| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 13.70 | 12.28 | 7.15 | 4.19 | 3.91 | 2.15 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.8/10 | 4.1/11 | 3.1/8 | 1.6/4 | 1.7/4 | 0.8/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 2.2/7 | 3.9/12 | 3.1/9 | 1.7/5 | 1.4/4 | 0.7/2 |
CBS took the most viewers, but ABC won both the 18-49 and 18-34 demographics. But although Grey's Anatomy still bested CSI among 18-49 year olds, it was in series low territory for its 18-49 rating with a 5.5 and down more than 10% from the 6.2 rating it got the last time an original episode aired (11/20/08). But there were less people watching TV across the board last night than two Thursdays ago. CSI was down 8% in the demo as well.
30 Rock is holding up much better than I would've imagined post-Sarah Palin and in the aftermath of some November sweeps stuntcasting, and last night still significantly outperformed last year.
Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008 dominated in the 10pm hour and also dominated not just with the over 50 crowd but with both the 18-49 and 18-34 demographics as well.
Not much else worth mentioning really besides Fox ran repeats of Kitchen Nightmares and was beaten by Univision. CW ran repeats too, but it's always beaten by Uni. The CW's repeats held up pretty well though when you consider the numbers those shows pull when they are new.
If you want to compare with last week, that's difficult since it was Thanksgiving. But here's the report from November 20 when there were new episodes of CSI, Grey's Anatomy, etc.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Survivor: Gabon | 12.79 | 4.0/11 |
| ABC | Ugly Betty | 8.47 | 2.6/7 | |
| NBC | My Name is Earl | 6.08 | 2.5/7 | |
| FOX | Kitchen Nightmares (Repeat) | 3.75 | 1.5/4 | |
| CW | Smallville (Repeat) | 2.29 | 0.8/2 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Kath & Kim | 4.88 | 2.2/6 |
| 9:00 | CBS | CSI | 17.39 | 4.6/11 |
| ABC | Grey's Anatomy | 15.15 | 5.5/14 | |
| NBC | The Office | 8.33 | 4.3/11 | |
| FOX | Kitchen Nightmares (Repeat) | 4.08 | 1.8/5 | |
| CW | Supernatural (Repeat) | 2.01 | 0.8/2 | |
| 9:30 | NBC | 30 Rock | 7.14 | 3.4/8 |
| 10:00 | ABC | Barbara Walters Presents | 13.21 | 4.2/11 |
| CBS | Eleventh Hour | 10.91 | 2.7/7 | |
| NBC | ER | 8.22 | 3.2/9 |
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.
Kath & Kim is just awful in quality and ratings: NBC should be axing that (and quickly)
First! Ugly Betty is finished after this season. The demo is just not where it needs to be.
The office and 30 rock’s numbers were almost identical to last airing. YES! NBC’s most promising lead in is now office/30 rather than Heroes on monday.
Kyle, ABC has so many other problems that Ugly Betty is a success for them right now. This show will be around for 2 more seasons at least.
Robert–I think you have the CW and Univision labels reversed in your table…
Man alive, though, the total viewership for Thursdays is way down this week. Only Survivor got over 10m viewers. I can remember ten years ago when NBC just dominated Thursdays. What was it, “must see tv” night or something?
Kyle, I dont think UB will be ending anytime soon. Is beating Survivor in 18-34, and is second in 18-49 and viewers.
Seriously, I am aware of all the buts here (demo, competition), but did CSI just slip just enough to let The Mentalist be the most watched scripted show of the week?
For the hilarious parodies, for the sharp critics, for the agile humor, for the irony, for the charisma of their characters… For all that and much more,’Ugly Betty’ it’s a great show.
Outlander. Yeah, you’re correct. I’d meant to flip-flop Fox and Uni, but… It’s fixed.
idizzie, yes.. it looks like The Mentalist will be the #1 show in viewers but The Office, Greys, DH, CSI, B&S, 2.5 Men will be higher in the demo.
Maybe people were expecting repeats because sweeps ended last Wednesday. I know I expected CSI and Eleventh Hour to be repeats because they were repeats last week. But I checked earlier in the day and found out they were new. CSI has been promoting Laurence Fishburne’s appearance so heavily for December 11th that it seemed they would have no new episodes until then.
Barbara Walter’s specials are new programming. She had Will Smith. He always pulls in the viewers.
Fin,
NBC’s problems are so bad that a 2.2 demo for a new series is a hit for them, lol.
yes, cool, I know about the demo and believe you forgot to give House props for kicking most most of your examples’ demo butts. It’s just that the total viewer ranking is the one that’s been long dominated by CSI. CSI itself hasn’t won the demo crown lately.
Quoting Catherine:
“She had Will Smith. He always pulls in the viewers.”
IMHO, the BW special garnered the 18-49 hit rating because of Will Smith, not because of Barbara herself. Perhaps Ms. O’Donnell needs to run a variety special with Will Smith, Miley Cyrus, and other fascinating younger people – instead of Liza
?
Interesting that Survivor, now eight years old, continues to beat all the hot new shows that ABC and NBC throws at the early hour. Survivor continues to beat them in total viewers and in your cherished demographics. Not bad for a show that is clearly aging. I remember when CBS moved Survivor to Thursday nights, I thought it was a terrible idea. Guess they actually knew what they were doing.
Wow With CSI lower than normal The Mentalist and NCIS are going to be the most watched Programs of the week…Both had over 18.5 Million watching…Interesting…
Kath & Kim is simply dreadful. I actually watched it for the first 3 weeks and I can’t say anything remotely positive about it. It MIGHT have worked a few years back in the “era of excess”, but any more this show just reminds us of what type of society we had become. It almost plays out like a documentary on what may be looked back on as a disgusting time period in the U.S.
NBC, when are you going to deliver us to the Promise Land and put Top Gear America on?!?!
The Mentalist was better when they called it Dragnet.
What up with Kitsch-N Nightmares? Why is that still on the air? Doesnt Hell Kitchen inflate Gordon Ramsay’s ego enough?
Why do so many YUTES watch Barbara Walters? Thats a mystery beyond time and space.