RATINGS
Ratings Roundup: 20th February 2012
Feb 20th
WINNERS
THE WALKING DEAD: Wow – who saw this one coming?
We all knew The Walking Dead was a monster size horror hit, but after a rocky Fall season (admittedly redeemed by a terrific end episode) and limited promotion for its February return I was expecting diminished returns for the return of the AMC zombie saga.
And yet The Walking Dead came back stronger than ever last week – roaring back to life with a terrific 8.10 million viewers and a 4.2 18-49 share. To put that in context, that’s better than EVERY show on NBC and The CW last week, barring The Voice. It’s also The Walking Dead’s best ratings to date – besting the season 2 opener which scored 7.26 million back in October. And the fact that the show aired during the second most watched Grammy Awards ever makes these figures even more impressive…
Now the question becomes – how big can The Walking Dead go… 9 million? 10 million? Who knows…!
UNDERCOVER BOSS: Friday night has long been a dead-zone for the broadcast networks but what do you know – suddenly the night is starting to show sparks of life…
Shark Tank recently scored its highest ratings to date and What Would You Do isn’t More >
Ratings Roundup: 13th February 2012
Feb 13th
WINNERS
THE VOICE: Watch out American Idol, you’ve got some serious competition now!
Yep, while the long running Fox music competition show continues to hit new lows in its troubled 11th season, NBC’s hot new hit came back scorching.
Obviously The Voice got a LOT of help from its plum post-Super Bowl slot, which attracted over 37 million viewers, predictably higher than last year’s Glee extravaganza. But to be honest, post Super Bowl inflated numbers don’t count for a huge amount in the long run – aside from bragging rights.
Nope, the real test for The Voice came on Monday when the 2nd season ‘officially’ debuted. And the numbers were great – 17.84 million viewers and a 6.7 18-49 share. To put that into context that’s nipping at the heels of Idol’s Thursday episode (18.13 million) and well ahead in the demo (5.8 18-49)
However, once again the question remains – how will The Voice fare in the long run – especially once its biggest novelty, The Blind Auditions, are over?
Ratings Roundup: 5th February 2012
Feb 5th
WINNERS
GLEE: Hmm, maybe Glee isn’t quite as damaged as many of us suspected…
After a season featuring some pretty major ratings slippage, Glee this week bounced back with its much-hyped Michael Jackson tribute episode. Tuesday night’s episode brought in 9.07 million viewers and a 3.7 18-49 share.
Okay, so that’s still well down on the show’s Season 2 average, where the show rarely dipped below 10 million a week, but after weeks of ratings stuck in the 7 million range Fox have to be breathing a slight sigh of relief.
And how does the network choose to reward Glee for its ratings renewal… why they’re putting it on hiatus after the Feb 21st episode for almost 2 months! Genius idea – especially when Glee lost almost 2 million viewers after taking a month off in March 2011. Hmm, maybe Glee isn’t quite out of the danger zone yet after all!
THE BIG BANG THEORY: Turns out CBS’s most valuable comedy franchise isn’t Two And A Half Men after all.
Yep, while the Ashton Kutcher starring series is still a terrific performer for the Eye network, it’s on Thursdays that the real magic is happening. Now in its 5th season, The Big Bang Theory this week pulled More >
Ratings Roundup: 23rd January 2012
Jan 23rd
A little late on the Ratings Roundup this week – have been insanely busy on the TV front recently. But here it is – better late than never!
WINNERS
ALCATRAZ: It was definitely a week of mixed fortunes for Fox, with American Idol returning to new lows and lots of people – including yours truly – questioning the future of TV’s top rated series.
But there was also some good news on hand as well in the form of Monday night’s Alcatraz. Produced by J.J.Abrams, the mysterious prison saga brought in 10.05 million viewers and a healthy 3.3 18-49 share. That was better than the premiere ratings of the massively hyped Terra Nova in the same time slot, even though Terra received millions of dollars more in promotion (in fact if Alcatraz continues to fare this well it could well spell the end for the low rated Spielberg dinosaur drama)
Of course as we all know you should never read too much into a show’s premiere ratings. Fox’s New Girl debuted with boffo numbers and now is a minor hit at best – so we’ll see how Alcatraz fares in week 2. Still it’s a good start for Fox. Now if only J.J. could bring More >
Ratings Roundup: 15th January 2012
Jan 15th
WINNERS
ONCE UPON A TIME: Some shows crumble after a holiday hiatus – and some come back stronger than ever…
Case in point, ABC’s Once Upon A Time, which after some serious slippage towards the end of the year bounced back strong last week.
You may recall that Time launched big in October 2011 with 12.93 millions viewers but then lost viewers every single week. By mid-December the show was below the 9 million mark and ABC had to be wondering if the show was going to crater a la Pan Am.
But last week Once Upon A Time showed a serious rebound – scoring 10.35 million viewers and a strong 3.7 18-49 share. For ABC – which this week had to put the dreadful Work It out of its misery – this is definitely a happy ending. For now at least!
ROB: What do the critics know?
I had to ask myself this question Friday morning after the ratings came in for the critically slammed Rob (which I have to admit didn’t look too hot to me either!)
