Comments on: Tuesday Ratings: American Idol Dominates the Night, But CBS Stays Strong

By: Mikey M

Mikey M — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:38:26 +0000

So sad that most people would rather watch a show like American Idol instead of a clever and funny show like Scrubs. That says so much about the viewing public.
Brainless reality shows.

By: johnthemon

johnthemon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:46:17 +0000

@Anil, last season Scrubs beat Pushing Daisies, and PD’s performance this fall was far worse than in Fall ’07. The natural decision was kill PD and pick up Scrubs.

By: falacer

falacer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:08:54 +0000

NCIS has increased it’s # of viewers each season and I can’t think of many other shows that have done that this many years into a show. Now with the 1-2 punch of NCIS and The Mentalist CBS has that 2nd slot well wrapped up on Idol nights.

NCIS is a spin-off of the old Jag series for those who dont watch those shows. NCIS made a big change behind the scenes this year and so far some of this years shows have been some of the best they have done yet.

CW is a dead horse, they just need to run out the rest of the shows they have shot already then let that thing die. Maybe 1 or 2 of their shows might be worth picking up by one of the other networks or a cable network … maybe.

By: GRD

GRD — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:04:09 +0000

I don’t know that “TV Guide’s” explanation re: CW listings makes all that much sense. If they drop every channel that’s designed to appeal to the younguns, that’s quite a few channels. But I can’t imagine what a “rather disgusting” reason for the drop might be, unless the “TV Guide” people found out that people were tearing out the CW listings specifically to line their birdcages or housebreak their puppies. (That’s about all that anything CW-related is fit for, anyway, but still, it would be pretty darn bizarre.)

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:42:16 +0000

Pokerface, they said last season was the last season as well.

By: Timmy

Timmy — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Scrubs was really good last night, just too bad no one was watching!! Scrubs is just overmatched on Tuesday, maybe ABC should move it to another night!!!

By: Pokerface

Pokerface — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:59:11 +0000

Scrubs: They already said this would be the last season. I loved the show, but it’s no ER, and it’s past its prime, just like Seinfeld, they should know when to quit.

THE CW: Those have been their usual ratings. I mean, who the hell watches America’s Next Top Model? Cycle 334 is about to start and it’s still in the air. If it had been on a major network it would have been dropped years ago.

90210 is safely betting for a second season. I am sure the show will be back next fall.

AI: 32 million are REALLY REALLY GOOD numbers for what people expected. A lot of TV prophets said this would be the beginning of the end for AI… don’t think so.

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:16:55 +0000

Chris, the studios and the networks are separate. The money each earns goes to the same place, so a network has an incentive to keep a show on that doesn’t get good ratings but does earn money elsewhere (DVD sales, syndication, etc.). But if a studio finds a script they want to produce, they shop it around to anyone who might air the show. WIth House, NBC passed on it before the studio took it over to FOX.

By: Doug E

Doug E — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:43:06 +0000

Vader, it will be CBS’ last football game of the year, and great time to put on a new episode. The audience won’t be as big as the Super Bowl, but still a very large one to lead into the show. The game starts at 6:30 Eastern, if the game runs late, like most NFL playoff games do, it will be a late starting time to bring out a new episode. I enjoy the show and will be watching, it will be interesting to see how many do watch on Sunday.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:42:44 +0000

i dont get y shows produced by one network is on another..(scrubs was on nbc but produced by abc’s touchstone)

By: cool

cool — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:58:36 +0000

oh please, PD only won 3 minor categories on the Emmys and all for the Pilot. It wasnt even nominated in Best Series.

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:12:14 +0000

CBS looks better and better each night.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:55:07 +0000

Just skimming so this may have been addressed but the competition on CBS for “Lie to Me” is “Criminal Minds.” Those are two really different shows since “Criminal Minds” is usually so dark. “Lie to Me” has a sense of humor.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:33:16 +0000

yeah i could see them doing that to earl but the new show will be called barely legal sinse duff will be a lawyer i think it will be a hit like the Office

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:07:43 +0000

Lisa, please tell us the super sekrit reason!

Or we could go with the simple explanation that TV Guide gave that the young demo that watches the CW doesn’t subscribe to their magazine.

My guess is that TV Guide is in semi-disarray after the splitting of the magazine and the television channel guide and they really don’t know what they heck is going on right now.

By: ANIL

ANIL — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:05:15 +0000

Yeah yeah….now Scrubs deserves to go too.

By: Matt2

Matt2 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:04:38 +0000

Wow, I don’t know what’s more impressive, AI’s premiere numbers or the totally unphased performance by NCIS and The Mentalist. The good news over at NBC has to be their solid performance from 9pm through the 10 pm hour. ABC experienced a first week gut punch with ‘Scrubs’, but must feel some relief that Homeland Security USA didn’t suffer the huge drop that The Biggest Loser took at the 8 o’clock hour (11.8 last week vs 7.9 last night) and their ‘Primetime’ newmagazine actually increased viewers versus last week.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:04:30 +0000

AI will easily win the demos–total viewership doesn’t much matter. I remain a fan. The few changes to the show this season haven’t been bad. I like the new judge, and they still had a mix of good and crappy singers. I’d love if they got rid of Seacrest, of course, but one can’t have everything.

