| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 8.22 | 5.82 | 5.64 | 5.61 | 1.50 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.1/7 | 1.4/4 | 1.4/5 | 1.7/5 | 0.6/2 |
Moving right along...
I suppose the debate about whether Crusoe is a series or a miniseries is meaningless. Even though in its ads NBC bills it as a new series, having lost over a million viewers from its premiere last week to wind up with 5.92 million viewers, one way or the other, it will be a mini-series. Though NBC managed to come in second for the night with the combination of Deal or No Deal, Crusoe and Life.
Crazed Moonlight fans (and sane, rational ones, too) will relish that at this point pretty much by any metric The Ex List (5.65 million viewers, 1.6/5 rating/share among 18-49 year olds) is doing worse than Moonlight did. While this won't bring Moonlight back, I do understand the Schadenfreude. For CBS it's pretty much the same deal as last year. They're getting relatively good performance out of the 8pm show and 10pm show, and relatively bad performance at 9pm. Back to the drawing board!
Fox's game shows rose to second place in total viewers, but still lagged behind ABC reality shows in the demo.
As previously noted, Life is, getting another chance at life. It will move to Wednesdays at 9pm starting November 5, with Lipstick Jungle migrating to Fridays and all but certain cancellation. I don't imagine Life will fare terribly well up against Criminal Minds, but, I'd prefer that slot to the Friday night graveyard.
I enjoyed last night's Life episode. But while I like Adam Arkin and his character, I'd have rather seen a scene where Crews got to call the ex- wife who'd asked to be called when her ex-husband was finally dead! That said, it was nice to see the uh...buxom Christina Hendricks (who is more famously known -- at least on the Internet -- for her role as Joan Holloway on Mad Men) back in the role of Olivia. But I watched this on a 61" wide screen, in HD. Was it really necessary to have her wearing something where a significant portion of her breasts were literally popping out? Not that I'm complaining.
I'll be writing more about Life, Life on Mars, and the soon-to-be-canceled Pushing Daisies sometime soon, probably this weekend.
I won't bash the CW again for Friday nights again, at least not this week. It had to know that when it let Friday Night Smackdown! go, it would lose at least 2 million viewers from its Friday night average.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 9.95 | 2.5/9 |
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | 6.04 | 1.4/5 | |
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader | 5.71 | 1.2/4 | |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.22 | 1.3/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris | 1.83 | 0.7/2 | |
| 8:30 | CW | The Game | 1.74 | 0.7/2 |
| 9:00 | NBC | Crusoe | 5.92 | 1.2/4 |
| CBS | The Ex List | 5.65 | 1.6/5 | |
| FOX | Don't Forget the Lyrics | 5.56 | 1.6/5 | |
| ABC | Supernanny | 5.08 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | America's Next Top Model (R) | 1.22 | 0.5/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 9.07 | 2.2/7 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 7.51 | 2.2/7 | |
| NBC | Life | 5.49 | 1.5/5 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot. Timeslot demo winners are in bold.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
No big mystery here why The Ex-List is suffering — for the same reason that Swingtown suffered on CBS after CSI. The CBS demographic is strictly “suspense” — either of the crime, reality or creepy mode. Romance? They don’t just not watch. They boycott. Reminds me a bit of that Rodney Dangerfield joke – “Our football team was tough. After they sacked the quarterback, they went after his family.”
Boy, did I learn my lesson about the CBS viewership with my support of Swingtown. I’m convinced that CBS is absolutely the WRONG network for any program even remotely demonstrating a romantic story line — not to mention the fact, that the network is notorious for pumping up these shows, then being the first to jump off the bandwagon. Hey, advertisers, are you listening? You’re preaching to practically the same people with every show broadcast on CBS. Would be nice if one of the big three networks took the “relationship” storyline and ran with it. I think there are a lot of potential viewers out there that CBS has p—ed off enough, that they’d switch networks for a decent storyline that doesn’t involve decapitated heads, phantoms from the netherworld, or backstabbing between “challenges”.
Funny, I’ve been watching what’s happening this season, ratings wise. Why is everyone talking about Mad Men’s low numbers when network numbers are so low and it seems to be performing disproportionately well in the 18-49. What are their time shifted numbers?
Monique, nobody really is talking about Mad Men’s low numbers, I think they talk about the fact that for a show with relatively few viewers, it has the zeitgeist. The Wire was like that too.
