SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Week 16 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 16 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 7.7/11.9; Fox: 6.8/10.6; NBC: 5.9/9.1; ABC: 5.3/8.3; The CW: 1.9/2.8.
Total Viewers: CBS: 11.97 million; Fox: 10.63 million; NBC: 8.93 million; ABC: 8.26 million; The CW: 2.85 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 3.7/9.6; CBS: 3.5/8.9; NBC: 3.3/8.2; ABC: 3.0/7.6; The CW: 1.2/3.0.

Analysis: We're back! After a few weeks off, welcome to the first week of 2007! The 16th week saw repeats filtering in with some new episodes here and there. But the real new stuff really starts next week, where majority of everything is new. CBS has won households and viewers for 15 straight weeks, and will likely win again this week. NBC will likely win Adults 18-49 because of the NFL game yesterday, but it is doubtful if their new Sunday night line-up bombs..if that happens, maybe Fox will prevail, as ABC Sunday will bring ABC up for sure, but not enough to win I think. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. CBS has the top spot so far with Fox in second because of the BCS Games (which are way down from last year when ABC aired them) and NBC & ABC are almost neck-and-neck through Thursday. On Monday (New Year's Day), everything was in repeats but College Football. The end of the Rose Bowl on ABC did massive numbers in the 8 p.m. half hour doing a stellar 24.03 million. Fox aired the Fiesta Bowl from 8:40 to 12:51am and did 13.78 million, down from last year when it was on ABC. CBS's CSI: Miami was the highest rated repeat doing 12.15 million, and NBC's Heroes encore marathon struggled with it going down each hour (5.43, 5.15, 4.73 million). CBS sitcoms repeats did OK, with 8pm hour doing 7.61 and 6.9 million. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did 12.1 million for a repeat. ABC saw decent numbers for two Supernanny encores following the Rose Bowl, doing 6.74 and 6.97 million. Tuesday was also repeats mainly, but NBC was all-new and won the night. NBC got big numbers from both Law & Order spin-offs doing 13.38 and 15.17 million from 9-11pm, with Dateline kicking the night off with a respectable 9.5 million. Fox was next with the Orange Bowl doing just 10.66 million...not good for a major game. CBS's repeats of three dramas averaged 9.62 million...not bad. ABC saw a AFV repeat open up decently with 8.14 million, but then two episodes of the new sitcom Big Day wasn't so hot, as they did 5.1 and 4.69 million each.Though, that was up from previous week. A repeat of Boston Legal did 4.97 million. Wednesday saw Fox win with the Sugar Bowl doing 14.42 million, on par with last year. Next up was CBS with its nearly all-repeat line-up averaging 10.26 million. King of Queens was the only new episode 8.47 million to start the night off. NBC saw mix results for its new Wednesday line-up, with Friday Night Lights limping in its new night with just 6.28 million, but Deal or No Deal's new slot (yet another!) building big time from that with 11.33 million. Medium followed with a decent 9.33 million. ABC's new comedy block opened up doing OK, but not great. We were expecting more but it didn't happen. The return of According to Jim with two episodes at 8pm did 7.3 and 7.21 million...which is OK. The series premiere of The Knights of Prosperity did 7.2 million, which is also OK, but should be doing more because of how great it is. The series premiere of In Case of Emergency followed with just 6.32 million. The CW looks like has found a replacement for America's Next Top Model in between seasons as the two-hour season premiere of Beauty & the Geek did 4.9 million. On Thursday we saw CBS dominate with all-new episodes, as ABC was in repeats from 9-11pm this week. CBS opened with a CSI repeat winning the hour with 13.01 million followed by a new CSI doing a very good 26.12 million since ABC's Grey's Anatomy was not on, that show did 10.31 million at 9pm for a repeat. ABC did have Ugly Betty all new at 8pm and it did decent with 11.65 million...it will be much higher next week when all of ABC Thursday is new. CBS closed the night off with Shark winning but dropping big from CSI doing 14.42 million and just a 3.7/10 18-49 rating (down big from CSI's 8.4/21). ABC aired another Grey's Anatomy repeat at 10 p.m. and did 9.76 million, but beat Shark in 18-49 with a 4.0/10. NBC aired all-new episodes of comedies from 8-10pm and did decent for the first hour but saw bleeding from Scrubs and 30 Rock. They all did decent though in 18-49 from a 3.0-4.3 in range. ER was new and did just 10.93 million, 30 Rock is not helping it. I wonder if Men in Trees will come close to that next week for ABC? And Fox saw pathetic numbers with 'Til Death, War at Home and The O.C. Countdown to the finale is on...finally they are canceling it!
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS and NBC share the night with CBS's dramas and NBC's game show and dramas. CBS's NUMB3RS was #1 at 10 p.m. and for the night with a 7.8/13 rating. ABC re-aired theWednesday comedies and didn't do too well and 20/20 was down a lot. And The CW and Fox battled for last place. Saturday ratings saw the NFL playoffs on NBC dominate. We don't have numbers yet. As for tonight, ABC and CBS will likely share a win, with ABC's Desperate Housewives dominating 9 p.m. and the rest of its A-class line-up of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition & Brothers & Sisters. NBC's reality premieres will likely not do well and will certainly lose to ABC and CBS. I just wonder if the reality can beat Fox's animation? As for this week in general, I expect NBC to win the demo because of the NFL game and CBS will prevail in total viewers most likely. This week more shows are back with new episodes, including Grey's Anatomy!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of Dec. 25-31)