I don’t see Privileged returning next season. I haven’t for months now, but recent numbers are truly dismal. The CW needs to bring in a new show that might do better. BTW, TV Guide did not remove the CW listings because the network has low viewership. Think about the subject for all of two seconds, and it’s obvious that many stations with far fewer viewers are still included in the listings. There’s another rather disgusting, IMO, reason beyond the drop of the CW listings but I have to see if I can find a source that has it in print before I’ll repeat it (I was given the possible reason via private email).

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:03:38 +0000

ANIL, PD deserved to go, it was ABC’s lowest rated show. Scrubs is produced by ABC (Touchstone). They knew that any short term ratings pain they took for airing the show would be more than made up by the large profits in syndication for creating more episodes. Hahaaa to you.

By: ANIL

ANIL — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:52:01 +0000

Hahaa to you people who have said ABC is not atupid.
They cancel their emmy winning Pushing Daisies and pick up a crappy show from a lower network, a show thats gets even lower than PD?
Yeah very smart!
Abc is going down babyy!!!

By: jay

jay — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:49:19 +0000

29 share for Idol, more than all the others put together – if that’s good news for the others, what would bad news look like? The silver lining for CBS would be a strong follow-up to NCIS with Mentalist, but those shows skew older. Am I not correct in assuming Zach Branff (?) has or is about to leave Scrubs? That would be the death knell for a show that was uneven, but started the whole no laugh track trend.

By: idizzle

idizzle — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:26:52 +0000

NCIS is doing great. It’s doing better than last year, it’s one of the best night starters any network has and it’s holding up against Idol. Seriously, losing half a million viewers from last week, about a million from the series high, but none of the demos, that’s a drama when you are doing 5 million viewers, it’s normal fluctuation when you are doing 20 million.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:00:10 +0000

josie, I think you’re right. That’s why CBS’s showing (up vs. last week and up vs. last year) has got to please them.

By: josie

josie — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:58:44 +0000

I always thought the networks treated Idol night as a second place horse race. Nobody’s going to beat it so the “winner” is who ever comes in second. That and idol night is a good place to burn off series that were looking at life support anyway. So yay, CBS and Scrubs fans probably should prepare themselves for this being a swan-song season.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:58:28 +0000

stacy, the drop for the CW shows on Tuesday wasn’t a “back from holiday break” drop, it was a “pounded by American Idol” drop. There is no Idol, and no significant changes to this week’s Thursday broadcast lineups.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:55:18 +0000

Jimmy, Earl is Fox production not NBC’s, but given the ‘Til Death example deal, they could certainly try and give NBC a deal they can’t refuse to fill up the show total for syndication.

By: stacy

stacy — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:52:13 +0000

I’m curious to see the CW’s Thursday night ratings since all the other CW shows going down. If Smallville and Supernatural can manage to hold on to their numbers from the fall, there is no what the network can continue to ignore these two shows. But more then likely there numbers will be down too, especially since it’s been so long since the last new episodes.

By: Jimmy McAwesome

Jimmy McAwesome — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:51:49 +0000

NBC keeps My Name is Earl for a shortened season next season so they can get the 100 episode mark so they can make more money in syndication

By: boomdizzle2

boomdizzle2 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:13:51 +0000

I really have never seen the appeal for the hosts of AI. The talent provides the numbers in spite of them

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:12:09 +0000

Ah, I see, Sam. I still think NBC would be much wiser to cancel My Name is Earl than Kath & Kim, but I would not be surprised to see both gone next season.

By: cool

cool — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:05:40 +0000

Even if NCIS o The Mentalist beat AI in viewers, AI will CRUSH THEM in the demo… FOX is not worried at all, viewers numbers doesnt mean ANYTHING.

By: sam

sam — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:37:50 +0000

no i ment next season but thats just my prediction i think it would go good ofter my name is earl (unless NBC replaces that 2

By: Jeff G

Jeff G — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:29:04 +0000

“Les Moonves is smiling this morning.” methinks you are correct with that comment. I would be pleased as punch with the CBS numbers against the season premiere of AI. AI brought in major football numbers and CBS remained steady.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:28:23 +0000

Sam, NBC has ordered a script for this show, and attaching it to Duff is part of the development deal they signed with her a few months ago. We’ll see if NBC is going to actually make pilots this year, after the disaster this season resulted in. But this show would be for next season and definitely not replacing Kath & Kim this season. If you have a link showing Kath & Kim off the schedule, I’d like to see that. (Not that it’s the least bit surprising, but I always like sources. )

By: sam

sam — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:21:53 +0000

THIS JUST IN THIS JUST IN nbc has pretty much cut kath and kim off the schedule (my prediction) NBC just picked up a new show starting super talented actress/singer hilary duff. this will surly be a winner here is the link…

http://perezhilton.com/2009-01-13-hilary-duff-returns-to-television-asa-lawyer

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:05:05 +0000

Julia, I’m not saying it’s likely that NCIS will beat AI, but if AI hit its worst numbers and NCIS hit its best numbers on the same night, it is actually possible.

