Comments on: TV Ratings: Big Brother leads 18-49 demo, Merlin says goodbye, FOX wins with reruns

By: Weekly Update – Summer Glau Officially Joins Dollhouse, Defying Gravity in Trouble « Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:20:02 +0000

[...] On ABC, where the show airs on Sundays, Defying Gravity has seen its numbers decline each week sinking to an abysmal 0.8 rating and 2.66 million viewers for last Sunday’s broadcast. With numbers like that, and with the Canadian network also losing [...]

By: moraliste

moraliste — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:39:35 +0000

Warning, opinion only: I doubt if either network or cable,( especialliy network ) has ever had a less eventful summer, particularly where 18-35 or 18-49 is concerned. The closest parallel I can think of is when the censors came down on the dramas and comedies of the 1950′s and replaced Sid Ceasar and Ernie Kovacs with Mr. Ed and Gilligan’s Isle, and Playhouse 90 with Dragnet and Dr. Kildare. BTW, the more I see the subtle attempts to push ” Cougars ” as the next hip hop or lava lamps or whatever, and the more really sad and uninteresting and out of touch this artificially manufactered ” hot new trend ” actually turns out to be, the less hope I have for ABC’s Cougartown to be anything but just another embarassing dud.

By: BIG DADDY

BIG DADDY — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:56:35 +0000

Anyone know how many epidosdes are in this run/season of Shark Tank?

By: DW

DW — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:08:05 +0000

I will miss Merlin. I didn’t watch the first few shows because when I saw the promos, I thought it looked dumb. But one night I stopped on NBC and it was on and I actually enjoyed it. I watched probably the last 7 or 8 episodes of the series. I was hoping it would come back, but looks like its not in the cards.

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:34:15 +0000

It’s very different — maybe that’s why some are acting petulant about it.

Huh? Who’s acting petulant: the people who say it has bad numbers and could get moved to Saturday or the people who think the show is too boring (not too different) to watch?

By: SLP

SLP — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:16:59 +0000

I really liked Merlin and I am happy NBC showed it this summer but it is not the type of show that would ever do really well in ratings. I actually think that it would well-enough for the CW. They could put it on Fridays after Smallville since they are similar types of shows. The guy playing Merlin also kind of looks like a skinnier Tom Welling with big ears =)

By: Rand

Rand — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:55:06 +0000

I think Defying Gravity has as good a premise and star potential as anything else offered on network tv. It’s very different — maybe that’s why some are acting petulant about it. I like the fact that common things can happen in extraordinary circumstances (like the misplaced wrench shorting out the ship), and that even cliches (like the nasty Ground Control dude) are fun to watch. It takes itself too seriously the way the early Star Trek episodes did, on purpose, resulting in capital-E Entertainment. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so!

By: Alex S.

Alex S. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:58:01 +0000

Anyone else think Millionaire had to be stagedon Sunday?

I find it to be too big of a coincidence that the final contestant on the final night just happened to be the only contestant to reach the million dollar question…

ABC must have done that on purpose…

I have to admit it was exciting though and reminded me what made the show so entertaining to watch 10 years ago…

By: Pj

Pj — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:44:20 +0000

The best performing half hours of the night demo-wise were Big Brother and Miss Universe tied for the best demo half hours of the night. The 8pm half hour of Big Brother averaged a 2.6 with adults 18-49, as did the last half hour of the Miss Universe Pageant.

As I said Invest on promotion promotions and Promotions, so ratings will just increase Miss Universe

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:30:36 +0000

How can audience spend time watching that junk of Big Brother. I think the serie Merlin is a good one. I hope they have a second chance.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:00:19 +0000

Merlin was entertaining. Too bad they buried it on Sunday night.

By: forg

forg — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:07:34 +0000

Miss Universe did okay. I guess it rated well on the Hispanic households.
Even though business wise its a good decision but I’m still sad that the CW are giving up on Sundays already. Only the Reba-7th Heaven-ANTM rerun line up performed decently for the CW Sunday line up on their first year. Oh well…

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:57:26 +0000

Torchwood is coming back for a fourth season. It was announced almost a month ago. The format is up in the air, though. Could be just a few episodes, could be more like 13. We’ll see.

