I know the Renew/Cancel index hasn't been updated in a couple of weeks - it will return on February 23rd. A couple of weeks off from the index don't matter much for most shows at this time of year, but for a new show like Life Unexpected it can make a lot of difference. The ratings for Life Unexpected have trended down Mondays at 9pm, and that's not good news. With the announcement of early renewals for several shows already, the fans start to worry.
But all the news isn't bad. Despite downward trends of the overall numbers, 18-49 demo and even women 18-34 for the Monday airings, the encore broadcasts on Wednesday at 8pm have done pretty well.
Some people think that's because the people who love it watch it again on Wednesdays, but that's not the case for the most part. For the first four episodes the percentage range of unique viewers for the encore ranged between 84% to 90% so there's definitely some duplication but it's only on the range of 10%-16%.
The numbers below are not the average audience numbers we usually report. They are the total audience reach metric -- people who watched at least six minutes, it's the easiest way to figure out how many unique viewers there are between the two episodes. The numbers we normally report are the average audience for the whole 60 minute episode.
| Week | Original | Encore | Unique Reach | Encore Added | %Unique |
| Week 1 | 3,536 | 2,412 | 5,605 | 2,069 | 86% |
| Week 2 | 3,038 | 2,177 | 4,870 | 1,832 | 84% |
| Week 3 | 2,697 | 2,134 | 4,579 | 1,882 | 88% |
| Week 4 | 2,864 | 2,619 | 5,232 | 2,368 | 90% |
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Total unique reach metrics for this week's episodes are not yet available, but for the program averages Wednesday's encore averaged a 1.1 rating with women 18-34, only .3 below the 1.4 Monday's original garnered. And though Wednesday's encore was down in total viewers from last Wednesday's, the 1.1 rating with women 18-34 matched last Wednesday as the best performance for an encore in that demo, and this Wednesday had to contend with the Olympics.
The relatively great performance of the encore surely can't hurt the renewal chances for Life Unexpected, but there will only be a couple of more Wednesday encores before America's Next Top Model returns, and then Life Unexpected will move from Mondays at 9pm to Mondays at 8pm and have to do battle with House.
It’s probably more that not all the fans can watch on Mondays so they choose to catch the Wednesday repeat.
this show is on the wrong network, should be on lifetime or somewhere else
I really feel like the ratings will eventually improve. It just needs to be on a different day. Whenever the ratings are that high for a repeat, and are that close to matching the original airings that means there has to be some potential there. Actually a lot of potential, because when you factor in the new episode ratings, the repeat ratings, and the dvr numbers (LUX increases by 13%) the show performs very well.
i think the show will come back because
)
1. its cheap-very cheap actually!
2. its one of the few cbs-produced shows
3. its critically aclaimed(ok thats not a big matter
4. it doent have a huge drop-even with the olympics-
plus if it can stay at 1.0 in A18-49 it will be safe!
Does anyone know if the repeat airings for LUX are gonna continue once the CW’s other shows (GG, 90210, etc…) come back from there WAY too long hiatuses? I’ll be interested to see what kind of ratings this show will bring in if it’s only shown once a week…
“Does anyone know if the repeat airings for LUX are gonna continue once the CW’s other shows (GG, 90210, etc…) come back from there WAY too long hiatuses? I’ll be interested to see what kind of ratings this show will bring in if it’s only shown once a week…”
I don’t think so. “America’s Next Top Model” returns on March 10th, so it will be taking that repeat spot. I heard that Life Unexpected will be showing another encore on March 1st instead of a One Tree Hill episode though.
Getting that many extra viewers on Wednesday is great, but at some point you have to be able to integrate those two audiences, because split up neither portion is good enough for renewal on their own.
The question is, can enough of both audiences be combined into one single hour somewhere on the schedule?
Are people simply watching on Wednesday because Monday is such a busy night at 9pm? Do they even know that what they are watching is a repeat or do they think that the Wednesday episode is first run?
One would *assume* that fans would watch Monday if A) fans really liked the show, B) they knew new eps were on Monday, and C) they didn’t have 2-3 shows they liked more that currently air Monday at 9.
Since apparently that isn’t the case, I wonder what is up with all the unique viewers on Wednesday. I guess we will see how many of them go to Monday 8pm soon enough.
The show can’t compete with other networks and it’s big shows! Life is a good show and deserves to be on a new night. And if wed. nights repeats are doing well it may be a sign that monday night just isn’t the best night for this show! I am in love with this show and it’s rare I find a show I’m passionate about. I think it’s got a great story to tell and it needs and deserves another season! It’s too good to just give up on!
