In regard to Cougar Town, someone said before Idol moved to 9pm that Modern Family wouldn’t be effected too much by Idol, because the end of the Idol episode is what most people are interested in, and I think Cougar Town is taking the brunt of the steam train.

Cougar Town: The show is doing very well in young female viewers. That is one of the most important demo groups to all of the broadcasters. Women in 18-34/18-49 are still considered by advertisers to be the primary decision makers in terms of purchasing home related goods (cleaning supplies, soap, food, diapers, etc.), which are big advertisers on TV. That alone makes it a valuable asset.

The middle was great last night, and gary unmarried (which i TIVOED was fantastic!)

Life Unexpected (R)
- 1.554 million viewers
- 1.0/2 HH
- 0.8/2 A18-49
- 0.8/3 A18-34
- 1.1/3 W18-34

Great numbers for the repeat airing!!!

The Middle, yay! I know this will grow eventually, the show ain’t groundbreaking but it’s a show people could relate to. Yes, it’s similar with Malcom in the Middle but Malcolm is zanier and over-the-top and The Middle is more grounded, I like both shows though. I like Brick more than Dewey though

I like Cougar Town but I admit the numbers are not that great but I think it still a good rating against Idol.

There was a discussion on Sepinwall’s blog that says the title might be hurting the show. The show is not about Jules sleeping around with young men anymore but more of an ensemble comedy with Jules and the people that surround her. Anyway, I hope the ratings would pick up.

LUX repeat airings on par with the original, that says something indeed. It gave me little hope about the show’s chances for renewal

Good numbers for Christine. Crossing my fingers for renewal. It’s an average sitcom at best but I like the characters so I hope it could stay

In the vamp, a cropduster, a tanker truck full of gasoline, and Cary Grant…notice the similarities between the Middle’s vamp and the establishing shot of that famous scene from North by Northwest?

…other than that, it’s an excellent show

The New Adventures of Old Christine–8/10
The Middle–7/10
Mercy–9/10
Modern Family–9/10
Cougar Town–8.5/10
Ugly Betty–7/10

That was the funniest episode of Modern Family yet, in my opinion.

I really wish that more people would start watching Mercy! Its really a great show.

NBC may do huge suckage in prime time, but they make nice money and ratings in these areas, so “perpetually suck” is slightly harsh, isn’t it

…either NBC will continue to suck in perpetuity, even after Comcast gets ‘em on cable…

…or, like Brett Favre in the Hyundai Super Bowl commercial, Sam Watterston will have been in the DA’s office for 50 years on the National Broadcasting Company, and getting 4.0 demos…

…either way, you’re wrong…

…and either way, Van Buren will eventually become a captain before L&O ends, I pray (I have lit enough candles to burn Dresden and Tokyo again!)

Everyday we know exactly what’s going to happen, we know NBC is going to perpetually suck day in and day out, and apparently continue sucking until Comcast gets ‘em on cable. This guy is delusional.

…#25 (Charlotte), #28 (Raleigh-Durham), #36 (Greenville-Asheville), #46 (Greensboro) – totalling appx 3.5 million households, per slightly old data, but it’s ours, gosh darn it all:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/11/06/nielsen-people-meter-markets/1649

So, even if all the metered markets’ CBS affiliates went blue last night, perhaps 0.1 decrease in the demo…

@jrt: absolutely not

@Rhi that comment was actually first, and what precipitated the blog post last Saturday. Jen Godwin did that interview last Friday but just published it today.

“I see that our score that never changes on TVbythenumbers.com turned green. [Laughs.] The reason it turned green is because they picked up Parks and Recreation, and it’s like, well, so in other words, TV not so much by the numbers really. Just sort of TV by the same thing we all do it by, which is, every day is a new day, and we don’t know what the hell is going to happen.”

Because Bill and Robert haven’t gotten them since then.

But, I think CBS’ 2 hour comedy block on Wednesdays is now non-existant. Criminal Minds does great at 9pm, and CSI:NY does well at 10pm. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing CSI:NY go to Sundays, these 2 shows work very well where they are now.

All this talk of comedies, I’m getting increasingly worried about Charlie Sheen and Two and a Half Men. There’s a strong possibility that he may be going to jail. And if that does indeed happen, where does that leave Men? Do they continue it without Charlie, or do they put on an indefinite hiatus? I mean, I think the lineup could easily continue without it, and when Men does continue with Charlie (which, in reality, could be up to 3 years down the line), ratings would be HUGE.

