NBC
With a fresh new fall season underway, Ratings Clack is the place to talk about what’s up (HIMYM), what’s down (House), and to ponder just what the hell were they thinking (Tie – Knight Rider/Do Not Disturb). Looking at our first big week of programming, the big story to me is that NBC is just flat out screwed. America’s Got Talent and the NFL are the only programs that managed to top 10 million viewers. In a week where Heroes, SVU, Knight Rider, Earl, The Office, and ER were all new, that’s really bad.
NBC - Yikes. There really isn’t much that is good to say about the peacock network. Heroes was the big event of the week, and from a ratings standpoint it was, at best, disappointing. Down some 4 million viewers from the season two premiere, the show only managed 9.89 million viewers for it’s big two hour debut. If there is a silver lining in that number though, it’s the 4.9 demo number. That’s solid, and the show should stay near those levels.
A show that won’t be retaining its premiere levels though, is Knight Rider. Like a number of NBC executives, I was surprised by the numbers the Knight Rider movie pulled in. Unlike them, I assumed it had a lot to do with nostalgia and curiosity, and after watching it, I didn’t think it could stand a chance going to series. Now that I’ve seen the premiere, I’m more sure than ever about that. Really, that whole pickup Transformers thing… The show managed only 7.3 million viewers with a 2.4 demo. Expect that to drop each week for however long they leave this show on the air. Even worse, Lipstick Jungle followed later in the night with just 6.08 million and a 2.3 demo. And that was against a really bad David Blaine event on ABC. It should get tough for the girls once Dirty Sexy Money comes online.
There was one bright spot for NBC. The Office premiered with 9.19 million viewers and a 4.9 demo. It’s not exactly the return of the Must See TV glory days, but still very nice. And that was going up against Grey’s and Survivor. Unfortunately things didn’t look so good for its Thursday playmates. The shine seems to be off of My Name Is Earl, debuting with just 6.4 million viewers and a 2.6. Likewise for the kick off to the final season of ER. It managed 7.92 million viewers and a 3.3, but that was less viewers than a CSI repeat. Overall, a horrible first week for NBC.
CBS – News was considerably better for CBS. As expected, all of the procedurals are doing just fine. Look at these numbers: CSI:Miami (16.87/5.1), NCIS (17.72/3.5), The Mentalist (15.5/3.5), Without A Trace (11.38/2.8), Criminal Minds (15.12/4.2), CSI:NY (15.55/4.2) Crazy, isn’t it?
The more interesting bit of the CBS story this week is with the comedies. Much has been made of the struggles of the non 2 1/2 Men part of the Monday roster. If premiere week is any indication, patience is paying off. Big Bang Theory led off with 9.36 million viewers and a 3.6 followed by How I Met Your Mother with 9.74 million and a 4.0. Those numbers are up for both shows. There is some question about Worst Week however. It’s debut numbers, 11.04/3.8, were down when compared to Rules Of Engagement last season. What happens with it over the next couple weeks will be very telling. Given the revolving nature of the 9:30 slot, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gary Unmarried get a tryout there.
Speaking of Gary, the new Wednesday comedy block didn’t get off to a great start. The New Adventures Of Old Christine at 6.7 million/2.1 was followed by Gary Unmarried with 6.84 million/2.3. Not a great start, but notable that Gary Unmarried actually had better numbers than Old Christine.
FOX - When I think of FOX, I mostly picture executives dodging emails and phone calls while they wait for Idol to come out of mothballs and save them. Because really, that’s going to ultimately be the story of their season. With no Idol in site yet though, it wasn’t a good week. Now that the rest of the networks are up to speed, that Monday night doesn’t look good. Terminator:TSCC dropped to 5.81 million/2.2 and was followed by Prison Break with 5.92 million/2.5. Those are just getting by numbers, not renewal numbers.
It wasn’t the worst thing to happen to Fox last week though. That would be the comedy hour of ‘Til Death and Do Not Disturb. ‘Til Death, suffering from a drastic shortage of Woodcock, is hovering above cancellation at 4.63 million/1.7. Do Not Disturb stopped with the hovering, falling to 3.53 million/1.4 and getting axed. Yikes.
The bright spots, kind of, for FOX were House, Fringe, and Bones. I say kind of because while House and Fringe combined to win their night for Fox, the numbers are a little curious. House had 12.14 million viewers and a 4.9, which is down some 6 million viewers from this time last year, when it was airing at 9. Also giving pause is the fact that Fringe, with 9.65 million/4.2, lost 3.7 million viewers and a point in the demo, from just a week earlier. Those numbers are still good, but it will be interesting to see if the slide continues. Bones continues to be solid with 9.61 million and a 3.1.
ABC - This week was all about dancing. Well, mostly about dancing. There were some doctors involved too. With an expanded premiere week though, ABC assured us all that Dancing With The Stars isn’t going anywhere. Check it out: Monday (21.12/5.8), Tuesday (18.2/4.7), Wednesday (15.5/3.6) Joining the hoofers on the happy train were the doctors from Grey’s Anatomy. Their old foe CSI hasn’t joined the game yet, but the two hour premiere came in with 18.31 million viewers and a whopping 7.3 demo.
On the less exciting side, the new game show, Opportunity Knocks, is just plain dull. It premiered with 6.63 million viewers and a 1.8. Boston Legal also had an ok premiere following Dancing With The Stars and earning 9.41 million/2.4. On a similar note, Ugly Betty returned with 9.77 million/3.3. Neither of them are great numbers, but they’ll do.
CW – We are, of course, grading on a curve here, but the CW actually had a pretty good week. Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill seem perfectly matched on Monday, bringing in 3.35 million/1.6 and 3.1 million/1.5 respectively. Likewise with Smallville and Supernatural at 4.1 million/1.7 and 3.24 million/1.3. Next Top Model is showing some age, but still solid with 4.07 million viewers and a 2.1. The sketchy bit of the schedule seems to be Tuesday. 90210 is hanging in there with 2.96 million/1.8, but the slow decline is worrisome. Privileged, however, is struggling, managing just 1.86 million/.9 last week. That’s unfortunate, because I do actually like that one.
So, there we have it, another week of crazy numbers in the books. Things to watch for this week:
Fringe – Are people going to stay with the show? Or will those viewer numbers keep dropping?
Knight Rider – Oh, the numbers are going to drop. The question is, how fast? 6.6 million this week?
Chuck – What will our favorite nerd debut at? 8 million?
ABC Wednesday night – Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money all return. How many viewers will show up, and will Kristin Chenoweth’s boobs still be a featured character?
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Sep 29, 2008 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Of course Bones was strong last week — Zack was back.
It was a great episode.
I loved that when Booth saw the action figures in Jared’s room, he wanted to call in “expert” Sweets to get insight into Jared.
I think that on it’s own, the whole Wendell misunderstanding arc would have been funnier but it was overshadowed by the return of Zack.
And the final few minutes (I’m trying not to give it away) more than made up for last year’s finale. I was happy/relieved to learn what we found out, but at the same time it was still sad.