I think Merlin flopped because it isn’t very good and people weren’t interested, not because it wasn’t promoted enough. Stick the next season on BBC America, and a 1.1 demo would suit them. It stinks for major TV, though.

Shark Tank is still a dud. If a show starts at a sub-2.0 demo and improves fractionally for two weeks to a 1.8, it’s not a success. It’s just slightly less of a miserable failure than it initially looked to be. Maybe it’ll go up a few tenths more but I don’t see it becoming a hit.

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:54:19 +0000

QUOTE: “Had NBC advertised Merlin once in a blue moon and treated it with even the slightest bit of respect (instead of as some time slot gap filler), it would have done considerably better ratings-wise.” END QUOTE

If you go back to when Merlin premiered, NBC did a TON of promotion. I remember seeing NBC try to grab the Harry Potter audience by showing previews to the new Harry Potter movie! Merlin is just a quirky show that Americans arent in the mood for. Go back to Pushing Daisies (a favorite of mine), Kath and Kim (sort of quirky, right?), and Dead Like Me. The only quirky show that I can think of that survived is Ugly Betty.

By: Mega64

Mega64 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:43:46 +0000

Nice to see Shark Tank doing better. Mark Burnett knows how to make quality shows (or in this case, how to adapt a foreign show).

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:25:09 +0000

Me and my family watched Millionaire and Shark Tank last night. My whole family really enjoys Shark Tank, it is done very well.

I recorded Silence of the Lambs last night becuase it is one of my favorite movies.

By: Darrin

Darrin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Til Death was a great show that kind of lost its way. Fox should have supported it more. My family is addicted to Big Brother. This season has been above average. Defying Gravity is a show I was pulling for. But it just isn’t very good. I have two episodes on my DVR that I might just delete. Someone else needs to come up with a space drama like that without the terrible storylines. They pretty much lost me when the girl was hearing a baby cry in space on the first episode.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:04:14 +0000

Had NBC advertised Merlin once in a blue moon and treated it with even the slightest bit of respect (instead of as some time slot gap filler), it would have done considerably better ratings-wise. It was not the quality of the show that brought it down but NBC’s poor tactics, a horrible time slot, and being aired in the Summer when ratings are down on a network with already low ratings. I hope that BBC America does pick it up because it really does have a great amount of potential.

By: Shem

Shem — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:54:15 +0000

No R.G. My father and I watched the show while my mom was fast asleep…

By: R.G

R.G — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:23:15 +0000

Am I the only guy here who watched Miss Universe 2009?

Last night millionaire was good, we almost had a winner.

By: R.J.

R.J. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:51:12 +0000

Til Death looks like it’s doing much better. Know if they can just promote that it’s moveing to Firday Nights in October they would be good for at least 3 million viewers on Friday Night.

By: shelly

shelly — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:36:51 +0000

David and Merlin2009, Merlin hasn’t been cancelled (the second season has already been filming) but NBC probably won’t want it for another season. However, BBC America could pick it up if it has a hole in its scheduling for next year, especially since no one knows if Torchwood will return for another season.

By: Merlin2009

Merlin2009 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:24:33 +0000

WTF WHY U CANCEL MERLIN IT WAS A GOOOD SHOW!!!!!
GREAT ACTORS AND GREAT STORY LINES

By: Don J

Don J — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:24:25 +0000

I read that James Parriot, the creator of Defying Gravity, was planning a 3 season story arc if it somehow managed to do well. I guess fat chance of that happening. However, I know this show is a co-production with CTV in Canada and ABC is only paying a small licensing fee to air it here. I wonder if it will still live on in Canada.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:24:05 +0000

Wow, Shark Tank was GREAT last night!!!!! I’m really getting into the show now…it’s really well done IMO.

By: Bad Robot !

Bad Robot ! — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:12:31 +0000

Defying Gravity is a bore fest – its 90% flashbacks that are even more boring than the rest of it.

