Survivor-Ignited CBS Dominates Wednesday

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDERThursday, December 2, 2010 Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Survivor-Ignited CBS Dominates Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest TV Trivia Time: Happy Hanukkah ________________________________________________________________________________ Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:Survivor-Ignited CBS Dominates Wednesday 12/01/10Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. HH Rtg/Shr CBS 5.5/ 9NBC 5.3/ 8Fox 4.1/ 6ABC 3.8/ 6CW 2.2/ 3 ---------- -Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, December 2, 2009):CW: +175, ABC and CBS: + 6 each, NBC and Fox: no change, ---------- -Yesterday’s Winners:Survivor: Nicaragua (CBS), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC) -Honorable Mention:America’s Next Top Model (CW), Modern Family R (ABC), Criminal Minds R (CBS) -Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):Undercovers (NBC), Hellcats (CW), The Whole Truth (ABC), The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night (CBS) ---------- -Ratings Breakdown:CBS led the overnight troops on this first Wednesday in December, beating second-place NBC by four percent. Fox finished third overall, but demo-friendly Hell’s Kitchen will be advantageous to the network among adults 18-49. Next was ABC, followed by an above-average The CW, which benefited from the season-finale of America’s Next Top Model. Keep in mind, of course, that the month of December will be loaded with holiday specials and, unfortunately, encore telecasts. CBS favorite Survivor: Nicaragua remained just that, with a very dominant 7.2 rating/11 share in the overnights at 8 p.m. Comparably, this bested year-ago occupant Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (5.8/ 9 on Dec. 2, 2009) by 24 percent. SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading if you did not see last night’s episode yet. But from a fan’s perspective, the double departure of Naonka and Purple Kelly, who both unceremoniously quit, was one of the worst moments I have ever seen on this veteran series. Survivor: Nicaragua led into a repeat of CBS’ Criminal Minds (#2: 5.9/ 9 at 9 p.m.), followed by annual special, The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night, at a second-place 3.4/ 6 at 10 p.m. Compared on one year earlier (4.1/ 6 on Dec. 2, 2009), this was a loss of 17 percent. How someone as bland as Purple Kelly could get on the show to begin with is a mystery. NBC was off, but not running last night care of canceled Undercovers, which finished fourth at 8 p.m. with a 3.2/ 5 in the overnights. But lead-out Law & Order: SVU benefited opposite repeats on ABC and CBS, with a dominant 6.3/10 at 9 p.m. And freshman Law & Order: Los Angeles was up as a result, with a dominant 6.5/11 at 10 p.m. As a reminder, struggling NBC crime solver Chase, which currently airs Mondays at 10 p.m., will move to Wednesday at 9 p.m. beginning on Jan. 12 into Law & Order: SVU, which shifts back one hour. Recent Wednesday 10 p.m. entry Law & Order: Los Angeles moves to Tuesdays at 10 p.m. effective on February 8 out of The Biggest Loser: Couples from 8-10 p.m. Over at Fox, Human Target finished an uneventful third in the overnights at 8 p.m., with a 4.1/ 6. But moving to Wednesday at 9 p.m. in January (out of returning and re-tooled American Idol) will certainly give it a boost. Hell’s Kitchen on Fox at 9 p.m. also scored a 4.1/ 6, but its performance among target adults 18-49 is expected to be notably stronger than Human Target. ABC traveled the repeat route from 8-10 p.m., with its combination of The Middle (#3: 4.1/ 7), recent entry Better with You (#3: 3.8/ 6), standout Modern Family (#3: 5.0/ 8) and audience bleeding Cougar Town (#4: 3.3/ 5), which dipped by 34 percent out of Modern Family. At 10 p.m., ABC’s canceled The Whole Truth earned its walking papers with a last-place 2.8/ 5. Needless to say, not every series Jerry Bruckheimer attaches himself to is a hit. Over at The CW, the aforementioned America’s Next Top Model closed the season on a high note, with a 3.0/ 5 at 8 p.m. Compared to it’s year-ago fall season-ender (2.7/ 5 on Nov. 18, 2009), this was an increase of 11 percent. Despite the improved lead-in support, freshman drama Hellcats dipped to a very last-place 1.4/ 2 at 9 p.m. -- 55 percent below the 8:30 p.m. portion of America’s Next Top Model (3.1/ 5). Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) Ratings Box:What’s Hot/What’s Not -Sons of Anarchy Closes on a High Note:The 90-minute season finale of FX’s should-be-Emmy nominated drama Sons of Anarchy rose to its second highest-rated telecast of the season with 3.6 million total viewers and 2.4 million adults 18-49 in the Tuesday 10-11:30 p.m. block. Comparably, Sons of Anarchy finished as the most-watched program of the night in the two categories, plus adults 25-54 and the three key male demos: 18-49, 25-54 and 18-34. -Top-Rated Hallmark Made-for:The Saturday, November 27 premiere of original Hallmark Channel made-for, Debbie Macomber’s Call Me Mrs. Miracle finished first overall among all ad-supported cable for the week, with 2.65 million households and 4.7 million viewers. Comparably, this is the fifth consecutive Hallmark Channel original holiday movie to rank No. 1 for the day this season. -Cable November 2010 Scorecard:What follows are the top 10 rated networks on cable in prime-time for the month of November (Nov. 1 – 28) based on total viewers and the three key demos. -Total Viewers:ESPN: 3.91 million, USA: 2.74, Disney Channel: 2.55, Fox News: 2.14, TBS: 1.86, TNT: 1.72, Nick at Nite: 1.67, History: 1.51, ABC Family: 1.48, Cartoon: 1.44 -Adults 18-49:ESPN: 1.94 million, USA: 1.13 million, TBS: 1.07 million, FX: 780,000, TNT: 747,000, ABC Family: 671,000, History: 651,000, Comedy Central: 602,000, A&E: 592,000, AMC: 583,000 -Adults 25-54:ESPN: 1.91 million, USA: 1.16 million, TBS: 912,000, TNT: 772,000, History: 724,000, FX: 701,000, A&E: 623,000, AMC: 609,000, Disney Channel: 591,000, ABC Family: 590,000 -Adults 18-34:ESPN: 949,000, TBS: 623,000, USA: 541,000, FX: 432,000, Comedy Central: 394,000, ABC Family: 366,000, MTV: 356,000, TNT: 347,000, Disney Channel: 311,000, Bravo: 309,000 Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat) On the Air Tonight:Prime-Time Programming Options Thursday 12/02/10 ABC: 8:00 p.m. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (R) 9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy 10:00 p.m. Private Practice CBS: 8:00 p.m. The Big Bang Theory (R) 8:30 p.m. $#*! My Dad Says (R) 9:00 p.m. CSI (R)10:00 p.m. The Mentalist (R) NBC: 8:00 p.m. Community 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock 9:00 p.m. The Office 9:30 p.m. Outsourced10:00 p.m. The Apprentice Fox: 8:00 p.m. Bones 9:00 p.m. Fringe CW 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries 9:00 p.m. Nikita ______________________________________________________________________ TV Tidbits:Notes of Interest -Coming Up in First-Run Syndication:Distributor Entertainment Studios Inc. will launch a half-hour strip next fall called Who Wants to Be a Comedian? In first-run syndication and on cable network Comedy TV. The premise revolves around couples who compete to win the affection of a standup comedian. -More Auction Hunters on Spike TV:Spike TV has ordered a second season of recent entry Auction Hunters, with an order for 20 new episodes in 2011 -- the largest ever for a sophomore season of a Spike original series. The season one-finale is slated for Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m. ET. -Returning on A&E:A&E reality staple Intervention, which profiles people on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior, will return for a new season on Monday, Dec. 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Addiction specialists Rod Espudo and John Southworth will join the series as new interventionists. -Also on Cable:ABC Family drama Greek will open season four on Monday, January 3 at 9 p.m. ET. -DVD Alert:HBO’s Big Love: The Complete Fourth Season, which includes commentary from series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, will be available in stores on Jan. 4. __________________________________________________________________ TV Trivia Time:Happy Hanukkah Who created the Holiday Armadillo in celebration of Hanukkah? a) Joel Fleishmanb) Ross Geller c) Jerry Seinfeld d) Lilith Sternin e) Andrea Zuckerman The answer to yesterday’s question… Which one of the following series featured a character with the nickname “Old Lead Bottom?” a) Diff’rent Strokes b) Gimme a Breakc) McHale’s Navyd) The Sopranos e) The X-Files Is: c) McHale’s Navy. “Old Lead Bottom,” a.k.a. Capt. Wallace B. Binghamton was played by Joe Flynn on the 1962-66 sitcom. -Current kudos goes to:Don Abel, Steve Albright, Mary Bancroft, Becky Beaty, Gerry Bixenspan, Ramey Warren Black, Kimay Bloch, Barbara Bloomfield, John Brooker, Mitch Burg, Larry Collins, Tom Condosta, Harold Cooper, Kay Copeland, Audrey Davis, Reid Davis, John Ferlazzo, Adam Giagni, Maureen Goldman, Ed Griffis, Scott Hamula, Barb Hemberger, Brad Hight, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Ken Jobe, Mary Kalnin, Mary Kinoshita, Synda Kollman, Mark Krause, Steven Kutzer, Rick Locke, Patty Lynch, Kathy Martin, Alane Megna, Jim Moore, Anne Moynihan, Michael Murphy, Tony Naldrett, Alan Perris, David Primuth, Francine Purcell, Gordon Purcell, Arthur Reinstein, Paul Rodriguez, Jay Rossi, Colleen Roth, Joe Rubi, David Ruckman, Anthony Salerno, Marc Schacher, Carly Schinzing, Maxine Shulman, Mark Simmons, Michelle Stanton, Rick Vosk, Linda Weeks, Abbott Wool, Ged Young, Kendal Zagor, Ted Zavales, Ted Zawislak

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Survivor-Ignited CBS Dominates Wednesday

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