By: JT

JT — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:58:02 +0000

It would be interesting to calculate what % of TV viewers over 60 are watching CBS compared to the other networks. It’s got to be really high, because the other networks aren’t even close to the total viewer count CBS generates.

“The Mentalist” draws 18 million viewers but only a 3.8 in the demo. While a 3.8 is strong overall and any network would take it, it is rather weak for a show that pulls in that many viewers. I suppose ABC isn’t much better off with “DWTS”, which has a comparable demo-TV ratio. I find it funny that shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy are pulling in 3-4 million viewers less yet in the demo are a full point and a half higher. I’m sure if CBS had its choice, they’d rather have DH or Grey’s.

My point behind all this is the fact that CBS does have some shows that are pulling in demo to viewer ratios in the ballpark of DH and Grey’s. Monday night’s episode of “HIMYM” aired on CBS to 11.8 million viewers and a 4.8 in the demo. “Big Bang Theory” wasn’t far behind in the demo. These two shows are the true success story for CBS this fall. Their growth is amazing, and I’m really surprised these shows aren’t getting a little more press about it.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:57:38 +0000

Holly, I still don’t see Idol dropping below 20 mil (I could be wrong, and would be glad to be in this case). But winning the night (in viewers) is possible. I suspect Fringe will get around 12 mil tops, by the time Idol drops, which will leave FOX with an average of 16 mil if Idol does 20 mil. So CBS could easily beat that, even with Without a Trace dragging it down.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:56:19 +0000

Ouch Scrubs. But yeah I don’t know if I mind, this will be the last season then.

CBS, way to hold in there against Idol!

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:47:31 +0000

I’m kinda glad that Scrubs is doing poorly because this should really be the last season anyway. If the show continued next year it would be without Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff and Judy Reyes which wouldn’t be worth watching and would ruin the show. Best to go out on top of your game, even if it isn’t at the top of the ratings.

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:46:28 +0000

OK, I was planning on agreeing with Julia, but looking at the numbers from last year, the Tuesday show dropped below 25 million several times last year with a low of just under 22 million. That’s still 2 million more viewers that NCIS’s best showing this year, but if the premiere is 3 million down from last year, it isn’t completely outside of the realm of possibility. Depending on how Fringe does, I could see CBS beating FOX in viewers on a Tuesday (even if neither show beats AI).

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:45:34 +0000

AI always does well at the beginning because people like to see trainwrecks like William Hung get rejected. It’ll slowly lose viewers as the weeks progress (until the finale). I wouldn’t be surprised if either NCIS or Mentalist overtakes it this season considering how much those shows have risen.

By: Rob R

Rob R — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:42:12 +0000

David— Look at those American Idol numbers again. Look at the 18-34 demo. That is STAGGERING. This is not the sign of a show in any meaningful decline. Maybe when Simon Cowell leaves, but you will not see any competing show top Idol in its time slot this entire year. I guarantee it.

By: clutz

clutz — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:40:34 +0000

@Name Required (a.k.a. Soylent 4.0) – funny how you get your “Jericho” digs in. Sure, there are fans still left. We’ll last as long as your obsession with us lasts . It’s amusing how you insult AI fans too. “largely brainless TV masses” – so you know the average AI viewer’s IQ versus your own, eh? Believe it or not, there are geniuses who watch AI, once in a while, just for the fun of it

To get back to the more direct thread – it is indeed impressive that CBS is holding up so well vs. AI’s premiere this time around. I can see how AI spells pain for cable TV too! However, with such a fragmented audience, no one partciluar cable net is likely to be the worst off. Except maybe Nickelodeon, as AI is known to be “family entertainment?”

By: Chicagoman

Chicagoman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:33:12 +0000

I’m glad about NCIS because Idol at the beginning is just a dumbed down show. Just want America likes, instead of using their brains.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:27:39 +0000

David, no show holds up forever (except perhaps 60 Minutes which will outlive us all), but Idol is going to be around for a very long time.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:24:49 +0000

It’ll be down from this, like it is every season, but CBS will not be beating it.

By: David

David — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:15:02 +0000

Julia: I am not dreaming. We both know that american idol is not going to hold up forever. Lets see how the show is doing in about 6 weeks.

By: Name Required

Name Required — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:36:59 +0000

CW as usually is on the verge of total collapse. Now wonder print TV Guide dropped it.

The largely brainless TV masses soak up more American I-DULL. NCIS and Mentalist held up very well. So much for people claiming American Idol killed their shows – I think Jericho fans used to claim that (probably still do, at least the ones who are still left). NCIS is doing better than last year.

Scrubs really got hammered. Probably the last season for that one. Running out of gas fast.

By: R.G.

R.G. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:31:48 +0000

Um…32 million is down?? This is still the jauggernaut (AI) but though i don’t watch NCIS or The Mentalist – hats off to them for holding those numbers…

I’m impressed that between Fox & CBS; nearly 50 million people were watching network TV…I still don’t know ANYTONE who watches those CBS tv shows ???