The only reason I watched any of it this week was, well, I was bored. Its a great sedative and helped me to fall asleep 3/4 of the in.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:10:04 +0000

Susan, interesting. I just saw the schedule updates through Sunday September 13, and Defying Gravity was still slated for Sunday at 10pm, but I won’t be surprised at all if that changes. I doubt they will move it to Friday though, everything they ran last Friday, including repeats of Supernanny and Ugly Betty performed better.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:07:33 +0000

I don’t take offense, Tom. I just think you’re wrong. And of course you’re mocking the focus on 18-49, why deny it? If you have a beef with that though, it’s with the advertisers. But if you want to vent about it here, I don’t have a problem with it.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:06:10 +0000

At least in Canada, Defying Gravity is moving to Fridays at 10p.

By: tom

tom — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:01:01 +0000

robert… back then millionaire wasn’t on every day for 8 years. i know we expected higher numbers but looking at it fair… the numbers they got were pretty good for summer august doldrums especially on ABC. at least they got some summer eyeballs for a change

and i am not in any way trying to offend you or the others that pray to the 18-49 god. i pray to him too as long as i am in his age range. i am not mocking it. i understand it 100 percent. so don’t take offense.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:45:03 +0000

Ron, not really. Millionaire premiered on a Monday to 7.5 million — that’s true enough, but by Wednesday of the first week was over 11 million, and by Sunday 15 million. It caught on pretty quickly, even in the first week.

By: Nick V

Nick V — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:42:25 +0000

The more I see Shark Tank, the more I love it. And it’s great to see that it maintained that 1.8 despite Millionaire still getting a 1.5 before it. But can anybody tell me why ABC is going to air it before Dancing with the Stars in September rather than after?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:40:43 +0000

Q, cable overnight ratings are released (at least to the networks) the next day, just not as early as the broadcast overnights. I think somewhere around ~2pm on the east coast. So depending on how the wind blows we might hear about Mad Men and True Blood today, but will definitely hear by Tuesday.

Dennis, it looks like about 2 minutes after your comment, Travis posted the half hourly details:

http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/932102632

By: cool

cool — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:32:27 +0000

I care about Shark Thank, after an awful premiere numbers is building week after week.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:29:11 +0000

Is there any way to get the full ratings? Maarc Berman doesn’t have them yet.

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:26:26 +0000

All I can say to the finale of Millionaire is “wow”.

By: Q

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:23:13 +0000

I think everyone knows that the only ratings people care about for Sundays this summer are True Blood and Mad Men. I know they’re not released until Tuesday or Wednesday yet that doesn’t stop me from coming here first thing.

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:19:56 +0000

Super Millionaire aired in 2004 and had two runs*

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:19:26 +0000

Robert, yes, but that was 10 years ago. And I believe these episodes are only slightly below how it did in the first episodes of its 1999 summer run.

Super Millionaire, considered a success, averaged around 13 million I believe, during a non-summer run.

VERY exciting episode of Millionaire last night.

Not gonna spoil it if you didn’t see it, but strongly encourage to watch on Hulu ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/91322/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-season-finale ).

By: cool

cool — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:13:32 +0000

It was a nice twist with millionaire last night, with Regis being the celebrity guest.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:10:34 +0000

tom, considering it once had 30+ million viewers…

By: tom

tom — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:09:46 +0000

is it me or or is the phrase “bowed out quietly” for millionaire sort of at odds with it being the highest rated show of the night in viewers?

i know i know… 18-49 18-49 18-49… we all pray to the 18-49 gods. just saying it’s kinda funny.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:09:05 +0000

RJ, you are correct….

“Huh” see above.

Post corrected…

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:02:59 +0000

I just check FOX’s website, and it was a repeat. If those numbers are correct, thats a jump of 0.2 in the demo. If ‘Til Death can pull a 1.0 demo for a repeat on Sunday at 7pm, it should be able to do at least a 1.3 on a Friday.

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:58:59 +0000

‘Til Death was new? No it wasnt, was it?

By: Huh

Huh — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:56:37 +0000

Fox ran a new episode of Til Death — in August? At 7pm?! Yeah, they really believe in that show.

By: David

David — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:47:31 +0000

Bummer about Merlin Last night episodes were amazing

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:45:25 +0000

there shouldn’t be a link to Berman’s site in this post (we didn’t get the data from him). If there is, that’s an error, but I don’t see the link.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:40:15 +0000

Um,Robert, I clicked on the link to Berman’s site and got sent to the ratings for August 16th.