Posted Nov 13th 2009 1:09PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Sports, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Survivor, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Ratings, NCIS, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory
"Did you hear who's going to play during the Super Bowl halftime show?"
"No, who?"
"That's what I just said. Who."
"No, seriously. Which is the band that's going to appear?"
"It's Who."
"I'm not talking proper English. Which band will be on CBS's halftime show on February 7 at Landshark Stadium in Miami?"
"The Who -- you know, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend. 'Tommy, can you hear me?'"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that!"
Okay, I couldn't resist the nod to Abbott and Costello's
Who's On First. But the fact is that
Sports Illustrated has spread the word that
The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That's why we've had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.
Continue reading CBS plans Super Bowl halftime and... what comes on after the game
Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:33PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Ratings, Reality-Free
If you're watching television right now, congratulations. You are part of a new world record.
The Nielsen Company announced that
TV viewing for the 2008-09 season reached a new high in average watching time. Now the average American spends four hours and 49 minutes every day in front of the idiot box and the average household spends more than eight hours a day watching television. ("God bless America, land where we loaf, staring down from, our favorite futon, all day and night at the light of HBO")
However, this doesn't mean everyone to celebrating. In fact, the big four networks (five if you count the CW) actually saw a decline in viewers because we have so many other choices now between cable and the Internet. Do you any of you actually watch that much television?
Posted Nov 5th 2009 4:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Sports, Programming, OpEd, Bones, Ratings, Reality-Free
Considering the incredible
overnight ratings that Fox got for Game Six of the World Series, you might think I'm crazy to suggest that the network would be rooting for the New York Yankees last night to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, but I have evidence. All through the game, Fox was promoting
Fringe and
Bones, urging viewers to tune in tomorrow night -- tonight -- for new episodes. Why would the network be sending that message when there was a possibility of a Game Seven?
Continue reading Was Fox rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series?
Posted Nov 4th 2009 6:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Ratings, Reality-Free, V
The cast of ABC's new sci-fi drama
V have nothing to worry about. That is if you don't count the fact that the show just replaced their
showrunner, got caught launching a sneaky
skywriting campaign and opened with a
"split launch."
Last night's episode got off to an
"out of this world" start scoring a 5.0 rating and a 13 share of 13.9 million viewers. It gave ABC its highest rating among 18-34 year-olds in three years for its timeslot since 2004's
Lost. I guess you could say they had a really successful "launch" and the show really "took off." (Insert rimshot here.)
Of course, this is just the opening episode and could be the result of successful marketing. Do you think
V's winning streak will last?
Posted Oct 29th 2009 7:31PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Sports, Ratings, Reality-Free
Both
the World Series and
the start of the NBA season brought in big numbers for their respective networks this week. The MLB faceoff between the Yankees and the Phillies score Fox a 6.3 rating share or 19.3 million viewers in their timeslot. The NBA's doubleheader opener on Tuesday helped TNT score a record-breaking 3.7 million viewers.
Stories like these make me long for the Yoda-like wisdom of baseball's Yogi Berra. Just think of the grammatically incorrect gems he could conjure.
"People watch sports because it's easier than playing it."
"Sports has a big following because so few people follow it."
Posted Oct 28th 2009 7:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, OpEd, Cancellations, Ratings, Reality-Free
Every year, there's a show that's on the top of viewers' "You mean that's
still on the air?" list. Whether the show was good or not, it was one that hung on in obscurity for years and years, getting just enough of an audience to keep it going. You know the shows I'm talking about:
The Facts of Life. Wings. Yes, Dear. Matlock.Just Shoot Me. George Lopez. King of the Hill. JAG. Heck, even the great
Scrubs was at the top of this list for many people for awhile (still might be for some).
But for the last five years or so, the reigning champ of that list was
According to Jim, both because of its inexplicable longevity and its questionable quality. Now, with Jim Belushi's vanity project finally gone, it looks like another show has taken its place: FOX's
'Til Death.
The network just doesn't want to let the show die. Every time the show is in a low-rated slot, the network moves it to one that's higher-profile in an attempt to boost ratings. Case in point: the
Brad Garrett sitcom will be replacing Brothers on Sundays at 7, starting January 10, after football's regular season is over.
Continue reading 'Til Death: The new According to Jim?
Posted Oct 25th 2009 5:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show
The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3 million viewers, the highest ever premiere for a show on that network. However, I mistakenly thought the show aired Friday and compared the ratings to shows on other networks that night. I sincerely apologize if that confused readers. Here's the story as it should have been written in the first place.
Jeff Dunham's success was surprising and quite a feat. As my mother might say, "Go figure."
The Jeff Dunham Show.
And the number of viewers got even better later that night when a repeat of the show aired -- 7.9 million viewers.
Continue reading Comedy Central's Jeff Dunham Show is a smash
Posted Oct 21st 2009 9:08AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Remember
all those posts we did about
former TV Squad writer Wil Wheaton appearing on
The Big Bang Theory? Well, the ratings are in and it looks like that episode had a
15% increase in viewership in the sought-after 18-34 demo. While the article attributes the ratings boost to a Twitter campaign by Wheaton and executive producer Bill Prady, we here at TV Squad would like to think that our own promotion of the show contributed in some small way.
Speaking of which, wasn't the show great? Sure we
already did a review but it was amazing seeing Wil's screen character win by using the one aspect of playing cards (and, for that matter, reality) that Sheldon can't grasp: the human factor. Sheldon would undoubtedly be great at Blackjack and lousy at Poker.
