TV Ratings (Thursday 29th September) + Friday

[Geck]

A lot of shows on NBC also tend to appeal to a younger demographic than ABC or CBS shows. And that younger demographic is a lot more likely to watch their tv shows through *cough* alternative means...

I know tons of people that watch Community and Parks & Rec, for instance. How many actually sit and watch it live on Thursday nights, or even DVR it for later? Maybe a third, if I'm being generous. The rest find an online streaming site or a torrent the next day. A lot of my friends have cancelled their cable subscriptions outright to save $50 a month, since everything can be so easily found online.

Of course, I also recognise that my friends and I aren't American and so don't matter anyway.

 

[Professor Zoom]

A lot of shows on NBC also tend to appeal to a younger demographic than ABC or CBS shows. And that younger demographic is a lot more likely to watch their tv shows through *cough* alternative means...

Like streaming on NBC's website? NBC is fine with that. Better than pirating it.

 

[Geck]

Like streaming on NBC's website? NBC is fine with that. Better than pirating it.

Ideally, yes. Won't show up in Nielsen ratings, but I'm sure NBC could at least track that and be happy with it. More people probably pirate though, unfortunately.

And sadly watching on the NBC (or whatever network) website is not an option for those of us that don't live in the US....though, once again, I know we don't matter.

 

[Captain Craig]

I'm just amazed at the Fringe fall off still going on?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Here are the fast national ratings for Friday (hopefully Jax doesn't mind me putting them up):

CBS (9.754 million total viewers and 1.5/5 in the demo)

A Gifted Man - 8.144 million and 1.2/4
CSI: NY - 9.956 million and 1.6/5
Blue Bloods - 11.162 million and 1.8/6

Fox (3.564 million total viewers and 1.4/5 in the demo)

Kitchen Nightmares - 3.985 million and 1.6/6
Fringe - 3.143 million and 1.2/4

NBC (5.094 million total viewers and 1.3/4 in the demo)

Up All Night (repeat) - 2.931 million and 0.8/3
Whitney (repeat) - 2.812 million and 0.9/3
Dateline NBC - 6.206 million and 1.6/5

ABC (3.943 million total viewers and 1.1/4 in the demo)

Modern Family (repeat) - 3.842 million and 1.1/4
Suburgatory (repeat) - 3.440 million and 1.0/4
Pan Am (repeat) - 4.149 million and 1.1/4
20/20 - 4.040 million and 1.2/4

The CW (1.777 million total viewers and 0.7/2 in the demo)

Nikita - 1.784 million and 0.6/2
Supernatural - 1.770 million and 0.7/2

 

[Jetfire]

CW has got to be missing SMALLVILLE...I am surprised they didn't try to get a spinoff or another DC superhero show for this fall...SPN is really hurting.

 

[bigdaddy]

CW has got to be missing SMALLVILLE...I am surprised they didn't try to get a spinoff or another DC superhero show for this fall...SPN is really hurting.

There are still rumours of a new superhero show for CW for next fall. I think that's a safe bet now.

 

[the G-man]

If you watch CBS and Criminal Minds, the nightly news on CBS, and then probably some of Letterman before you go to bed, how are you going to get those people to change the channel to NBC?

I do wonder what the percentage is of people who do that... who turn on a channel and just leave it regardless of shows.

Except that Leno regularly beats Letterman in the ratings, even when CBS clobbers NBC in prime time.

 

[bigdaddy]

If you watch CBS and Criminal Minds, the nightly news on CBS, and then probably some of Letterman before you go to bed, how are you going to get those people to change the channel to NBC?

I do wonder what the percentage is of people who do that... who turn on a channel and just leave it regardless of shows.

Except that Leno regularly beats Letterman in the ratings, even when CBS clobbers NBC in prime time.

That's because even when no long likes NBC shows they still like NBC News and they were watching that before Leno.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Anybody here? Was there a show you saw a commercial for, for something you might be interested in, but didn't watch because it was on FOX? NBC? ABC?