Despite widespread derision Rob pulled in 13.47 million viewers and a 4.1 18-49 rating – one of the strongest numbers of the week. Many commentators jumped on the ratings, proclaiming Rob More >
Ratings Roundup: 8th January 2012
Jan 8th
WINNERS
OPRAH’S NEXT CHAPTER: Finally some good news for OWN!
Yep, the beleaguered Oprah Winfrey Network might finally have another hit on their hands – and all it took was Oprah herself. Sunday night’s premiere of Oprah’s Next Chapter, featuring Winfrey interviewing Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, gave a big boost to OWN, pulling in 1.1 million viewers to rate as the network’s biggest show in a year (OWN’s other hit? Season 25 – the series that went behind the scenes of Oprah. Hmm, do I detect a pattern here?)
Personally I thought Next Chapter was very entertaining and proved once again why Oprah is such a strong interviewer – she certainly didn’t duck the tough questions. But I do think 2 hours is too long for the show – even I had to reach for the fast forward button by the halfway mark!
Ratings Roundup: 18th December 2011
Dec 18th
It’s time for the final Ratings Roundup of the year. So who shone – and who stunk – over the last 7 days… let’s find out!
WINNERS
FEAR FACTOR: Okay everyone – let’s put this into perspective shall we!
From all the internet hoopla surrounding the return of Fear Factor this week (yes, that would be you Perez Hilton), you’d have thought that NBC had struck the ratings jackpot with their resurrected reality franchise. Short answer – they didn’t. But Fear Factor did well nonetheless.
On Monday night the Joe Rogan hosted gross out series returned from its 5 year break to pull in 8.52 million viewers and a 3.5 18-49 rating. That’s NBC’s best score in the 9pm timeslot for over a year.
But now some perspective. Fear Factor went up against a repeat of House on Fox and Hart Of Dixie on The CW as well as a painfully low rated ABC game show (see below). Plus while that demo is good, the overall ratings aren’t astounding and are likely to fall in the weeks to come. A premier of 8 million isn’t that impressive when slippage is likely. Still even if Fear Factor settles at the 6-7 million mark – that will still pretty More >
Ratings Roundup: 11th December 2011
Dec 11th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
I took a week off from the Ratings Roundup last week – but now it’s back. And guess what – sadly for the broadcast networks the ratings bad news continues…
WINNERS
SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC: I haven’t mentioned the long running CBS reality series on the site for a while now. But while other shows continue to garner all the hype and attention, Survivor has been holding steady and continues to pull in some pretty impressive figures.
Take this week for example. On Wednesday night the South Pacific edition of the show attracted 11.59 million viewers and a 3.3 18-49 share. For a show in its 23rd ‘season’ that’s pretty darn good going. And even more impressive is the fact that Survivor even beat The X Factor in the same timeslot, with the Simon Cowell music competition show managing ‘just’ 10.70 million (though the X Factor was slightly ahead in the demo with a 3.4). No wonder CBS just keeps renewing the show season after season…
PERSON OF INTEREST: Another show I haven’t written about for a while is CBS’s under the radar Person Of Interest. Launched with great expectations, the J.J.Abrams thriller has been on the bubble for More >
Ratings Roundup: 26th November 2011
Nov 26th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
LOVE AND HIP HOP: I’ve talked frequently here at Remote Patrolled about Vh1’s ratings woes – especially late last year when the network really was in the ratings toilet.
But credit where it’s due the former music network has certainly turned the corner in recent months. Mob Wives is a solid hit for the network and about to launch its first spin-off in the Spring. And then there’s Monday nights, which Vh1 has transformed into a solid ‘urban’ night – powered by standout Love And Hip Hop.
This week Hip Hop attracted 2.78 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 share, the top rated reality show of the night, ahead of such series as American Chopper, Hoarders and Monster In Laws. Plus not far behind is fellow Vh1 reality show, Basketball Wives, which pulled in 2.26 million and a 1.3 youth share on the same night. I still don’t really know what the Vh1 brand stands for – but at least the network has some solid ratings to crow about…
Ratings Roundup: 20th November 2011
Nov 20th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: Another great week for FX’s American Horror Story, as the scariest show on TV continues to grow into a smash hit for the network.
This week’s episode, largely centering around Jessica Lange’s Constance and featuring a scene that doubtless made every guy watching wince – pulled in 3.06 million viewers and a 1.8 18-49 share, making it the most watched cable show on Wednesday night in both total viewers and demo share.
What’s more American Horror Story has been growing every week and has now almost reached its premiere levels (3.18 million). And with three episodes left in the current season there’s every chance Horror Story will set record ratings by the end of its run.
Great news for creator Ryan Murphy, especially as his OLD series, Glee, is struggling big time over on Fox. Despite plenty of press coverage and some heavily hyped episodes, Glee remains yesterday’s show – this week barely rising above the 7 million mark to 7.08 million viewers and beaten in total viewers by fellow Tuesday night shows Last Man Standing (9.06 million) and Body of Proof (9.76 million). Now that’s scary.
More >
