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More Upfront Rumbling; Week 34 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

In addition to our updates yesterday, here are some more rumblings: New NBC sitcom The I.T. Crowd has been picked up for mid-season. Also, Law & Order: Criminal Intent has been picked-up, but will now premiere episodes on USA Network and a few days later they will be broadcast on NBC, with Saturdays a likely option on the NBC front. NBC also has picked-up another season of the original Law & Order.
Fox will not pick up new drama The Apostles now. Canterbury's Law was picked-up. No word yet on Nurses, but will likely be picked-up for at least mid-season. The War at Home will not return for a third season...no surprise.
Nothing new to report on ABC, as most of their projects were picked-up. The Middle and Football Wives have shots, but the latter might not get picked-up at all now due to expense issues. Sigh!
CBS is closer to bringing back Close to Home for 13 episodes for at least mid-season. Jericho might return and be slotted for the fall for 13 weeks with new drama Babylon Fields now for mid-season. Finally, The CW is still negotiating with Veronica Mars, but as of now, it doesn't look good for a return.

Come on back for NBC's official fall line-up maybe by later tonight or for sure by tomorrow morning before 9am!


Week 34 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: Fox: 9.2/14.9; CBS: 8.2/13.5; ABC: 7.6/12.4; NBC: 4.9/8.1; The CW: 2.1/3.4; MNT: 0.6/0.9.
Total Viewers: Fox: 15.22 million; CBS: 12.62 million; ABC: 11.42 million; NBC: 7.52 million; The CW: 3.17 million; MNT: 0.84 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 5.6/15.9; ABC: 3.8/10.5; CBS: 3.7/10.3; NBC: 2.9/8.0; The CW: 1.4/4.0; MNT: 0.3/1.0.