I also think Christine will be renewed. Gary could go either way, it really depends on how Accidentally on Purpose does on Wednesdays.

8 pm – Criminal Minds
9 pm – Criminal Minds 2
10 pm – CSI:NY

But what happens if CM2 does not pull a Mentalist/NCIS:LA and post big numbers right off the bat? At 9 pm it could run into some trouble with ABC then Idol in midseason if FOX so chooses to leave it there. They could do this

8 pm – CSI:NY
9 pm – Criminal Minds
10 pm – Criminal Minds 2

Then does that leave Hawaii for Sundays? Or maybe Hawaii goes with CM. CBS has got to have a pretty big shuffle coming up… by CBS standards anyway, because a lot of things aren’t making sense right now; I have way more questions than this network has had answers.

Example, let’s say CW licenses an episode of LUX and Gossip Girl each and then airs each episode multiple times over the course of the season. This week over two airings of the same episode of LUX it has averaged .85 in 18-49. GG may pull in an average 1.1/1.2 in 18-49, but all the reruns tend to pull 0.3/0.4 — so it averages down to about .7-.8 over multiple airings.

I’d like to see the W18-34 numbers but I’d say LUX is pretty safe. What also needs to be considered is that LUX is a younger show (the other CW offerings are fairly old other than TVD. LUX has critical appeal and some actual buzz. It seems to be building a word of mouth. It’s also been said to be the cheapest CW drama. I’d say renewal prospects are fairly solid for now.

Melrose Place tends to get 0.7/0.8 for originals — which doesn’t look much worse than LUX. Compare the rerun ratings and it tells a much different story. MP is lucky to score .3 18-49 in a rerun. LUX nearly tripled that. It’s not going anywhere.

With Courtney Cox as a 40-something divorcee on the prowl for young guys, the show was weak. As a character-based sitcom about her immediate circle and their lives, it’s rather entertaining.

8:00: Rules of Engagement (FULL SEASON)
8:30: NEW COMEDY
9:00: The Big Bang Theory
9:30: How I Met Your Mother
10:00: CSI: Miami

Those numbers for Old Christine represent (I believe) its best viewer numbers ever on Wednesday. To be honest, it’s not ratings too much lower than it did on Mondays at this point. Those two shows are remarkable consistent.

Now that we can think about next season, ABC’s in a unique position in that it actually has building blocks for a comedy line-up, which hasn’t happened since Wednesday nights in 1998/99 before Millionaire ruined everything. I know that ABC will be tempted to move The Middle to 8pm, but I’d suggest 9:30pm for half-a-season (at least) to strengthen it, then a move to 8pm. I’m still not a fan of the show (Heaton is totally miscast), but it’s obviously catching on with viewers after an extremely slow start. The Middle and Modern Family represent ABC’s future.

As for Cougar Town, ABC really jumped the renewal ball there. I know that this website rails against “retentionistas” at times, but if Modern Family can do a 4.2 against Idol, the 9:30 show be able to do at least mid-3s. A 2.8 with that lead-in is really unacceptable, and more importantly, CT has a downward trend, while MF’s trend is upwards. Impressively, MF is performing about as well as Lost did (last season), with the same competition.

In the fall, without Idol, MF should be touching high 4s or even low 5s in the demo, and The Middle afterwards should do similar numbers. Since CT is renewed (ABC could rescind that), it could be paired with the Matthew Perry project for 8pm, even though the content might be a little iffy for the early hour. If the 8pm shows don’t work, mid-season, move The Middle to 8pm and surround it and MF with other family sitcoms. Wednesdays solved.

It appears that their main reason to air it at 9:00 was to destroy the competition. That’s not happening though. So wouldn’t it make sense to move it back to 8:00 where, at least it would appear, that they would have an even more successful night.

And SVU’s performance at 9:00 and 10:00 (even though repeats) really does show that NBC can expect their numbers to go up when they start airing at 10:00. Sure it is going up against CSI: NY, but at least that is not as competitive as the 9:00 hour where it clearly just sinks. I think it’s smart though that NBC not move it back to Tuesday at 10:00, because they should give the Biggest Loser lead-in to a newer show.

Lastly, are all the networks airing repeats against the Olympics? I notice that CBS is. Does anyone know what the usual ratings are for the Winter Olympics? How will CBS’s choice to air repeats affect them, since it is the Febrary sweeps?