CBS Dominates Tuesday Overnights; DOA Return for ABC's According to Jim

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERWednesday, December 3, 2008 Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings:Clean Sweep for CBS; DOA Return for ABC’s According to Jim Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Not Three Digits ______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings:Clean Sweep for CBS; DOA Return for ABC’s According to Jim Tuesday 12/02/08 HH Rtg/Shr CBS 10.5/17Fox 6.6/10NBC 5.8/ 9ABC 3.9/ 6CW 1.1/ 2 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday, December 4, 2007):CBS: +38, Fox: - 3, NBC: -19, ABC: -22, CW: -39 ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Tuesday 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 Tuesday, December 2, 2008. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:NCIS (CBS), The Mentalist (CBS), Without a Trace (CBS) -Expected Adult 18-49 Winners:House (Fox), Law & Order: SVU (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers:According to Jim (ABC), Eli Stone (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: It was a clean Tuesday metered market sweep for CBS care of its combination of NCIS (11.2 rating/18 share), bona fide hit The Mentalist (11.8/18), which built from NCIS for the first time, and relocated Without a Trace (8.4/14). Although Fox’s House (#2: 7.5/12 at 8 p.m.) and NBC’s veteran Law & Order: SVU (#2: 7.1/12 at 10 p.m.) are expected to win their time periods among adults 18-49, CBS finished first in every half hour in the overnights. Second-place Fox, which trailed CBS by almost four full overnight rating points, had a typical Tuesday with drama duo House (#2: 7.6/12) and Fringe (#2: 5.7/ 8). While Fringe may not be a blockbuster, it will certainly benefit once American Idol returns as the Tuesday 8 p.m. occupant in January. Are we all ready to commit to American Idol again? NBC was also at typical Tuesday overnight levels with another two-hour edition of The Biggest Loser (5.1/ 8 from 8-10 p.m.), which always generates some interest among adults 18-49, and the aforementioned Law & Order: SVU (#2: 7.1/12). Here is the half-hour breakdown for The Biggest Loser: The Biggest Loser (NBC)8:00 p.m.: 4.6/ 7 (#4)8:30 p.m.: 4.9/ 8 (#3)9:00 p.m.: 5.3/ 8 (#3)9:30 p.m.: 5.7/ 9 (#2) In season-premiere news, two episodes of ABC’s veteran According to Jim (which should have been canceled three years ago), opened with minimal results as follows: According to Jim (ABC)9:00 p.m. 3.6/ 6 (#4): season premiere9:30 p.m. 3.4/ 5 (#4) Question to ABC: Why is this show still on the air? Earlier in the evening on the alphabet net was annual holiday repeat Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town at a 4.7/ 8 (#3t) from 8-9 p.m. And could be canceled Eli Stone capped off the evening with a last-place 3.4/ 6 in the overnights at 10 p.m. While nothing has been officially announced, newsmagazine Prime: What Would You Do? will replace Eli Stone in January. Finally, repeats of the CW’s 90210 (#5: 1.2/ 2) and Privileged (#5: 0.9/ 1) were barely visible last night. For more on ABC, CBS and the CW, see TV Tidbits below. Source: Nielsen Media Research data _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -The White House: Behind Closed Doors Scores on History Channel:The White House: Behind Closed Doors, a 90-minute special on History Channel, premiered on Wednesday, Nov. 26 with a hefty 1.9 household rating and 2.8 million viewers at 9 p.m. Comparably, that placed it first in the hour in both categories for all of basic cable. -National Ratings in Prime-time – Week of Nov. 24, 2008:Based on ratings for the holiday week of November 24, CBS extended its winning streak in households and total viewers, while also dominating among key adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. ABC, NBC and Fox tied for first among adults 18-34, but all three declined considerably in the demo from one year earlier. Other than rising MyNetworkTV, which moved ahead of the CW in four of the five surveyed