Because Mad Men, even with DVR viewing doesn’t wind up in the Top 40 most-viewed cable shows, we can’t see its DVR data, but AMC says Mad Men is averaging around 500,000 DVR viewers per week.
I would have preferred NBC to move Life, KR and MOWE to Saturdays to recreate
Saturday Night Thrillogy which they canceled in 2000. I haven’t watched anything primetime on Saturday from NBC since then.
Wait a minute, I thought one of the selling points of “Moonlight” was the romance. To me the vampirism was secondary. Basically it was a damsel in distress, or for more modern times, occasionally a hero in distress story every week.
“The Ex-List” or “Swingtown” may seem to have been a bad fit for CBS, but basically they are just bad shows. I watched a couple of episodes of “Swingtown” but it seemed to be trying too hard to be wicked and “Ex-List” has an unsustainable premise. Exactly how many men did this woman date?
A truly romantic show with a sustainable premise could work on CBS if it had a cast with the right chemistry. Besides how many true romances are there on TV at the moment? I can’t think of one.
I feel obligated to say something…hmm…actually it is quite sad to see the exlist disappoint. If they had gotten a better performing show and replaced Moonlight with it, then I would have been able to suck it up and say that the programmers are more in touch with want “WE” want than I am. But here they should have done what NBC is doing with Life (I know, a totally diff. show all together) and have tried to see if it would have performed better on a different night before canceling it.
But now there is no more Moonlight, and the reason why it was canceled bares not merit now. I wish they would un-cancel Moonlight like Life did Bloodties or Fox had Family Guy. But alas….Let me see SCHADENFREUDE, yes I’ve learned a new word today, quite true, I’ll just add it to my bookmarks folder under MOONLIGHT.
CBS has no idea what to do with anything that isn’t a procedural (Jericho, Moonlight and now The Ex-List). It is a blind spot for them, that happens to be working while procedurals are still ‘the thing’.
I am thrilled to see that NBC has not given up on ‘Life’. I adore this show, and I only hope that NBC keeps at it. It is worthy of giving it time to catch on.
Moonlightfan, unless you’ve heard something officially otherwise, Blood Ties has been canceled for ages now and isn’t coming back. They’d rather air Army Wives or some other stuff no-one cares about.
Moonlightfan, unless you’ve some official information, Blood Ties has been canceled for ages and aint coming back last I checked. However, Lifetime would rather air Army Wives or stuff that no-one cares about.
Hmm, my messages aren’t going through for some reason…
Sorry, but that’s funny.
Yeah, it’s a blast. I wrote 3 messages and then figured out to hit Refresh *bonk self*
“They’re getting relatively good performance out of the 8pm show and 10pm show, and relatively bad performance at 9pm.”
Lets take a trip down memory lane from last year concerning the ratings:
Moonlight’ Season Finale Helps CBS Win Friday (Again)
The first season finale of Moonlight helped CBS win Friday night, as usual. Approximately 7.56 million viewers tuned in (expect that number to go up when DVR ratings are released), once again winning the timeslot in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 demographic.
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‘Moonlight’ Wins Timeslot again
Moonlight once again helped CBS win Friday night in both overall viewers and the 18-49 demo. Approximately 7.68 million viewers tuned in to see Mick relive his WWII days (expect that number to go up a bit when the DVR numbers come in next week). Although these numbers are down about 300,000 from the show’s [...]
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‘Moonlight’, CBS Win Again
Moonlight was watched by approximately 7.92 million viewers this week, a very small drop from last week’s 7.99 million viewers. Those numbers were good enough to once again win its timeslot in viewers and the 18-49 demographic, helping CBS win yet another Friday night. Let’s keep the forward momentum going and see a boost in [...]
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‘Moonlight’ Sees Increase in UK Ratings
For the week ending March 9, 2008, Moonlight was once again the fifth-most watched show on Living TV in the UK, but it saw an increase in viewership of approximately 55,000 viewers from its launch. The premiere of Moonlight drew approximately 165,000 viewers while the episode which aired March 4 was watched by 219,000 viewers. [...]
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UK Ratings – “No Such Thing As Vampires”
The ratings for the premiere of Moonlight in the UK are finally in! “No Such Thing As Vampires” was the fifth-highest rated show on Living TV for the week of February 18-24, with 165,000 people tuning in to meet Mick St. John and the gang. Here’s the full list for the network:
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Moonlight Wins Timeslot Again!
