Idol Ignited Fox Wins Wednesday

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, April 1, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Idol Ignited Fox Wins; ABC’s Modern Family a Standout 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 Touchdown in Evening Shade ________________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Idol Ignited Fox Wins; ABC’s Modern Family a Standout Wednesday 3/31/10 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 9.4/15NBC 5.0/ 8CBS 4.6/ 7ABC 4.2/ 7CW 1.9/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, April 1, 2009):NBC: +22, ABC: - 2, Fox and CW: - 5 each, CBS: -30 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Human Target (Fox), American Idol (Fox), Modern Family (ABC), Law & Order: SVU (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Fly Girls (CW), Cougar Town (ABC), High Society (CW), Ugly Betty (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown:Led by the live American Idol Results Show, Fox dominated the Wednesday overnights, beating distant second-place NBC by a hefty 4.4 rating points. Third overall was a night of repeats on CBS, followed by ABC and The CW. Fox opened the evening on a winning note, with recent entry Human Target at a 5.6 rating/10 share in the metered markets at 8 p.m. Comparably, this was 17 percent above one week earlier (4.8/ 8 on March 24, 2010). American Idol followed with a 13.2/20 at 9 p.m., which outdelivered the second-highest rated show of the evening (NBC’s Law & Order: SVU: 7.2/13 at 10 p.m.) by 83 percent. Nothing can stop this ongoing juggernaut. As for the latest departure, Didi Benami exited as predicted but overrated Siobhan Magnus deserved to be in the bottom three. See you next week, Tim Urban! Second-place NBC tested the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour with a repeat of game show Minute to Win It, and it did not win it with a third-place 3.8/ 7. As reported earlier this week, Minute to Win It will remain in the Wednesday anchor spot for two additional weeks, with an original installment on April 7 and a repeat on April 14. Next on NBC was a repeat of Law & Order: SVU at a fourth-place 3.9/ 6 in the overnights at 9 p.m., followed by the aforementioned original installment of SVU at a first-place 7.2/13 at 10 p.m. Facing another repeat of CBS’ aging CSI: NY (#2: 4.8/ 8) was, no doubt, beneficial. In time period premiere news, a repeat of on-the-fence CBS sitcom Accidentally on Purpose did not make the grade at 8:30 p.m., with a fourth-place 3.1/ 5 in the overnights. Lead-in The New Adventures of Old Christine, also an encore telecast and also finishing fourth, rated higher at a 3.6/ 6 at 8 p.m. Considering Accidentally on Purpose debuted on the evening, an original telecast might have been a better route to travel. Next up on the Eye net was a repeat of Criminal Minds (#2: 5.6/ 9 at 9 p.m.), which has a spin-off in the works for next fall, followed by the aforementioned repeat of CSI: NY (#2: 4.8/ 8 at 10 p.m.). Over at ABC, a repeat of annual holiday special It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown tied for second in the overnights, with a 3.7/ 6 at 8 p.m. Next up was The Middle (#2: 4.1/ 7 at 8 p.m.), which is worthy of some water cooler buzz, followed by demo friendly Modern Family (#2: 6.4/10), deteriorating Cougar Town (#3: 4.4/ 7) and soon-to-conclude Ugly Betty (#3: 3.3/ 6) from 9-11 p.m. Growth of 56 percent for Modern Family out of The Middle, plus an always potent performance among adults 18-49 lands it in the winner’s circle. But a loss of 31 percent for Cougar Town out of Modern Family makes it a “loser.” The CW continues to have mixed results on Wednesday. Female friendly America’s Next Top Model remains a decent choice, with a 3.1/ 5 in the overnights (#5) at 8 p.m. But recent non-scripted 9-10 p.m. entries Fly Girls (#5: 0.9/ 1) and High Society (#5: 0.7/ 1) are absolute embarrassments both creatively and by the numbers. While you can’t blame a network for trying, you certainly cannot force the audience to watch. And there you have it…that’s Wednesday. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Respectable Showing for Return of ABC’s V:Opposite a repeat of CBS’ The Good Wife in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour, ABC sci-fi drama V returned to prime-time with 7.03 million viewers (#2 in the time period) and a first-place 2.8 rating/8 share among adults 18-49. Comparably, V bested NBC’s competing Parenthood (Viewers: 6.23 million; A18-49: 2.5/ 7) by 800,000 viewers and 12 percent in the demo, with retention out of lead-in Lost (Viewers: 10.13 million; A18-49: 4.1/11 at 9 p.m.) of 69 percent in total viewers and 68 percent among adults 18-49. While renewal for a second season is still a question mark, V did lift ABC to its best adult 18-49 performance in the time period with a regularly scheduled program (excluding extended editions of Lost and the live Dancing With the Stars Results Show) since January 13, 2009. -Speaking of Tuesday:Here are the final Live Plus Same Day ratings for Tuesday, March 30: Total Viewers:Fox: 21.84 million, ABC: 10.51, CBS: 9.69, NBC: 7.03, CW: 1.27 Adults 18-49:Fox: 7.7 rating/21 share, ABC: 3.3/ 9, NBC: 2.7/ 8, NBC: 1.8/ 5, CW: 0.7/ 2 Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 4/01/10 ABC: 8:00 p.m. FlashForward 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy10:00 p.m. Private Practice CBS: 8:00 p.m. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist (new time)10:00 p.m. CSI (new time) NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Office (R, one hour) 9:00 p.m. The Office (R, one hour)10:00 p.m. The Marriage Ref Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries 9:00 p.m. Supernatural ______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Lindsey Vonn on Law & Order:Olympic Gold Medal winner Lindsey Vonn will guest star on the season-finale of NBC’s Law & Order as an administrative assistant whose character provides an important clue in the hunt for a terrorist. If 20-year-old Law & Order makes it into the 2010-11 season, it passes Gunsmoke as the longest running scripted drama in the history of television. -Julianne Moore Returns to Her Soap Roots:Four-time Academy Award nominated actress Julianne Moore will reprise her role as Frannie Hughes Crawford on the Monday, April 5 telecast of CBS daytime soap As the World Turns. Moore appeared on the soap from 1985 to 1987. -5th Grader a Firm Go for Season Two:Twentieth Television has announced game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? as a firm “go” for season two in first-run syndication, with clearances to-date in 80 percent of the country (including the top 15 markets). In addition to the run in syndication, 5th Grader will also air on cable net CMT and in prime-time on MyNetworkTV, where it will be paired with the upcoming syndicated version of Don’t Forget the Lyrics. Season to-date (through March 21), Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? ranks fourth among the six first-run game shows in households (2.1 rating) and third among target women 25-54 (1.1, tied with Disney-ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). Affiliates renewing Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? include Fox Television Station’s KTTV-KCOP/Los Angeles, WFLD-WPWR/Chicago, KDFW-KDFI/Dallas, WFXT-WAGA/Atlanta, WTTG-WDCA/Washington, D.C., KRIV-KTXH/Houston, KSAZ-KUTP/Phoenix, WJBK/Detroit and WUTB/Baltimore; Tribune’s WPIX/New York, WPHL/Philadelphia, KCPQ-KMYQ/Seattle, KTXL/Sacramento and WPMT/Harrisburg; Cox’s KTVU-KICU/San Francisco; Sinclair’s WUCW/Minneapolis, WPGH-WPMY/Pittsburgh and WUXP/Nashville; and Capitol Broadcasting Company’s WRAZ-WRAL/Raleigh-Durham. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:A Touchdown in Evening Shade What was the name of the football team on sitcom Evening Shade? a) The Bullets b) The Crusaders c) The Mulesd) The Seequawkins e) The Warriors The answer to yesterday’s question… When NBC’s Friends began in the fall of 1994 it aired on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. out of what sitcom? a) A Different Worldb) Frasierc) Mad About Youd) Seinfelde) Wings Is: c) Mad About You. NBC’s Thursday schedule that fall was: 8:00 p.m.: Mad About You8:30 p.m.: Friends9:00 p.m.: Seinfeld9:30 p.m.: Madmen of the People10:00 p.m.: ER All together now… Tell me why, I love you like I do, Tell me who, can stop my heart as much as you, Tell me all your secrets and I'll tell you most of mine, They say nobody's perfect but it is really true this time, I don't have the answers, And I don't have a plan, All I have is you, So darling help me understand, What we do, You can whisper in my ear, Where we go, who knows what happens after here, Let's take each other's hands, As we jump into the final frontier, I'm mad about you, I'm mad about you, so mad about you... -Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan (2x), Barbara Bloomfield, John Brooker, Larry Collins, Audrey Davis, Mike Dugger, Ron Eccher, John Ferlazzo, Arleen Fong, Jeff Gillette, Geoffrey Gordon, Carolyn Becker Hayes, Brad Hight, Melissa Hodgdon, David Jackino, Greg Janover, Deb Kainer, Tom Kilgallon, Synda Kollman, Mark Krause, Joel Kunkel, Howard Lieboff, Patty Lynch, Michele McAleer, Tricia McKee, Jim Moore, Michael Murphy, Alan Perris, Jodi Perris (2x), Gordon Purcell, Colleen Roth, Ron Salmon, Michelle Stanton, Meredith Wayne, Myndi Weinraub

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Idol Ignited Fox Wins Wednesday

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