Comments on: Sunday Ratings: Desperate Housewives leads a slow Sunday

By: Average Joe

Average Joe — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:05:46 +0000

If CBS’s numbers suck then what about the CW???

By: Riff Rafferty

Riff Rafferty — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:43:53 +0000

thedemonhog, thanks. I missed the last “King of the Hill” and I… usually miss “The Simpsons.” I was just surprised to see them make the switch at this late date. Especially “King of the Hill.” The thing’s cancelled!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:20:37 +0000

No wonder Fox has numbers that low. They didn’t air new episodes of their Sunday lineup for at least 8 weeks now. I think many people thought that the season was already over. And Fox completely missed the return of their animated shows. That caused horrible numbers (and an all-time low for The Simpsons). I don’t know why The Simpsons didn’t have more viewers, for promoted it during American Idol, which is the best place for a promo.
Now all that Fox has to do to get better numbers for their animation domination is that they promote it after next Sunday’s Nascar. Many people (including me) think it’s really stupid that Fox holds back new episodes and keeps airing reruns or Nascar.

By: ABCFanaticGold

ABCFanaticGold — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:16:35 +0000

CBS’s sunday lineup kinda sucks! Ugly betty has better demo numbers than Cold Case and The Unit

By: thedemonhog

thedemonhog — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:25:58 +0000

Almost two weeks ago at http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/02/05/wednesday-ratings-a-bad-night-for-life-life-on-mars-and-knight-rider/12214, I mentioned that ‘Desperate Housewives’ used to hit thirty million. I forgot to check back for any replies, so I just found out that Julia and cool were skeptical. It is relevant here so I have the numbers (they are from ABC Medianet; URL posting will result in this being blocked by the spam filter).

The first season finale had 30.62 million. Other episodes that aired in spring 2005 had 24-26 million. The second season premiere had 28.36 million. The remainder of episodes in fall 2005 had 24-27 million, so I guess I exaggerated.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:05:28 +0000

Dear Fox,

Bring me Family Guy in HD. The Simpsons last night made me envious. I don’t normally watch an entire new episode of The Simpsons, or any episode after Season 8, but I kept watching it and I couldn’t turn it off simply because of the pretty colors.

Also, while i’m irrationally wishing for things, get rid of American Dad and pre-emptively cancel The Cleveland Show. Mostly because one already does suck and I have a strong feeling the other is [i]going[/i] to suck.

That is all.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:58:04 +0000

Speaking of the new permanent intro, am I just super resistant to change or did it completely suck?

By: lover dave

lover dave — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:46:08 +0000

Desperate Housewives ratings have died because all the women on the show are now old as Phyllis Diller or Bea Arthur.They should change the name of the show to “Post Menopausal Housewives”.The only men who consider any of these actresses as still hot or sexy,have receeding gray hair lines and need viagra to rise to the accasion,ha ha.ABC needs to cancel this aging show before it turns into “The Golden Girls” version 2.0 the revenge of the 21st century wrinkled,has been M.I.L.F’s!!!!!

By: thedemonhog

thedemonhog — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:23:18 +0000

Re: Riff – ‘The Simpsons’ went HD for the first time last night and with its new permanent intro sequence. ‘King of Hill’ first broadcast in HD a couple of weeks ago, but it was still presented in fullscreen then.

As for FOX’s ratings: ‘Family Guy’ has been in reruns since November sweeps and I think that that has brought down the night.

By: Riff Rafferty

Riff Rafferty — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:39:25 +0000

When did “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill” switch to HD?

And when will “The Amazing Race?” (Of all the shows that would benefit from being in HD…)

And what the hell happened to FOX’s ratings? It may have been animation but that sure ain’t domination.

By: matt2

matt2 — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:20:53 +0000

I watched many of the shows on the major networks last night and I think the network execs will have the following perspectives. At ABC they will be extremely thrilled that reality staples, America’s Funniest Home Videos and Extreme Home Makeovers, in repeat mode pulled CSI repeat type numbers. Their lineup is usually not loaded with programming that pulls strong repeat numbers. They are also going to be extremely satisfied with Desperate Housewives numbers. Pulling 14 million viewers for a filler episode speaks volumes to the strength of that series. They set the stage for what should be a thriller of a roller coaster ride when it returns in three weeks. The same can be said for Brothers & Sisters this week. With the Oscar juggernaut next Sunday, the Brothers & Sisters movie event the following weekend ( the promo trailer is superhype!), and the beginning of the demise of Edie on DH three weeks later, ABC is set for a month of strong Sundays building towards the spring finales.

CBS has a mixed bag. 60 Minutes had several interesting investigations. No surprise it pulled big numbers. The Amazing Race was not so amazing in the ratings. I watched the first 15 minutes. It just wasn’t interesting. It’s the same bland thing everytime. Lineup a bunch of teams and have them race from the US to other parts of the world, basically doing the same tasks we’ve seen over and over again. I was rooting for the mom signing for her deaf son as Phil gave out the instructions, but then I totally lost interest as they began the race. They need to come up with some type of gimmick to sell this race again otherwise it’s going to be slaughted when the new episodes of EHM begin in two weeks. I imagine CBS is ok with Cold Case’s numbers but I see why the Unit is getting cancelled.

