My comments on the subject of Heroes demo vs. total audience were a response to this from Jennf:

“If you are thinking a 4.0 for Heroes is great let me put it this way…NCIS scored a 4.0 last week…and we all know how much older those viewers are…”

As I said originally its backward logic to try and paint Heroes numbers in a poor light because they’re the same as a show with more than twice its total viewers. And as I went onto say there’s no way people with NBC look at those kind of stats and don’t think ‘what if…?’ in regards to Heroes numbers.

“At NBC, the launch of the network’s version of UK format Who Do You Think You Are? has been delayed indefinitely, as NBC has decided to up its episode order for spy series Chuck. That show will occupy the Monday 20.00 slot through to April 27, and on May 4 it will be replaced by the first episode in a new series of Deal or No Deal.” http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=47440

Is NBC ordering an additional episode of Chuck? Or does this mean that NBC will pre-empt (or show a rerun) one other time so that Heroes’ and Chuck’s finale air the same night?

If NBC is ordering an additional episode of Chuck, this may be a bad sign. The additional episode may be to wrap up all the story-lines as a series finale.

I can’t imagine how much they’re having to re-shoot or edit. As it was it was obvious the ending of “3D” was re-shot. Way to go NBC, ruining every bit of momentum gained from the Super Bowl promotion.

If Chuck can’t get traction after this mess it’ll be a frakking shame.

Episode 2.13 “Chuck vs. Best Friends” was scheduled to air 2/9 but will be aired on 2/23. NBC will air episode 2.14 “Chuck vs. the Suburbs” on 2/16 because it is probably a Valentine’s Day episode.

It all comes down to the brutal competition.

I watched Heroes. Very exciting and fun. I had to watch all the Sylar scenes again right away. Sylar and HRG really make the show. I’m glad they are finally doing something with Nathan.

I watched the first few episode of 24 but found it too predictable. I never bought into the idea that one device could give terrorists access to every government facility. Maybe I’ll pick it up on Hulu.

Paul, the lineup you created for NBC’s fall 2009 looks really good. I hope they take your advice. I think it really maximizes the little they have to work with at the start of next fall, especially knowing that they’ve basically given up on the 10pm hour. Of course some of those iffy shows on your roster may go into the trash bin before the end of this season.

There seems to be no end to the growth of ABC’s, The Bachelor. As the anticipation builds towards the finale, ABC must be salivating over the potential 14 to 15 million viewers (+/-) for the final rose ceremony/wedding proposal. The big question is who’s more stunned by this; ABC or the rival networks. My guess is that they already are planning either a Bachelor Women Tell All special or an After The Final Rose concluding show or both. If they’re really on top of things, they’ve already secured the rights to air the actual wedding.

Spoken like a “Chuck” fan. How could they have made them easier? Better distribution would have been a start. Then maybe, I don’t know, sending stores enough pairs so they don’t run out. And possibly letting stores have them well before January 31, which was the date the stores I go put them out. Better yet, they could have just done the thing in red/green 3-D, since I imagine most people have a pair of _those_ lying around. Best of all, they could just let the show’s merits — or lack thereof — stand on their own and not have to resort to gimmicks to sell the thing. Mostly the last part.

But enough of that silly show.

Now McG letting Christian Bale walk all over him, his DP and his set — THAT’S funny.

So we are not yet halfway through 24 and it’s already halfway to the 30% drop off in the demo that I predicted after watching the two night premier. Look for it to scrape down near the 3.0 area by the end of the season. Last night was a new low for the show, by the way. Dumbest ep of the year.

And, yeah, I know that it’s sick that I hate it but am still watching it, but I liken it to my (also) sick need to check out the traffic accident as I drive on by.

Chuck is dead. Long live Chuck.

Best rating ever for Chuck, but I have to believe that was not the number NBC was looking for when they devoted literally tens of millions of dollars in Super Bowl real estate to promoing Chuck. I also have to think Ben Silverman may actually be the worst network exec in history. His decision not to air Chuck after the Super Bowl in lieu of the Office was a gigantic brain fart. I guess we will find out Thursday if it paid any dividends, but I would have thought Chuck could have benefitted far more from the slot than any other NBC show, and especially more than The Office. If they were going to try and bump up a Thursday comedy, they should have gone with 30 Rock.

After dumping out on Heroes one hour into the season premier, I came back for the mid season premier of The Fugitives. I was massively disappointed that Tommy Lee Jones was not in it, and I dumped out again after a half hour. I expect ALL of that bump in viewers was due to people like me wanting to see if Heroes was any better yet. It wasn’t, so I expect an immeadiate return to its season long slide starting next week.

On a side note, when did Parkman become a pedophile? Watching him with that girlfried of his was just creepy. They also had zero chemistry, which I attribute mostly to her having to kiss a fat guy who is old enough to be her grandfather.

By the way, with all the hype around the Chuck episode, as a regular (but not devoted) watcher of the show I have to say that was the worst episode of Chuck I’ve ever seen by a large margin. If the show were that bad on a regular basis, I’d not be watching it all. It was boring. The acting was atrocious. The 3D was extremely 2D, while the show itself was almost 1D. And anyone who did not have a pair of the glasses must have spent much of the show trying to adjust the color and contrast on their television set.

