JustTV's News Blog

House hits series high on Tuesday

2006-02-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

"House" came back on Tuesday after a month's hiatus and drew huge numbers, fully taking advantage of its "Idol" lead-in. The show drew a massive (and series high) 21.3 million viewers and a 8.8 rating in adults 18-49. "Idol," meanwhile, continued its hot streak, drawing 30.1 million viewers and a 12.8 rating in adults. What implications does this have? Well, people have been quick to deride "Bones" lackluster performance on Wednesdays after Idol, but remember, "House" started off last year with just 12.8mil post "Idol" and look where it is now.; Have patience, Fox.

What else was left in terms of audience? Well, at 8pm, "NCIS" drew 15.8mil viewers and at 10pm, "SVU" was hot at 15.9mil. "Boston Legal" also did an okay 11.7mil. "Gilmore Girls" did its usual 5.6mil, while "According To Jim" (7mil at 8pm, 8mil at 9pm) and "Rodney" (5.9mil and 7.1mil) were up over last week and drew better numbers than "Commander In Chief" has in adults (3 average at 9pm) since December. "CiC" is the oldest skewing series on ABC, which is why fans show be cautious of its future.

Also on CBS, a repeat "Criminal Minds" drew a solid 12.5mil, although "Love Monkey" is looking dead at 6.6mil. On NBC, "Fear Factor" (4.3mil) is out, while "Scrubs" (6.3mil, 7mil) drew okay numbers. The WB's "Supernatural" (4.2mil) slipped dramatically after last week's series high, while "Get This Party Started" on the UPN was DOA at just 2mil viewers.

"Wife Swap" a Monday hero

2006-02-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

While CBS takes all the ratings on Monday and Fox takes all the press, ABC's "Wife Swap" has quietly become the unsung hero of the night. For ABC, which is going into the fall season without Football for the first time in 35 years, things were looking bleak until numbers for "Swap" come in. Last night, the series drew 10.9 million viewers and a 4.4/11 in adults 18-49, close to a series high, but not quite. It was second in the hour in viewers behind "Queens" (11.9mil) and "Mother" (11.1mil), but first in adults (vs. 4.0/10 for CBS). It also outdrew Fox's hyped dud "Skating With Celebrities" (10.3mil), NBC's "Surface" finale (9.5mil, 2.9/7), which will also likely serve as the series finale, the WB's "7th Heaven" (5.8mil) and the UPN's comedies (3.4mil average).

At 9pm, ABC's "The Bachelor" is also seeing a resergeance at 9.7mil viewers and a 4.3/10 for a two hour episode. Those numbers represent the franchise's best regular episode performance since it aired post "Lost" in the fall of 2004. Once looking dead, the show could very well go a few editions more at this rate, especially if none of ABC's mid season series take off. CBS was first in the hour with "Men" (16.5mil) and the uber-boring "Courting Alex" (13.3mil). "Las Vegas" was third (11.7mil) behind "24" (13.6mil), while the UPN sitcoms (3.7mil) easily outranked the WB's soon to be cancelled "Related" (2.4mil).

At 10pm, "CSI Miami" drew a typical 18.1mil, leaving "Medium" (12mil) in second.

Overall, all four of the big nets averaged more than 10 million viewers on the night and ABC, CBS & Fox each drew more than a 4 rating in adults (NBC was close at a 3.8), which is a rareity on any night.

Idol explodes on impact

2006-01-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I keep saying that American Idol is going to take a dive one of these days, and I swear that it is going to happen, it just may not be this season after all. The 5th season of tv's highest rated reality series exploded onto the scene with 35.2 million viewers and a 15.2 rating in adults 18-49. That represents a gain of nearly two million viewers and 9% in adults. Can this show be stopped? ABC had better hope so because it's Dancing With the Stars is right in its path....

