A combination of baseball and pre-sweeps repeats made for a bit of an odd week. Repeats don’t mean there aren’t numbers of note however. We had Jay Leno’s first shot against CSI: Miami and NY repeats, and a look at what running repeats on Friday does for FOX. That is, nothing good for Dollhouse season 3. Also interesting this week — The Mentalist finally topped CSI in viewers and the demo, and even a repeat Gibbs appearance is worth 16 million viewers. Read the rest of this entry »

FlashForward has had an interesting run in its first three episodes. After being one of the most hyped shows leading into the season, the show kicked things off with 12.47 million viewers and a 4 demo.  Those numbers are of particular note, as both of them topped perennial Thursday at 8 champ, Survivor. Week two brought the expected drop, and found the show with 10.73 million viewers and a 3.7. Still solid, but it fell behind Survivor in viewers. Week three is where things get really interesting.

With the show falling to 9 million viewers and a 3 demo, Survivor reclaimed the top spot, and Bones moved to number two in viewers. The iffy bit here is that week three also had playoff baseball to contend with, which could have contributed to those lower than expected numbers. That leaves week four up in the air. Which way will the numbers go? As CJ suggested, it sounds like a good idea for another ratings game. I believe the 9 million viewers was an anomaly, and the number will bounce back this week. So, I’m setting the over/under at 10.25 million. You make the call in the poll, and leave your best guess for the viewer number in the comments. Winner can pick the show for the next ratings game.

 Loading ...

The 2008-2009 television season is quickly coming to a close. Last week saw some 30 season/series finales hitting our screens. The resulting numbers were all over the place. Some shows took advantage of the situation, pulling out all the stops and hitting numbers they hadn’t seen in some time. Others held steady. And a few signed in with troubling drops.

I’ve mentioned before that these final numbers could hold sway as the networks prepare to release the fall schedules this week. That does still apply, although, after all the shenanigans over the weekend, with Dollhouse and Better Off Ted being renewed, just how much sway becomes a little more cloudy. Read the rest of this entry »

And just like that, finale season is upon us. Over the next few weeks, all of our favorite shows will be pulling out all the stops and heading off into the summer break, with hopes of returning for another go in the fall. Some of them, no doubt, will be disappointed in that regard. Aside from the marriages, pregnancies, and lives left hanging in the balance, finales are interesting from a ratings perspective because they provide the possibilities of a numbers boost. One last data point to point to as you make the case that this show shouldn’t be canceled. NBC got the ball rolling last week as Chuck and Heroes both fired off their finale salvos. The results were something less than stellar. The news was better for Fringe, the NCIS spinoff, and the CW Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week was a bit of an odd one for programming as the networks went a bit experimental. Over at FOX, Bones tried its third night in a week. On ABC, The Unusuals took over for Cupid and someone gave the OK for another Lost clip show.  CBS continued the shuffling of their procedurals by bumping NCIS, The Mentalist, and Criminal Minds back an hour. The results, as you might have suspected, were varied. While a lot of that was strange, the biggest surprise of the week was Thursday, which found just about everything  taking a hit in the ratings. In other news, According To Jim still stinks out loud. Read the rest of this entry »

Man … last week was just a bloodbath in the ratings. With the exception of Thursday night, it was bad news for all of the shows at the top of my list for every night. Kings on Sunday, Chuck and Heroes on Monday, Reaper on Tuesday, Better Off Ted and Lost on Wednesday, and Dollhouse on Friday. Not a lot of good to report for any of them. On a brighter note, there was good news for the returning Fringe, and the debuts of Parks & Recreation, Southland, and Harper’s Island. Read the rest of this entry »

… finally. Much of last week could be described as more of the same for the folks over at NBC. But this particular Thursday was different. Not only because of ER taking over the entire night. It also brought a clear win for the night to the network, calling to mind the Must See TV of years gone by. The unfortunate bit of that is that it’s not repeatable. But it was fun for the night. In other numbers news for the week, nobody cares about In The Motherhood or Samantha Who?, Cupid premiered to somewhat iffy numbers, and both Lie To Me and CSI had numbers that should make their networks say, “Hmmmmm.” Read the rest of this entry »