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Week 31 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 31 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 8.9/13.8; ABC: 7.7/12.2; CBS: 6.9/11.1; NBC: 4.7/7.4; The CW: 2.2/3.4; MNT: 0.6/0.9.
Total Viewers: Fox: 14.7 million; ABC: 11.66 million; CBS: 10.61 million; NBC: 7.04 million; The CW: 3.24 million; MNT: 0.85 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 5.6/14.8; ABC: 4.0/10.6; CBS: 3.1/8.3; NBC: 2.5/6.7; The CW: 1.5/3.9; MNT: 0.3/0.9.

Analysis: The 31st week saw Fox in front with the usual leader American Idol. Through the first four nights, Fox has the lead, followed by ABC and CBS in HH, viewers and 18-49. NBC is a distant 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 all-new episodes (but Brothers & Sisters is a repeat), and CBS is all new, though it is airing a Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie at 9 instead of the usual crime guns. Fox's comedies are a mix of new and repeats and NBC's reality is all-new with finally the finale of The Apprentice. Expect ABC to win because CBS is pre-empting Cold Case & Without a Trace.
On Monday Dancing with the Stars continued to take over Mondays for ABC. 18.87 million, on par with the previous week. CBS's CSI: Miami was all-new at 10pm and did 15.36 million which could be a series low for a new episode and NBC's Deal or No Deal was way down against Stars, with 11.19 million. CBS's sitcoms were all-new tonight, except How I Met Your Mother at 8. 8-9pm sitcoms were hurt the most for CBS, doing 6.41 and 6.99 million. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did a below average 13.03 million, followed by an all-new King of Queens doing 12.22 million. Fox was below average thanks to Drive doing just 5.66 million, pulling down 24 a bit to 11.32 million. ABC aired The Bachelor from 9:30-11 and did a decent 9.03 million and NBC's Thank God You're Here went down from the premiere and did just 6.76 million, followed by a special Dateline on the Virgina Tech shootings did just 6.26 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 and were in repeats.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 26.55 million at 8 and House did 22.14 million (Idol was down a bit). ABC was on the map thanks to Dancing with the Stars: The Results doing 16.54 million at 9, with a special encore from last night doing 6.91 million at 8. A special Primetime on the Virgina Tech shootings was number one at 10pm, but didn't count in the ratings because of no ads. Boston Legal returns this Tuesday, with new episodes for the rest of the season. CBS was third with repeats of NCIS, The Unit from 8-10 (11.14 and 7.32 million), and a special 48 Hours on Virgina Tech aired at 10 with 8.36 million, not even close to ABC's Primetime. NBC was fourth for its repeats of both Law & Order spin-offs doing just 5.55 and 8.36 million from 9-11pm, with another Dateline on Virgina Tech kicking the night off with just 5.05 million. The CW aired a new Gilmore Girls (3.79 million) and a new Pussycat Dolls (2.98 million).
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from that show called American Idol, doing 28.93 million at 9pm. Bones opened the night off for Fox with 8.08 million for a repeat. CBS was second for the night with Jericho doing just 7.66 million (a series low?) but repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY followed and did good with 10.59 and 11.13 million. ABC followed with According to Jim & Notes from the Underbelly doing decent to open up the night with 6.35 and 6.26 million, followed by a Lost encore from last week doing just 3.84 million (they should air Jim/George repeats here) and an all-new Lost closed the night off with a first place 12.08 million. NBC was again fourth with another Thank God You're Here doing 7.04 million (up a bit from the usual show in this slot), Crossing Jordan followed with just 6.8 million. A repeat of Medium followed with just 6.05 million. The CW was on the map thanks to America's Next Top Model doing a decent 5.2 million...not bad at all, followed by an encore of Tuesday's Pussycat Dolls doing 2.96 million.
On Thursday we saw ABC dominate. ABC's Grey's Anatomy was all-new at 9pm with 21.12 million, a bit down from usual. A new Ugly Betty opened the night off with 9.46 million, also down from normal. ABC closed the night with October Road with 9.6 million (second place in viewers, HH and first in 18-49), much better than Men in Trees. CBS's Survivor: Fiji was below normal as well with 13.33 million. A repeat of CSI and an all-new Shark followed with 12.45 and 12.54 million. Fox was third with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? with 10.1 million.and they closed the night with a repeat of Trading Spouses doing just 4.26 million. NBC was fourth in viewers with all-new episodes of its comedies (except The Office) and an all-new ER, which was third in its slot with just 9.31 million. And CW aired new episodes of its Thursday dramas doing a normal 3.98 and 3.25 million.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with repeats of its dramas. Everyone else was very distant. Fox aired encores of House & Bones and that was good enough for second...pathetic. NBC did terrible from 8-10 with Identity and Raines; Law & Order repeat at 10 was the highest rated show of the night for them and that low. ABC aired a repeat of Grey's Anatomy and a repeat of Wife Swap from 8-10 but 20/20 built on that and did a bit better, but still not good. The CW did decent for its WWE coverage, but it is not doing as well as in the winter. Overall a blah night that needs a makeover next fall.
Saturday ratings saw CBS and Fox do decent, with ABC a distant third and NBC did VERY bad for a Heroes marathon around 2.5 million. As for tonight, ABC will win with its normal line-up. As for this week in general, look for more new episodes now as May sweeps starts Thursday!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of April 9-15)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - 2 repeats before the premiere of Drive did OK with 4.38 and 5.25 million.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did just 6.41 million, but up a bit from the repeats in the past few weeks.
  
• Old Christine (CBS) - 6.99 million for a new episode, built from lead-in, but should have been higher.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 13.03 million for a new episode, below average, but yet still the best of the sitcoms.
• King of Queens (CBS) - 12.22 million for its second episode since its return, down from last week's return of 13.41 million
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. Repeat episode of Chris started it off with 1.89 million, followed by repeats of All of Us at 1.7 million, Girlfriends did 1.93 million and The Game did 2.05 million, wow the highest of the block! It'll be back I think.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - New episode did 6.35 million for its new time...on par with George.
  
• Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) - In its regular night and time premiere the show did better than I thought it would...6.26 million. If it continues to do around that, it'll get renewed.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 7.15 million, slightly up from last week's low of 6.67 million, but still low.
  
• The Office (NBC) - A repeat did 6.26 million, not bad.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - 5.16 million, slightly up from last week's 5.07 million.
• Scrubs (NBC) - Built on lead-in and did 5.61 million, up from last week's 5.05 million.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

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

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl, and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, Notes from the Underbelly) or just plain old terrible (none, because not many sitcoms aired this week).