FOX is easy to sort out. Too many old animated series that are no longer funny. The Simpsons looked so funny in the promo and it turned out to be a big disappointment. I think I laughed out loud twice in the span of 30 minutes. I completely passed over King of the Hill and American Guy and apparently so did several million Americans. As someone already mentioned, even Family Guy was just boring with the exception of the Christian Bale psychotic rant. Inserting stupid comments from Peter made that whole thing ridiculously funny again and I lauged my butt off for about 3.5 minutes but that was it.

NBC had nothing of interest for me to even bother with setting the dvr to record.

By: Ladiesman217

Ladiesman217 — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:53:25 +0000

A slow Sunday? it’s a strong Sunday.

By: richard

richard — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:29:15 +0000

Average Joe asked whats so amazing about the Amazing Race? In a word EXHILERATING! Think it is the best “reality show” on television. You travel the world and meet people and other cultures. On Sundays show, a team consisting of a Mother and her deaf son, who also doesn’t read lips, were the first to arrive at their final destination. Their challenges included bungee jumping off a dam in Switzerland that is the second highest jump in the world.
They also had to carry 200 pounds of cheese down a very slippery hill, that was quite amusing. In other words Joe it’s alot more entertaining, than sitting in a “boardroom” or being “stranded” in a place for 39 days.
In 14 airings of TAR only Season 8 was disappointing.
Perhaps Reality television may not be “your thing” Just remember TAR has won the emmy 6 consecutive years, and believe it will win again come September.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:55:24 +0000

I think that 7.30 for CW is meant to be Jericho instead (or did they cut the episode in half?) What was the holiday?

By: jay

jay — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:11:48 +0000

Mr. Seidman: That was the one. Author Hirschorn does an essay per month for them. I think he often rides the latest wave, but re this month’s article I concur with you.

By: haelohm

haelohm — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:10:37 +0000

The Bird is the Word is HILARIOUS!

By: josh f

josh f — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:44:26 +0000

wat the hell is going on with the ratings of DH???

abc needs to sort it all out!!!

By: matt

matt — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:02:29 +0000

Crazy rant

I agree. FG is horrible. Yeah in years past it had its moments but how people find the christian bale or “the bird is the word” funny is beyond me. Just because you repeat something over and over doesnt make it funny. Plus maybe Im getting old but after about five minutes I just want to punch peter.

I still like the simpsons and try to catch it on hulu. I think south park is still pretty decent half the time. Family guy on the other hand is just lousy.

By: Crazy Rant Guy

Crazy Rant Guy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:31:31 +0000

How family guy is popular is beyond me. Last nights episode: they spent a solid 5 minutes playing the christian bale rant in its entirety, unanimated. Yeah it was funny, but it was funny on youtube too; putting it on family guy didn’t make it funnier. That’s not good television; that’s not clever. That’s simply failing to write and animate 5 minutes of a 22 minute show. Another several minutes was Stewie singing an unorginal song. No jokes, not a song parody, just stewie singing someone else’s song. The jokes they do manage to write are just endless unfunny non-sequitors(they try to get laughs out of the fact that they’re random but random doesn’t automatically = funny), that were tired when the show got cancelled.(at least back then they managed to write 22 minutes of television instead of 10.)

Rant over. Simpsons may not be as good as it used to be, but at least the humor comes from the situations and characters and social satire. I hope people catch on to FG’s mediocrity and stop watching.

By: tom

tom — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:15:03 +0000

simpsons was great… did anyone see the new opening? before i saw it heard my roomie laughing his ass off. they switched to hd, same type of opening but they added stuff, letterbox format unless you have widescreen tv… looked really nice… reminded me of the movie style.

was the first time since november that fox had an all new animation line-up

simpsons was down 900,000 from last year
family guy was even
American Dad was up 500,000
King of Hill was down 1.1 million

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:13:08 +0000

Apparently Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria will be kissing each other in a story later this season, plus it looks like Nicolette will be leaving Wisteria Lane this season too…should be interesting to see if that helps ratings.

By: Fin

Fin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:01:02 +0000

Sam i agree ABC is just not trying hard enough to push DH back to where it was before and its schedulers at the start of this year were crap. The 100th episode was like the worst in terms of numbers this year (i think) !!!! the 100th episode! How did they let that happen.

By: Fin

Fin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:59:13 +0000

DH seems to loose like 2-3mil every time it returns from Fall-Spring hiatus: it happened last year aswell: because people loose interest. So next year DH at this time may be at a 10-11mil and 4.0 demo

By: David

David — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:42:10 +0000

What exactly is so amazing about the amazing race? Well last nights episode was the funniest thing I ever saw on tv in my life. When they had to carry those cheese wheels down the hill on those medieval contraptions and the contraptions broke and the contestants and the cheese were all rolling down the hill I was laughing like crazy.