categories (excluding adults 18-34), and minor gains for CBS, significant erosion was the common observation elsewhere, Last-place the CW, in fact, was down by as much as 55 percent. Here are the final national ratings for the week of November 24, 2008 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago week in parentheses): -Households:CBS: 6.8 rating/12 share (no share), ABC: 6.3/11 (-18), NBC: 4.0/ 7 (-25), Fox: 3.7/ 6 (-29), MNTV: 1.1/ 2 (+57), CW: 0.9/ 1 (-47), -Total Viewers: CBS: 11.02 million (+ 4), ABC: 10.33 (-17), NBC: 6.60 (-20), Fox: 6.11 (- 3), MNTV: 1.86 (+74), CW: 1.40 (-48) -Adults 18-49:CBS: 2.9/ 8 (+ 7), ABC: 2.9/ 8 (-28), NBC: 2.4/ 7 (-20), Fox: 2.3/ 6 (-26), MNTV: 0.6/ 2 (+50), CW: 0.5/ 1 (-55) -Adults 25-54:CBS: 3.7/ 9 (+ 3), ABC: 3.6/ 9 (-22), NBC: 2.6/ 7 (-24), Fox: 2.5/ 6 (-26), MNTV: 0.7/ 2 (+75), CW: 0.5/ 1 (-50) -Adults 18-34:NBC: 2.1/ 7 (-16), Fox: 2.1/ 7 (-28), ABC: 2.1/ 7 (-34), CBS: 1.9/ 6 (+12), CW: 0.6/ 2 (-45), MNTV: 0.5/ 2 (+25) Source: Nielsen Media Research data_______________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Wednesday 12/03/08 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies 9:00 p.m. Private Practice10:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money CBS: 8:00 p.m. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (R) 9:00 p.m. The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night10:00 p.m. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show NBC: 8:00 p.m. Christmas in Rockefeller Center 9:00 p.m. Life 10:00 p.m. Law & Order Fox: 8:00 p.m. Secret Millionaire (premiere, two episodes) CW: 8:00 p.m. Stylista (R) 9:00 p.m. Stylista MTNV 8:00 p.m. Eyes on Kenya ION 8:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) 9:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)10:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) -The Scoop on Secret Millionaire:Shot in documentary style, this dramatic themed reality series will feature America’s wealthiest individuals as they trade their lavish lifestyles to live undercover in some of the poorest neighborhoods across the country. Working hand-in-hand with community leaders, each episode will culminate with the millionaire giving at least $100,000 of his or her own money to a worthy individual. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection:Okay, it’s not TV (at least not yet), but every so often your have to deviate. And I am happy to announce long-time New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg’s all-star collection of classic comical moments packaged in just released book, The All-Jewish Cartoon Collection, from Zeus Media & Publishing. Guilty sons, matchmaking mothers, kvetching neuroses, pushy princesses and, of course, those well-known early bird feasts…its all here and available at www.booksbyzeus.com. For more information, contact Simon Schatzmann at 917/445-3931 or via email at simon@booksbyzeus.com. -Casting News:Former Party of Five star Neve Campbell has been cast in upcoming NBC drama The Philanthropist as the wife of the renegade billionaire’s business partner (Jesse L. Martin). And Emmy winner Craig T. Nelson, who of course headlined long-running ABC sitcom Coach, has signed for a three-episode story arc on CBS’ CSI. -ABC Announces New Drama Launch Dates:ABC has unveiled the start dates for three new dramas -- Castle, Cupid and The Unusuals. Castle, the story of a mystery novelist (Nathan Fillion) who learns that a copycat killer has started staging murder scenes depicted in his novels, will debut Monday, March 9 at 10 p.m. ET. Cupid, the romantic dramedy remake of a man sent to earth to bring 100 couples together, launches on Tuesday, March 24 at 10 p.m. ET. And The Unusuals, an ensemble dramedy set in a New York City police department opens on Wednesday, April 8 at 10 p.m. In addition, ABC News’ Primetime: What Would You Do? will return for a new season on Tuesday, January 6 at 10:00 p.m. ET. -CW Midseason Changes:The CW, which just regained control of low-rated Sunday, has announced additional