Way to totally screw up a walk in the park, Mr. Silverman. If you worked on Wall Street, you’d likely get a nice bonus for your work so far. As you work in television, can I validate that parking for your way out?

And while The Big Bang Theory isn’t in 3-D, it also isn’t funny either.

Moving on, i’m indifferent about Chuck’s numbers. They’re sort of what I thought would happen, maybe a tad above my expectations. But as was said above, the real test is next week. If it goes back down to where it was, bad things are going to happen.

Seriously, if you’re going to do a lame gimmick like this, is it too much to ask that you make the glasses a little easier to find? (And, no, I’m not calling Pepsi and giving them my address so they can send me a pair… and I can only imagine what else.)

Cutbacks would be nothing but a good thing for the show at this point the cast is far too big and impossible to write for and they have over Season 2 and the first half of Season 3 relied far too much on big effects shots to make episodes and stories impressive. Of course its also worth pointing out that I don’t think it’s a case of if it gets renewed at this point. NBC will cut the budget and bring it back for a fourth season before axing it unless the demos absolutely tank over the second half of season three.

end result… abc is making lots of money off of lost. they know how much it costs to make. they apparently don’t mind. why? because they are making money. and it won’t stop. once the show is over they can still sell dvd’s, blu-rays… and on whatever the next technology is… as well as syndicate it in the future for future generations of tv fans.

abc+lost=happy
shows like bachelor and dancing (nothing against them) but they are mostly useless after being aired… though the dancing tour is probably making some bucks for them

and lost is sold by abc to other markets. they get a lot of money back based on that 3 million per episode.

I hate it when channels move programs just to watch the ratings flop, and then put it back, expecting the ratings to return.

The rankings unfortunately don’t compare relative cost and the relative cost of Heroes is rumored to be higher than just about everything. LOST probably ain’t cheap either, but it got a 4.9 rating. I believe Cool was referring to The Bachelor and not NCIS. NBC talks a lot about managing margins, not ratings. Margin-wise, at least currently and based on TV viewing, The Bachelor looks like the much better property. But The Bachelor has no DVD or syndication value.

CW should have a new pet project (not related to GG, Priv, 91210), or promote their best horses (Supernatural, Smallville, and ANTM).

I have to agree with Alex: Advertisers are demo-crazy, so those excess age-50+ viewers for NCIS don’t matter to the ad rates.

But I also strongly agree with him when he said, “of course I also give [the Heroes writers] two weeks before they screw it up, again.” Last night’s Heroes was surprisingly compelling but I’m sure it’ll derail soon enough, at least until we eventually get to the episodes where Bryan Fuller rejoined the writing staff.

Cool said: “…Heroes was beaten by a show with 14 seasons….”
The ratings ascension of an old show like NCIS is highly unusual.

if all the nbc promos didn’t work for chuck and heroes etc… then you think maybe all the sponsors who spent all that money for 30 seconds or one minute only… might come to the realization that it doesn’t help them either?

My point was that anyone trying to argue Heroes (or any other show) is on its last legs because its equalling the demo of a show that has more than twice as many viewers is using flawed and backward logic, particularly if you accept the notion that advertisers care about demo performance and not total audience numbers. If it takes NCIS nearly 20 million viewers to get a 4.0 in the 18-49 and Heroes less than 10 million total viewers to do the same then how is that bad news for Heroes? More over if you’re NBC and you look at Heroes demo/total audience ratio vs. pretty much every show not called House on Monday nights then you can create some positive spin/vibes on the show – in fact you can do that just be comparing it to the rest of the NBC line-up for the night.

All three NBC shows averaged around the same audience and yet Heroes was nearly an entire point ahead of Chuck in the 18-49 and was an entire point ahead of Medium. Meanwhile it was 2 points ahead of Medium 18-34 and a 1.5 ahead of Chuck. Meanwhile if you compare it to 24 on Fox, which averaged nearly 3 million more viewers it was ahead by 0.2 in 18-49 and 1.1 in the 18-34. The Bachelor averaged 3 million more viewers but was only ahead in the demos by 0.4 and 0.3 respectively these aren’t huge margin and whilst Two and a Half Men gets nearly double the total viewers as Heroes its only 1.5 ahead in 18-49 and actually loses to Heroes in the 18-34.

To try and argue that Heroes comparative strength in the demos vs. its comparative weakness in total audience doesn’t matter really doesn’t add up – it is important because it gives NBC reason to care about the show. If they can regain just a fraction of the old Heroes audience, say back to 10 million what happens to those demo numbers then?

monday
8 pm medium
9 pm Law & Order: SVU

friday
8 pm deal or no deal
9 pm the listener

Heroes and Chuck in Fall have the competition from ESPN football night…

and then American Idol on Wednesdays are only 30 minutes…

so i think this night is the best shot from this two shows.

then medium on fridays at 8 pm no because GW’s…

Medium is a cop supernatural show that could perform well at 9 pm on mondays with a good lead-in: deal or no deal (??) or other better if they have any…