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THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERFriday, March 11, 2011 Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:Fox Rules, CBS Solid, Everyone Else in Repeats Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air This Weekend:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Protecting Mayberry _____________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:Fox Rules, CBS Solid, Everyone Else in Repeats Thursday 3/10/11Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT. HH Rtg/Shr Fox 10.9/17CBS 8.6/14ABC 3.2/ 5NBC 2.0/ 3CW 0.9/ 1 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, March 11, 2010):Fox: +21, CBS: - 8, CW: -18, ABC: -46, NBC: -56 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:American Idol (Fox), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), CSI (CBS), The Mentalist (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Nothing….62 percent of last night’s line-up was in repeats. ---------- -Ratings Breakdown: One hour of American Idol was more than enough to lead Fox to Thursday victory, with a 2.3 metered market rating point advantage over second-place CBS. In the distant No. 3 spot was ABC, followed by NBC and The CW. ABC, NBC and The CW aired all repeats last night (hence the below-average results). The live American Idol Results Show on Fox scored a hefty 14.7 rating/23 share from 8-9 p.m., building over the comparable year-ago telecast (13.0/20 on March 11, 2010) by 13 percent. Never in the history of television has a decade-old series dominated to this degree. How do you like that, Simon Cowell? As for the first departure, Ashthon Jones was no surprise. American Idol led into relocated Bones, which finished second behind CBS’ CSI in the overnights with a 7.1/11 at 9 p.m. But minus Grey’s Anatomy on ABC (which aired in an encore telecast as 10 p.m.), Bones has a lock for adult 18-49 time period dominance. Regardless, overnight retention for Bones out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of American Idol (15.4/24) keeps it off the listing of “winners.” CBS was on the map with its combination of The Big Bang Theory (#2: 8.7/14), which holds up well opposite American Idol, relocated Rules of Engagement (#2: 6.5/10), veteran CSI (#1: 8.9/14) and standout The Mentalist (#1: 9.5/16). Retention for Rules of Engagement out of The Big Bang Theory was 75 percent, which is slightly above former occupant $#*! My Dad Says (which is not expected to return in 2011-12). Everything else airing last night, once again, was an encore telecast. ABC populated the evening with two repeat hours of Wipeout (#3: 3.3/ 5 from 8-10 p.m.), followed by the aforementioned Grey’s Anatomy second-run at a second-place 2.8/ 5 at 10 p.m. NBC barely resonated with encore telecasts of Community (#4: 1.9/ 3), doomed Perfect Couples (#4: 1.7/ 3), The Office (#4: 2.5/ 4), Parks and Recreation (#4: 2.1/ 3), 30 Rock (#3: 2.0/ 3) and on-the-fence Outsourced (#3: 1.7/ 3), which has not benefited by moving to 10:30 p.m. NBC may want to rethink airing three hours of comedies next season. Last, and very least, were repeats of The Vampire Diaries (0.9/ 1) and Nikita (0.8/ 1) on The CW. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Growing This Week on ABC:Based on the live plus same day ratings for Sunday, March 6, ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour rose to 2.42 million viewers and 730,000 adults 25-54. Comparably, This Week has now improved on it’s year-ago performance in total viewers (+2 percent) and the demo (+ 7 percent) for the third straight week, with growth for the fifth consecutive Sunday. -Top 20 Rated Programs in Syndication – Week of February 21, 2011:What follows are the top 20 rated programs in syndication (first-run and off-network) for the week of February 21, based on AA households: Wheel of Fortune (CBS Television Distribution): 7.8 rating, Jeopardy (CBS): 6.4, Two and a Half Men (Warner Bros.): 5.9, Oprah (CBS): 5.7, Judge Judy (CBS): 4.6, Family Guy (Twentieth): 4.1, Entertainment Tonight (CBS): 4.0, Wheel of Fortune – Weekend (CBS): 3.5, Inside Edition (CBS) and Two and a Half Men – Weekend B (Warner Bros.): 3.3 each, Criminal Minds (CBS): 3.2, Dr. Phil (CBS) and Two and a Half Men – Weekend A (Warner Bros.): 3.1 each, Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS): 2.7, Live with Regis & Kelly (Disney-ABC) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC Universal): 2.6 each, How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth), My Wife and Kids (Disney-ABC), Seinfeld (Sony Pictures Television) and Seinfeld – Weekend (SPT): 2,5 each Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air This Weekend:Prime-Time Programming Options Friday 3/11/11 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Supernanny 9:00 p.m. Primetime: What Would You Do?10:00 p.m. 20/20 CBS: 8:00 p.m. The Defenders (season or series finale) 9:00 p.m. CSI: NY 10:00 p.m. Blue Bloods NBC: 8:00 p.m. Who Do You Think You Are? 9:00 p.m. Dateline (two hours) Fox: 8:00 p.m. Kitchen Nightmares 