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Week 24 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 24 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 13.5/20.4; CBS: 8.5/13.3; NBC: 5.8/9.0; ABC: 5.3/8.2; The CW: 2.2/3.4.
Total Viewers: Fox: 23.58 million; CBS: 13.38 million; NBC: 8.94 million; ABC: 8.01 million; The CW: 3.44 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 9.4/23.1; CBS: 4.0/10.0; NBC: 3.2/8.2; ABC: 3.1/7.7; The CW: 1.2/2.9.

Analysis: The 24th week saw the last three days of February sweeps (Mon-Wed) with Fox leading the pack again due to the strength of American Idol. Aren't we lucky to get three airings this week again? Fox also had help from Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, which aired all three times this week after Idol. Let's see how well it does without Idol starting March 15. CBS is in a solid second place in HH, viewers and 18-49, and will likely remain in second for the week when it is done. ABC and NBC are battling for third, but ABC will overtake NBC for sure by tonight. 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 its regular line-up.
On Monday all four of the top four networks had something to tout about again, but CBS still remained supreme. CBS's CSI: Miami was down from the last two weeks but still did 17.42 million at 10pm and NBC's Heroes did very well in 18-49 rating at 9pm with a 6.5 rating, going up after going down the last few weeks. Deal or No Deal started the night off well though with 17.26 million for NBC, slightly down from last week. CBS 8-9pm sitcoms went up from last week's 8.95 and 8.68 million to 9.33 and 8.85 million...not bad. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did 16.58 million (up some from last week), with episode two of Rules of Engagement following and holding on well with 13.57 million, slightly down from last week. The retention is great but the 18-49 retention is even better (4.8 rating, holding on to much of the 5.4 from the lead-in). Fox was on the map with 24 doing 12.8 million, following the cult hit Prison Break's 9.42 million, though both down from last week...24 seems to be going down each week after the great start. ABC saw decent numbers for all-new episodes of Wife Swap & Supernanny doing 8.97 and 10.15 million. The 18-49 rating for both was also decent. ABC saw decent numbers at 10pm for the special Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy doing 8.84...much better than the usual 10pm Monday numbers. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night as they still can't get 3 million.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 30.65 million for 90 minutes and that was more than enough to win the night. The first airing of Are You Smarter That a 5th Grader? followed with an impressive 26.48 million. My how that show fits Fox's style of idiotic programming. CBS was second with NCIS, The Unit from 8-10 doing well, and a repeat of Criminal Minds aired at 10. NBC got decent numbers from both Law & Order spin-offs doing 9.26 and 11.73 million from 9-11pm, with Dateline kicking the night off with a so-so 6.11 million. ABC saw a AFV repeat open up OK with 5.72 million, followed by Primetime: The Outsiders with just 5.42 million. A special called To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reporting did 10.11 million, a bit better than what Boston Legal does. The CW aired Gilmore Girls (4.17 million) and Veronica Mars (2.66 million). The latter didn't hold on to the lead-in well yet again, but up from last week.
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from its one show wonder American Idol, doing 29.78 million. And again it was 90 minutes like Tuesday was. Are You Smarter That a 5th Grader? followed with 23.37 million. CBS was second for the night but started off slow with Jericho doing just 8.31 million...not good news, slightly up from last week's 8.3 million. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY followed and did good (but not dominant) with 14.5 and 14.33 million. NBC saw Friday Night Lights did just 5.07 million, down from last week, Deal or No Deal followed with 9.21 million, up from last week. Medium followed with 7.63 million, down from previous week. ABC's comedy block opened up with George Lopez doing 6.04 and The Knights of Prosperity did 4.11 million. Thank American Idol for that. ABC then followed with the return of sitcoms According to Jim & In Case of Emergency not doing great with 4.95 and 4.42 million and an all-new Lost, which was a great episode, did 12.78 million, and it won the hour in 18-49. Lost has been very steady in this slot, but down from normal numbers it got earlier this season. The CW returned America's Next Top Model doing a decent 5.36 million...not bad at all considering what Fox aired.
On Thursday we saw Fox dominate, as ABC & CBS aired repeats mainly. Sweeps is now over so get used to repeats. Fox opened the night on top with American Idol doing 27.39 million...up from last week's Thursday airing; Are You Smarter That a 5th Grader? followed with 23.46 million. I'll say it again, let's see how it does without Idol and against first run competition like Ugly Betty starting March 15. CBS's Survivor Fiji was up fron last week's 13.47 million to 14.67 million. ABC aired repeats all night long, Ugly Betty did 7.08 million, Grey's Anatomy did 10.6 million followed by an encore of Men in Trees doing 6.67 million. CBS's CSI and Shark also were repeats and did 15.69 and 11.88 million, as you can see procedurals repeats well. NBC aired mix of encores and all-new episodes of comedies from 8-10pm. Hour one was repeats and hour two was all new and saw Scrubs and 30 Rock. NBC encored the pilot of Black Donnells at 10pm and did just 5.16 million. And CW aired repeats of its Thursday dramas.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with its all repeat line-up. NBC was second with its line-up of 1 vs. 100, Las Vegas and Law & Order. ABC had repeats of Grey's Anatomy & Wife Swap and just OK but 20/20 built on that and did a bit better. And The CW beat Fox's overage of the NAACP Awards. Saturday ratings are not available yet. As for tonight, ABC will win thanks to its normal line-up. CBS will compete well and Fox will in 18-49. NBC's reality line-up will sink further. As for this week in general, I expect Fox to win the demo and in total viewers. A new sitcom debuts tonight on Fox.

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

• Reba (The CW) 2 episodes - Two repeats did 2.62 and 3.22...funny that is better than CW Monday sitcoms
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 2 repeats did 8.36 million and 7.85 million...not bad.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) 2 episodes - Repeats. 7.88 and 7.89 million...steady and very good for encores.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 9.33 million, up from last week's 8.95.
  
• The Class (CBS) - 8.85 million. Up from 8.68 previous week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.58 million for a new episode...very good like usual, up over slightly from last week.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 13.57 million..pretty good retention from lead-in, slightly down from previous week.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. New episode of Chris started it off with 2.8 million, the highest of the block but down from last week. The rest ranged 2.42 to 2.47 million. Consistent, but needs to be doing 3 to 3.5 million at least...
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - 6.04 million...up slightly from from last week as Idol hurt it. Stacy Keibler guest starred.
  
• The Knights of Prosperity (ABC) - 4.11 million only this week...thank Idol. The gang found a new target, too. Down just slightly from previous week.
• According to Jim (ABC) - Returned after 3 weeks off and did just 4.95 million...Idol effect.
  
• In Case of Emergency (ABC) - 4.42 million after three weeks off. Jane Seymour guest starred.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - A repeat did 7.29 million...not bad.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 6.52 million for a repeat.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - Just 5.66 million last week, this week it went up to 6.76 million and more impressive (well not really) is that it built from the lead-in (even though a repeat).
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - 5.74 million...better than last week 4.61 million.
  

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 Class, My Name is Earl and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Office, Scrubs) or just plain old terrible (such as Knights of Prosperity and According to Jim).