Well, I have to watch the Wed airings not because I prefer to watch on Wed over Mon, but I have to share a tv with other people. Right now, the other members of my house like Heroes and Big Bang Theory, and since LUX also aired on Wed, there was no reason to boot those other shows for it. So it may not necessarily be a matter where the fans are choosing other shows over it, but like in my case, catering to the other members of the household.
I say bump ANTM and move it to Tuesday. Let LUX anchor the evening with another new, high quality show. ANTM may help 90210 with ratings.
Funny thing is most fans always thought the Wednesday airings were what might save the save. even myself included, not to say it would be a guarantee or anything, because not even Smallville has been renewed yet, probably different circumstances though. I think that the Cw will not make a decision on Lux until it starts at the 8 pm time-slot. Then again that might even hurt the series going up against DWTS when it returns and House but the again the Bachelor and Big Bang are pretty big competition in itself.
Well some things to consider. Of all the current scripted fair on the CW, all but Melrose Place and Beautiful Life showed ratings growth within the first four episodes (when they originally started out). And MP and BL are considered Dead as a doornail.
LUX (even pre Olympics) never showed any ratings growth (in fact it declined in all groups each week).
And while its true that LUX Encores, but most of the scripted fare on the CW (or the WB before that) have encored before. And when going to just one broadcast, none of them gained much of the encore audience (many none at all).
While I am not saying that LUX wont get picked up (I am on the fence), I don’t think its encores are going to be a deciding factor, and I think it looks really bad that it has shown no growth, but steady declines.
@mswood. Though small, the last week actually improved in the face of the Olympics. Let’s see how the next two weeks go. This one is going to be harder to evaluate because it comes on at the same time as the Olympics and Idol. CW may be a bit more forgiving with this show than with MP, which was DOA. It never repeated well, ever.
As an aside, that’s what they get for killing Sydney. Jerks!
i hope this how comes back life unexpected is something new and about family. i love it as well as all my friends that have fell in love with it as well. i hope it gets a second season.
the cw make a big mistake in put life unexpected after one tree hill sorry to say but oth ratings are really bad and its not just beacuse of olympics since before that was having like 2.1 million viwers its a new show that need suporte and was a big mistake to put after that.the good news for lux is that the retention of one tree hill ratings are great their ratings are almost the same.
If Life Unexpected doesn’t come back for a second season I’m bailing on the CW. I’m sick and tired of all my favorite shows not getting renewed.
“the cw make a big mistake in put life unexpected after one tree hill sorry to say but oth ratings are really bad and its not just beacuse of olympics since before that was having like 2.1 million viwers”
I agree. One Tree Hill has been really declining, and it wasn’t getting great ratings before the Olympics either. I wish they would have launched it after Vampire Diaries or America’s Next Model. Then moved it later.
Who Knows
According to finals from Travis the only improvement week to week have been on Wednesday. It has had no gains on Monday.
Every other show that the CW has ever renewed (scripted fair) has managed to have some ratings growth on its original airing within its first four episodes. Most have been encored (and in most of the cases have shown some irregularity insteadf of a steady slide).
And just because we have had encores doesn’t mean those people are those would are going to watch (or were going to watch the show on Monday).
Just go back through the data (though going back pre CW is getting harder as most sites no longer keep a database). And you will see that most of these shows that encored don’t gain an audience from them when they end. That shows that for a single broadcast point of view those numbers are basically meaningless. And the CW has had multiple broadcasts of many of its shows. Hell they have had triple airings ina week of several shows and I not tracked any noticable change it its primary airdate performance when going to two or one broadcast.
Now could LUX be an exception to this? Of course, but based on trends it isn’t likely. And I think (though I could easily be wrong here) when it goes to one broadcast not only will its lead in change, but so will its current primary demo competition. If that is so any change will be hard to attribute to any one cause.
To answer Robert’s question posed in the title… I sure as hell hope so. It’s a good show.
Robert–
My favorite thing about this site is how many people overnight have become experts in what’s going to get cancelled or renewed! And not by any math–viewers,18-49, DVR–no, these people are just EXPERTS with whatever flimsy reasoning they have behind their solid knowledge that something will get renewed or cancelled.
Oh, and quite possibly my favorite line ever has to be “I’m going to stop watching X network if Y is cancelled!” Perhaps that’s what really happened to NBC.