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Week 21 First Four Day Ratings; How the Sitcoms Did

Paralyzed by a blizzard, I still won't forget about the blog!

Week 21 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 10.4/14.8; FOX 9.5/14.1; ABC: 7.3/11.0; NBC: 6.3/9.6; The WB: 2.7/4.0; UPN 1.7/2.5.
Total Viewers: CBS 16.44 million; FOX: 16.11 million; ABC: 11.09 million; NBC: 9.71 million; The WB: 4.14 million; UPN: 2.49 million.
Adults 18-49: FOX 6.5/15.6; CBS: 5.7/13.8; ABC: 4.0/9.8; NBC: 3.7/9.1; The WB: 1.8/4.3; UPN: 1.0/2.4.

Analysis: American Idol finally went under 30 million this week. The Wednesday edition did a 28.74 million, but the Tuesday edition was over 30 million with 31.15 million. Fox again had a strong Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Skating with the Celebrities was third in its timeslot with 10.46 million viewers and also third in adults 18-49 behind Wife Swap and CBS comedies--Skating is no Dancing with the Stars! 24 followed with great numbers again with 13.7 million (slightly down from previous week), but it did a first place finish in adults 18-49 for the hour. Courting Alex on CBS is now slipping. Out of Practice was doing much better in this slot. Tuesday again was all Fox with American Idol. Wednesday again Fox's Idol ruled, but CBS was strong with the Grammy Awards' 17 million, but that was no match for ABC's Lost which did 18.74 million. Bones at 9 p.m. on Fox, lost nearly 17 million from its lead-in this time. Still not good. Thursday it was all CBS and ABC. ABC won the 8 p.m. hour among households and total viewers with Dancing with the Stars, while CBS's Surviror won in adults 18-49. CBS won the 9 and 10 p.m. hours with CSI and Without a Trace. Friday had the Winter Olympics starting on NBC. The Olympics' opening hour just barely beat the Dancing with the Stars: The Results. The Winter Olympics will boost NBC a lot this sweeps, but the Olympics ratings will be way down from previous years. Why oh why is CBS airing repeats? I'm sure most of CBS's shows could have beaten the Olympics. Expect American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Lost to beat the Olympics each time. Saturday was all NBC with the Olympics. It'll be interesting who wins this week. Can NBC come back and win the week despite the Olympics not as good in the ratings? All the shows on Friday against the Olympics were on par with their normal audiences. Fox should win the week in adults 18-49 anyway. ABC will battle with NBC for Sunday night. ABC has a good shot of beating the Olympics tonight.


Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 11.6 million tuned in for a new episode.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 10.94 million...pretty good retention from lead-in.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Sitcom leader did just that, 16.33 million.
• Courting Alex (CBS) - 12.99 million. Not as good of a retention CBS would like.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - Steady! Between 3-4 million, like usual.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim(ABC) 2 episodes - 8 p.m. episode against Idol suffered, only 6.57 million...BUT the 9 p.m. episode did very good with 8.37 million.
• Rodney (ABC) - Up from last week to 5.94 million.
  
• Crumbs (ABC) - Special airing at a special time did not do well. Lost well over a million from lead-in, only 6.97 million.
• Scrubs (NBC) 2 episodes - Nice jump at 9:30 p.m.'s episode from 9 p.m. 6.17 million to 7.1 million.
  
• 8-9pm UPN comedy repeats - Anemic ratings. 1.8 and 1.5 million.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Up from last week, but still not too good, 6.4 million.
  
• Freddie (ABC) - Same as above. 5.96 million.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Will & Grace (NBC) - Up slightly from last week to 7.45 million.
• Four Kings (NBC) - Tick tock tick tock, 6.33 million...makes Joey look like Seinfeld.
  
• That's 70s Show (FOX) 2 episodes - An original episode did 4.68 million, a repeat followed with a better 5.11 million.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 10.2 million tuned in, just slightly down from previous week.
  
• The Office (NBC) - Same as above. 8.95 million.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - 4.39 million tuned in for an all-new show.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - New episodes of these sitcoms did pathetic. Betwen 2.4-2.8 million.

Friday Sitcoms

Arrested Development's final 4 episodes did a 2.0 rating...not good!

Summing it up. The King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl, and The Office were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as According to Jim 9PM, Courting Alex) or just plain old terrible (such as Arrested Development, UPN Thursday, Rodney).