Continue reading Wil Wheaton means record ratings
Posted Oct 15th 2009 5:47PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Animation, Pickups and Renewals, Ratings, Reality-Free
Not that the future of this series
was ever in doubt, but Fox has extended its original season-and-a-half order of
The Cleveland Show to a full two seasons. Given the strong premiere ratings for the show, seasons beyond number two will likely be in the bag. If Fox didn't extend, they'd have to deal with an irate Seth MacFarlane who currently controls most of their Sunday night line-up.
Is
The Cleveland Show going to end up being more popular than its progenitor
Family Guy? Do these ratings simply represent a high initial interest in the new show that will wane over time? I have used the analogy of
The Jeffersons spinning off from
All In The Family, but did
The Jeffersons ever beat
All In The Family in the ratings?
Whatever the case, Seth MacFarlane doesn't have to worry about it for at least two seasons, and probably longer.
[Watch
clips and free episodes of The Cleveland Show at
SlashControl]
Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, CSI, Ratings, Casting, Reality-Free
Generally speaking, the
CSI franchise has been a ratings juggernaut for CBS. Still, this season the original
CSI has been declining a bit. It started last season when
Laurence Fishburne took on the role of Dr. Ray Langston, becoming the main man on the show with William Petersen exiting.
Well, in an effort to perhaps pump up Fishburne's popularity, CBS is doing something unique. For the first time,
a CSI character -- Langston -- will crossover to the other two shows in the same week, all part of the same story.
Will it work? Probably. Crossover stunts are always fun and it'll give viewers who watch one of the
CSI's or two, to sample the other. That's not as weird as it sounds. I only watch
CSI, not NY or Miami.
Continue reading Laurence Fishburne to do three-part CSI crossover
Posted Oct 13th 2009 11:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Ratings, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
It's not the most encouraging news about the long-term potential of the show, but at least Whedonites can rest assured that
FOX will honor the entire 13-episode commitment they made to Dollhouse. Scheduling guru Preston Beckman said, "During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show."
Which means if they haven't already decided to yank the show for sweeps period, then they're about to. It doesn't bode well for the series at all, though it's still too early to say if the respectable DVR figures will help things at all. DVR usage is at an all time high, and
Dollhouse leads DVR usage, increasing its demo ratings by a whopping 50% (still only to a 1.5).
It's a big deal but I still don't think networks know what to do with DVR numbers. Many of those viewers are skipping commercials, so it may not matter in that sense. But it's telling that the Friday shows are the most DVR'd. It's a sign that their fans want to watch these shows, just not on Friday night.
Posted Oct 8th 2009 5:02PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
CBS must be pretty happy. They've been dominating the television landscape for the past several years. And their spin-offs policy continues to work very well. In it's premiere week, not only was
NCIS: LA the top-rated new show of the season, but it pushed its parent series all the way to number one on the week, achieving its highest ratings, too.
Those strong ratings have helped boost Julianna Margulies'
The Good Wife to the top as well. As a show of thanks and support,
CBS has ordered full-season pick-ups for both The Good Wife and NCIS: LA. As much as I complain about procedurals dominating the CBS landscape, people want to watch these shows. CBS does them better than anyone.
So that's one more night locked in and secured for CBS to dominate. If America ever does get tired of procedurals, though, they're in big trouble!
Posted Oct 8th 2009 11:26AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Ratings
Even though I watch a lot of programming on the Food Network, I have to admit I missed almost all of the
The Next Iron Chef in season one. Last Sunday, the second season of
The Next Iron Chef blasted off with the best ratings for a series opener in Food Network history. Over two million viewers, a 1.1 rating among adults 25-54.
Why the big jump? Well, I think a lot of other people are like me. On Sunday, before I switched over to watch pro football, I clicked on Food Network where they were showing a marathon rerun of the first season of
The Next Iron Chef. It only took half an episode for me to kick myself for not having watched the whole first season when it aired. It was terrific.
Continue reading The Next Iron Chef is sizzling
Posted Oct 7th 2009 12:27PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
It's bigger than the NFL. It's drawing more than celebrity dancing. It's the little show that could. In its seventh season on the air,
NCIS is the number one show according to the Nielsen ratings. Over 21 million viewers for the week of September 28 put the drama series on the top of the heap, and there's no sign that it was a fluke. This is the
second week in a row NCIS was the top show.
The question a lot of people are asking, especially those who don't watch or have never even checked out
NCIS is this: how did that happen? It's not normal for a show to get stronger after the five year mark. Some, like a
Seinfeld for example, start slowly and nearly are canceled, but then find an audience and remain secure for the rest of it's run. Before
Seinfeld,
The Dick Van Dyke Show had done the same thing.
Continue reading NCIS is number one again
Posted Oct 2nd 2009 9:30AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Ratings
I can't even blame the cable networks for this anymore. The History Channel is expanding its repertoire of reality programs as a direct response to the record ratings they've seen with the ones they have now. What do we expect them to do when we don't show up to watch until they throw
Ice Road Truckers and
Pawn Stars at us? Apparently, we don't want history on the History Channel.
They've heard us, which is why
The History Channel is bringing us more reality, starting with a spi-off of the aforementioned
Truckers.
Extreme Trucking will travel the world looking for the most treacherous roadways anywhere, and the brave men and women who drive them.
We can also look forward to traveling the US with
Pickers, as people hunt for rare artifacts. And we'll get down and dirty with a 61-year old feud at a North Carolina NASCAR track with
Madhouse. Even more unusual is
Sliced, a series where objects are cut in half so we can see what they look like. Hey, if they cut a tree in half we can look at the history of it!
Continue reading The History Channel dilutes its brand with even more reality shows
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