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Week 12 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 12 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 7.8/12.3; NBC: 6.3/9.9; ABC: 5.3/8.3; Fox: 4.2/6.4; The CW: 2.4/3.7.
Total Viewers: CBS: 12.03 million; NBC: 9.86 million; ABC: 7.96 million; Fox: 6.29 million; The CW: 3.6 million.
Adults 18-49: NBC: 3.8/10.1; CBS: 3.7/9.9; ABC: 2.8/7.5; Fox: 2.5/6.5; The CW: 1.6/4.1.

Analysis: The twelfth week saw repeats filtering in with some new episodes here and there. CBS has won households and viewers for 11 straight weeks, and will again this week despite some repeat programming. NBC will likely win Adults 18-49 because of the NFL game this Sunday. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. CBS has the top spot so far with NBC in second and ABC with repeat mode for all of its big guns in third, still beating the pathetic fall for Fox. On Monday, CBS's CSI: Miami was a repeat and still won the hour easily with 11.58 million, and NBC's Heroes at 9 p.m. was again strong in the 18-49 demo with a 6.5/15 and decent in total viewers with 14.94 million...both down from last week and this was the fall finale; I wonder what will happen come January when Fox's 24 is in the mix? NBC's Deal or No Deal led the night off for NBC with a dominating first place finish and did 17.37 million, slightly down from last week. NBC's Studio 60 is still not doing good with just 7.33 million...only up a few thousand from last week despite CBS in repeats. CBS sitcoms were all in repeats, but the 8pm hour was not good, even if it were repeats a 2.0/6 average in 18-49 is not good for CBS Monday comedies. Two and a Half Men rose from those weak numbers and did 11.55 million for a repeat. Fox did bad for the Billboard Music Awards doing just 6.09 million, down from the usual Fox Monday. ABC saw decent numbers for Mondays as Wife Swap did 7.86 million, down from last week's 8.87 million and the season premiere of Supernanny showed some legs with 9.64 million, almost right on par from last week's Bachelor finale. Tuesday it was a four-network race for the top spot. The ABC special Santa Claus is Comin' to Town opened decently and did 11.05 million, but then the sitcoms Big Day and Help Me Help You wasn't so hot, as they did 6.31 and 5.02 million each. A new Boston Legal doubled from the lead-in and closed the night out with a first place finish of 10.17 million. Fox is doing bad with Standoff leading off but even a repeat of House came back strong and did 11.77 million, building over 5 million from its lead-in--to help Fox nip ABC for total viewers for the night with 8.98 million to ABC's 8.96 million. NBC was in repeats from 9-11pm as at 10pm Law & Order: SVU did a nice 10.08 for a repeat million while an all-new Friday Night Lights continues to under-perform at just 6.13 million, costing NBC the night. Law & Order: CI at 9 p.m. was a repeat and did did 7.93 million, as NBC averaged 8.05 million for the night. CBS was in repeats for NCIS and The Unit, and was still decent with 10.99 and 9.03 million, the Victoria's Secret special at 10 p.m. tumbled and did just 6.78 million making CBS's nightly average go down to 8.93 million, third for the night. Wednesday saw CBS dominate even if its top two guns were in repearts. ABC's Show Me the Money and Day Break continue to perform below expectations, with Money doing 7.1 million and Break just 4.46 million...the latter will be pulled after this month. NBC had an OK Wednesday with The Biggest Loser 3 doing 9.37 million at 9pm but 8pm did just 6.84 million. The out of place Medium did just 8.58 million for an all-new episode. Why not move this to Monday at 10 again? CBS won each hour, as the return of The King of Queens did very good with 9.42 and 10.17 million...this is what CBS Monday 8-9pm should be doing. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY both did very good for repeats and did 13.85 and 12.66 million each. The CW's America's Next Top Model finale did VERY well for the network and did 6.19 million and an impressive 3.0/9 A18-49 rating for second place for the hour behind CBS! Fox did OK business with two Bones repeats did 6.38 and 6.1 million, as this show quietly does well. On Thursday we saw CBS dominate with all-new episodes, as ABC was in repeats from 8-10pm this week. ABC's Grey's Anatomy repeat did 10.55 million at 9pm and in the same slot a new episode of CSI benefited and had 23.25 million. NBC aired all-new episodes of comedies from 8-10pm and did decent for the first hour but saw bleeding from Scrubs and especially 30 Rock, but better than last week. At 8 p.m. ABC continues to do well with Ugly Betty, as the one-hour comedy did decent again with 8.66 million for a repeat; Survivor did 15.72 million but just slightly up from last week despite ABC in repeats. When Survivor finishes, look for the best new comedy to do even better. At 10 p.m. newbie Shark was all-new and did 13.98 million. ER was new and did just 12.02 million, 30 Rock is not helping it. ABC saw decent retention at 10 p.m. with an all-new Men in Trees doing a solid 8.28 million, not bad after a GA repeat. 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 CBS and NBC share the night with CBS's holiday specials and NBC's Law & Order and Las Vegas. CBS's NUMB3RS finished last place at 10 p.m. for a repeat. ABC did better than usual from 9-11pm with Primetime and 20/20. And The CW and Fox battled for last place. Saturday ratings saw everyone doing bad, with CBS winning in viewers and Fox's line-up in 18-49. Heroes encores did pathetic for NBC from 8-10pm. As for tonight, CBS, ABC and NBC will likely share a win, but ABC's Desperate Housewives is not on tonight, but the rest of the ABC line-up is all new, including a special two-hour Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I expect a close finish in the demo between ABC and NBC and CBS will prevail in total viewers most likely.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3)

• Reba (The CW) 2 episodes - A repeat and new episode did decent, but down from last week. The repeat did just 2.37 million and a new episode built on that and did 3.4 million, still the highest rated CW sitcom.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 8.17 million tuned in for a repeat after the BCS Selection Show.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 6.77 million tuned in for a repeat at a special time of 9:30 p.m.
• Family Guy (Fox) - An encore dropped some from the lead-in and did 7.77 million.

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.46 million for a repeat is not good for a CBS Monday comedy.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 5.91 million only for a repeat. Will The King of Queens move back to Mondays in January?
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.55 million for a repeat still makes this sitcom the highest rated sitcom...how sad.
• New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - 9.25 million for an encore broadcast.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. Repeat episode of Chris started it off with 2.18 million, the highest of the block. The rest ranged 1.86 to 2.13 million--consistent.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Big Day (ABC) - 6.31 million tuned in for the much funnier second episode, down from the premiere's 7.55 million. Let's hope it doesn't drop further.
  
• Help Me Help You (ABC) - Only 5.0 million last week, this week it did a bit better with 5.02 million, still not good.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) 2 episodes - The show is back and CBS must be happy as the show did very well! 9.42 and 10.17 million for first place and also a first place finish in households (6.2/10, 6.6/10) and 18-49 (3.2/9 and 3.6/10). This show is way stronger than the 8-9pm shows on Mondays, quite sad is this show is in its 9th season now.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 10.04 million for a one-hour episode is great.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - With a stronger lead-in this week, the show jumped from last week's 7.72 million to this week's decent 8.38 million.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - Up from last week's 5.97 million to 6.84 million, not bad but needs to be much better and it is not helping 10pm at all.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - Repeats did 3.91 and 378 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

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

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The King of Queens, My Name is Earl and The New Adventures of Old Christine were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as 30 Rock and Scrubs) or just plain old terrible (such as Help Me Help You and a repeat of The Class).