A Ratings Grand Slam for Fox

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A Ratings Grand Slam for Fox

              HH
          Rtg/Shr

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, November 5, 2008):

(Note: Fox aired Bones and a repeat of House on the year-ago evening)

Baseball World Series, Game 6 (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

Fox, no doubt, dominated the Wednesday overnights, with the sixth (and final) game of the Yankees/Phillies Baseball World Series match-up at a series- high 15.2 rating/24 share in primetime. Congratulations, Yankees! Comparably, that beat the Big 3 nets – ABC, CBS and NBC – combined. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

Baseball World Series, Game 6 (Fox)

10:00 p.m.: 15.5/24

10:30 p.m.: 12.5/20

Keep in mind, of course, that results for any live sporting event are always approximate. 

CBS lost some steam opposite baseball, as did ABC and NBC, but there was still plenty of interest from 9-11 p.m. The Eye net finished second in every half-hour with its combination of The New Adventures of Old Christine (4.4/ 7), which heads into off-network syndication next fall, Gary Unmarried (4.2/ 6), Criminal Minds (7.8/12) and CSI: NY (7.8/13). 

Next was NBC care of full season renewed freshman medical drama Mercy (#3, 4.2/ 6), which defines the word generic, relocated Law & Order: SVU (#3, 5.1/ 8), which continues to lose to Criminal Minds, and ongoing dud The Jay Leno Show (#3, 3.6/ 6). If NBC drops Leno after this first very long season, the first thing it should do is move SVU back into the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour. 

Over at ABC, laugh-challenged Hank remains incapable of anchoring the evening with a fourth-place 3.5/ 6 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Every time I watch (and I am not sure why I do), I keep expecting David Hyde Pierce to stop by and tell Kelsey Grammer this is all a bad dream. Maybe that could be the final episode. Next was Malcolm in the Middle-like The Middle (#4: 3.8/ 6 at 8:30 p.m.), which is worthy of a larger audience, followed by Modern Family (#3: 5.1/ 8), Cougar Town (#4: 4.4/ 7) and sure-to-be axed Eastwick (#4: 3.0/ 5) from 9-11 p.m. Note to the producers of Cougar Town: please, and I speak for the entire audience, no more lengthy pool scenes with Ian Gomez.  What the heck was that last night?

Worth noting for ABC was overnight growth of 34 percent for Modern Family out of The Middle (and another expected solid performance among adults 18-49). Expect Modern Family to garner plenty of Emmy interest. 

The CW capped off the evening with aging America’s Next Top Model (#5, 2.8/ 4), which was down by 10 percent from last year’s 3.1/ 5 (on Nov. 5, 2008), and a repeat of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 1.1/ 2). 

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Opposite NCIS, the most-watched show in primetime, the remake of ABC’s V finished first in the Tuesday 8 p.m. hour in adults 18-49 (5.2 rating/14 share), with a second-place finish in total viewers (14.3 million). Comparably, this was the strongest performance for ABC in the time period among adults 18-49 since Nov. 14, 2006, and the best in the demo for any 8 p.m. drama (on any network) since ABC’s Lost on Sept. 22, 2004. 

Here are the final national Live Plus Same Day results for Tuesday, Nov. 3:

CBS: 16.07 million, ABC: 12.25, NBC: 8.08, Fox: 6.12, CW: 1.70

CBS: 3.5 rating/10 share, ABC: 3.4/ 9, NBC: 3.0/ 8, Fox: 2.4/ 6, CW: 0.9/ 2

Ignited by theatricals Hocus Pocus, Goonies and Edward Scissorhands, ABC Family’s 11^th annual 13 Nights of Halloween programming event (from Oct. 19-31) rose to its best performance in total viewers (average 1.4 million), adults 18-49 (665,000), women 18-49 (397,000), adults 18-34 (372,000), women 18-34 (225,000), viewers 12-34 (602,000) and females 12-34 (368,000). Compared to one year earlier, 13 Nights of Halloween increased by 200,000 viewers (1.2 to 1.4 million) and as much as 22 percent among adults 18-49 (545,000 to 665,000).