I wouldn't ask people around here. We are way too sensitized to new TV shows and are completely unrepresentative of anything. I'm personally fascinated by the development process and start yakking about it in February each year, so I even hear about shows that never make it through the process. I know nobody in real life who is interested in this in the least, so I only talk about it here.

Ask people at the mall somewhere. Just take a list of the new fall shows and ask them how many names they recognize and if they're planning to check any out. Increasingly, I run into people I know who simply pay no attention to the new fall shows at all.

Just look at Terra Nova as an example of how people are ignoring TV. Here you have Spielberg doing a time travel show about dinosaurs, and yet only 9M tuned into the premiere! And FOX has a decent viewership. What does it take to get people's attention anymore?

Anyway, it's not that people are prejudiced against this or that network. They don't care about a show airing on NBC, FOX etc anymore than they care about a movie being made by Paramount, Universal or whoever. But if they're not watching NBC, they won't see NBC's ads for their new shows, so how are they ever going to hear about them?

I have seen cable channels airing ads for shows on sister broadcast networks (NBC and SyFy for example), but even then - SyFy doesn't exactly have a huge audience, either. And if people are zapping ads, they're also zapping ads for new shows.

Yeah, I think Grimm replacing The Playboy Club is a good bet. Chuck will probably stay on Friday.

If NBC's expectations aren't high, Grimm might be good in that timeslot. I just hope NBC remembers they originally greenlighted the show because it might make a good cultish fit for Friday nights with a limited audience. It doesn't strike me as Heroes-type attention grabber.

 

[Starbreaker]

What's a limited audience on NBC? 13 viewers?

 

[Professor Zoom]

I do wonder what the percentage is of people who do that... who turn on a channel and just leave it regardless of shows.

Except that Leno regularly beats Letterman in the ratings, even when CBS clobbers NBC in prime time.

That's because even when no long likes NBC shows they still like NBC News and they were watching that before Leno.

What do you mean NBC news? At that time it's LOCAL news. They maybe the affiliate for NBC, but it's local. What you're suggesting is everyone in the country has a great local news broadcast on their NBC affiliate. Which is hard to believe.

People are changing the channel to Leno. (God knows why, he's as funny as a boil on your neck, but...)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What's a limited audience on NBC? 13 viewers?

Nah. 15 is more like it.

And Leno beats Letterman because Middle America doesn't understand wtf Letterman is talking about.

 

[the G-man]

Letterman stopped being entertaining around 2003. Now he's just a painfully unfunny old man. And he's no longer hip or edgy to anyone under 50. Anyone under that age who wants "edgy" these days probably watches Conan, Stewart or Colbert.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Middle America doesn't even get Letterman. Those other guys might as well be Martians.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Increasingly, I run into people I know who simply pay no attention to the new fall shows at all.

Well I think there are a lot of reasons for this, one being our plethora of entertainment choices nowadays (streaming, DVDs, bazillion cable channels, video games) but I've often wondered if the axe happy networks haven't done this to themselves.

I wonder if people don't just say, eff it, no need to get involved in a show just to see it get cancelled. And if it does catch on, then they can catch up with on Netflix or something.

 

[bigdaddy]

Except that Leno regularly beats Letterman in the ratings, even when CBS clobbers NBC in prime time.

That's because even when no long likes NBC shows they still like NBC News and they were watching that before Leno.

What do you mean NBC news? At that time it's LOCAL news. They maybe the affiliate for NBC, but it's local. What you're suggesting is everyone in the country has a great local news broadcast on their NBC affiliate. Which is hard to believe.

People are changing the channel to Leno. (God knows why, he's as funny as a boil on your neck, but...)

People respect NBC News so that translate over to the local news because they share reports.

 

[Starbreaker]

Just out of curiosity, what channels do Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy air on in your neck of the woods? They're back to back on CBS here right before primetime programming... and we all know how much old people love these shows (I'll admit I watch Jeopardy).

 

[bigdaddy]

^ They are on NBC around here.

 

[Skywalker]

Around here they're on ABC.