So what did Idol hurt, exactely? Well, let's start with what it didn't hurt. That would be "NCIS" (16.6mil), "Gilmore Girls" (5.6mil) and "Commander In Chief" (11.1mil), all of which were on par with recent numbers, though down slightly. Expect them to rebound in the coming weeks.

So who did get hurt? Well, everybody else. ABC's "According To Jim" (6.3mil) and "Rodney" (5.4mil) both fell to series lows, as did NBC's "Fear Factor" (4.6mil), which is essentially dead in the water now. "Supernatural" skidded to a series low at 3.9mil viewers and "Scrubs" averaged only 5 million viewers total. Meanwhile the UPN drew just 1.4mil viewers and a microscopic 0.4 rating in adults 18-49 from double repeats of "South Beath. That 0.4 rating represents the lowest that I've ever seen for one of the networks in all my 8 years of tracking this sort of stuff.

After "Idol" concluded, the night got back to normalicy somewhat as "SVU" took top honours with 16.3 mil viewers, followed by "Boston Legal" (with Michael J. Fox) at 12mil and the premiere of "Love Monkey" at a weak 8.8mil viewers, although at a 3.5 rating in adults, it did much better than the average CBS series would at these viewer levels. It did, however, get a solid lead-in from a repeat "CSI" (12.6mil).

Updates update

2005-12-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

I'm sincerely sorry about the lack of updates to the website lately, and today's preliminary ratings are not likely to be published, either. Things have been super hectic for the past two weeks (marking 36 essays, and today, 36 exams), not to mention (well, okay, to mention) finishing two chapters of my thesis, reading a few novels, another essay which has nothing to do with anything, sending conference proposals, and on top of all of that, trying to get ready to go home for Christmas (which happens on Wednesday).

Thus, I'm really hoping to have the regular Tuesday features up tomorrow, but it just may not be possible under the circumstances. As well, the November Sweeps Recap links are not working and I have to rewrite en entire section (due to my stupidity in overwriting the original files), which I'm just not going to have time to do until Thursday, Friday, or even the weekend, once I get settled in back home.

Again, sorry about the delay, but this will all be cleared up shortly, and the mid season review will also be up before the new year.

"Greys" becoming to hero of Sunday

2005-12-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, "Housewives" is still hot, but the real story on Sundays is "Grey's Anatomy," a show that just gets bigger and bigger. Widely expected to break out at the Golden Globes (at least in nominations, "Lost" it can't take), the show drew a near series high 20.8 million viewers on Sunday, holding onto 82% of its lead-in, and doing an even better 9.5 rating in adults (series high), holding onto 86% of its lead-in. Yes, this is ABC's next big drama.

Elsewhere on Sunday, there really wasn't much to talk about. "West Wing" came back to the schedule with a series low 7.1mil viewers, while CBS's movie "Pope John Paul II" fared little better than ABC's did on Thursday at just 8 million viewers.

Cancelled, Cancelled, Cancelled, Renewed!

2005-11-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

It sounds like a slot machine, no?

Well, a bunch of series had their fate handed to them over Thanksgiving, and for most, it wasn't good news. Cancelled are ABC's "Hot Properties," CBS's "Threshold" and Fox's "Reunion." Renewed was "Close To Home," which comes as no surprise since it fits on Fridays like a glove. The new series scorecard:

Full Season Order:
My Name Is Earl
E-Ring
Surface
Invasion
Commander In Chief
Freddie
Prison Break
The War At Home
Bones
How I Met Your Mother
Out Of Practice
Close To Home
Criminal Minds
Twins (partial order)
Related (partial order)
Everybody Hates Chris
Love, Inc.

Hiatus:

Cancelled:
Inconvievable
The Apprentice: Martha
Night Stalker
Hot Properties
Reunion
Kitchen Confidential
Head Cases
Threshold
Just Legal
Sex, Lies & Secrets

Still Waiting:
Three Wishes
Killer Instinct

So basically, we only have two series still waiting. It was also announced, as widely expected, that Alias will end in May.