What follows are the top 10 rated basic cable networks in prime-time for the week of October 26:

USA: 3.47 million, ESPN: 3.09, Fox News: 2.09, TNT: 2.08, Nick at Nite: 1.68, Syfy: 1.51, TBS: 1.43, A&E: 1.40, Cartoon Network: 1.35, FX: 1.31

ESPN: 1.53 million, USA: 1.31 million, TNT: 1.01 million, TBS: 861,000, Syfy: 816,000, FX: 763,000, Food Network: 652,000, TLC: 648,000, Spike TV: 643,000, BET: 631,000

ESPN: 1.56 million, USA: 1.46 million, TNT: 1.01 million, Syfy: 888,000, TBS: 725,000, FX: 719,000, Food Network: 683,000, A&E: 659,000, TLC: 628,000, Spike TV: 580,000

ESPN: 717,000, USA: 571,000, TNT: 510,000, TBS: 487,000, BET: 413,000, FX: 371,000, Comedy Central: 369,000, Spike TV: 359,000, TLC: 344,000, Syfy: 339,000

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Thursday 11/05/09
Night 8 of the Nov. 2009 Sweep

 8:00 p.m. Survivor: Samoa

 9:00 p.m. CSI

10:00 p.m. The Mentalist

10:00 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

 9:00 p.m. Fringe

 8:00 p.m. The Vampire Diaries

 9:00 p.m. Supernatural

TV Tidbits:

Notes of Interest

-Let’s Dance on ABC:

ABC has announced a new dance competition with a comedic twist called Let’s Dance, which will feature “stars” competing for charity as they honor some of the most famous movie, musical and pop video routines of all time. It premieres on Monday, Nov. 23 with a 90-minute installment at 9:30 p.m. ET following the ninth season-finale of lead-in Dancing With the Stars. Additional episodes will air in the Monday 9 p.m. hour through Dec. 14, with the finale scheduled on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. ET. Comedian and reality star Kathy Griffin hosts. 

-Also on ABC:

Veteran reality franchise The Bachelor, themed On the Wings of Love, will open its 14^th edition on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010 from 8-10 p.m. Former Bachelorette contestant Jake Pavelka is the new bachelor. 

-CBS Reduces Episode Order for Numb3rs:

As predicted, CBS’ veteran Numb3rs will clearly be ending this season. But the end may be sooner than expected given the network slashed the episode order for the Friday 10 p.m. occupant from 22 to 16. Waiting in the wings as a potential replacement are Canadian dramas Flashpoint and The Border, and new medical drama Miami Trauma. 

-Judge Wapner Returns to People’s Court:

Judge Joseph A. Wapner will celebrate his upcoming 90^th birthday with a return appearance on perennial Warner Bros. court show strip People’s Court on Friday, Nov. 13. One day earlier, Judge Wapner will be inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

-Sad News:

Character actor and magician Carl Ballantine, best known for his role as Lester Gruber on 1960s sitcom McHale’s Navy, passed away on Tuesday at his home in Hollywood Hills from natural causes. He was 92. Born Meyer Kessler on Sept. 27. 1922 in Chicago, Kessler morphed into Valentine after spotting a bottle of Ballantine Whiskey in an advertisement and billing his magic act as "Ballantine, the World's Greatest Magician.” Other than McHale’s Navy, Ballantine guest starred in a slew of sitcoms over the years including That Girl, The Monkees, Mayberry R.F.D., I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, Laverne & Shirley, Alice, Night Court and The Cosby Show. His final role was just three years ago in feature firm Aimee Semple McPherson. 

Click here for this season one episode of McHale’s Navy called “Alias Captain Binghamton.”

Which character from long-running drama Knots Landing was killed off first?

a)      Ciji Dunne

b)      Sid Fairgate

c)      Chip Roberts

d)      Joshua Rush9

e)      Laura Avery Sumner

The answer to yesterday’s question…

Robert Young played kindly Dr. Marcus Welby, who made house calls, on 1969-76 medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D. If the exterior of Dr. Welby’s office looked familiar, it was already used as the home on a classic TV sitcom. What comedy was it?

a)      The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet

b)      Dennis the Menace

c)      Father Knows Best

d)      Hazel

e)      Leave it to Beaver

Is: e) Leave it to Beaver. Imagine Wally saying this: “Gee, Beave…what’s that old doctor doing in our house?” For a blast from the past, click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y10VEkyKd3w

-Current kudos goes to:
Steve Albright, Mark Amato, Janice Barney, Gerry Bixenspan, Barbara Bloomfield, Michael Bobble, Larry Collins, Tom Condosta, Audrey Davis, Reid Davis, Sue Doron, John Ferlazzo, Michael Fruchtman, Maureen Goldman, Reba Grenier, Kerry Hughes, Bob Ingersoll, Greg Janover, David Johnson, Deb Kainer, Mary Kalnin, Synda Kollman, Mark Krause, Steven Kurtzer, Becky McIntyre, Alex Petrilli, Robert Sells, Maxine Schulman, David Shall, Michelle Stanton, Ronnie Tallant, Ted Zawislak