CBS Wins Monday Overnights; Lackluster NBC

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERTuesday, February 3, 2009 Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:CBS Wins; Lackluster Revamped NBC Ratings Box:What's Hot/What's Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time:Remember Little Earl?_______________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:CBS Wins; Lackluster Revamped NBC Monday 2/02/09 HH Rtg/Shr CBS 10.7/17NBC 7.0/11ABC 4.9/ 8Fox 3.4/ 5CW 1.8/ 3 ---------- Note: Year-to-year overnight comparisons were not available. ---------- Note: The fast affiliate results for Tuesday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET (if there are no further delays). Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:House (Fox), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), 24 (Fox), CSI: Miami (CBS) -Way Up This Season:The Bachelor (ABC) – for more, see Ratings Box below -Disappointing:Heroes (NBC), Medium (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):Worst Week (CBS), True Beauty (ABC) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: CBS led this first Monday in February in the overnights with its combination of The Big Bang Theory (#2: 6.5 rating/10 share), How I Met Your Mother (#3: 6.1/ 9), Two and a Half Men (#1: 9.8/14), soon-to-conclude Worst Week (#3: 6.3/ 9) and CSI: Miami (#1: 10.1/17). Keep in mind that overnight results in the 6-range for The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are likely to result in solid performances among adults 18-49. Worst Week, meanwhile, concludes next Monday. Fox finished a very comfortable second in the overnights with its combination of House (#1: 8.4/13) and 24 (#2: 6.5/10). And they could be enough for Fox to win the evening among adults 18-49. Next was ABC with another two-hour installment of ratings-improved The Bachelor (6.3/ 9 from 8-10 p.m.) and disappointing True Beauty (#3: 4.0/ 7 at 10 p.m.), which held only 57 percent of the 9:30 p.m. portion of The Bachelor (7.0/10). NBC opened its revamped Monday fourth overall in the overnights with its line-up of the return of Chuck (#4: 5.1/ 8), the return of Heroes (#4: 5.2/ 8), and the season-premiere of Medium (#2: 5.9/10). While I will reserve final judgment until the national ratings are released, the biggest disappointment of course is Heroes. A low-5 in the overnights for Chuck is not so bad, but for Heroes it is a huge decline. The CW capped off Monday with the compatible Gossip Girl (#5: 2.0/ 3) and One Tree Hill (#5: 1.9/ 3), which always manage to deliver among the target young female audience. Source: Nielsen Media Research data____________________________________________________________________________ Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Final Ratings for Super Bowl XLIII on NBC:The Arizona vs. Pittsburgh match-up on NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday, Feb. 1 averaged a whopping 95.4 million viewers -- just 2.1 million below the 97.5 million who tuned in for the New York Giants versus the New England Patriots one year earlier. Comparably, that makes this the second most-watched Super Bowl telecast ever and third most-watched broadcast in television history (behind the MASH finale on CBS in 1983 and Super Bowl XLII on Fox). NBC is estimating that 147 million tuned in at some point for the game. Here are the five most-watched Super Bowl telecasts (Based on average viewers):1. Super Bowl XLII – Fox (2008): 97.5 million2. Super Bowl XLIII – NBC (2009): 95.4 million3. Super Bowl XXX – NBC (1996): 94.1 million4. Super Bowl XLI – CBS (2007): 93.2 million5. Super Bowl XXVII – NBC (1993): 91.0 -Super Bowl Boost for NBC’s The Office:As expected, airing out of Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday, Feb. 1 lifted NBC’s critically acclaimed The Office to a new ratings’ high. The one-hour installment averaged 22.0 million viewers and a 10.6 rating among adults 18-49 from 10:40-11:40 p.m., according to the time zone-adjusted fast national ratings. Comparably, this was the largest audience for any NBC entertainment telecast since ER on May 13, 2004. The Office also rose to a 12.5 rating among adults 18-34 -- the top-rated entertainment telecast of the season in that demographic. -Ratings Snapshot – ABC’s The Bachelor:Season to-date, ABC’s The Bachelor has bucked the typical downward trend, with the reality/competition’s largest audience to-date (9.6 million) in almost five years and best rating among adults 18-49 (3.5) since spring 2004. The Bachelor ranks first in the Monday 8-10 p.m. block among women 18-34 (4.9/12), women 18-49 (5.1/12) and women 25-54 (5.5/12), building across-the-board significantly from ABC’s year-ago combination of Dance War and sitcom Notes From the Underbelly. -Move Over, Regis & Kelly:CBS Television Distribution’s sophomore The Doctors outdelivered Disney-ABC’s Live With