| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-49 Rating/Share | 1.4/4 | 0.6/3 | 0.6/2 | 0.5/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 4.28 | 3.90 | 3.06 | 2.20 |
The CBS premiere of Canadian import The Bridge was nearly unwatched on Saturday, drawing just a 0.5 adults 18-49 rating for both its episodes and straining US/Canadian TV diplomacy in the process.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS A JOKE:
In a statement issued by the Canadian TV Foreign Ministry the magnitude of the situation was evident:
It's one thing to put Flashpoint on Fridays at 9pm, at least some people might watch it then, but to premiere The Bridge on Saturday at 8pm goes beyond the generous bounds of international TV etiquette. We are considering our response.
In related news, the Canadian TV ambassador, Michael J. Fox, was recalled from Hollywood to Ottawa for consultations. Oh, Canada.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS NO LONGER A JOKE:
Back to ratings reality:
As is typical on a Saturday night without special events, it was Fox's all-American crime reality duo of Cops and America's Most Wanted topping the night.
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 8:00 | FOX | Cops (1 new, 1 repeat) | 1.3 | 6 | 3.88 |
| ABC | America's Funniest Home Videos (repeat) | 0.8 | 3 | 3.36 | |
| CBS | The Bridge (premiere) | 0.5 | 2 | 2.98 | |
| NBC | Secrets Of The Mountain (movie, 8-10p) | 0.5 | 2 | 2.90 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | America's Most Wanted | 1.6 | 6 | 4.69 |
| CBS | The Bridge | 0.5 | 2 | 3.51 | |
| ABC | Scoundrels (repeat) | 0.4 | 2 | 1.70 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | 48 Hours Mystery | 1.0 | 4 | 5.22 |
| NBC | Law & Order: CI (repurposed) | 0.8 | 3 | 3.38 | |
| ABC | The Gates (repeat) | 0.4 | 2 | 1.55 |
-
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source: Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101 and Numbers 102.
“Canadian TV Foreign Ministry?”, “Canadian TV ambassador?” You forgot to mention the blatant violation of the bi-lateral TV provisions of NAFTA and the fact that Jack Bauer broke onto the grounds of the Canadian TV embassy in Hollywood where Fox was planning on exploding an H-bomb in retaliation.
Canada should close its borders. Interesting the L&C: CI actually beat The Bridge and this is the repurposed (the spelling checker doesn't like that spelling) version and a lousy lead-in meaning even though it's already been on USA and it has Jeff Goldblaum in it, more people wanted to watch it than The Bridge.
Ouch.
Canada's PISSED! lol the show was ok, but nothing special. But I See there point about putting it on Saturday. Now who is gonna get mad when NBC does it to “Persons Unknown”? oh yea, NO ONE!
The only good thing about Persons Unknown on Saturdays is that my DVR is totally unoccupied on Saturdays so this works for me. As crazy as this statement seems, I actually am enjoying PU. Lots better than last year's Harpers Island, and I made it all the way to the end of that one.
I watch, Like Persons Unkown too. Just thought it would be funny to throw in there.
Person's Unknown fills the void after Happy town was cancelled. It's not perfect but it's not terrible, but I like it and plan on being there til the end. At least NBC told the viewers that it was moving to Saturday instead of just throwing it there with no promotion.
I can sort of understand them. I'd be pissed too if the only two American imports were a) airing in the summer and b) airing on a Friday and a Saturday on Canadian TV, especially considering how nicely they treat our shows.
Hmm, the repeat of Scoundrels drew a 0.4 rating; the two remaining BOT episodes would have at least mustered a 0.6. Oh, well…
Just in case it wasn't painfully obvious in the post, all the Canadian/US stuff is a *joke*.
Better off Ted was lucky to get a 0.9 demo last summer, and that wasn't on a Saturday. I'm sure Better off Ted would have done only an 0.4 or so.
ABC should have just show BOT and Eastwick last night.
Oh Ottawa. Why art thou so useless. They really should move all entertainment organizations in Canada out of Ontario and into BC. We're just more fun than those fools.
Saturdays in summer is the ultimate ratings wasteland.
Bill, was the 0.5 ratings for The Bridge real? Or was that a joke as well?
Yup, I can't skate my way out of this one. The joke's on me. *facepalm*
We're not the Onion, it wasn't April 1, and there were no disclaimers… Still, the “facepalm” is the appropriate response!
The numbers were real.
Still, CBS can't have had much faith in The Bridge if they premiere it on a Saturday. Unless they were looking to take away the “King of the ratings wasteland day” from Fox?
“Back to ratings reality” = disclaimer, except to the exceedingly picky.
It's exceedingly picky only provided all the assumptions you made about how people would read the post were valid.
It worked for me! I started at the top and was shocked that the headline wasn't just a joke, but then I got to that line and realized it was.