The Programming Insider: Friday 4/15/11

Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings: Fox Wins; DOA Paul Reiser Show on NBC. Thursday 4/14/11: Household Rating/Share Fox: 11.0/18, CBS: 5.7/ 9, NBC: 3.4/ 6, ABC: 3.0/ 5, CW: 1.8/ 3. Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, April 15, 2010): Fox: +93, CW: -10, ABC: -14, NBC: -26, CBS: -29 Yesterday's Winners: American Idol (Fox), Bones (Fox), The Office (NBC), The Mentalist R (CBS) Yesterday's Losers: Community (NBC), The Paul Reiser Show (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), 30 Rock (NBC), Outsourced (NBC) Ratings Breakdown: American Idol led Fox to another Thursday victory, with a 5.3 overnight rating point advantage over distant second place CBS, which was in all repeats. Third overall was NBC, followed by ABC and The CW. In series-premiere news, viewers were not mad over NBC’s The Paul Reiser Show. Paul Reiser opened with an embarrassing 2.5 rating/ 4 share in the overnights at 8:30 p.m., which finished a distant fourth in the time period and could very well be the network’s lowest rated series launch historically. Considering most new shows drop in the vicinity of 10 percent to 20 percent in week two, Mr. Reiser may be planning a reunion of Mad About You sooner than he thinks. Earlier in the evening on NBC was lagging Community at a fourth place 2.6/ 4 in the overnights at 8 p.m. And leading out of clinker The Paul Reiser Show was The Office (#2: 5.5/ 9 at 9 p.m.), which built by a mammoth 120 percent and is gearing up for the departure of Steve Carell. Next on NBC was Parks and Recreation (#3: 3.7/ 6 at 9:30 p.m.), which dipped by 33 percent out of The Office, followed by low rated 30 Rock (#2, 3.4/ 6) and sure-to-be axed Outsourced (#3: 2.6/ 5) from 10-11 p.m. Over at first place Fox, American Idol stood well above anything else last night with a 14.3/23 in the overnights from 8-9 p.m. SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the live results show yet, stop reading. But, yes, overrated Paul MacDonald was finally sent packing, and Stefano Langone barely survived again. Needless to say, Pia Toscano is sorely missed. American Idol led into Bones, which dominated the 9 p.m. hour with a 7.7/12 in the overnights. But retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of American Idol (15.2/24) was only 51 percent. Despite airing a night of all repeats, CBS was still on the overnight map with its encore combination of The Big Bang Theory (#2: 5.2/ 9), Rules of Engagement (#2: 3.9/ 6), CSI (#2: 5.5/ 9), and The Mentalist, which finished first at 10 p.m. with a 7.2/13. Chances are CBS will probably move The Mentalist up one hour next season. ABC opened with an original installment of Wipeout (#3: 3.7/ 6 at 8 p.m.), followed by repeats of Grey’s Anatomy (#4: 3.1/ 5) and Private Practice (#3: 2.2/ 4) from 9-11 p.m. Remember, April is always riddled with encore telecasts. And The CW aired original episodes of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 2.1/ 3), its highest rated series, and Nikita (#5: 1.5/ 2), which slipped by 29 percent. And there you have it…that’s Thursday. Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box: What’s Hot/What’s Not Mixed Start for ABC’s Happy Endings: It was not a bust by any means. But considerable losses at 10 p.m. for the two-episode Wednesday launch of ABC sitcom Happy Endings could be problematic. Happy Endings previewed at 9:30 p.m. out of Modern Family with a third place finish in both total viewers (7.30 million) and adults 18-49 (2.8/ 7). And the retention out of Modern Family (Viewers: 9.61 million; A18-49: 3.9/10 at 9 p.m.) was a respectable 76 percent in total viewers and 72 percent in the demo. But a second episode in its regularly scheduled Wednesday 10 p.m. half hour dipped to 5.70 million viewers (#2) and a 2.3/ 6 among adults 18-49 (#3), and that was opposite a repeat of Law & Order: SVU on NBC. Next week, ABC’s Cougar Town returns to the 9:30 p.m. half hour leading into Happy Endings. Speaking of Wednesday:Here are the live plus same day results for Wednesday, April 13: Total Viewers: Fox: 19.35 million, CBS: 11.54, ABC: 6.37, NBC: 3.75, CW: 1.60 Adults 18-49: Fox: 6.2 rating/17 share, CBS: 3.0/ 8, ABC: 2.3/ 6, NBC: 1.1/ 