| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 17.279 | 11.427 | 7.177 | 4.628 | 4.215 | 2.262 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.4/9 | 4.3/11 | 2.7/7 | 1.9/5 | 1.7/4 | 1.1/3 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 1.9/5 | 3.5/10 | 2.4/7 | 1.6/4 | 1.8/5 | 1.5/4 |
CBS's viewership dominance on Tuesday was complete, its line up of NCIS, The Mentalist and Without a Trace topping every half hour for average viewers. But CBS dominated the aged, as NBC's season premiere of The Biggest Loser and a new episode of Law & Order: SVU went large with the youth, winning every half hour for both the 18-49 and 18-34 youth demos.
ABC's premiere of Homeland Security wasn't as bad as waiting in an airport security queue, but they likely hoped for better. The season premiere of Scrubs on its new network home was down from it's fall 2007 season premiere levels on NBC, but so is everything else this season.
Fox went with reruns and was an afterthought. The CW's 90210 and Privileged were down from their fall levels.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers Live+SD (000s) | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | 18-34 Rating | 18-34 Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | NCIS | 18,323 | 3.6 | 10 | 1.9 | 6 |
| NBC | Biggest Loser (season premiere) | 10,330 | 3.7 | 10 | 2.8 | 8 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security (premiere) | 7,752 | 2.2 | 6 | 1.6 | 5 | |
| FOX | House (repeat) | 5,449 | 2.2 | 6 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4,159 | 1.6 | 4 | 1.7 | 5 | |
| CW | 90210 | 2,819 | 1.4 | 4 | 1.8 | 6 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | NCIS | 19,807 | 3.9 | 10 | 2.2 | 6 |
| NBC | Biggest Loser (season premiere) | 11,385 | 4.2 | 11 | 3.3 | 9 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security (premiere) | 7,928 | 2.5 | 6 | 1.8 | 5 | |
| FOX | House (repeat) | 5,701 | 2.3 | 6 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4,616 | 1.8 | 5 | 1.9 | 6 | |
| CW | 90210 | 2,743 | 1.4 | 4 | 1.8 | 5 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | The Mentalist | 19,387 | 3.8 | 9 | 2.0 | 6 |
| NBC | Biggest Loser (season premiere) | 12,716 | 4.9 | 12 | 3.8 | 11 | |
| ABC | Scrubs (season premiere) | 6,764 | 3.1 | 7 | 3.0 | 8 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 5,171 | 2.1 | 5 | 2.2 | 6 | |
| FOX | Fringe (repeat) | 3,880 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.2 | 3 | |
| CW | Privileged | 1,774 | 0.8 | 2 | 1.1 | 3 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | The Mentalist | 19,734 | 4.0 | 10 | 2.2 | 6 |
| NBC | Biggest Loser (season premiere) | 12,835 | 5.0 | 12 | 4.0 | 11 | |
| ABC | Scrubs (season premiere) | 6,640 | 3.2 | 8 | 3.4 | 9 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 5,146 | 2.1 | 5 | 2.2 | 6 | |
| FOX | Fringe (repeat) | 3,482 | 1.4 | 3 | 1.1 | 3 | |
| CW | Privileged | 1,711 | 0.8 | 2 | 1.1 | 3 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace | 13,554 | 2.7 | 7 | 1.6 | 4 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 10,383 | 3.8 | 10 | 3.3 | 9 | |
| ABC | Primetime (premiere) | 7,296 | 2.9 | 7 | 2.5 | 7 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 2,099 | 0.8 | 2 | 0.9 | 2 | |
| 10:30 | CBS | Without a Trace | 12,867 | 2.6 | 7 | 1.6 | 5 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 10,915 | 4.0 | 11 | 3.5 | 10 | |
| ABC | Primetime (premiere) | 6,685 | 2.5 | 7 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 1,906 | 0.7 | 2 | 0.8 | 2 |
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.
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.
Jeez….”Homeland” bombed…..to bad, it was pretty good.
No pun intended!
