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Week 7 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 7 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 8.6/13.6; ABC: 8.3/13.0; NBC: 6.4/10.2; Fox: 4.2/6.5; The CW: 2.2/3.3.
Total Viewers: CBS: 13.57 million; ABC: 12.5 million; NBC: 10.11 million; Fox: 6.66 million; The CW: 3.39 million.
Adults 18-49: ABC: 4.3/11.2; CBS: 4.2/10.9; NBC: 3.8/10.0; Fox: 2.6/6.7; The CW: 1.5/3.9.

Analysis: The seventh week saw the first three nights slow, as repeats were mixed in, but November sweeps started Thursday and we are just underway! And like the current pattern, CBS will likely win for the 7th straight week in viewers while ABC likely gets the demos for the 7th straight week! As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. ABC and CBS lead a close race for the top spot so far with NBC a distant third and Fox well back in fourth. On Monday, CBS's CSI: Miami was a repeat and still won the last hour with 14.47 million, but 9pm's Heroes on NBC was again strong in the 18-49 demo, with a series high 6.5/15 and a nice bump in total viewers with 14.89. NBC's Deal or No Deal lead the night off with a solid 16.9 million helping NBC win the night as CBS were in all-repeats. NBC's Studio 60 was not on this week and actually a special episode of Friday Night Lights did slightly better than it with 8.26 million. ABC's The Bachelor was down from last week's 8.18 million to 7.77 million (it has gone down each week in the last few weeks), What About Brian slightly went up from last week's 5.98 million to 6.08 million, after a season high of 7.34 million a few weeks back. CBS sitcoms were in repeats, but The Class at 8:30 was way down from usual CBS Monday repeats, as the newbie did just 7.22 million, but the number one sitcom Two and a Half Men did 13.72 million for a repeat. Tuesday, it was ABC's turn of excellence as Dancing with the Stars did 20.51 million for 90 minutes and the sitcom Help Me Help You held less than half of that audience and did 9.01 million--down from last week. Fox's regular line-up returned with Standoff doing terrible but House came back strong and did 14.18 million, building almost over 10 million from its lead-in. NBC did well with Law & Order: CI and Law & Order: SVU, but Friday Night Lights did just 3.99 million, though it was a repeat. CBS was also in the ballpark and did decent with NCIS and The Unit, CSI: NY averaged 11.82 million. Wednesday saw CBS and ABC battle it out, with CBS edging ABC in viewers this time and ABC winning in the demo. ABC won the opening hour again with Dancing with the Stars: The Results doing 12.6/20 rating and 19.22 million. CBS's Jericho did 9.87 million, a series low. NBC had a bad night as the NBC comedies again did even worse (see analysis). ABC's The Nine might be off the line-up or moved soon. The show did its lowest numbers yet with 6.52 million. They should switch Six Degrees and The Nine this week...they really should. I do commend ABC for being patient. CBS won from 9-11pm with Criminal Minds and CSI: NY both doing over 16 million (16.97 and 16.64 million). ABC's Lost didn't win 9pm in viewers, as it did 16.07 million, beat by CBS's Criminal Minds. The CW's America's Next Top Model was down a million from last week's 5.45 million to 4.41 million...what happened? Fox had a terrible showing from The Rich List, a new game show, doing just 4.1 million, tying a new episode of NBC's 20 Good Years, both are now gone. On Thursday we saw CBS and ABC dominate, but NBC did decent. ABC's Grey's Anatomy had 21.02 million at 9pm and in the same slot CSI had 20.77 million (GA also won in HH 13.8/20 to 12.9/19 and A18-49 9.0/21 to 7.0/16). At 8 p.m. ABC continues to do well with Ugly Betty, as the one-hour comedy did decent again with 13.62 million, slightly up from previous week; Survivor had 15.3 million though, but the ABC one-hour comedy won in HH 9.3 to 8.9. At 10 p.m. newbie Shark did 13.32 million, with ER edging it with 13.85 million. ABC's Six Degrees did 7.4 million, a series low, move this to Wednesday at 10 this week. And Fox saw pathetic numbers with the comedies and the season premiere of The O.C.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS's dramas doing well and a nice bump for Law & Order at 10 p.m. ABC saw decent numbers for a special two-hour 20/20. Saturday ratings are not available yet. As for tonight, ABC will dominate, especially Desperate Housewives. A highly promoted and anticipated episode tonight! Who will get shot? Find out tonight! Look for ABC to win the demo tonight and total viewers, as new series Brothers & Sisters is consistent and steady. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is also solid for ABC and NBC might get high numbers for their football game, but not enough to win the night. I again expect ABC to win the week in the demo and CBS in total viewers..though it will be close if ABC does very well tonight with the special episode of DH. NBC should be third in everything. What to look for this week is how Lost's fall finale will do.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of Oct. 23-29)

• The Simpsons (Fox) 7 and 8pm - Two repeats did 3.57 and 5.36 million.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - Special repeat broadcast built on lead-in a bit with 3.92 million.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - A repeat went down from lead-in with 4.58 million.
• Family Guy (Fox) - A repeat built back up from lead-in with 5.14 million.
  
• War at Home (Fox) - Repeat did 3.6 million, huge drop from lead-in. This is an out of place sitcom on an all-animated night.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did 8.38 million, down from last week's 9.59 million, though that was an original.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 7.22 million for a repeat...should be a bit higher as CBS Monday comedies do not repeat that low. More of a concern was a 4th place finish in A18-49 in its slot with a 2.5/6 rating.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Even a repeat makes this sitcom the ratings leader for sitcoms with 13.72 million, down slightly from an original last week which did 15.03 million.
• New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - 10.6 million tuned in for a repeat, down from the 12.1 million for an original the previous week. Not bad.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. All new episodes Chris started it off with 3.58 million, the highest of the block and a season high. The rest did also did over 3 million (except The Game), ranging 2.85 to 3.13 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Help Me Help You (ABC) - For the first time in a few weeks the show dropped. House on Fox was the reason I bet. 9.01 million for this week, down from last week's 10.59 million. It needs to do over 10 million right now with a huge lead-in.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• 30 Rock (NBC) - Down big from last week's 6.01 million to just 4.61 million. No episode this week and NBC won't return this show until it moves to Thursdays.
  
• 20 Good Years (NBC) - Only 4.1 million tuned in and a pathetic 1.5/4 A18-49 rating. Another episode will never air I bet as NBC has pulled it for next week, which was supposed to be its last scheduled appearance for November.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 9.48 million tuned in and a decent 4.1/11 A18-49 rating. 5.7/9 HH rating needs to go at least into the 6's. Looks like majority of the audience is 18-49.
  
• The Office (NBC) - Same as its lead-in, majority of the audience is 18-49, even more for this show. 8.81 million, 4.2/10 A18-49, and 5.2/8 HH rating.
• 'Til Death (Fox) - You know it is sad when a repeat at 7:30pm on Sunday almost out does a new episode. 4.33 million tuned in. Not good. But the show following it is even worse that they will expand this show to a new episode and a repeat episode next week for a full-hour.
  
• Happy Hour (Fox) - Goodbye! Just 3.2 million and Fox quickly has pulled it. It looks like for good this time. 1.4/4 A 18-49 rating is nothing to write home about.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are repeats of Fox comedies.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, and The New Adventures of Old Christine were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Office and Everybody Hates Chris) or just plain old terrible (such as Happy Hour and 20 Good Years).