Nets bust out on Monday

2005-11-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

As sweeps draw to a close, the networks busted out on Monday with 3 out of the 6 drawing season high ratings. ABC was the big winner with football coming up with 22.0 million viewers, a season high, and "Wife Swap" sitting at 8.7 million, also a season high. Although ABC is locked into second for sweeps, this is just the kind of boost it needs to jump in from of CBS in adults 18-49 (where the eye leads 4.4 to 4.3)

Over on CBS, "King of Queens" kicked off the night with Ray Romano and a season high 13.1mil, with "Mother" at 12.3mil at 8:30. "Men" jumped to 16.7mil at 9pm, while "Miami" capped off the night with 19.3mil viewers. Only "Out of Practice" was out of the loup, stuck at 13.2mil viewers.

NBC was third with "Surface" (10mil), "Las Vegas" (11.2mil) and "Medium" (12.1mil), while the fall finale of "Prison Break" hit a season high 12.2mil viewers and a 5.5/12 in adults 18-49.

Over on the mini nets, nets, the only stand-out was "7th Heaven" (5.8mil)

New Tuesday, new Awards show

2005-11-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, the Country Music Awards aired on Tuesday to the tune of 18 million viewers and a 5.4 rating in adults. this Tuesday, it was the turn of the American Music Awards which.... sucked, to be quite honest. The show grabbed a weak 11.5 million viewers from 8-11pm, averaging a 4.4 rating in adults overall. That was down significantly from last season, and way down from previous years when this show used to draw more than 40 million viewers. Awards shows and big screen movies.... with the exception of the Academy Awards and Forest Gump, ratings are down almost every year. Let them go, networks.

Elsewhere, NBC did really well in almost every timeslot, starting at 8pm, where "Loser" drew 11mil viewers, a season high. "Earl" (11.8mil) and "The Office" (7.7mil) were mixed at 9pm, while "SVU" had a strangle hold on 10pm with 16.9mil viewers.

CBS was second overall with diluted numbers. "NCIS" (15.8mil) was down significantly from what its been drawing on Tuesdays of late, "TAR" (10.3mil) was at the weak end of its season average, and "Threshold" (6.6mil at 10pm) will be cancelled before November is out.

Third, a very close third at that, was Fox with "Bones" (6.9mil) and "House" (14.2mil), which ran away with its timeslot, while the WB was fifth with "Gilmore Girls" (6mil) and "Supernatural" (4.7mil). The UPN was last, averaging 2.6mil for two repeats of ANTM.

CBS wins Monday after two week break

2005-11-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

Football (15.5mil) was not as glorious for ABC as it has been over the past few weeks, leaving CBS to squeak by and win the night in viewers, if not in adults. "King" (11.2mil), "Men" (15.4mil) and "Miami" (18.6) bookended the night for the eye.

NBC was in third place with a shocking "Las Vegas" (11.7mil) and a 3-D "Medium" (13.2mil), although, with all the hype that both recieved, ratings should have been better. "Prison Break" (10.1mil) broke through the 10 million mark for Fox again to give it fourth on the night.

Over on the Wb, "7th Heaven" (6.2mil) hit a season high, leaving the UPN in the dust, although "Girlfriends" (4.1mil) was strong at 9pm.

CBS wins again on Friday

2005-11-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well, consider "Close To Home" here to stay. CBS dominated yet another Friday night, winning all 3 hours in viewers and in adults. But the standout was "Close To Home" which drew 11.7mil viewers at 9pm, gaining from "Ghost Whisperer"s 11.6mil. "Num3ers" closed out the night to 12.5mil viewers. With CBS now golden on Friday nights once again, there are only a few sticky timeslots left. Time to focus, CBS, and you'll be winning for the next 5 seasons.

Second on the night in viewers was NBC, with a rerun of "CI" (8.8mil) peaking at 10pm. ABC was second in adults with season high results from "Hope & Faith" (7.6mil), while the UPN has its best Friday is a while as "Smackdown" hit 4.7mil viewers. The WB was also in the game with "Reba" coming out of its slump and hitting 4.2mil viewers.

