RATINGS
Ratings Roundup: 28th May 2011
May 28th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
AMERICAN IDOL: Well here’s a surprise…
On Tuesday and Wednesday the 10th season of American Idol came to a close, the first sans Simon Cowell. Tuesday’s performance episode featuring Scotty and Lauren facing off pulled in 20.57 million viewers and a 6.4 18-49 share. Impressive – but still down 7% on last year’s equivalent episode – and a whole percentage point down on last week’s Wednesday episode. Did moving the performance show from a Wednesday to a Tuesday really hurt the ratings that much? (The decision was made to fit within the broadcast TV season which ended on Wednesday) In fact, Idol was even beaten by Dancing With The Stars!
But Idol roared back to life on Wednesday night with the usual star-studded 2-hour results shows (always one of my favorite episodes). Scotty’s coronation scored a whopping 29.29 million viewers and a scorching 9.2 18-49 rating. Most impressive of all is that fact that that figure is up 21% in total viewership from last year – the first time an Idol finale has risen on the previous year in 5 seasons! For a show in it’s 10th year that’s pretty astounding…
More >
Ratings Roundup: 21st May 2011
May 21st
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
THE GOOD WIFE: Could the critically acclaimed CBS series finally be on the verge of blooming into a hit?
Despite numerous magazine covers and positive reviews The Good Wife is still not a bona fide smash, constantly on the bubble and facing an uncertain future. But what a difference one storyline can make. The Kalinda love triangle seems to have captured viewer’s imaginations and this week’s season finale was up a strong 25% versus last week and last year’s finale – to 12.58 million viewers.
Unfortunately that still translates to just a 2.4 18-49 share, the key problem all CBS shows are now facing (see the Mentalist below for more on the network’s woes). But at least The Good Wife is off the critical list – for now – and secure for a third season…
Ratings Roundup: 14th May 2011
May 14th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
CASTLE: We haven’t written about ABC’s Monday night crime series for a while now, but under the radar the show’s been steadily building up quite a following and some very nice ratings.
This week’s episode pulled in 12.60 million viewers and a 3.1 18-49 share – one of the highest broadcast ratings off the week. Sure Castle inherits a hefty audience from Dancing With The Stars (20.74 million, 4.2 18-49 share) but many shows benefit from a big lead in and squander the opportunity – just look at how badly many post-Idol shows fare (Breaking In looks like the latest casualty barring a last minute reprieve).
Plus Castle is thrashing the pants off its Monday night competition – the much hyped, but underperforming Hawaii Five-0 (9.44 million / 2.3) and now cancelled Law And Order: LA (5.05 million / 1.2). Does star Nathan Fillion finally have a hit on his hands!
Ratings Roundup: 7th May 2011
May 7th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
THE GOOD WIFE: It’s been on the bubble for the last few months but following a series of critical raves and plenty of coverage, The Good Wife finally showed signs of becoming a bona fide hit.
Tuesday night’s episode pulled in 12.38 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 share, up 20% for the show’s highest demo share in over 6 months. I’m personally not a huge Good Wife fan but I like it a lot more than most of the other dreary CBS offerings. Plus even though I don’t watch the show regularly I couldn’t help but hear all about the big Kalinda storyline. Kudos to the show’s writers.
So will the good news for The Good Wife continue? There’s still two episodes left to go this season so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple more upticks in the weeks to come…
THE BORGIAS: I’m still not sure quite what I make of the show yet, but when it comes to the ratings there’s no denying that The Borgias is a nice little hit for Showtime.
Sunday night’s episode scored 824,000 viewers (and a 0.3 18-49 share). That’s well up from the 500,000 Nurse Jackie More >
Ratings Roundup: 30th April 2011
Apr 30th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
THE VOICE: Oops it looks like we might have boo booed here at Remote Patrolled!
A few weeks ago I predicted that NBC’s new music competition series would be a big old bomb. But though I’m going to reserve full judgment until the week 2 figures come in it’s certainly looking good for the show at the moment!
Tuesday night’s premiere debuted with a strong 11.77 million viewers and a terrific 5.1 18-49 share – the second highest of the week, behind American Idol. Significantly The Voice grew its audience over the course of its two-hour opener AND a repeat the next night also performed well with 6.14 million viewers and a 2.2 youth share. For NBC these are amazing figures. And the show even put a dent into Glee which despite a 90 minute special (intended to hurt The Voice’s ratings) actually hit a season low with 8.61 million and a 3.4 18-49 share.
I think a follow up post may be in order soon!
Ratings Roundup: 23rd April 2011
Apr 23rd
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
MOB WIVES: First up this week, some good news for Vh1!
We’ve talked about the network a lot over the last few months – and most of the time it hasn’t been pretty with Vh1’s ratings in free fall for much of last year. But last week there were definite signs of recovery and this week Vh1 can even boast a bona fide hit show.