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW 8:00 p.m. Smallville (R) 9:00 p.m. Supernatural (R) ---------- Saturday 3/12/11 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Wipeout (R) 9:00 p.m. Rascal Flatts: Nothing Like This Presented by J.C. Penney10:00 p.m. Secret Millionaire (R) CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS (R) 9:00 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles (R)10:00 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery NBC: 8:00 p.m. Harry’s Law (R) 9:00 p.m. Law & Order: Los Angeles (R)10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (R) Fox: 8:00 p.m. Cops 8:30 p.m. Cops (R) 9:00 p.m. America’s Most Wanted ---------- Sunday 3/13/11 ABC: 7:00 p.m. America’s Funniest Home Videos 8:00 p.m. Secret Millionaire 9:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives (R)10:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters (R) CBS: 7:00 p.m. 60 Minutes 8:00 p.m. The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business 9:00 p.m. Undercover Boss 10:00 p.m. CSI: Miami NBC: 7:00 p.m. Dateline 8:00 p.m. America’s Next Great Restaurant 9:00 p.m. Celebrity Apprentice Fox: 7:00 p.m. The Simpsons (R) 7:30 p.m. American Dad (R) 8:00 p.m. The Simpsons 8:30 p.m. Bob’s Burgers 9:00 p.m. Family Guy (R) 9:30 p.m. The Cleveland Show ______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -America’s Next Great Restaurant to Repeat on Tuesday:NBC will air a repeat of this Sunday’s installment of America’s Next Great Restaurant in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour on March 15 (out of The Biggest Loser) in place of the planned encore telecast of Parenthood. America’s Next Great Restaurant opened to anemic results, with just 4.49 million viewers and a 1.6 rating/4 share among adults 18-49 in the Sunday 8 p.m. hour on March 6. -John Edward on Dr. Oz:Psychic medium extraordinaire John Edward, who needs to be back on the air with a regular series, will be featured on the Tuesday, March 15 installment of Sony Pictures Television talker Dr. Oz. Themed “Psychic Mediums: Are They the New Therapists?,” John will conduct readings and discuss how communicating with the deceased can help with the healing process of losing a loved one. Check local listings for airtimes. -Jason Priestley Heads to Syfy’s Haven:Former Beverly Hills, 90210 good guy Jason Priestly has been book for a four episode arc on Syfy drama Haven. Priestley’s character is described as an anti-social marine biologist. Haven will begin production on 13 episodes for season two in Nova Scotia on April 1, with a planned summer 2011 premiere. -TNT This Summer:TNT has unveiled its summer 2011 schedule, which will include two new series (science fiction themed Falling Skies and light-hearted legal series Franklin & Bash), plus the returns of dramas The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Men of a Certain Age, Leverage, HawthoRNe and Memphis Beat. Franklin & Bash, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer and two fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants lawyers, launches on Wednesday, June 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT into the second season-premiere of Men of a Certain Age at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Next are the season-premieres of Memphis Beat and HawthoRNe on Tuesday, June 14 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT. Falling Skies, Steven Spielberg’s epic tale of the aftermath of an alien invasion, opens with a two-hour installment on Sunday, June 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. One week later, it moves to Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT out of the new season of Leverage. Capping off TNT’s original summer line-up are the new seasons of crime solvers The Closer (season seven) and Rizzoli & Isles (season two) from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT beginning on Monday, July 11. _______________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Protecting Mayberry Where does Barney Fife keep the bullet for his gun on The Andy Griffith Show? a) in his gunb) in his left sockc) in his right back pants pocketd) in his shirt pocket e) under his hat The answer to yesterday’s question… Who played Grace’s older sister Janet on long-running NBC sitcom Will & Grace? a) Geena Davis b) Minnie Driverc) Edie Falco d) Parker Posey e) Mira SorvinoIs: a) Geena Davis, who appeared in an sixth season episode called “The Accidental Tsuris” (which was a take on Davis’ Academy Award winning role in The Accidental Tourist).-Current kudos goes to:Gerry Bixenspan, Barbara Bloomfield, Maram Canawati, Cory Chapman, Jim Colucci, Tom Condosta, John Ferlazzo, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon (2x), Michelle Harrington, Bob Ingersoll, Stefanie King, Jim Kittelberger, Synda Kollman, Carol Kruger, Steven Kurtzer, Danny Leclair, Rick Locke, Mark Misiano, Jim Moore, Michael Murphy, David Primuth, Gordon Purcell, Jay Rossi, Neal Sabin, Maxine Shulman, Michelle Stanton, Joe Swaney, Tammy Wiard, Jessica Wolfe, Abbott Wool

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