CBS dominated Thursday, WB strong

2005-11-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

As usual, CBS dominated the Thursday night landscape in all three hours, starting with "Survivor" (19mil), "CSI" (28.8mil) and "Without A Trace" (21.3mil). The other networks were non-competitive on the night, although the WB did pull down some near season-highs with both "Smallville" (5.8mil) and "Everwood" (4.2mil) showing why the WB's new Thursday night line-up continues to be the best programming move of the season.

As for the others? NBC was second overall with the dying combination of "Joey" (8.1mil), "Will & Grace" (9mil), "The Apprentice" (10.8mil) and "ER" (15.4mil), which actually managed to win its hour in adults, 7.0/18 to 6.7/17 for Without A Trace. ABC was a distant fourth on the night with "Alias" (6.5mil) and two episodes of "Primetime" (5.5mil, 7.3mil), while Fox continued its slow death with "The OC" (6.1mil) and "Reunion" (3.9mil).

The UPN showed a bump in the ratings with "Chris" (5.3mil) leading the way. "Love Inc" improved to 3.7mil, while both "Eve" (3.2mil) and "Cuts" (2.8mil) were above recent levels.

Lost big on Wednesday.... surprise.

2005-11-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

It's really no surprize, but "Lost" rebounded from last week's weakish numbers to finish the night with 21.6 million viewers and a huge 9.1/22 in adults 18-49. It, of course, dominated the competition, but still strong was CBS's surprising "Criminal Minds" (14.3mil, 4.2/10) and Fox's "Trading Spouses" (7.3mil, 3.4/8), which is a dramatic improvement over... wiat, what was that show called that started the season in this timeslot again?

At 8pm, the special "A Night For Johnny Cash" dominated with 12.6mil viewers, although ABC won it in adults with "Lopez" (8.2mil) and "Freddie" (8.6mil). "E-Ring" was second with 9.5mil and a 2.8/8 in adults 18-49, while Fox actually slipped to 5th at 8:30 as "Stacked" (5.4mil) fell behind "Next Top Model" (5.4mil). At 10pm, "CSI NY" (15.4mil) won by a huge margin.

Not so special on the night were Fox's "That 70s Show" (6.8mil- it really was time for this show to end, 3 seasons ago), NBC's "The Apprentice" (6.4mil- I hear people raving about this show. Quite a few people. Are Nielsen boxes broken? Are they just Stewart freaks who a publicity shills?), and "Law & Order" (11.4mil- the show is now in its 225th season. Audience erosion is to be expected), the UPN's "Veronica Mars" (2.9mil- this show is not catching on opposite "Lost." That's a damn shame because it remains the second best show on tv- after "Lost."), ABC's "Invasion" (11.2mil- ship it out ABC already and stop wasting this golden timeslot), and the WB period, with "One Tree Hill" (3.6mil, although that does represent a season high).

Awards steal the show on Tuesday

2005-11-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

As excepted, the CMA awards swept the night on Tuesday, coming up with 18.8 million viewers and winning every single half hour. But it was also the Vibe Awards over on the UPN that had some heat- to the tune of 4.5 million viewers and a 1.9 rating in adults, double what the network usually does on the night.

And what did that mean for everybody else? Not much. At 8pm, "The Biggest Loser" (10.7mil), "Bones" (8.4mil) and "Gilmore Girls" (6.2mil) were all at or near season highs, while 9pm did lost some steam. "Commander In Chief" skidded to 12.6mil, while "House" was behind that at 12.2mil, both season lows for those series. Also hitting a season low was "My Name Is Earl" (10.7mil) and the WB's "Supernatural" (4mil), whose rapid rating declines are making the series fall behind "One Tree Hill" from last season. At 10pm, "SVU" still had it with a strong 15.8mil viewers. "Boston Legal" cam in at 10.9mil.

