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Week 32 First Four Day Ratings; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 32 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 9.5/15.0; FOX 8.8/13.7; NBC: 6.4/10.1; ABC: 4.7/7.4; The WB: 2.4/3.7; UPN 1.8/2.8.
Total Viewers: CBS 14.65 million; FOX: 14.42 million; NBC: 9.61 million; ABC: 7.07 million; The WB: 3.53 million; UPN: 2.68 million.
Adults 18-49: FOX 5.9/15.5; CBS: 4.6/12.1; NBC: 3.6/9.5; ABC: 2.6/6.9; The WB: 1.5/3.9; UPN: 1.3/3.3.

Analysis: May sweeps started on Thursday, so we are down to the wire. Before Thursday it was very slow in the ratings, besides that Idol show and House. Fox again had a strong Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 24 was first in its 9 p.m. timeslot with 13.03 million viewers (Two and a Half Men won the 9 p.m. half hour for CBS) and a strong 5.2 rating in A18-49. Prison Break before that was second place in A18-49 and total viewers. CBS's comedies were all new, except The King of Queens. Monday's highest rated show, CSI: Miami, was just that with 18.74 million, nearly doubling the next nearest program (Medium 9.76 million). ABC's What Abut Brian only could pull 5.38 million losing a lot of its Supernanny lead-in (which did 8.57 million). Tuesday was all Fox with American Idol & House, with 28.67 and 24.52 million viewers. House was up even more from last week. This could be the highest rated episode yet (also a stunning 9.9 A18-49 rating). CBS's dramas did well against them but everything else was anemic, like usual. ABC's Less Than Perfect was up from its season premiere by one million viewers, with 5.42 million. Wednesday it was a little better for the other networks but still Fox's Idol was too much for everyone with 28.27 million. Lost was not really airing, as a clip show aired that scored 11.95 million viewers, good for second in its slot. CBS's Criminal Minds was a repeat but like most of CBS's other crime dramas, they do well against AI. Deal or No Deal scored 15.24 million viewers for NBC to start the night. The mindless game show is their big hit of the season, more than My Name is Earl even (which is dropping each week). Thursday it was all CBS in a big way. CBS's Survivor easily won in total viewers and adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. CBS won the 9 and 10 p.m. hours with new episodes of CSI and Without a Trace scoring 27.36 and 17.93 million. Losing 10 million viewers from CSI is concerning for Without a Trace. Rumors that the show will be moving to another night are becoming more strong. NBC's comedies were all down big, especially My Name is Earl. Earl only scored 9.05 million viewers, down a lot from what it usually does for an original episode. Commander in Chief faced all original competion in its third week on Thursdays, and it wasn't too good, only doing 6.51 million...the aging ER did even 12.34 million . Friday saw CBS winning with its dramas and The Daytime Emmys did just average for ABC. Saturday saw decent numbers again for CBS. With old faithful 48 Hours Mystery doing a 5.6/11 rating to close the night. FOX will win the week in adults 18-49, but CBS will win in total viewers. Can ABC catch NBC after tonight? It'll be close. But it won't be close tonight as EM: Home Edition and DH, & GA are all-new!.


Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 7 million tuned in for a repeat. Down from last week's 7.25 million for a repeat.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - New episode scored 7.6 million and 2.5 A18-49 rating. Can it survive without a good lead-in?
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 14.47 million for an all-new episode. Easily the number one sitcom.
• New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - 11.81 million tuned in, but this show was doing much better than that in its first few airings.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - All new and had usual numbers, peaking at 9 p.m. with over 3 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - Repeat only scored 4.11 million. Season finale is this week! Jim pregnant or is it a dream? Ah the power of male pregnancy.
• Hope & Faith (ABC) 2 episodes - 2 all new episodes. 4 million at 8:30 and 5.6 million at 9 p.m. Final two episodes of the season (or series) will air this week.
  
• Less than Perfect (ABC) - 5.42 million, much better than last week's 4.5 million. An episode will air next week before we have to wait until June for more new episodes.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) 2 episodes - 3.08 million at 8:30 for a repeat is pathetic, but 6 million for a new show at 9 p.m. just beat ABC's competing comedy.
  
• Teachers (NBC) - 4.7 million beat by the much better Less Than Perfect. But it did beat that comedy in A18-49 2.3 to 2.1.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

Nothing!

Thursday Sitcoms

• Will & Grace (NBC) - Winding down to the final episode. 7.58 million
• That's 70s Show (FOX) 2 episodes - See above. 4.47 and 5.5 million for two all-new episodes.
  
• My Name is Earl (NBC) 2 episodes - Repeat at 8:30 did 6.87 million. Regular 9pm airing jumped to 9.05 million, but that is way down from its average for a new episode. Only a 4.1 A18-49 rating too. The show usually does above a 5.0 A18-49 rating for new episodes.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 7.85 million and a 3.9 A18-49 rating is decent enough for this show.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - Only 3 million for a new episode. Wonder where CW will air it next fall?
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Eve (UPN), Cuts (UPN) - CW doesn't have to worry about placing these anywhere. All under 2 million.

Friday Sitcoms

Reba and Modern Men: All-new and dead last.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men & My Name is Earl, Adventures of Old Christine were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Office, Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother) or just plain old terrible (such as UPN Thursday, Scrubs 8:30, Modern Men).