SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Week 20 First Four Day Ratings; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 20 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 9.7/14.9; FOX 9.1/13.6; ABC: 6.0/9.3; NBC: 5.4/8.3; The WB: 3.0/4.4; UPN 1.5/2.2.
Total Viewers: FOX 15.45 million; CBS: 15.28 million; ABC: 8.97 million; NBC: 8.08 million; The WB: 4.48 million; UPN: 2.22 million.
Adults 18-49: FOX 6.3/15.6; CBS: 4.9/12.3; ABC: 3.1/7.6; NBC: 3.0/7.5; The WB: 2.0/4.8; UPN: 0.9/2.3.

Analysis: February Sweeps has begun! We are already three days into the sweeps period, and day four is tonight with ABC of course winning tonight with the Super Bowl. But before sweeps started on Thursday, Mon-Wed had A LOT of repeats. Well FOX did have something new and big in American Idol that helped them on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday could have been bigger but President Bush pre-empted programming at 9 p.m. Idol barely went over 30 million this week. A good 4-5 million down from the previous week. 30.18 million tuned in for the Tuesday edition. 30.4 million tuned in this Wednesday. Fox again had a strong Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Skating with the Celebrities was first in its timeslot with 10 million viewers, but only third in adults 18-49 behind Wife Swap and comedy repeats on CBS. 24 followed with great numbers again with 13.82 million, including a first place finish in adults 18-49 for the hour. The new CBS sitcom Courting Alex was down almost 2 million viewers last week but still did a decent 13.27 million, out of a repeat from Two and a Half Men. As of now, I think Alex and Out of Practice are doing just about the same. Tuesday again was all Fox with American Idol. Wednesday it was a little better for the other networks but still Fox's Idol was too much for everyone. Lost was a repeat for ABC, so ABC was out of the loop. CBS's Criminal Minds was also a repeat, but like most of CBS's other crime dramas, they repeat well. Bones at 9 p.m. against repeats, lost nearly 18 million from its lead-in. Not good. Thursday it was all CBS and ABC. ABC won the 8 p.m. hour among households with Dancing with the Stars, while CBS's Surviror premiere won in total viewers and adults 18-49. CBS won the 9 and 10 p.m. hours with CSI and Without a Trace. Friday it was again a battle between CBS and ABC with the Dancing with the Stars: The Results, followed by first place finishes for the CBS dramas at 9 and 10. Saturday was very very slow. All the networks had nothing to write home about. ABC will win the week in both total viewers and adults 18-49 thanks to The Super Bowl. Who will be second place--Fox or CBS?.


Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 9.57 million for an encore--decent!.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) -8.77 million for an encore, it should hold more from its lead-in, but still good. I would like to see this show on Wednesday, so we know if it can survive on its own without King of Queens' help.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 15.04 million for a repeat--but who cares, still the highest viewed sitcom, and it was a REPEAT!
• Courting Alex (CBS) - Down from the premiere, but still solid with 13.27 million viewers and a 4.5 A18-49 rating.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - All repeats and had usual repeat numbers.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - Last week we saw a new episode score under 6 million. This week a repeat (a hilarious episode, too) scored better with 6.21 million.
• Rodney (ABC) - Like its lead-in, a repeat scored better than a new episode last week with 5.66 million, up from last week's 5.52 million.
• 8-9pm UPN comedy repeats - Wouldn't back-to-back Veronica Mars be better?
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Still Standing (CBS) - With Idol back, sitcoms in this hour will suffer. 6.44 million this week.
• Yes, Dear (CBS) - Built from lead-in and won the slot among sitcoms with 6.7 million.
• George Lopez (ABC) - Down 1/2 million from last week to only 5.83 million. George gets a younger audience than Still Standing, so Idol affects this sitcom more.
  
• Freddie (ABC) - Only 5.29 million. It should be better this week as Lost will be all-new right after this.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Will & Grace (NBC) - Up slightly from last week to 7.27 million.
• Four Kings (NBC) - NBC thought this show would do well for them, but the last few weeks they have been probably thinking if putting new sitcom Thick & Thin here. Only 6.6 million.
  
• That's 70s Show (FOX) 2 episodes - An original episode did 5.76 million, a repeat followed with a better 5.81 million--both slightly up from last week.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) - Up from last week's 10.45 million to 10.6 million. Regained sitcom leader for Thursday after losing that title to Crumbs for the past few weeks.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 9.21 million tuned in, not bad! And so this show is finally doing better, and NBC will put a new sitcom in its place after the Olympics? What are they thinking?!
  
• Crumbs (ABC) - 9.13 million for a sitcom would be good, but Crumbs should do better. Tune in to a special episode this Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. featuring Martin Mull. I hear this episode is going to be HILARIOUS. Hopefully as good as the pilot was, if not better.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - 4.24 million tuned in for an all-new show.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - New episodes of these sitcoms did pathetic.

Friday Sitcoms

The WB Friday was dead last in each half hour. And two Bernie episodes on Fox were in the low 2 ratings.

Summing it up. A repeat of King of Queens & Two and a Half Men, a new Courting Alex, My Name is Earl, and The Office were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Crumbs, repeat of How I Met Your Mother) or just plain old terrible (such as WB Friday, Bernie Mac, Freddie).

Enjoy the Super Bowl and the special Grey's Anatomy tonight!