Sunday Highlights

2005-11-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday was pretty big night for ABC as "DH" (which is back in fine form, if I may add. It's not Lost, but it's a solid diversion) drew its biggest numbers since its season premiere- 27.2 million viewers, leading Grey's Anatomy to 20.3mil. Earlier in the evening "Extreme Makeover" was at a solid 17.8mil, beating out CBS's "Cold Case" (16.6mil) in both viewers and demos.

CBS did win at 7pm with "60 Minutes" and performed admirably from 9-11pm with the movie "Category 7" (13mil). Fox peaked with "The Simpsons" (11.2mil), while NBC was out of the game entirely thanks to a Penn & Teller special (5.7mil) and an SNL special (8mil).

Friday & Saturday ratings- CBS on top

2005-11-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

The big news from Friday and Saturday was just how unstoppable CBS really is at this point. I mean, nothing is even coming close. On Friday, the network decided to give "Close To Home" a shot at 9pm, and it boomed, drawing 11.6 million viewers, up from "Ghost Whisperer"s already strong 10.7 million. "Num3ers" capped that off with 12.1 million. Compared to last season, CBS was up on the night by 16% in viewers and 32% in adults 18-49. Regardless of whether "Threshold" works on Tuesday of not, "Home" is not going anywhere.

Elsewhere, "Supernanny" finished with a season high 7.5 million viewers, leading ABC to average a season high 2.5 rating in adults on the night, while nothing else stood out at all.

On Satuday, CBS was on top again, with "CSI NY" drawing 8.5 million at 8pm, "CSI" 10.5 million at 9pm and "48 Hours" 10.5 million at 10pm. CBS was up on the night by 100% versus last season. And that's all she wrote.

Arrested Development..... cancelled.

2005-11-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Just as ABC's asinine "Freddie" got picked up for a full season, Fox's spectacular "Arrested Development" got its order cut to just 13 episodes this season. It's been yanked from the schedule from all of sweeps and may return in December, but after that, almost all of Fox's timeslots are already spoken for. Well, I knew it was going to happen eventually, but it still sucks. I will commend Fox, however, for giving the series three seasons to find an audience, which it unfortunately never did. Although I do beg of you Fox, please air all the remaining 8 episodes... even if you burn them off on two consecutive Friday nights. It would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, "Kitchen Confidential" has had its order cut as well, which doesn't really come as a surprise either.

In other news, CBS is scaling back "Yes, Dear" to just 13 episodes this season, likely ending the 6 year old series. Although its ratings aren't too bad and it is showing a solid increase in its timeslot in adults, CBS has a few mid season sitcoms on the way and no timeslots in which to put them. The network only has 6 sitcom timeslots, and with "How I Met" and "Out Of Practice" both recieving full season orders and it not likely to rest "King of Queens" nor "Men," the network is in a tough spot.

Over on the WB, the long awaited series finale of "7th Heaven" is set for May. The series is facing declining audiences and rising costs, which is a forteller of cancellation. But still, after 10 seasons, ranking as the WB's number one rated series for the majority of those, it will go down as the biggest success in network history.

Six shows succeed at 9pm

2005-11-09T00:51:00.000-08:00

Tuesday at 9pm is turning out to be the best hour in television this season. Well, maybe not in quality, but in terms of ratings, everybody is taking something away. Last night, ABC won with "Commander" (14.6mil), Fox was second with "House" (14mil), then "My Name is Earl" (11.7mil), "Race" (10.9mil), "Supernatural" (4.4mil) and "A Tribute to Patti LaBelle" on the UPN (3.3mil). In the 9-9:30 pm timeslot, the six networks combined for a huge 58.9 mill viewers and a 21.7/53 in adults 18-49. Network tv needs more of this.