3, CW: 0.7/ 2 Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest Hawaii Five-O Heads to TNT: TNT has acquired the off-network rights for the current revival of Hawaii Five-O on CBS at a reported low-to-mid $2 million range per episode. It begins in the cable network in the summer of 2014. Cable Series Renewals: MTV has renewed megahit iCarly for a fifth season, with the new batch of episodes scheduled to launch in 2012. And Adult Swim has picked-up live-action comedy Eagleheart for a second season, with an unspecified number of new episodes for 2011-12. Two ABC Daytime Soaps Out; The Chew and The Revolution In: ABC has confirmed the cancelations of long-running daytime serials All My Children and One Life to Live. All My Children, which concludes in September 2011, debuted on January 5, 1970, while One Life to Live, which opened on July 15, 1968, will end in January 2012. "More than 40 years ago, Agnes Nixon created both the worlds of All My Children and One Life to Live, worlds that the rest of us have been privileged to live in," said Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney ABC Television Group. "Her shows led the way forward, breaking a lot of rules along the way to defy expectations about what soaps can do and the issues they can cover. I am honored to have worked with her." Coming up are two new nonscripted shows: The Chew, which will replace All My Children in September; and The Revolution (working title), which steps in for One Life to Live in January 2012. The Chew will focus on food from all angles with a live daily hour where viewers get the dish on anything and everything related to the world of food and beyond. The Revolution is a daily hour about health and lifestyle transformations hosted by a team of experts (including fashion guru Tim Gunn, celebrity trainer Harley Pasterna, and former American Idol contestant Kimberly Locke) and guest contributors who help viewers transform all areas of their lives, from relationships to family, food, style, home design, finance, and more. Long-running serial General Hospital will not be impacted by these changes. OWN and Animal Planet Original Programming Initiatives: Recently launched OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has ordered six new series, while picking up new episodes of Ask Oprah’s All Stars, Enough Already! with Peter Walsh, In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman, and Oprah Presents Master Class. The new series are Confronting, which focuses on meditation; I Owe You My Life, about real life heroes; Louie Spence Dance Project, which follows the choreographer as he heads to Broadway; relationship-driven My Mom and Me; Sweetie Pies, the reality tale of a singer-turner-restaurateur; and Unfaithful – Stories of Betrayal, which explores infidelity. Animal Planet has picked up more than one dozen new series including Detroit Animal Tattoo, which focuses on world-renowned tattoo artist Tom Renshaw and his body-inking associates; Finding Bigfoot, featuring four members of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) as they embark on a mission to find the elusive creature; Hillbilly Handfishin’, which follows adventure hungry city slickers as they head to Oklahoma to submerge themselves in the murky waters to catch catfish; Lion Kings of Las Vegas, about a family named Fercos in Las Vegas who develop an intimate relationship with the tigers, panthers, and a lion that they raise; and My Extreme Animal Phobia, about a group of individuals paralyzed by an irrational fear of animals. Other upcoming shows at Animal Planet are Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer; Puppies vs. Babies; Rat Busters NYC; Romance Is Dead; Saved; Swamp City; and Tanked, which focuses on a family-owned business called Acrylic Tank Manufacturing (ATM). Returning series on Animal Plant are Confessions: Animal Hoarding; Dogs 101/Cats 101/Pets 101; Fatal Attractions; I Shouldn’t Be Alive; Infested!; It’s Me or the Dog; Monsters Inside Me; Must Love Cats; Pit Boss, Pit Bulls & Parolees; River Monsters; and Whale Wars.

Convergent TV

The Programming Insider: Friday 4/15/11

Viewers not mad about Paul Reiser

Marc Berman

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Marc Berman