More Victory for American Idol Over The Winter Olympics

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, February 25, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Idol Lifts Fox to More Victory Over the Winter Olympics on 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: Hi Big Daddy________________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Idol Lifts Fox to More Victory Over the Winter Olympics on NBC Wednesday 2/24/10 HH Rtg/Shr Fox 14.8/22NBC 13.2/20CBS 4.3/ 7ABC 2.7/ 4CW 0.7/ 1 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, February 25, 2009):NBC: +230, Fox: + 9, CW: no change, CBS: -38, ABC: -40 ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:American Idol (Fox), The 2010 Winter Olympics (NBC) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Nothing – ABC, CBS and The CW were in all repeats. ---------- -Ratings Breakdown:Once again, Fox’s dominant American Idol bested NBC’s The Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, with a 1.6 rating point advantage in the overnights (and a larger expected lead among key adults 18-49). American Idol averaged a 14.8 rating/22 share from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows: American Idol (Fox)8:00 p.m.: 13.8/21 (#1)8:30 p.m.: 14.8/22 (#1)9:00 p.m.: 15.0/22 (#1)9:30 p.m.: 15.4/22 (#1) To the folks at PIFeedback accusing me of purposely negating new judge Ellen DeGeneres (I am always accused of something!), guess what? She stepped up to the plate yesterday! But, let’s be honest: the 12 male contestants overall were no great shakes. Most likely to bid adieu tonight: John Park and Jermaine Sellers. Best bet to keep a long term eye on: Lee Dewayze. Over at NBC, the ongoing Winter Olympics scored a 13.2/20 in the overnights from 8-11 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows: Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (NBC)8:00 p.m.: 10.3/16 (#2)8:30 p.m.: 12.2/18 (#2)9:00 p.m.: 14.7/21 (#2)9:30 p.m.: 14.2/21 (#2)10:00 p.m.: 14.3/22 (#1)10:30 p.m.: 13.7/23 (#1) In the very distant No. 3 spot was CBS care of encore telecasts of The New Adventures of Old Christine (#4: 3.0/ 5), Gary Unmarried (#4: 2.4/ 4), which closes the season in April, Criminal Minds (#3: 5.1/ 8) and CSI: NY (#2: 5.3/ 8). Next was ABC with an all night of repeats as follows: ABC/Wednesday8:00 p.m.: Modern Family (R): 3.1/ 5 (#3)8:30 p.m.: The Middle (R): 2.8/ 4 (#3)9:00 p.m.: Modern Family (R): 3.2/ 5 (#4)9:30 p.m.: The Middle (R): 2.4/ 3 (#4)10:00 p.m.: Cougar Town (R): 2.6/ 4 (#3)10:30 p.m.: Cougar Town (R): 2.3/ 4 (#3) The CW capped off this fourth Wednesday in February with repeats of Life Unexpected (#5: 0.9/ 1) and Gossip Girl (#5), which returns to the Monday 9 p.m. hour on March 8. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -WWE NXT Scores on Syfy:The debut of Syfy’s WWE NXT opened with 1.7 million total viewers on Tuesday, Feb. 23, which built by 32 percent from the first quarter 2010 Tuesday 10 p.m. time period average. Growth elsewhere was 51 percent in adults 18-49 (787,000), 35 percent in adults 25-54 (767,000) and 73 percent among adults 18-34 (430,000). The median age for WWENXT was just 35.2 years old, almost eight years below the 42.9 time period average. -Updated Winter Olympic Results:Based on the first 12 nights of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (through Tuesday, Feb. 23), NBC is estimating a total tune-in to-date of 174 million viewers on the networks of NBC Universal. Average viewership is 25.2 million -- 20 percent above the 21.0 million for the comparable period in Turino in 2006. The tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games in 1994 was considerably higher at 39.4 million. -Top 20 in Syndication – Week of Feb. 8:Here are the top 20 rated programs in syndication (first-run and off-network) based on household rating for the week of Feb. 8, followed by any highlights worth noting: Wheel of Fortune (CBS Television Distribution): 7.4 rating, Jeopardy (CBS): 6.4, Two and a Half Men (Warner Bros.): 5.7, Oprah (CBS): 5.4, Judge Judy (CBS) and Entertainment Tonight (CBS): 5.0 each, Wheel of Fortune – Weekend (CBS): 3.9, Inside Edition (CBS): 3.6, CSI: NY (CBS) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC Universal): 3.3 each, Dr. Phil (CBS), The Office (NBCU) and Dr. Oz (Sony Pictures Television): 3.2 each, Live With Regis & Kelly (Disney-ABC): 3.0, Ellen (Warner Bros.), George Lopez (Warner Bros.), Seinfeld (SPT) and Two and a Half Men – Weekend (Warner Bros.): 2.9 each, Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) and Entertainment Tonight – Weekend (CBS): 2.8 each With the East Coast smack in the middle of a winter snow storm, more people were home watching television and the increased ratings reflected that. On that note… -CBS Television Distribution’s Oprah extended its winning streak in talk to 563 straight weeks, with growth of 20 percent in households from the comparable year-ago week. -Also from CBS: Judge Judy, Dr. Phil, Judge Joe Brown (2.4) and Rachael Ray (2.0) tied their season highs; The Insider (2.0) hit a new season high; and The Doctors (2.0) jumped by 17 percent among women 18-34 from one week earlier. -Warner Bros.’ The Ellen DeGeneres Show rose to a series-high 2.9 in households -- up 26 percent from one year earlier. -Also from Warner Bros.: Two and a Half Men built by nine percent from one week earlier; People’s Court (2.3) hit a series high; George Lopez (2.9) equaled its season best; and Extra (2.0) increased by 18 percent year-to-year.-NBC Universal’s Maury perked up to a 2.2 -- up 22 percent from one year earlier, with its best household rating in six weeks. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 2/25/10 ABC: 8:00 p.m. The Deep End (season or series finale) 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy (R)10:00 p.m. Private Practice (R) CBS: 8:00 p.m. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains 9:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R)10:00 p.m. CSI (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. 2010 Winter Olympics Fox: 8:00 p.m. American Idol Results Show 9:00 p.m. Kitchen Nightmares CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries (R) 9:00 p.m. Supernatural (R) Considering The Deep End co-star Ben Lawson has been cast in a comedy pilot on ABC called Freshmen, you can treat tonight as the final episode of the legal drama. Freshmen revolves around three first-year members of Congress who live together in a row house in Washington.______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Paul Reiser in Contention to Return to NBC:Former Mad About You star Paul Reiser has received a pilot pick-up from NBC on a single-camera comedy series shot in documentary style that will feature Reiser as a fictionalized version of himself dealing with his trails and tribulations. Could HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm been the model for this sound alike show? -Elton John Heads to The View:Sir Elton John will partake in the “Hot Topics” discussion of ABC’s The View on Thursday, March 11, marking his fifth appearance on the daytime chatfest. -Leno Fans, Take Note:Upcoming guests on Jay Leno’s return to NBC’s The Tonight Show will include guests Jamie Foxx, Sarah Palin, Brett Favre, Adam Lambert, Robin Thicke and Olympic champions Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White and Apolo Anton Ohno in the first few weeks. Leno’s first night back is Monday, March 1. _________________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Hi Big Daddy Which one of the following TV characters fondly referred to her father as “Big Daddy”? a) Florence Jean Castleberry b) Diane Chambers c) Blanche Devereaux d) Miss Ellie Ewinge) Harriette Winslow The answer to yesterday’s question… What was Jim’s nickname for oldest daughter Betty on classic family sitcom Father Knows Best? a) Babyb) Kittenc) Princessd) Pumpkine) Sugar Boo Is: c) Princess. Betty “Princess” Anderson was played by Elinor Donahue, who is 73 years-old now. To the masses who answered Kitten (and there were many people), that was Jim’s nickname for youngest daughter Kathy. -Current kudos goes to:Suzanne Ackley, Gerry Bixenspan, Kimay Bloch, Barbara Bloomfield, Mitch Burg, Kay Copeland, Audrey Davis, Dee Davis, Reid Davis, Bob Eisenstaedt, Phyllis Epstein, Jim Forkan, Doren Fronterhouse, Leon Gittens, Vicky Gregorian, Carolyn Becker Hayes, Barb Hembeger, Jerry Hermes, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Deb Kainer, Mary Kalnin, Marie LeFevre Karp, Mark Krause, Tom Lawrenson, Howard Lieboff, Patty Lynch, Kathy Martin, John McMorrow, Jim Moore, Joanne Albrecht Murnane, Michael Murphy Jay Ogletree, Alan Perris, Francine Purcell, Gordon Purcell, Arthur Reinstein, Con Rigg, Bruce Robinson. Alan Rosenfeld, Ron Salmon, Maxine Schulman, Michelle Stanton, Joe Swaney, Ronnie Tallant, Margaret Thomas, Patricia Trimboli, Ted Zawislak

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More Victory for American Idol Over The Winter Olympics

Marc Berman

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