Die ABC, Die!
(I’m not bitter at all about them canceling my favority show, am I?)
Andy, as the sign says, jokes about security are not appreciated. Strip search!
Suki, with that logic I should still be upset NBC canceled Homicide, Life on the Street. One of the all time great programs.
Getting back to Fringe Vs. The Mentalist:
The ratings above show why TM is considered a hit. It is now starting to eclipse NCIS, its lead-in, in the ratings.
I believe FOX was hoping this effect would happen with Fringe out of House.
It will be interesting to see if the delay in Fringe’s return will be to TM’s benefit in the demo…
Man. Those numbers for The Mentalist are almost unreal. I wonder if CBS had any idea that the show would be this big of a hit?
Andrea, no question The Mentalist is the biggest success story of Fall 2008. I never disputed that. The fact that it is now drawing more than NCIS is quite remarkable for a new show.
As for Fringe, I doubt that Fox could seriously have hoped that it would surpass House in its first season. That would have been equally remarkable.
Dear Andy McNab,
ABC recently cancelled almost every single show I watch in one fell swoop. Its’ just going to take some time for me to forgive them.
Suki
David,
It’s probably all the old women salivating over Simon Baker. Then they told their daughters about the show. Now they are salivating over Simon Baker, too
Bill,
From the way FOX was hyping the show since back in May, I got the feeling they totally expected it to surpass House.
Odd that NCIS first half hour was so low compared to their second half hour. And lets not say that The Mentalist (Which I do watch) is beating NCIS all the time. This is only the 2nd time its done it. And if their first half hour wasnt what it was NCIS would of beaten it out. No worries though its not like either show has anything to worry about.
Oh and glad to see you all back to work on a daily basis it was like something was missing when you werent around for the holidays…
How much longer can the CW go with ratings this low?
Lets face it…the ratings of the mentalist went up after The Dancing with the Stars Results show ended its fall run. DWTS consistently beat it. Just wait until it returns in March. They get the same demographic anyways…the old people. But I love them both
I don’t agree that Fox had huge expectations for Fringe. High HOPES perhaps, but Fox saw it as an experimental show to begin with — if Fox thought it was a slam dunk to to sell ads for a show like that, it wouldn’t have gone with it as one of the shows for “remote free” programming. Fox likely is very enamored with JJ, but the notion that a show called FRINGE could be a huge hit with the mainstream would be delusional on Fox’s part.
My guess is that especially give House’s erosion, Fringe is in line with Fox’s expectations, unless the Fox execs are delusional, which while possible seems doubtful. If I’m Fox I’m feeling “fine” about Fringe. Not ecstatic, but fine.
Kathy B., I’d bet *at least* one more season.
Gotta say that although Scrubs has been low for veiwership for ABC, i’d say it will be like 4th/5th for ABC in 18-49 scripted and like 7/8th over all. So i’d say it started out good.
ABC has got to be satisfied with “Homeland Security”…did they expect more than a 2.2 rating? Perhaps, but 7.8 million viewers and a 2.3 18/49 is a big improvement over the fall, that’s for sure. Also, the fact that it grew in the hour is encouraging. ABC should be especially pleased with “Scrubs”. The 3.1/3.2 that the two episodes of “Scrubs” is pretty decent considering how ABC has done on Tuesdays previously.
“The Mentalist” is a ridiculously huge hit, which is good for network TV! I’m going to bet that CBS is going to win the total viewer race on Tuesdays even after Fox brings back American Idol.
Here is my prediction: Fox will get about 22-24 million viewers from 8-9 with AI, and at 9 “Fringe” will start averaging 12-13 million viewers with the huge lead in. I’m thinking CBS will get 16-18 million for NCIS and probably 18-20 million for The Mentalist. Fox will still dominate in the 18/49 race.
Anyone care to challenge my prediction?
I agree JT but i don’t think that the Mentalist will get 18-20 more like 18-19 possilbly a tiny bit into the top 17′s. It still has people that come in from lead-ins.