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Week 27 First Four Day Ratings; How The Sitcoms Did

Week 27 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: FOX: 9.9/15.0; CBS 8.2/12.9; NBC: 6.7/10.4; ABC: 6.2/9.6; UPN: 1.9/2.9; The WB 1.8/2.7.
Total Viewers: FOX: 16.76 million; CBS: 12.68 million; NBC: 10.37 million; ABC: 9.52 million; UPN: 2.85 million; The WB: 2.55 million.
Adults 18-49: FOX 6.9/17.2; CBS: 4.0/10.3; NBC: 3.9/9.8; ABC: 3.6/9.2; UPN: 1.2/3.1; The WB: 1.1/2.7.

Analysis: NCAA pre-empted CBS's Thursday night line-up again, so Fox again leads big through the first four days of the week. Monday saw CBS prevail big with its comedies and an impressive second week for new sitcom The Adventures of Old Christine and the highest rated show of the night was once again CSI: Miami. Christine scored 15.13 million, UP from the timeslot premiere last week, which delivered 15.09 million viewers. It is safe to say that this show will return next season, which means slim chance of renewal for both Out of Practice and Courting Alex because they bombed in their new nights (more on that soon). Other Monday noteables include Fox, which did well with an episode of 24 and NBC started off strong with the no brains needed game show Deal or No Deal. ABC's new reality line-up did decent, as Supernanny continues to beat NBC's The Apprentice, but Miracle Workers at 10 p.m. on ABC was down from last week. Fox brought back Prison Break at 8 p.m. and did decent with 10.27 million viewers. Tuesday it was all Fox with a two-hour American Idol scoring very big with 33.36 million viewers. CBS competed with Fox at 9 p.m. with week two of its new drama The Unit continuing to do well with 15.55 million, though down from last week's 18.07 million, mainly because NCIS was a repeat at 8 p.m. ABC's critically acclaimed and hilarious new sitcom Sons & Daughters was up against the last hour of AI again this week and thus suffered big time again. Hopefully when it is not up against that Fox powerhouse, it will do better. Hope & Faith returned to ABC and did decent with 6 million viewers. Wednesday had CBS bring back comedies Out of Practice and Courting Alex--this time without the benefit of Two and a Half Men as their lead-in. So what happened? They both bombed. Both were beat by ABC's comedies in total viewers and badly in A18-49, as they only scored a 2.0 rating and a 1.7 rating. Fox's Bones did well to start off Fox with at 11.14 million--people must have been waiting for American Idol, the half hour AI on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. scored 27.68 million. Following that Fox aired a new half hour reality series titled Unan1mous and did better than any of those comedies that they tried the last few weeks after AI--the reality show scored 16.04 million. ABC's Lost was all-new (and will be the next few weeks!) and scored 16.06 million against AI. The battle of the new 10 p.m. dramas was won by ABC as The Evidence scored 9.1 million (3.4 A18-49 rating) while Heist did 8.75 million (3.0 A18-49 rating)--both didn't do as well as they should have. Thursday ABC did well with the first of four specials titled Extreme Makeover Home Edition: After the Storm and the new series American Inventor. CBS's usual line-up was pre-empted due to NCAA Basketball coverage, it was up against last week as viewers saw Duke fall to LSU. NBC did much better at 8:30 p.m. with a My Name is Earl repeat airing instead of a new Four Kings episode.
Not counted in our ratings are Friday and Saturday. Friday had CBS have coverage of the NCAA games while NBC was second place. Saturday again CBS did well with the NCAA and ABC was second with the Mel Gibson movie Signs. ABC's will win tonight as Desperate Housewives is all-new, Grey's Anatomy is a repeat but that won't matter, it will still win. For the week, Fox will probably hang on again to total viewers and adults 18-49 but it will a battle for second place among adults 18-49 with CBS and ABC after what will happen tonight.


Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 10.75 million tuned in, down from last week.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 9.8 million tuned in--Christine did much better here last week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.72 million tuned in to the highest rated sitcom.
  
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - Impressive! 5.1 A18-49 rating, only down .3 from the lead-in's 5.4 rating and BUILT on last week's viewers, as this week the show did 15.13 million. Get used to Christine for next season.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - Repeats, repeated better than last week, ranging from 2.6-3.5 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - 6.29 million tuned in for an all-new episode, up from last week.
  
• Hope & Faith (ABC) - 6 million tuned in for the return of this sitcom.
  
• Sons & Daughters (ABC) 2 episodes - Up against AI didn't help again. Only 4.52 million and 4.05 million for another new episode, down from last week. It is too bad, because this is a VERY good show.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) 2 episodes - A new episode did 5.84 million at 9. Followed by an encore at 5.77 million.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Freddie came by to punch George, and viewers came too. 7.24 million--highest in slot since January.
  
• Freddie (ABC) - George came to Freddie this time and did 7.7 million, highest in slot since December.
  
• Out of Practice (CBS) - 6.94 million is not bad, but the A18-49 rating of a 2.0 is concerning. Henry Winkler and Marion Ross reunited, but I guess more people were interested in the George/Freddie crossover.
  
• Courting Alex (CBS) - Elfman should be more concerned than Henry Winkler, 6.28 million and a terrible 1.7 A18-49 rating (tying Sons & Daughters, and that was up against AI, Alex was not).

Thursday Sitcoms

• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - All-new episode scored a decent 4.37 million.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - Freefall after Chris, from 2.4 to 2.2 million.
  
• Will & Grace (NBC) - 8.82 million tuned in, slightly down from last week.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) 2 episodes - Repeat at 8:30 helped NBC a lot with 8.66 million; new episode at 9 did well with 11.31 million.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 8.58 million tuned in--I think it should be more like 9.5-10 million.
• That '70s Show (Fox) -5.49 million is decent for Fox.
  
• The Loop (Fox) - Only 4.45 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms

The WB Friday had series finales (they both are gonners) What I Like About You and Living with Fran in dead last place in the 8 p.m. hour. The 9 p.m. hour was slightly better with a new Reba and Modern Men but still dead last.

Summing it up. The King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Office, Will & Grace) or just plain old terrible (such as Sons & Daughters, The Loop, WB Friday).