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Week 27 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 27 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 9.5/14.7; CBS: 7.8/12.6; ABC: 7.5/12.0; NBC: 5.1/8.1; The CW: 2.1/3.2; MNT: 0.7/1.1.
Total Viewers: Fox: 15.86 million; CBS: 12.17 million; ABC: 11.52 million; NBC: 7.68 million; The CW: 3.17 million; MNT: 0.94 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 6.1/16.2; ABC: 4.0/10.7; CBS: 3.8/10.3; NBC: 2.5/6.6; The CW: 1.4/3.7; MNT: 0.4/0.9.

Analysis: The 27th week saw the return of ABC's Dancing with the Stars to huge numbers...the highest premiere numbers for the show ever. Fox did well like usual with American Idol, but Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader, airing on its own now, dipped to a series low. Through the first four nights, Fox has the lead, followed by CBS and ABC battling for second place in HH, viewers and 18-49. NBC will be 4th place in all categories. They sure miss Sunday Night Football. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. Tonight has ABC airing half the night with repeats, but CBS is all new, along with Fox's comedies and NBC's reality. Expect CBS to win.
On Monday Dancing with the Stars returned and dominated for ABC. 21.8 million watched thw two-hour season premiere denting CBS's comedies the most. CBS's CSI: Miami was did well at 10pm with 17.66 million at 10pm and NBC's Deal or No Deal was down against Stars, but still solid with 14.19 million for a special two-hour episode. CBS 8-9pm sitcoms were very anemic for CBS, doing 7.27 and 6.74 million for new episodes. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did 11.68 million (probably a series low for a new episode, usually it does 15 million+), with a new Rules of Engagement following and not holding the lead-in's numbers like it has been doing, just 9.26 million. Fox was not that affected by Stars, but both Prison Break & 24 were down from usual numbers, they did 8.4 and 11.8 million, about 1-2 million off from previous new episodes. ABC and NBC did bad at 10pm, ABC did just 6.43 million for What About Brian and NBC's Black Donnelleys continues to go down each week, with just 5.53 million. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night as they still can't get 3 million. All four were close to each other though.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 29.96 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 aired at 10. NBC aired repeats of both Law & Order spin-offs doing 6.37 and 7.5 million from 9-11pm (seems low...), with Dateline kicking the night off with just 5.62 million. ABC saw a AFV repeat open up with just 5.35 million (no more AFV Tuesdays starting this week), followed by Primetime: The Outsiders with just 5.01 million. Boston Legal with guest star Megan Mullally rose from that but still did below average with 9.14 million. The CW aired a repeat of Gilmore Girls (2.08 million) and a new Pussycat Dolls (3.12 million).
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from its one show wonder American Idol, doing 27.08 million for its 9pm half-hour followed by the sitcom 'Til Death losing 1/2 that with 14.88 million. Bones opened the night off for Fox with a respectable 10.47 million. CBS was second for the night with Jericho not on this week, but a special Wednesday Survivor aired doing a below average 12.78 million...will people return when it comes back to Thursdays? Criminal Minds and CSI: NY followed and did good (but not dominant) with 15.19 and 13.64 million. ABC's comedy block opened up with George Lopez doing 5.92 and two repeats of According to Jim & a new In Case of Emergency followed (5.99, 5.42, 5.13 million) and an all-new Lost, which was a great episode, did 12.22 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 when it aired at 9. NBC saw Friday Night Lights do just 5.39 million, Crossing Jordan followed with just 6.15 million, up from last week. A repeat of Medium followed with 5.95 million. The CW was on the map thanks to America's Next Top Model doing a decent 5.04 million...not bad at all, followed by an encore of Tuesday's Pussycat Dolls doing 3.13 million.
On Thursday we saw ABC dominate, as CBS aired NCAA Tournament coverage. ABC's Grey's Anatomy anchored the night at 9pm with 22.3 million and a dominant 9.0 18-49 rating. Ugly Betty opened the night off with a below average 10.41 million. Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? hit a series low but is probably effecting Betty just a bit (5th Grader did 10.82 million, but Betty beat it in HH, 7.3 to 6.5). ABC's second episode of the impressive October Road closed the night off with 11.5 million (and a 4.6 18-49 rating), much better than Men in Trees. CBS's NCAA coverage was a solid second doing 8.98 and 9.93 million for both games. Fox closed the night with repeats of Family Guy & American Dad doing just 4.89 and 3.86 million. NBC aired mix of encores and all-new episodes of comedies from 8-10pm. Hour one was a repeat of My Name is Earl and hour two was all new and saw Scrubs and 30 Rock. NBC aired the second episode of Raines at 10pm and did just 8.71 million. Let's see how it does on Fridays next week. And CW aired its Thursday dramas doing 4.07 and 3.38 million.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with NCAA Tournarment coverage. NBC was a distant second with the disappointing Identity and Miss USA. ABC had a repeat of Thursday's Grey's Anatomy and the return of Six Degrees didn't do so well but 20/20 built on that and did a bit better. The CW did decent for its WWE coverage and Fox didn't do so well with Wedding Bells at 9. Overall a below average night.
Saturday ratings are not available yet. As for tonight, CBS will win with its normal line-up. ABC's big dramas are in repeats, but AFV and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are new and will compete well and Fox will battle ABC for 18-49. NBC's reality line-up will not pull big ratings, but Deal or No Deal should do a solid 10 million or so at 9. As for this week in general, look for Dancing with the Stars to continue to do well and now the Results Show premieres this Tuesday! A new reality series hosted by Donny Osmond debuts Tuesday after Stars on ABC.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of March 12-18)

• The War at Home (Fox) 2 episodes -2.64 million for a repeat and just 3.42 million for a new episode...
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat did 6.89 million, below normal.
  
• The Winner (Fox) 2 episodes - Final two episodes did just 5.55 and 5.14 million.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - Repeat did 7.03 million.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Just 7.27 million for a new episode. Series low, I assume?
  
• Old Christine (CBS) - 6.74 million. Dancing killed it.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.68 million for a new episode...way below normal.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 9.26 million...like all CBS comedies that aired on this day...DOWN from usual.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. New episode of Chris started it off with 2.53 million, the highest of the block. The rest ranged 2.14 to 2.35 million. Consistent, but needs to be doing 3 to 3.5 million at least...
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - 5.92 million...down slightly from from last week.
  
• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes -Two repeats did OK, with 5.99 and 5.42 million
  
• In Case of Emergency (ABC) - 5.13 million, up from last week, but down from two weeks ago's 6+ million.
  
• 'Til Death (Fox) - 14.88 million from Idol's 27.08 million...you do the math.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - A one-hour repeat did 6.73 million
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - 6.44 million watched a new episode.
  
• Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC) - 5.33 million...down even from last week's bad premiere numbers.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - A repeat on a Thursday did 4.89 million.
  
• American Dad (ABC) - A repeat on a Thursday did just 3.86 million...the show returns after a few weeks off tonight (Sunday).
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are new episodes of Fox comedies.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, 'Til Death, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs) or just plain old terrible (such as American Dad Thurs and Andy Barker, P.I.).