Yep, on Sunday night, new reality show Mob Wives scored 1.41 million viewers and a 0.8 18-49 share, pretty good ratings for a cable show and especially for Vh1 these days. Personally I’m a little tired of all the Real Housewives knock offs doing the rounds these days but people are watching them so I understand the network logic. Is this the beginning of a turnaround for Vh1 I wonder?
SWAMP PEOPLE: Who would have thought that a network branded History would end up becoming one of the hottest cable channels out there? But week after week the network keeps delivering mouth-watering ratings that are the envy of all its competitors.
You already know about American Pickers and Pawn Stars which often deliver in the 5-6 million viewer range, higher than many network shows More >
Ratings Roundup: 17th April 2011
Apr 17th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
SHARK TANK: Wow, a tough week all round for network and cable. There were so many losers this week I’m actually struggling to find any good news!
Still here’s a little sliver of hope for ABC who had a mixed week overall – Friday night’s Shark Tank was up 25% to a strong-for-Fridays 5.3 million viewers and a 1.5 18-49 share. That’s better then fellow unscripted shows like What Would You Do and Kitchen Nightmares – and costly scripted series Friday Night Lights, Chaos and Fringe.
Of course it wasn’t all good news for ABC! The 2-hour Brothers And Sisters special on Sunday night performed well below expectations and proved conclusively that the show is on its last legs (6.47 million and a 1.8 18-49 share). Meanwhile new Wednesday night comedy, Happy Endings, premiered with just 7.3 million and a 2.8 18-49 share – a count that will doubtless fall in the weeks to come. But the real problem for ABC lies earlier in the evening – check out struggling newcomer Better With You which this week managed just 4.84 million and a 1.5 youth share. Ouch!
Ratings Roundup: 9th April 2011
Apr 9th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
BREAKING IN: Finally, Christian Slater breaks his unlucky TV streak!
After back-to-back flops with My Own Worst Enemy and The Forgotten, it was third time’s the charm for the 80’s movie star as his Fox sitcom delivered impressive numbers in its Wednesday night premiere.
Breaking In pulled in 9.81 million viewers and a 3.5 18-49 share. Sure that’s a hefty drop from lead in American Idol (23.13 million) but Breaking also held onto more viewers than any post-Idol comedies in the last four years.
Of course the real test will come next week as we see how many of those viewers Slater holds on to. Don’t forget ABC sitcom, Mr Sunshine was looking like a hit a few weeks ago. This week it ended its run with just 4.66 million viewers and a 1.6 youth share, less than a Modern Family RE-RUN! Premiere numbers have now become fairly pointless. But let Christian enjoy the good news – a lot of people, myself included, counted him out!
Ratings Roundup: 2nd April 2011
Apr 2nd
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
BODY OF PROOF: I hate to say I told you so – but I so did on this one!
As I suspected in my Coming Soon piece ABC made a big boo boo holding back the Dana Delaney starrer in favor of easily predicted misfires like Detroit 1-8-7 and The Whole Truth. Finally airing 6 months into the TV season, Proof scored the second highest ratings for a new series this season, behind the heavily hyped Hawaii Five-0 (in total 13.94 million people tuned in) Plus it was ABC’s most watched midseason drama in four years.
But don’t pop the champagne corks quite yet! Proof may have started strong but in the 18-49 demo it was still slightly behind the debut of No Ordinary Family (3.0 versus 3.2) – and we all know what happened to that show. In this day and age strong starts mean little. It’s all about audience loyalty… so will viewers stick around for more Proof I wonder?
MOBBED: I’ll be honest I though Fox was heading for another Osbournes Reloaded style disaster with their Howie Mandel hosted flash mob special. But Mobbed proved a surprising success in the ratings on Thursday night, More >
Ratings Roundup: 6th March
Mar 6th
Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days
WINNERS
AMERICAN IDOL: It feels like we cover Idol every week here on the Ratings Roundup but the veteran Fox show is such a colossal success it’s hard to ignore.
This week’s dramatic cut down – going from 24 contestants to just a Top 13, played out over 3 nights and dominated each evening. Tuesday’s show pulled in 21.39 million (the guys), Wednesday managed 22.76 million (the girls) and Thursday’s results show rose to a hefty 25.26 million and a towering 8.2 18-49 share – up 29% on the equivalent show last season.
And as usual Idol provided a welcome boost for a few fellow Fox shows, lifing dead show walking Traffic Light to a season high 7.32 million and a 2.8 18-49 share (the show’s still going to be canceled though!) and Raising Hope up a whopping 42% to an 8.68 million and a 3.3 youth share. Oh if only Idol could air 7 nights a week all year round…
JUSTIFIED: It’s been an up and down few months for FX. Last year’s Terriers was a total disaster, while recent boxing drama Lights Out has been struggling and is unlikely to see a second season.
But on the other More >
