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Week 11 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 11 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 8.7/13.5; ABC: 6.9/10.7; NBC: 6.8/10.5; Fox: 4.9/7.5; The CW: 2.4/3.7.
Total Viewers: CBS: 13.78 million; NBC: 10.61 million; ABC: 10.48 million; Fox: 7.85 million; The CW: 3.75 million.
Adults 18-49: CBS: 4.1/10.6; NBC: 4.0/10.3; ABC: 3.8/9.7; Fox: 3.1/7.8; The CW: 1.6/4.1.

Analysis: Last week we didn't have final numbers in time, but we are back for week 11! The eleventh week saw the last three days of November sweeps and the start of holiday repeat season, but ABC was all-new on that first day and dominated, but ABC faltered without Dancing with the Stars and Lost the last two weeks. CBS has won households and viewers for 10 straight weeks, and will again this week. ABC has won adults 18-49 each week (though week 7 NBC came back with a strong NFL game and virtually tied ABC), but looks like it will be close this week, as ABC Sunday is repeats...ABC did have a strong Friday. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. CBS has the top spot so far with ABC and NBC battling for second and Fox continues to be well back in fourth. On Monday, CBS's CSI: Miami shined with 17.13 million, and NBC's Heroes at 9 p.m. was again strong in the 18-49 demo with a 6.8/16 and decent in total viewers with 15.56 million. NBC's Deal or No Deal led the night off for NBC with a dominating first place finish and did 17.7 million, what is with this show doing this well? NBC's Studio 60 is still not doing good with just 7.27 million...I don't see this lasting for February sweeps. CBS sitcoms opened the night with OK numbers and the number one sitcom Two and a Half Men rose from that and did 15.5 million. Fox did usual business for Prison Break's fall finale and at 9 p.m. a repeat of House did decent with 7.28 million. ABC saw better than average numbers for Mondays as a highly advertised Wife Swap did 8.87 million and the season finale of The Bachelor shows some spunk with 9.85 million . Tuesday, now that Dancing with the Stars is gone, CBS and Fox will share the lead. But first, I'll start with ABC. The special A Charlie Brown Christmas was no Stars, but opened decently and did 13.01 million, but then the premiere of new sitcom Big Day and the rookie sitcom Help Me Help You wasn't so hot, as they did 7.55 and 5.0 million each. I think they will take 7.55 million, but 5.0 million is terrible. Fox is doing bad with Standoff leading off but House came back strong and did 17.3 million, building over 12 million from its lead-in--talk about coming back! NBC was strong at 10 p.m. as Law & Order: SVU did a nice 14.64 million while Friday Night Lights continues to under-perform at just 6.18 million, though up from recent airings. Law & Order: CI did 9.76 million. CBS won the night thanks to NCIS and The Unit, but 3LBS did just 7.97 million, and has been pulled. That is CBS for you. You get under 8 million, they cancel you. No other network would do that. Wednesday saw CBS dominate. ABC missed Dancing with the Stars: The Results, as Show Me the Money and Day Break both didn't perform up to expectations, with Money doing 7.69 million and Break just 4.73 million. NBC had a better Wednesday than usual with the special Christmas at Rockefeller Center doing very well with 9.43 million, boosting The Biggest Loser 3 to 9.2 million but the out of place Medium dropped to 8.01 million. Why not move this to Monday at 10 again? CBS won each hour, as the fall finale of Jericho did decent with 10.25 million, but it should have been better. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY both did very good though and made up for that with 17.92 and 16.43 million each. The CW's America's Next Top Model did VERY well for the network and did 5.73 million and an impressive 2.8/8 A18-49 rating beating ABC and NBC for the hour. Fox did better with a Bones repeat at 9 following an all-new Bones, which did 8.66 million--impressive, as this show quietly does well. On Thursday we saw ABC dominate with all-new episodes. ABC's Grey's Anatomy had 24.01 million at 9pm and in the same slot a repeat of CSI had 16.08 million (GA won in HH 15.2/23 to 10.0/15 and GA won in A18-49 9.5/23 to 5.0/12). NBC aired comedies from 8-10pm and did decent for the first hour but saw bleeding from Scrubs and especially 30 Rock, which was picked up for a full season. NBC should switch those shows, as 30 Rock is not helping ER. At 8 p.m. ABC continues to do well with Ugly Betty, as the one-hour comedy did decent again with 13.02 million; Survivor did 15.63 million though.When Survivor finishes, look for the best new comedy to do even better. At 10 p.m. newbie Shark was a repeat and did 10.32 million. ER was new and did 13.36 million. ABC saw second place at 10 p.m. with the time period premiere of Men in Trees doing a solid 11.34 million..ABC hopes it can get that each week, 11-12 million would be fine. And Fox saw pathetic numbers with 'Til Death and another (save us!) episode of The O.C.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw ABC dominating thanks to the network television premiere of the Tom Hanks holiday movie The Polar Express. NBC did decent with the two-hour Las Vegas episode. CBS was a distant third this week rather than the usual first place, Ice Wars special didn't do much and a repeat of NUMB3RS finished last place at 10 p.m. And The CW and Fox battled for last place. Saturday ratings saw everyone doing bad, as last week ABC did very well for Notre Dame vs. USC, but it did bad this week for Oklahoma-Nebraska. As for tonight, CBS and NBC will likely share a win, as ABC's Desperate Housewives is a repeat, along with the rest of the ABC line-up, though Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will have some new segments in tonight's encore. I expect a close finish in the demo and CBS will prevail in total viewers.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of Nov. 20-26)

• Reba (The CW) 2 episodes - A repeat and new episode did decent, but down from the premiere. The repeat did 2.66 million and a new episode built on that and did 3.89 million, the highest rated CW sitcom.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) - With the NFL as its lead-in, an all-new episode did a solid 10.93 million and a 5.0/12 18-49 rating.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 8.76 million. I still say move this back to 9:30 in January and have the return of King of the Hill here at 8:30.
• Family Guy (Fox) - Built back up from lead-in with 9.49 million.
  
• War at Home (Fox) - 6.92 million, but this show will be tested Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 9.85 million, but it should be doing close to 11 million really.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 8.72 million is better than usual, but CBS should be near 10 million at least for this show.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 15.5 million...number one sitcom still.
• New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - 12.01 million for an all-new episode..not bad at all.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. All new episodes of Chris started it off with 3.28 million, the highest of the block. The rest ranged 2.83 to 3.03 million--consistent.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Big Day (ABC) - 7.55 million for the premiere, not great but not bad either..could have been better. ABC hopes it can stay around 7.55 million or build on it this week. A big drop would not be good, say 6 million.
  
• Help Me Help You (ABC) - Only 5.0 million, almost 50% down from what it did with a huge lead-in. Looks like 13 and out.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 9.49 million...decent. Also a decent 4.1/11 A18-49 rating.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 9.07 million is decent but an impressive build from lead-in on 18-49 with a 4.4/11 rating.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) -The season premiere did OK with 7.72 million and a 3.6/9 A18-49 rating.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - Time slot premiere of this show did not hold the 9pm lead-in much with 5.97 million and a 2.7/7 A18-49 rating. NBC should swap the shows in the 9pm hour.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - 4.77 million tuned in at 8pm for a new episode, not good but steady. The repeat at 8:30pm held steady and did 4.78 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are repeats of Fox comedies and Reba on The CW.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, My Name is Earl and The New Adventures of Old Christine were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Big Day and Scrubs) or just plain old terrible (such as Help Me Help You and 'Til Death).