Ratings report (aka: how long will the new shows survive?)

[alteran]

By popular demand, I will continue my reports:

Just wanted to add my vote for continuing the reports. I can find the numbers myself, but I can't find anyone else that can give them any context and I DO find it interesting.

Particularly since I have a tendency to watch shows that get canned. (Veronica Mars, Invasion, Jericho [yes, I know, resurrected], Firefly, Angel, I could go on.)

[Dukerati]

I don't know if Jason needs any more motivation to continue posting the reports but I too enjoy reading his insight so don't stop! I happen to live in a house that contains four members of the key 18-49 demographic and as such, we record a billion shows per week. All in all, I am really disappointed with the new shows this year. I started out watching six new shows and have cut it down to two:

Reaper (not regularly, it's good when I watch it but it doesn't grab me)
Journeyman (my favorite and of course it's going to get Knighted, !@$(@$^Y)

I've also shed Prison Break from the rotation because it got overly formulaic and they killed off one of the central threads (arguably, THE central thread) of the show early this season.

Jason, tell me the truth. Any chance Journeyman can rebound from this? Any historical precedent? I need some hope here.

[Clipsfan]

--Jason "as an aside, the first ratings reports on how much folks watch commericals are out-- and a little less than 20% of people skip commericals via TIVO or other DVRs... stunning to me that it is not higher" Evans

I haven't seen those reports, who distributed them? Do you know if that 20% is of people with the capability to skip, or of all people who watch?

I have some slightly older reports that Jupiter Research did which cover the exact topic, and oddly enough the number 12-18 months ago was the same if I remember correctly. I thought it was low at the time, given that I don't watch commercials unless I'm forced to (although sometimes I'll let them run as I head off to take care of something rather than pausing/skipping).

[JasonEvans]

Jason, tell me the truth. Any chance Journeyman can rebound from this? Any historical precedent? I need some hope here.

Sure, there is precedent. Hill Street Blues, Seinfeld, and Cheers were all ratings bombs when they first aired and all turned it around. It is much more common though for a comedy to catch on than it is for a drama to do so. The Office, for example, got pretty bad ratings at first and is a fairly solid performer now.

The problem Journeyman has is that I think it would be very tough for new folks to catch on to what is going on. The :45 seconds of flashbacks at the beginning of every episode are not nearly enough to clue you in and the nature of the show is such that you'll be fairly lost without watching the previous episodes.

I think the writer's strike could be a real benefit for this show. The strike makes it harder, if not impossible, to replace Journeyman for now and, if the networks go to repeats, it is possible that a lot more people could get a chance to sample Journeyman from the beginning and perhaps become fans of the show.

--Jason "fingers crossed!!" Evans

[Cavlaw]

I guess I don't do anything for the ratings of Journeyman, even though I like it, since I generally watch it online. I just can't give the electronic teat priority in scheduling my life, and so won't ever commit to sitting in front of it at a set time every week.

Does this make me un-American?

[JasonEvans]

Tuesday 10/23 -
House won the night with 17.9 million viewers, better even than the 17.8M who watched Marie Osmond almost die on Dancing with the Stars. House has very good demographics too. Folks who wonder if a drama can become a big hit need look no further than House, which did not stat out as a big success but has really built to be one of the top shows on TV in this, its 4th season on the air.

Folks wishing the worst on Cavemen and Carpoolers may get their wish as both those shows saw about a 20% drop in their audience. This week 6.5 million people actually tuned in to watch Cavemen. 7.1 million watched Carpoolers.

The night's other new show of note, Cane, saw its audience fall... again! The show has lost viewers every week. It is down to less than 8 million viewers per episode now. If it were not for the threat of the strike making networks gun-shy about canceling anything, Cane would be in real trouble.

Wednesday 10/24 -
You can pretty much stick a fork in The Bionic Woman cause that sucker is done! After making a splashy premiere with close to 14 million viewers, it has sunk like a stone. This week, it did just 7.8 million viewers, meaning almost half the people who sampled it a few weeks ago have given up. Folks, that is baaad! It came in 4th place in its timeslot behind The World Series (16.9M), Criminal Minds (15M), and Private Practice (11.8M). It is not even competitive with these other shows at this point.