By: R.G.

R.G. — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:33:16 +0000

Hmmm…am I just noticing this or does FOX’S CARTOON DOMINATION looking kind of…….”tired” (except maybe Family Guy) ?

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:32:14 +0000

‘Desperate Housewives’ is really hurting. The last two weeks ‘Private Practice’ has been getting higher ratings than it, thanks to the crossover stunt that the network pulled. ABC needs to do something to get it’s ratings back up.

By: R.G.

R.G. — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:29:41 +0000

I just found out (in my area) that both CW & MY NETWORK TV will only broadcast DIGITAL as planned after tomorrow…will this affect their ratings…or do those that are nielson viewrs have to have cable and it won’t really “upset” the numbers all that much…??????

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:28:11 +0000

why did the WB and UPN merge? wasnt the WB getting better ratings than this?

By: Average Joe

Average Joe — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:21:27 +0000

CW would probably pull better numbers by airing 2 movies back to back 6-8 and 8-10 than airing anything else.

By: Average Joe

Average Joe — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:20:05 +0000

What exactly is so amazing about The Amazing Race?

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:06:24 +0000

i wonder what would the ratings be like for TSCC and dollhouse if FOX but them onsunday. prob be better than friday anyway. there wouldnt be much competition for TSCC at 8. Dollhouse wouldnt do well against DH though.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:05:16 +0000

It’s a shame that Amazing Race had its lowest season premiere ever, but judging from this article’s headline, everything was pretty low. Hopefully the Amazing Race can hold strong against Dateline NBC and Extreme Makeover, and we already know it’ll beat the Simpsons for sure.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:56:40 +0000

@Jay, I’m not sure if you are referencing “The Future is Cheese” because I don’t remember it saying anything about Chuck, but it was an interesting read:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903/television

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:52:17 +0000

@Alan — from James Hibberd:

“Race” was seen by 9.3 million viewers and received a 2.7 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 7 share. That’s down 16% from last fall and marks the slowest “Race” start yet. “Race” was followed by “Cold Case” (10.8 million, 2.4/6) and “The Unit” (8.3 million, 2.1/6).

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/02/amazing-race-premiere-ratings.html

By: jay

jay — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:51:18 +0000

Ah, Mondays. When I get home I’ll try to put up some of the stuff in the Atlantic Monthly in which “Chuck” is featured prominently – but its an article by a ” TV insider ” about the demise of scripted network shows. On that subject, DH first in the demo, Family Guy, a mediocre cartoon,econd, Simpsons, about a hundred years old, third.

By: josh

josh — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:38:47 +0000

I think moving chuck and Heroes to sundays mid-season would be a good idea!! Then have Medium on year round on mondays 9/8c!

Desperate Housewives is a bit low :/

By: elliott

elliott — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:36:37 +0000

y simpsons sucks now big time family guy is way better

By: melbye

melbye — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:33:42 +0000

Familguy beating Simpsons makes me sick. I’m gonna go and puke now

By: elliott

elliott — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:28:45 +0000

was that a new family guy coz on wikipedia it z oceans 3 n a half(new ep) 17jan

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:21:41 +0000

Maybe I’m crazy, but I really think NBC should consider giving Chuck and Heroes 22 episode orders, and moving them to Sunday nights starting in January and not taking any breaks.

At 8 PM Eastern, Chuck would be competing against Extreme Makeover (Not the same demo) and Amazing Race, which is fading in popularity.

Then they could follow it up at the 9 o’clock hour with Heroes, which is a total opposite demo from DH, and Cold Case brings in awful demos in Heroes best numbers.

I mean Mondays are just Brutal with the CBS comedies, House and 24, and DWTS.

By: Gojou

Gojou — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:18:07 +0000

Goldeneye as an older movie that has run on the network several times has better numbers than some of the CWs original shows running new episodes. In fact, he surpassed some Gossip Girl episodes.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:13:31 +0000

How did The Amazing Race do in comparison with its normal numbers? Last night’s episode was great, and internet chatter is that after a couple of stale seasons, the Amazing Race is back to its top quality!

I wish it had been up against a new episode of Extreme Makeover because it often gets beaten by that show and I want TAR to win its timeslot this year!

By: Elyk

Elyk — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:03:07 +0000

Oh, American Dad almost pulled a 3 in the demo! oh well… The Simpsons is a lot lower than it was earlier this season.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:02:55 +0000

Really happy to see that growth for Goldeneye…… Oh, I’m sorry, that is not a new show…..oh, it’s a crappy James Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan…..oh, oh my bad……

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:54:27 +0000

but you could live with the Minutes in 60 Minutes being spelled Minues?

Slacker!

By: Squally

Squally — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:50:34 +0000

Not to be picky, but there seems to be a typo. I think one of the 08:00 is supposed to be 08:30. ^.^