Analysis: The 34th week saw Fox in front again with the usual leader American Idol. Through the first four nights, Fox has the lead, followed by CBS and ABC battling for second in HH, viewers and 18-49. NBC still 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 with the finale of Survivor, the battle will be with them for viewers with ABC in command for 18-49. Fox's comedies are also all-new (except 7p & 8:30) and NBC has yet another Dateline followed by the movie Shrek and for some reason an encore of Thank God You're Here. I am afraid to look at NBC's numbers for this night. Expect ABC to win.
On Monday Dancing with the Stars continued to rule Mondays for ABC. 19.44 million, slightly up from the previous week...it should be even higher tomorrow for the semifinals! CBS's CSI: Miami was all-new at 10pm and did 17.18 million, down a bit from last week and the 100th episode of NBC's Deal or No Deal was way down against Stars, with 10.43 million, down from last week by nearly two million. 8-9pm sitcoms were hurt the most for CBS, doing 7.69 and 7.22 million, up a bit from last week...they have been going up, so a good sign. Two and a Half Men rose from those numbers and did 13.27 million, down slightly from last week, followed by an all-new King of Queens doing 13.42 million, up from last week. Fox aired a repeat of House doing 7.48 million (on par with last week), followed by 24 with 10.92 million, also on par from last week. ABC aired The Bachelor from 9:30-11 and did a decent 10.39 million, up from last week, and NBC aired hit Heroes at 9 with 11.14 million (down from the numbers from last week), followed by The Real Wedding Crashers at just 4.77 million, NBC has pulled the show now. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night, with Chris at just 2.48 million.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 25.47 million at 8 (down from last week) and House did 21.36 million, slightly up from last week. ABC was on the map thanks to Dancing with the Stars: The Results doing 16.86 million at 9 (slightly up from last week), with the one-hour finale of George Lopez episodes preceding it with 4.6 million. Boston Legal at 10 was at its normal levels with 9.98 million. CBS was third with new episodes of NCIS, The Unit from 8-10 (13.88 and 10.74 million, both up from last week), and an encore of Without a Trace aired at 10 with 8.15 million. NBC was fourth for for the night with both Law & Order spin-offs doing 6.94 and 10.94 million from 9-11pm (both keep going down each week), with another Dateline kicking the night off with 4.98 million. The CW aired a new Gilmore Girls (3.99 million) and Veronica Mars (1.85 million). The latter needs to go!
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from that show called American Idol, doing 28.2 million at 9pm, down slightly from last week. Bones preceded with 10.23 million at 8 for pre-Idol tune-in. CBS was second for the night with the Jericho finale doing just 7.72 million (down from last week) followed by a new Criminal Minds and a new CSI: NY doing 12.92 and 12.83 million, both slightly down from previous week. ABC followed with According to Jim & Notes from the Underbelly doing OK to open up the night with 6.35 and 5.7 million (both slightly down from last week), followed by According to Jim & George Lopez encores doing 4.55 and 4.22 million better than last week's 4.02 million of a Lost encore and an all-new Lost closed the night off with a solid 12.11 million. NBC was again fourth for the night with a new Thank God You're Here doing 5.27 million (down a million from last week), Crossing Jordan followed with just 5.34 million for a new episode, down from last week. A new Medium followed built on the lead-in with 7.91 million, up from last week. The CW was in the game at 8 with America's Next Top Model doing a solid 4.92 million, followed by One Tree Hill doing 2.95 million.
On Thursday we saw CBS and ABC take control. Grey's Anatomy for ABC at 9pm did 19.58 million, down from last week. A new Ugly Betty opened the night off with 9.63 million, also down from last week. A special preview of Traveler aired at 10pm and did just 8.61 million...if it can do 6-8 million for its summer airings, that should be good enough. CBS's Survivor: Fiji was first at 8 with 13.77 million, slightly up from last week. A new CSI and a special night & time season finale of Without a Trace followed with 18.75 and 14.31 million. Fox was third with two-hours of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? with 9.32 million and 8.7 million. NBC was fourth in viewers with all-new episodes of its comedies and an all-new ER, which just did 9.39 million, but up from last week's series low. And CW aired new episodes of its Thursday dramas doing 3.43 and 2.9 million, both again down from last week.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with its dramas, but not as much as they were doing in the fall and early winter. NBC did much better from 8-10 with Dateline and it looks like that is helping Law & Order at 10. ABC aired a repeat of Grey's Anatomy from Thursday and was third followed by a two-hour 20/20. The CW did decent for its WWE coverage, but it is not doing as well as in the winter, though up from last week for fourth place. Fox aired a movie for fifth.
Saturday ratings saw CBS (for viewers) and ABC (for 18-49) do decent, with Fox and NBC trailing. ABC saw so-so numbers for an NBA Playoff game. Fox's NASCAR did slightly worse. As for tonight, ABC will win with its normal line-up. As for this week in general, it should be like last week as series continue to go up in anticipation of season finales!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of April 30-May 6)

• King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - 3.09 million for a repeat and 4.19 million for a new episode, new episode was up slightly from previous week.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 7.77 million for a new episode followed by a repeat at 8.08 million...new was up a bit from previous week and the repeat was down a bit from previous week.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 7.95 million for a new episode, slightly down from lead-in for a second straight week, but up in other categories such as HH and 18-49.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 6.31 million, down from last week a bit.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A new episode did 7.69 million...up from previous week.
  
• Old Christine (CBS) - 7.82 million, up 1/2 million from last week.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 13.27 million...down about 1/2 million from last week.
• King of Queens (CBS) - 13.42 million ... up nearly 1/2 million from last week.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, Girfriends. All-new episode of Chris started it off with 2.48 million, followed by a new episode of All of Us at 2.29 million, and the one-hour finale of Girlfriends did 2.89 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - One-hour finale did 4.6 million...not too good.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - New episode did 6.35 million, slightly down from last week.
  
• Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) - 5.7 million, slightly down from last week's 6.0 million, but down still from three weeks ago's 6.26 million.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 6.94 million for another expanded episode thru 8:42, down from last week.
  
• The Office (NBC) - 7.17 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating for an expanded episode through 9:23. Both a bit up from last week.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - 5.31 million for an expanded episode that started at 9:23 thru 10:01, up slightly from last week.
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms
None.

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

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and King of Queens were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Office, My Name is Earl) or just plain old terrible (George Lopez, All of Us).

Remember to come join us all this week, for the official fall 2007 schedules for the networks, in edition to our news!