via CBS press release:
THE SEASON PREMIERE OF "THE Mentalist" ON ITS NEW NIGHT IMPROVES LAST YEAR'S TIME PERIOD
"Survivor: Samoa" Posts Week-to-Week Increases in Viewers and Key Demographics Against Tougher Competition
The Premiere of "CSI" Improves on Last Season's Finale
CBS a Solid Second on Thursday in Viewers and Key Demographics
The second season premiere of THE Mentalist on its new night improved the 10:00-11:00 PM year ago time period premiere of "Eleventh Hour" and the second episode of SURVIVOR: SAMOA increased last week's deliveries in viewers and demos, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for Thursday, Sept. 24.
SURVIVOR: SAMOA (P) was second in households (6.9/11), viewers (11.87m), adults 25-54 (4.6/12) and adults 18-49 (3.7/11). Compared to last week's broadcast, SURVIVOR: SAMOA was up +1% in households (from 6.8/11), +3% in adults 18-49 (from 3.6/11), even in adults 25-54 and added +210,000 viewers (from 11.66m, +2%).
At 9PM, CSI: (P) was second in households (9.5/15), viewers (15.72m), adults 25-54 (5.3/12) and adults 18-49 (4.0/10). Compared to last year's finale (on May 14, 2009), CSI: was up +2% in households (from 9.3/15), +13% in adults 25-54 (from 4.7/11), +14% in adults 18-49 (from 3.5/09) and added +880,000 viewers (from 14.84m, +6%).
Editors: CSI premiered three weeks into the season last year with a major cliffhanger (Warrick's death) on a less competitive night.
At 10:00 PM, THE Mentalist (P) was second in households (9.1/15), viewers (14.33m), adults 25-54 (4.6/11) and adults 18-49 (3.4/09). Compared to the time period premiere last year ("Eleventh Hour" on October 9, 2008), THE Mentalist was up +26% in households (from 7.2/12), +12% in adults 25-54 (from 4.1/10), +6% in adults 18-49 (from 3.2/09) and added +2.93m viewers (from 11.40m, +26%).
For the night, CBS was second in households (8.5/14), viewers (13.97m), adults 25-54 (4.8/12) and adults 18-49 (3.7/10).
Updated Thursday ratings available this afternoon.
Love the spin:
The Mentalist 2009: 14.33m, 3.4 18-49.
Eleventh Hour 2008: 11.6m, 3.3 18-49.
Although TM had more eyeballs, they were older eyeballs. Still, maybe TM will do better in the ensuing weeks. EH was not a failure, it pretty much stuck within the 2.9-3.1 range. Both are WB productions.
Andrea:
You can expect those numbers for “The Mentalist” to improve greatly next week against its regular competition – “Private Practice.” So, while it’s just spin this week, the improvement will be legitimate next week.
I’m not so sure it will be the premiere of PP. Maybe in two weeks’ time.
The Mentalist might not be up to full speed next week, Andrea, but the numbers will be better than this week.
I was having the discussion yesterday about L&O:SVU ratings being damped by the timeslot change and said to watch Mentalist numbers. It got hurt too. Will be interesting to see how/if they each recover.
I think The Mentalist will have a better recovery than SVU, Bill. Criminal Minds, Glee, and Modern Family will keep SVU’s numbers down, especially in the demo. It’s a shame because I watched the SVU premiere and I thought it was one of the better episodes in quite a while.
Can someone tell me why CBS moved The Mentalist? It was already a hit, it didn’t need to be behind a hit. I don’t understand why they didn’t schedule a night around it.
Q:
It was behind a hit last year too… NCIS.
Q, presumably because they wanted to schedule Tuesday night around NCIS/NCIS:LA, which seems to have worked out well, so far.
Soooo?? What is CBS trying to say with this? TM should’ve had better numbers for being such a hit last season and last night being the second season premiere.
I’m positive that if EH had stayed, the show would’ve improved in the ratings. But CBS and its moves… Not good.
Bruce, why do I recall The Mentalist being a self-starter? I’m probably remembering wrong, I don’t follow CBS’s schedule that closely.
Bill, I guess CBS has too many successful crime shows on its lineup. There really was no where else to put it I suppose.
I’m sure Eleventh Hour would have got crushed had CBS renewed it. I think with NCIS LA, CBS wanted to give it a leg up because I think it will be used to shore up a struggling night like Sundays and have Tuesdays at 9pm for a new show.
The thing CBS likes is that The Mentalist probably had the best retention of a series out of CSI since Without a Trace. Grey’s killed CSI and Mentalist but Things should become normal when Private Practice premeires next week.
I think CBS are looking for The Mentalist to build on CSI and I think they can easily do that once Private Practice which is gets 9-10m at best.
Does this mean TBBT gets the superbowl???????????????