• Reba (The CW) 2 episodes - Two repeats on New Year's Eve did 1.79 and 2.2 million.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 5.62 million tuned in for a repeat on New Year's Eve.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 3.98 million for a repeat, still down big from lead-in.
• Family Guy (Fox) 2 episodes - Two repeats held steady with 3.75 and 3.65 million.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.61 million for a repeat on the 1st day of 2007...not bad.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 6.9 million for a repeat. New episodes from now on until its finale in March.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 12.1 million for a repeat still makes this sitcom the highest rated sitcom...how sad.
• New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) - 9.62 million for an encore broadcast.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. Repeat episode of Chris started it off with 2.55 million, the highest of the block. The rest ranged 1.75 to 2.51 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Big Day (ABC) 2 episodes - 5.1 million and 4.69 million for two new episodes. Not good, but up from last week's dismal 3.97 and 3.83 million.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - The last episode until its final batch of episodes come in April & May did 8.47 million, beating ABC by over a million.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A repeat performance on a special night and time did 8.36 million.
  
• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - The show is back it did 7.3 and 7.21 million for two new episodes. Let's hope with CBS not airing comedies in this hour starting next week, this show can go over 8 million.
  
• The Knights of Prosperity (ABC) - 7.2 million for the premiere, not great, but not bad either. Let's hope this week it goes over 8 million. WATCH IT! IT IS AWESOME! It did a 3.0/8 in 18-49...which is decent these days for a sitcom.
  
• In Case of Emergency (ABC) - 6.32 million for the premiere, not good...hopefully this week it will build on that and do better...maybe 7 million or more?
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 10.03 million for an all-new episode and a 4.3/12 in 18-49...decent stuff!
• The Office (NBC) - 8.8 million...not holding as much as it did before from the lead-in, but 18-49 is great with a 4.3/11 rating.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - Freefall continues with 7.29 million.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - More downward trend for NBC Thursday with 5.89 million.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - Wow over 5 million? 5.12 million...bad but good for this show.
  
• War at Home (Fox) - 4.55 million for a new episode...not good.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - ABC re-aired Wednesday night and it didn't do so well, but Jim did the best of them all, with the first half hour the highest.
  
• The Knights of Prosperity (ABC) - Let's hope more viewers caught the premiere and flee to Wednesday for the next new episode! Watch it because I've seen episode two and it is flat out good! Watch the intern shine this week.
  
• In Case of Emergency (ABC) - See above comment about more viewers. Episode 2 of this sitcom is good too...we see a hilarious heavy-set black woman knock two of our men out...also a hilarious scene between some citizens on the street and Sherman.
  

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

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

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, 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 The Knights of Prosperity and According to Jim) or just plain old terrible (such as Big Day and War at Home).