Regis & Kelly on Friday, Jan. 30 for the first time ever in New York. The Doctors scored a 2.5 rating/9 share on WCBS in the overnights (versus a 2.3/ 8 for Regis & Kelly on WABC), which is the first time in at least a decade that a regularly scheduled series beat the veteran Disney-ABC chatfest in this market. -Speaking of The Doctors:This Friday’s telecast will feature bubbly Valerie Bertinelli, who will discuss her recent weight loss. Too bad the proposed CBSTD talker with Valerie has not moved forward. Wouldn’t you, after all, like to have a daily dose of the former One Day at a Time star? All together now… This is it. This is it. This is life, the one you get So go and have a ball. This is it. This is it Straight ahead and rest assured You can’t be sure at all. So while you’re here enjoy the view Keep on doing what you do So hold on tight we'll muddle through One day at a time, One day at a time. So up on your feet. Up on your feet Somewhere there’s music playing. Don’t you worry none We’ll just take it like it comes. One day at a time, one day at a time. One day at a time, one day at a time. One day at a time, one day at a time. One day at a time, one day at a time.Source: Nielsen Media Research data________________________________________________________________________________ On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Tuesday 2/03/09 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Homeland Security USA 9:00 p.m. Scrubs 9:30 p.m. Scrubs10:00 p.m. Primetime: What Would You Do? CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (R) 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R)10:00 p.m. Without a Trace NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser: Couples10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol (Hollywood – Round 1) 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW: 8:00 p.m. 90210 9:00 p.m. Privileged MNTV 8:00 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 8:30 p.m. Street Patrol (R) 9:00 p.m. Vice Squad 9:30 p.m. Vice Squad (R) ION 8:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) 9:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)10:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R) ________________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -More Leverage:TNT has renewed recently introduced drama Leverage for a second season, with an order of 15 additional episodes for 2009-10. -New Time Periods for the CW’s Reaper and 90210:Sophomore CW drama Reaper, which will return earlier than expected on March 3, will move into the Tuesday 8 p.m. anchor hour, leading into relocated 90210. That, of course, means that Reaper will now have to face Fox juggernaut American Idol. Current Tuesday 9 p.m. occupant Privileged will wrap up its first (and potentially final) season on Feb. 24. -The Game Heads to BET:Three year-old CW sitcom The Game is heading to BET, and will premiere on the cable network this month in off-network. -ABC Family Orders Three Series:Feel good ABC Family has picked-up 10 episodes of three upcoming series -- Perfect 10, 10 Things I Hate About You and Ruby and the Rockits. Perfect 10 is a scripted drama that follows a group of Olympic hopefuls as they train and compete in the competitive world of gymnastics. 10 Things I Hate About You, based on the feature film, is a half-hour single-cam series about two very different sisters starting high school. And Ruby and the Rockits, also a half-hour, follows a former teen idol who tries to lead a quiet life with his two young sons. ABC Family, in addition, has renewed dramas Greek (for 20 additional episodes) and Lincoln Heights (10 episodes). Both will return with original episodes this summer. But three year-old drama Kyle XY has been canceled. ________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Remember Little Earl? One of the following five sitcoms featured a character named “Little Earl.” Which one was it? The Brady BunchFull HouseJust the 10 of UsThe Partridge FamilyWhat’s Happening!! The answer to yesterday’s question. Given the current bad state of the economy, which one of the following five TV characters would probably be the busiest at work? Joe CalucciJames EvansRoss GellerRhoda MorgensternMaggie Seaver Is: a) Joe Calucci, who was played by James Coco in short-lived 1973 CBS sitcom Calucci’s Department. Joe Calucci was the supervisor of a branch of the New York State Unemployment Office. In today’s economy, he would certainly be very busy.-Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan, Dave Brodsky, Brian Carney, Tom Condosta, Annie Courtney, Sam Damon, Jerry Gibbons, Maureen Goldman, Bob Ingersoll, Synda Kollman, Steve O’Rourke, Alan Perris, Jodi Perris, Gordon Purcell, Dewayne Snype, Ronnie

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CBS Wins Monday Overnights; Lackluster NBC

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