| Scoreboard for Fri. May 9, 2008 |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 8.52 | 6.42 | 5.38 | 4.12 | 3.39 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.0/7 | 1.7/6 | 1.4/5 | 1.3/5 | 1.1/4 |
CBS won another May sweeps Friday night, but you know when the CW is consistently beating FOX on a Friday night, that it's a night the networks hardly care about. It will be very, very interesting to see how the CW programs Friday nights in the fall when it will no long have Friday Night Smackdown!. Now that the CW will be programming neither Saturday nor Sunday nights starting in the fall, coupled with the absence of Smackdown they have some difficult choices to make.
Will the CW stick all their worst performing programming on the vast Friday night wasteland, or will they stick those shows on Thursday against very difficult competition and move shows like Supernatural to Friday - a night with fewer viewers, but also less competition? We'll find out next week.
The big difference between last night and the prior Friday was that ABC ran with a clips show this week TV's All-Time Funniest and although it was by no means stellar with 6.5 million and a 1.6/6, they got a lot better performance out of it than Duel. Also, 20/20 fared a lot better at 10pm than it did last week.
CBS obviously lost a few viewers I'd speculate they went to the clips show on ABC and stuck with 20/20, but it's but speculation. Either way all CBS shows were down over last week. And although Moonlight lost a little more than two hundred thousand viewers (the least of any CBS show week over week) with 7.68 million, it's 1.9/6 performance is concerning for a show on the bubble. Ghost Whisperer was down about half a million viewers with 8.74m, and Numb3rs was down over a million viewers with 9.13m.
Although Moonlight still won its time slot, even in the demo. I think had this been last year, CBS would definitely cancel Moonlight, just as it did Close to Home last year. Weighing at least slightly in Moonlight's favor is that this isn't last year. The landscape has changed a little bit as seemingly most networks have completely thrown in the towel (can you say repeats of Most Outrageous Moments, even in May Sweeps!?) as far as Friday nights. If the margins on Moonlight are right (AKA it doesn't cost much to make), it could be a keeper in the current Friday night landscape.
We won't have to wait long to find out, you'll know by the finale next Friday whether it's the season finale or the series finale.
See Friday night's details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | ABC | TV's All-Time Funniest (8p-10p) | 6.5 | 1.6/6 |
| CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 8.74 | 2.1/8 | |
| NBC | Most Outrageous Moments (R ) | 4.21 | 1.2/5 | |
| CW | Friday Night Smackdown! (8p-10p) | 4.12 | 1.3/5 | |
| FOX | Man of the House (8p-10p) (R ) | 3.39 | 1.1/4 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | Moonlight | 7.68 | 1.9/6 |
| NBC | Dateline (8p-10p) | 5.96 | 1.5/5 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | 20/20 | 6.26 | 1.9/6 |
| CBS | Numb3rs | 9.13 | 2.2/7 |
Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Full night's results available via Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
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Glad to see that Moonlight helped CBS win the night! And it’s great to see that it took the demo. It’s just a bit confusing because of the two hour programs that started at 8pm. But if you look, none of those two hour programs took the demo at all.
Kudos to Moonlight! This show deserves its second season!
Moonlight has at best 50/50 chances. I know the picture has changed for the last year but a drop from 2.6 in demos for C2H to 1.9 for Moonlight is very very high. And C2H not only was winning in viewers and demos at 9pm, a year ago it won the night in viewers in demos.
Rob, with GW pulling a 2.1 and Numb3rs but a 2.2, your argument would suggest CBS should cancel its *entire* Friday night line-up. I won’t opine other than to say there’s no way that’s actually going to happen. Of the three, Moonlight is certainly the one on the bubble. I will not be surprised if they keep it, nor will I be surprised if they cancel it as it seems to be sitting directly on the fence.
i think moonlight should get the boot after a poor performance in the demo, and CBS should move Shark to Fridays. any thoughts?
Moonlight won its timeslot with the demo. How can that be a poor performance? Moonlight doesn’t have great numbers, but it has consistent ones. And given that number of viewers is down quite a bit compared to last year, having a consistent show with room to grow seems to weigh in Moonlight’s favor. Nothing seems to work well in this slot, Moonlight is at least doing better than other shows.
I think Moonlight deserves to be renewed. It’s helping CBS win the night and it’s winning the timeslot with the demos and it”s numbers are consistent. I agree Moonlight is doing better then other shows. There is more build on if it’s granted a 2nd season.
I would love to see Moonlight get a second season too. This is a strange year to watch the ratings to say the least. I just don’t know.
Robert, does the fact that Moonlight fans seem to be a little more consistent in showing up matter? I cannot figure out where everyone has gone–and I don’t mean for just Moonlight. Do you think things will level off in the fall or is the a whole new world?
I think the consistency is definitely a point in Moonlight’s favor. There are many shows that saw steep decreases after months long breaks in new episodes, and Moonlight was definitely more consistent than some shows. I’d feel a little better if it was consistently averaging over 8 million viewers though.
I’m glad that Moonlight is being consistent. Wish it was a little higher though. Surprised that GW and Numb3rs were down so much too.
Robert – Will the DVR numbers coming out on Monday(?) have the first new episode after the hiatus of Moonlight in them? (can’t remember the delay for DVR #’s) Don’t know if these numbers will matter to TPTB, but would be interested to know how the show did.
Polly, yes, the live plus seven day DVR results for “Fated to Pretend” that aired on 4/25 will be in the Monday results.
How much of a dip in Moonlight’s ratings is due to nicer weather or… are you able to get the DVR +7 ratings? I’d be curious to know how ML stacks up.
Thanks Robert. Have a nice weekend!
The effect of NBA games on viewers in the East could explain why a lot of these numbers look bad in relation to others.
Guess you have to judge all of these Friday shows only against each other. Remember that a lot of what ABC didn’t get last night, it picked up on sister station ESPN with Kobe and the Lakers at Utah.
Please give Moonlight a second season,,,,,,,
I say Moonlight will be given a second season due to the cost to make plus for now it is a ratings winner.
I could see MyNetworkTV next season becoming a major player in Friday nights as most if not all of The CW’s viewers will flock to Friday nights and they will become the “sixth” network. MyNet at the moment doesn’t have much to lose only to gain at this point, The CW on the other hand has more to lose. They should have extended Smakdown’s contract until they can build a better hold in the ratings. They should have held on to it due to the strike happening and them losing viewers due to it.
i heard CBS wanted to move Shark to fridays. is this true? or is it just a rumor?
Josh, you’re onto something with MyNetworkTV.
Their season to date viewer levels this season are about 50% of the CW’s across all the demo categories. All other things being equal, when they flip Smackdown that gap will narrow, and MyNetworkTV has shown viewer gains this year, while CW has lost 20+%, if that trend continues, they could easily be in close with the CW’s numbers next year.
You’ve given me an idea for a new post on Monday. Thanks!
Hi! How much does the HH Ratings Share factor into ratings? I was noticing that Moonlight has had a 5.09 ratings share for the past 3 episodes which is hgher than 4 of the episodes which aired last fall. Just curious. Trying to understand all the numbers. Thanks!
“Share” just represents the % of TVs that were turned on that were watching a program. I think it would only matter much if the # of TVs turned on that hour was fluctuating wildly.
They can forget “Shark” on Friday night’s schedule. I have totally lost interest in it & the only reason I watch Ghost Whisperer is because of MOONLIGHT
CBS will certainly lose me as a viewer & wonder how many more?????
Hey! CBS, don’t fix it….if it isn’t broken. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” etc.etc.