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Week 23 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 23 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 12.5/18.8; CBS: 8.6/13.4; ABC: 6.4/10.0; NBC: 6.0/9.3; The CW: 1.8/2.7.
Total Viewers: Fox: 21.7 million; CBS: 13.64 million; ABC: 9.96 million; NBC: 9.14 million; The CW: 2.73 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 8.6/21.3; CBS: 4.0/10.2; ABC: 3.9/9.9; NBC: 3.2/8.2; The CW: 1.2/2.9.

Analysis: The 23rd week saw Fox leading the pack with three airings of that Hurricane American Idol. Aren't we lucky to get three airings this week? CBS is in a solid second place in HH, viewers and 18-49, and I doubt they will overtake Fox in HH and viewers for the week like they did last week. ABC will likely catch CBS after the Oscars tonight in HH and total viewers, and of course in 18-49. Fox will prevail in 18-49, with ABC taking. NBC will be 4th place in all categories. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. ABC will do very well tonight with the Oscars...expect over 40 million. On Monday all four of the top four networks had something to tout about, but CBS still remained supreme. CBS's CSI: Miami was on fire and did 19.23 million at 10pm (down slightly from last week), and NBC's Heroes did very well in 18-49 rating at 9pm with a 6.0 rating, but it seems to be going down some each week. Deal or No Deal started the night off well though with 17.62 million for NBC, up from last week. CBS sitcoms did not do as well as it has been doing in the 8pm hour doing 8.95 and 8.68 million. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did 16.56 million (up some from last week), with episode two of Rules of Engagement following and holding on well with 13.86 million. Even more impressive was matching last week's 18-49 rating at a 4.9 rating! Fox was on the map with 24 doing 13.05 million, following the cult hit Prison Break's 9.55 million. ABC saw decent numbers for all-new episodes of Wife Swap & Supernanny doing 9.01 and 8.94 million. The 18-49 rating for both was also decent. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 29.53 million for two hours and that was more than enough to win the night. CBS was second with NCIS, The Unit from 8-10 doing well, and a repeat of CSI: Miami aired at 10. NBC got decent numbers from both Law & Order spin-offs doing 9.39 and 11.94 million from 9-11pm, with Dateline kicking the night off with a so-so 5.81 million. ABC saw a AFV repeat open up OK with 5.54 million, but then Primetime: The Outsiders was way off last week's 8.64 million and did just 5.02 million. A new episode of Boston Legal did 9.43 million, should be a bit better than that. The CW aired Gilmore Girls (4.05 million) and Veronica Mars (2.27 million). The latter didn't hold on to the lead-in well yet again.
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from its one show wonder American Idol, doing 30.46 million. And again it was two-hours like Tuesday was. CBS was second for the night but started off slow with the return of Jericho doing just 8.3 million...not good news. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY followed and did good (but not dominant) with 13.7 and 13.67 million. NBC saw Friday Night Lights go down from last week's 7.43 million to just 5.16 million, Deal or No Deal followed with 7.94 million, also down big from last week. Medium followed with 7.84 million, down from previous week. ABC's comedy block opened up with George Lopez doing 5.83 and The Knights of Prosperity did 4.12 million--a series low. Thank American Idol for that. ABC then followed with an encore of Lost not doing great with 5.27 million and an all-new Lost did better than last week with 12.95 million, though it did win the hour in 18-49. Lost should move back to 9pm next month...it can do better there even if Idol is there. The CW aired Beauty & the Geek doing just 2.99 million this week but One Tree Hill was but from last week's 2.25 million to 2.89 million.
On Thursday we saw ABC and CBS dominate with all-new episodes, and Fox brought you know who in the mix. Fox opened the night on top with American Idol doing 24.44 million...lower than it usually does on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. CBS's Survivor Fiji dipped from last week's 16.08 million to 13.47 million. ABC aired a repeat of last week's Grey's Anatomy doing 9.72 million followed by the conclusion of the three-part episode of Grey's Anatomy doing a dominant 16.9/25 rating (27.39 million), Oprah Winfrey's Oscar Special followed with a first place finish of 15.45 million...so Clooney who was a part of the special beat his old show ER. CBS's CSI did a 13.0/19 rating (21.78 million) and Shark followed with 14.19 million. 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. ER was new and did just 10.0 million, 30 Rock is not helping it, as it did only 4.61 million before it. And Fox saw pathetic numbers for the series finale of The O.C. doing just 6.59 million, out of the 24.44 million lead-in.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win each hour. CBS's NUMB3RS was #1 at 10 p.m. and for the night. NBC was second in each hour, with its line-up of 1 vs. 100, Las Vegas and Law & Order. ABC re-aired the thrilling Thursday's Grey's Anatomy and did OK but 20/20 built on that and did a bit better. And The CW and Fox battled for last place, but Fox did better. Saturday ratings are not available yet, but it seems ABC's Forrest Gump airing might have done well. I love that movie! As for tonight, ABC will win BIG thanks to the Oscars. As for this week in general, I expect Fox to win the demo and in total viewers most likely, unless the Oscars do record numbers, then ABC will win. This coming week will be interesting as February sweeps comes to an end on Wednesday. ABC has two specials that will likely draw well (Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy on Monday and Bob Woodruff To Iraq and Back). Fox will battle with CBS for the final three nights I think and it will be close on who wins for the entire sweep period among those two.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of Feb. 5-11)

• Reba (The CW) 2 episodes - The series finale did good but it should have done more than what it did. 3.4 million watched the first part and 4.44 for the final part.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 8.74 million for a new episode at 8, repeat at 7:30 did 6.51 million. The new episode should do a bit better, bit it was up from last week.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - 7.19 tuned in for a new episode--down more than a million from lead-in.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 8.53 million for a new episode...up from last week, but still not as well as Fox would like.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - Just 7.06 million. All the Fox lineup was under a 4.0 18-49 rating last week, this week two of the four were above that, and you know which ones...
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 8.95 million...decent, but down from last week's 9.68 million...a downward trend since the Super Bowl themed airing.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 8.68 million. Same as above. But at least the retention from the lead-in was great this week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.56 million for a new episode...very good like usual, up over 1 million from last week.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 13.86 million..pretty good retention from lead-in, but even more impressive was the 4.9 18-49 rating, which was the same as last week's number.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. New episode of Chris started it off with 2.97 million, the highest of the block and up from last week. The rest ranged 2.24 to 2.52 million. Down from last week. Consistent, but needs to be doing 3 to 3.5 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - 5.83 million...down from last week as Idol hurt it.
  
• The Knights of Prosperity (ABC) - 4.12 million only this week...thank Idol. The gang entered Jagger's apartment, too. Tune in this week as they get a new target.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 8.71 million and a 3.6 18-49 rating...both disappointing, while down from last week, not down much against Idol.
  
• The Office (NBC) - The same goes for this show. 8.25 million, but a decent 4.2 18-49 rating.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - Just 5.66 million. NBC might not bring tis back maybe.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - This show is killing ER, just 4.61 million this week.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

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

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, My Name is Earl and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Class) or just plain old terrible (such as Knights of Prosperity and 30 Rock).