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Week 32 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 32 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 9.8/15.5; CBS: 7.7/12.4; ABC: 7.4/11.9; NBC: 4.7/7.6; The CW: 2.2/3.5; MNT: 0.6/0.9.
Total Viewers: Fox: 16.51 million; CBS: 12.06 million; ABC: 11.05 million; NBC: 7.21 million; The CW: 3.28 million; MNT: 0.84 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 6.3/16.7; ABC: 3.7/10.0; CBS: 3.5/9.5; NBC: 2.7/7.1; The CW: 1.4/3.8; MNT: 0.3/0.9.

Analysis: The 32nd week saw Fox in front again with the usual leader American Idol. Sweeps began on Thursday and it is all new stuff until the end of the season! Through the first four nights, Fox has the lead, followed by CBS and ABC battling for second in HH, viewers and 18-49. NBC again remains a distant 4th place in all categories. As usual, Friday and Saturday numbers are not above, since final numbers are not available yet. Tonight has ABC airing all-new episodes and CBS is also all new, the battle will be with them for viewers with ABC in command for 18-49 for sure. Fox's comedies are also all-new (except 8:30) and NBC's has a movie and another two-hour Dateline. Expect ABC to win.
On Monday Dancing with the Stars continued to take over Mondays for ABC. 18.87 million, exact same number as the previous week. CBS's CSI: Miami was all-new at 10pm and did 17.03 million, up a lot from last week's very low number and NBC's Deal or No Deal was way down against Stars, with 10.98 million. To me that show only does really well when their is weak competition, so it really isn't a must-see show. 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 5.94 and 6.88 million, down a bit from last week. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did a below average 12.27 million (down from last week), followed by an all-new King of Queens doing 12.63 million, building from the lead-in and up from last week, too. Fox was below average thanks to Drive doing just 4.6 million (down over 1 million from last week, Fox has now pulled this show starting tomorrow), pulling down 24 a bit to a season low 10.41 million. ABC aired The Bachelor from 9:30-11 and did a decent 9.13 million, slightly up from last week, and NBC returned Heroes with 11.96 million (off a bit from its normal numbers), followed by the premiere of new reality show The Real Wedding Crashers at just 6.74 million. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night, with Chris at 3.01 million, the best of the bunch. Worth noting is The Game is building on its lead-in now at 9:30 and did the second best of the comedies with 2.55 million.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 26.55 million at 8 once again and House did 20.81 million, down from last week. ABC was on the map thanks to Dancing with the Stars: The Results doing 16.56 million at 9 (slightly up from last week), with two all-new George Lopez episodes preceding it with 4.45 and 4.89 million. Boston Legal at 10 was at its normal levels with 9.54 million. CBS was third with new episodes of NCIS, The Unit from 8-10 (14.17 and 9.83 million), and an encore of Cold Case aired at 10 with 7.89 million. NBC was fourth for its repeats of both Law & Order spin-offs doing just 4.53 and 7.64 million from 9-11pm (down a lot from last week's repeats), with another Dateline kicking the night off with 4.9 million. The CW aired a new Gilmore Girls (3.75 million) and the finale of Pussycat Dolls (3.43million).
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from that show called American Idol, doing 26.93 million for two hours, down 2 million from last week's one-hour edition...hmm. Bones returns this week. CBS was second for the night with Jericho doing just 7.56 million (down from last week's low) but repeats of Criminal Minds and a new CSI: NY followed and did decent with 9.75 and 11.4 million. ABC followed with According to Jim & Notes from the Underbelly doing OK to open up the night with 5.28 and 4.78 million, followed by a Lost encore from last week doing just 3.78 million (they should air Jim/George repeats here) and an all-new Lost closed the night off with a first place 11.86 million, beating CBS. NBC was again fourth with a repeat of Thank God You're Here doing just 4.46 millio, Crossing Jordan followed with just 6.37 million for a new episode. A new Medium followed built on the lead-in a bit with 7.16 million. The CW was down a bit from normal with America's Next Top Model doing 3.87 million for a clip show, followed by an encore of Tuesday's Pussycat Dolls doing 2.88 million.
On Thursday we saw ABC and CBS dominate...but not as much as usual. ABC's Grey's Anatomy was all-new at 9pm with 20.08 million, a bit down from usual. A new Ugly Betty opened the night off with 9.62 million, also down from normal, but up from last week. ABC closed the night with the season finale of October Road with 9.0 million (first in its slot for 18-49), much better than Men in Trees. CBS's Survivor: Fiji was below normal as well with 13.83 million, but slightly up from last week. A new CSI and an all-new Shark followed with 20.2 and 14.1 million. Fox was third with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? with 10.13 million...and they closed the night with the first of a two-week sweeps episode of Trading Spouses doing just 4.76 million, but it still beat NBC's comedies. NBC was fourth in viewers with all-new episodes of its comedies and an all-new ER, which just did 9.52 million, slightly up from last week. And CW aired new episodes of its Thursday dramas doing 3.88 and 3.33 million.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with its dramas. Everyone else was very distant. ABC aired a repeat of Grey's Anatomy and an all-new Wife Swap from 8-10 and 20/20 built on that and did was second place at 10pm. NBC did terrible from 8-10 with Identity and Raines; Law & Order at 10 was the highest rated show of the night for them but it was still 3rd in its slot. Fox aired encores of House & Bones and they were fourth. 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. Maybe Bingo for ABC will be the answer?
Saturday ratings saw CBS (for viewers) and Fox (for 18-49) do decent, with ABC and NBC did way behind. As for tonight, ABC will win with its normal line-up. As for this week in general, let the first full week of sweeps begin!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of April 6-22)

• War at Home (Fox) - Just 2.85 million for the series...err season finale.
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Just 3.34 million in its new time period.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 6.46 million for an all-new episode and a repeat followed with 6.61 million.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 6.23 and 6.72 million for two repeats.

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did just 5.94 million, down from the previous week's repeat of 6.41 million.
  
• Old Christine (CBS) - 6.88 million for a new episode, built from lead-in, but down from previous week's new episode of 6.99 million.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 12.27 million for a new episode, below average, and down from last week's 13.03 million, which was also below normal.
• King of Queens (CBS) - 12.63 million for a new episode and up from last week.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends, The Game. All-new episode of Chris started it off with 3.01 million, followed by new episodes of All of Us at 2.32 million, Girlfriends did 2.34 million and The Game did 2.55 million, wow the latter built on the lead-in again! It'll be back next season I think.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Two new episodes did 4.45 and 4.89 million, that was against Idol though.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - New episode did 5.28 million for down from last week's 6.35 million, but this episode was against Idol.
  
• Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) - 4.78 million for its second airing on its regular night and time. Down from last week's 6.26 million, but this week it was head to head with Idol. This won't happen a lot.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 7.49 million, slightly up from last week and slowly going up.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 7.56 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating. Both built on from the lead-in.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - Just 4.72 million for the season finale.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - Ouch just did 4.65 million, down almost a million from last week. What happened?
  

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, The Office, and King of Queens were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, According to Jim) or just plain old terrible (30 Rock, Scrubs).