changes. Upcoming horror themed reality/competition 13: Fear is Real will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. effective on Jan. 7 (in between cycles of regularly scheduled occupant America’s Next Top Model). An encore of that week’s episode is slated for 9 p.m. Friday. Repeats of 90210 will air out of 13: Fear is Real in place of Stylista beginning on Jan. 7. And benchwarmer drama Reaper will open season two in place of Supernatural on Thursday in March. Supernatural is, however, expected back in 2009-10. -CBS Midseason Changes:CBS has announced several midseason schedule changes including the arrival of two new series (Game Show in My Head and scripted drama Harper’s Island), the return of Flashpoint, and new editions of Survivor and The Amazing Race. Game Show in My Head, a hidden camera series from Ashton Kutcher, will kick-off on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m., leading into repeat drama rotation Crimetime Saturday. Back-to-back episodes will air in the hour. Canadian drama Flashpoint will open season two on Friday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. (out of Ghost Whisperer and into Numb3rs). And new seasons of Survivor (No. 18) and The Amazing Race (No. 14) will begin in their current time periods on Thursday, Feb. 12 and Sunday, Feb. 15, respectively. Harper’s Island, an hour-long 13-episode mystery about a group of strangers who travel to a secluded island for a wedding and are killed off one by one, will debut on Thursday, April 9 at 10 p.m. (in place of current occupant Eleventh Hour). It concludes on July 2. Here are the schedule changes by night in date order (with the new shows bolded): Saturday (Effective Jan. 3) 8:00 p.m. GAME SHOW IN MY HEAD 8:30 p.m. GAME SHOW IN MY HEAD 9:00 p.m. Crimetime Saturday10:00 p.m.48 Hours Mystery Friday (Effective Jan. 9) 8:00 p.m. Ghost Whisperer 9:00 p.m. Flashpoint (season premiere)10:00 p.m. Numb3rs Thursday (Effective Feb. 12) 8:00 p.m. Survivor (season premiere) 9:00 p.m. CSI10:00 p.m. Eleventh Hour Sunday (Effective Feb. 15) 7:00 p.m. 60 Minutes 8:00 p.m. The Amazing Race (season premiere) 9:00 p.m. Cold Case10:00 p.m. The Unit Thursday (Effective April 9) 8:00 p.m. Survivor 9:00 p.m. CSI10:00 p.m. HARPER’S ISLAND --------------- -Wilder Valderamma – USO Entertainment Ambassador:Former That ‘70s Show star Wilmer Valderamma, the current voice of Handy Manny, will be in New York on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 11 a.m. ET visiting with kids of active duty service men and women at the NYC USO Center in Port Authority. For more information, contact Audrey Davis at (212) 986-7080. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Not Three Digits Which one of the following dramas did not reach the 100-episode mark? a) Charmedb) Felicityc) Hart to Hartd) Hill Street Bluese) Trapper John, MD The answer to yesterday’s question… Which Brady kid appeared in all 117 episodes of The Brady Bunch? a) Bobbyb) Cindyc) Gregd) Jane) Marciaf) Peter Is: c) Greg. Apparently, Barry Williams never called in sick! All together now… Here's the story of a lovely lady Who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, The youngest one in curls. Here's the story, of a man named Brady, Who was busy with three boys of his own, They were four men, living all together, Yet they were all alone. Till the one day when the lady met this fellow And they knew it was much more than a hunch, That this group would somehow form a family. That's the way we all became the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch, That's the way we all became the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch. -Current kudos goes to:Sheila Berman, Gerry Bixenspan, Vanessa Coates, Larry Collins (3x), Mark Cosenza, Audrey Davis, Bob Ingersoll, Ken Jobe (2x), Deb Kainer, Maureen Goldman, Beverly Morris, Ronnie Tallant

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CBS Dominates Tuesday Overnights; DOA Return for ABC's According to Jim

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