The news for Pushing Daisies is good and bad at the same time. On the good side, ABC announced this week that it is picking up a full season of the show, ordering 22 episodes. Yippee!! The bad is that the ratings continue to slip. After getting 13 million viewers the opening week, there has been a steady erosion. This week it got 9.7 million, which was down from last week, but only by about 200k viewers. It ranked 2nd in its timeslot behind FOX's World Series broadcast-- which is not bad. The fact that this quirky show gets a full season order is really good news though! Oh, one more potentially negative note-- the scuttlebutt from Hollywood is that Daisies is running a bit behind schedule and over budget because there are so many special effects in each episode (to create the unique look of the show). That may not bode well for its future beyond this season.

--Jason "Thursday news coming soon!!" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Thursday 10/25 ratings report:

Grey's Anatomy was the big boy on the block this week with 17.95M, easily beating CSI (14.8M for a repeat episode, not bad at all), and even the World Series (15.6M). That's impressive!

Big Shots, the show that follows Grey's, had its worst performance yet with just 8.1M viewers. Anytime you lose 50% of your leadin, that's a bad sign and big Shots cannot be in good shape at this point.

NBC's once dominant Thursday night comedy lineup did better than last week but it is like a doughnut-- tasty on the outside but with a hole in the middle. That hole is 30 Rock. It is sandwiched between Earl (which did 8.2M this week, up a a strong 33%) and The Office (which did 9M this week, up 5% and with dynamite demographics) and yet 30 Rock only had 6.5 million viewers (up almost 20% from last week, but still a weak number). That means almost 2 million people watched Earl, then changed the channel or turned their TV off for 30 minutes and then they came back to watch The Office. Yikes!! Despite all the critical praise, I think 30 Rock may be on its last season. It cannot help that Alec Baldwin is (rumored to be) not all that interested in doing it for much longer and that Tracy Morgan is in more legal trouble.

At 10pm, ER had a little over 9 million viewers. It beats the pathetic big Shots but gets crushed by the World Series and Without a Trace. One has to wonder how much longer ER should continue. It is in its 14th season, I think, and there is not a single character from the glory days still on the show (maybe Luka and Abby, but they only showed up in season 6 and were not major players at first). As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, after 13+ seasons of watching every single episode, my wife and I gave it up cold turkey in the past few weeks and we do not miss it at all.

--Jason "more ratings news next week!" Evans

[DevilAlumna]

At 10pm, ER had a little over 9 million viewers. It beats the pathetic big Shots but gets crushed by the World Series and Without a Trace.

--Jason "more ratings news next week!" Evans

Hey Jason,

Do you know, do they treat ratings (viewer percentages) on the West coast differently? The World Series game was definitely over out here when ER came on...


Totally bummin' about the prognosis for 30 Rock -- that show has me laughing out loud every week. What is it about fast, intelligent, have-to-be-able-to-follow-a-story-line comedies that just doesn't hold up well with the American viewing public?

[JasonEvans]

Hey Jason,

Do you know, do they treat ratings (viewer percentages) on the West coast differently? The World Series game was definitely over out here when ER came on...


Totally bummin' about the prognosis for 30 Rock -- that show has me laughing out loud every week. What is it about fast, intelligent, have-to-be-able-to-follow-a-story-line comedies that just doesn't hold up well with the American viewing public?

The West Coast does not matter. I hate to say that, but it is true. Only 20% of the nation's population lives west of the Central Time Zone. The East has almost half the population, the Central has a third and the rest live in the Mountain and West (about 1% live in Alaska and Hawaii). Ratings from the West almost never impact a show in a significant way. Sorry.

As for 30 Rock, as I was watching it and howling with laughter this week, I turned to my wife and said, "there cannot be more than maybe 5% of America that gets these jokes." She remarked that at least half the time I am laughing, she does not even get the joke.

In this episode alone, they made jokes about:
Little Chechnya
HR Haldeman (twice!!!)
Jack doing an impression of Fred Sanford that was never identified as Fred Sanford
and Phil Spector's entourage

Folks, you cannot tell me that mainstream America has any idea what is going on in those jokes. I doubt more that 5% of the country even knows who Haldeman is!!! The jokes were hysterical, but no way 30 Rock becomes a big hit with jokes like that.

Then again, it does not have to be a big hit. I am loving it just the way it is!!

--Jason "my wife even missed the Star Wars joke-- she's pretty clueless when it comes to comedy" Evans

[DevilAlumna]

30 rock was just FAN-freakin-TASTIC this week!!! I think I laughed out loud at least once every 30 seconds.

Lines like, "you know I don't racially profile people. Remember when I asked that black guy if he'd seen 'Sideways'?"

And did anyone catch the news ticker when Jack was watching TV? Bwahahaha!

[YmoBeThere]

Anybody ever watch the Tila Tequila show? Could it be another sign that the Apocalypse is just around the corner?