, Michelle Stanton

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Harper's Island and Sit Down, Shut Up Downgraded

Marc Berman

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