The same can't be said at 8pm, however. "NCIS" (17.6mil), which is breaking out in all kinds of ways this season, was heads above the competition. "Bones" (7mil) delievered okay numbers for Fox, while ABC got stuck with "Jim" (7.8mil) and "Rodney" (7.5mil). "The Biggest Loser" did manage to deliever 10.1mil viewers, it's largest aud of the season, and "Gilmore Girl' (5.7mil) was typically strong.

Finally, at 10pm, "SVU" (15.2mil) trounced the competition, although "Boston Legal" (11.9mil) had a good outing.

Football finally draws for ABC

2005-11-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Up until last night, ABC losing football after this season wasn't looking like such a bad thing. And then a game had to go and draw 20.5mil viewers. I mean, it's great for ABC for sweeps (particularly the 7.1 rating in adults it garnered on the night), but this is what football should be drawing all the time considering the high price that ABC pays for the games.

Anyway, CBS was second on Monday with the standout being Two & A Half Men at 9pm (16.4mil, 5.2/12). After a slow start, the show is just about in "Raymond" territory. The same cannot be said for "Out Of Practice," which just got a full season, as 12.6mil and a 4.1/9 in adults I watch that show last night. It's lucky it's getting 12 million. Over on NBC, "Las Vegas" (10.7, 3.4/8) and "Medium" (11.5, 4.1/10) were both at season lows, probably smarting from the much stronger football game, while "Prison Break" was fourth with 8.1mil on Fox. And as much as I LOVE Arrested Development. 4.1 million viewers and a 2.0/5 in adults is just not cutting it, I know.

Over on the WB, "Related" continues to tank with 2.6mil viewers, compared to the 5.5 drawn by 7th Heaven (seriously WB, don't let Related turn into this year's Jack & Bobby. Let it go. Too late- you've already gone and ordered six more episodes. Idiots!), while on the UPN, "Girlfriends" (4.1m, 2.0/5) led the pack as ratings swung more widely than usual.

First Post & Info about Blog

2005-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting the new JustTV News Blog! As you probably noticing, I do an extremely poor job of updating the regular website at times. This is a way to get around that. On this blog I'll post news, ratings, ect, on a regular basis (everyday usually, since this is really easy), but the main site will still be updated with TV Talk, ratings, and all that other stuff. So keep checking back...

Fri-Sun

2005-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

So the weekend ratings weren't too bad at all. Going through by day:

Friday:

Big surprise in "Ghost Whisperer" which drew 12.6 million viewers and a 3.5/12 in adults. That was up 60% in viewers and 75% in adults from "Joan of Arcadia" last year. So CBS did a good thing here for sure. I still think it should have kept "Joan" for 9pm, but hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

Other surprizes: Not much. The WB is in dire straits on the night and really needs to fix it. "Reba" has taken a pretty huge dive and it's rather unexplainable. Last week's episode was down 20% in viewers and 26% in adults from the same episode last year. With the mess that the WB's comedy line-up is in, maybe it's time for the network to call it quits on the genre.

Saturday:

"Catch Me If You Can" performed well for a movie airing on ABC. 7.3mil, 2.1/6. Not too bad. Sadly, it was good enough for first on the night in the demos.

Sunday:
So much to talk about: "DH" continues to take top spot (24.4, 10.3/23) even if ratings are slipping a bit. Quality wise, the show is getting better after a slow start, but that slwo start allowed people to swoop in and start picking at the bones. Folks- allow this show to do what it will, we're only 7 episodes into the new season, for God's sake. "Grey's Anatomy" (19.0, 8.5/20) is apparently the new "must-see" show on Sunday that everybody is buzzing about. I've never seen it but my roommare won't shut up about it....

Also.... a two hour "CI" drew an okay 14mil viewers, while the live debate edition of the "West Wing" hit a season high 9.7mil, although that's still pathetic. Tough competition from "Cold Case" (15.7mil), "The Simpsons" (11.6mil) and "EXtreme Makeover" (roughtly 18mil), but still, "WW" used to draw 20 million viewers an episode.

Well, I'm off to school. Check back tomorrow