Our last new episode of Moonlight ended the season on a high note as the show won its timeslot again in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 demographic. Approximately 8.35 million viewers tuned in to find out if Mick found a “mortal cure”. CBS once again won the night in both total viewers and [...]
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‘Moonlight’ Jumps in Ratings
Last night’s new episode of Moonlight scored an impressive ratings win as approximately 8.38 million viewers tuned in. CBS easily won the night in both total viewers and the 18-49 demo. Welcome back, show!
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CBS Brags About ‘Moonlight’
In their weekly press release bragging about their ratings, CBS had this to say about Moonlight:
MOONLIGHT was first in households (4.9/09), viewers (7.57m), adults 25-54 (2.8/08) and adults 18-49 (2.1/06). MOONLIGHT has placed first in adults 25-54 for the ninth time in ten broadcasts and first in adults 18-49 the eighth time in ten broadcasts.
Translation? [...]
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Another Friday, Another ‘Moonlight’ Win
Overnight ratings indicate that Moonlight won its timeslot in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 viewer bracket. Approximately 7.63 million viewers tuned in to find out Josef’s secret, a slight dip from the last new episode, but still a good showing that helped propel yet another Friday night win for CBS.
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“Moonlight” Gained Momentum
In a press release from CBS projecting that it would finish in first place among total viewers for the November ratings “sweeps” period, this sentence stands out:
“Of the 26 new series that premiered in September, only three are up in A18-49 this November vs. September-October.”
In November, the three programs to raise ratings among [...]
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I REST MY CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CBS won Fridays last year IN SPITE of Moonlight, not because of it. Moonlight was clearly the weak link of the night.
CBS was absolutely right to cancel Moonlight, just like they were right to cancel Close to Home the year before. Their mistake was in picking up Moonlight (which did A LOT worse than Close to Home) and Ex-List instead of shows that would actually bring in viewers.
Why I bother attempting to reason with Moonlight fans is beyond me, but here goes.
Moonlight was CBS’s worst performing scripted show in the 18-49 demo, the only thing that mattered. It should have been cancelled.
The fact that the Ex-List is doing worse than Moonlight is *meaningless* as an argument against the cancellation of Moonlight, or in the wish that it will return. The Ex-List will be cancelled too, and CBS will try again, as they should.
As for the incompetence of CBS management, they seem to be doing relatively well this season, eh? So much for your boycott efforts.
Moving on…
The Game and Chris are obviously doing worse than Smackdown did, but on the plus side, both are doing better on Friday than they were when they came back after the strike.
Crusoe dropped more than I expected it too. Somehow I doubt that it will air the remaining 10 episodes. Life will do better on Wednesday than it does here, despite the fact that it will loose to Criminal Minds and Private Practice. On the other hand, Lipstick Jungle is really being sent here to die.
The CW comedies are slowly growing but that demo is bad.
Also, Kudos to Supernnay by beating the awful Ex-List.
Xerxes, I have to disagree with you, ExList and Swingtown is failing/failed because they were simply bad shows. Moonlight proved itself even in a rough season where they saw a writers strike and an impending actor’s strike. Most networks gave their new shows a free pass because of it – CBS’s knee jerk reaction pulled Moonlight before they should have. We’ll never know how well it could have done….never even gave it the opportunity of reruns…. maybe they didn’t want to see how well it could have done.
That is a good rating for Ghost Whisperer and It almost hit the 10 million wow!
Hey Bill Gorman & Holly – every week you come up with the same BS. Moonlight WAS NOT cancelled by CBS because of RATINGS, it was because of MONEY. We Moonlight fans check the ratings each week to prove our point. If CBS had just been honest with us we wouldn’t have felt like being sucker-punched back in May. What CBS did was cruel to the fans, cast, and crew of Moonlight. By keeping the show “on the bubble” it’s obvious CBS was stonewalling Warner Bros. and Silver Productions unless they came up with more money per show … which they didn’t (idiots), hence the cancellation. Corporate big shots killed the show because they couldn’t agree on MONEY. If CBS had promoted the heck out of Moonlight like it does some of their other shows, the RATINGS would have been right on target. And, BTW, the fans know the show is not coming back as most of the actors have found other jobs. It’s just a shame Moonlight ended before its time.