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Week 35 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 35 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 8.4/13.5; ABC: 8.3/13.4; Fox: 8.0/12.8; NBC: 5.1/8.3; The CW: 2.2/3.6; MNT: 0.9/1.4.
Total Viewers: Fox: 13.34 million; CBS: 12.96 million; ABC: 12.52 million; NBC: 7.84 million; The CW: 3.48 million; MNT: 1.22 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 5.1/13.9; ABC: 4.2/11.4; CBS: 3.9/10.5; NBC: 2.9/8.0; The CW: 1.6/4.3; MNT: 0.4/1.2.

Analysis: The 35th week thus far is a close race! Fox, CBS, and ABC are all very close to each other, as you can see above. This is the last full week of the season, as this coming week it is only Mon-Wed...then the long summer season starts. 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 its high profile season finales while showcases a movie. ABC should win big for the final Sunday of the year. Fox's comedies are also all-new with The Simpsons' 400th episode and NBC has yet another Dateline followed by the movie National Treasure.
On Monday Dancing with the Stars continued to rule Mondays for ABC. 19.58 million for the semi-final, slightly up from the previous week...it should be even higher tomorrow for the finals! CBS's CSI: Miami was all-new at 10pm and did 16.63 million, down a bit from last week and NBC's Deal or No Deal was way down against Stars, with 8.84 million, down from last week by nearly two million again. How I Met Your Mother season finale and a special time period of Two and a Half Men aired on CBS from 8-9pm, doing 7.7 and 10.16 million. Two and a Half Men at its normal time last week did 13.27 million. The one-hour series finale of King of Queens aired from 9-10 doing 13.61 million, up a bit from last week. Fox aired a repeat of House doing 7.23 million (down a bit from last week), followed by 24 with 10.57 million, also down a bit from last week. ABC aired The Bachelor from 9:30-11 and did a decent 10.64 million, up from last week, and NBC aired hit Heroes at 9 with 11.54 million (up a bit from the numbers from last week), followed by Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 7.2 million. The CW's comedies are still under performing on this night, with Chris at just 2.34 million, down from previous week.
Tuesday was Fox's night. American Idol did 24.23 million at 8 (down from last week) and House did 21.19 million, slightly down from last week. ABC was on the map thanks to Dancing with the Stars: The Results doing 18.44 million at 9 (up from last week), with a one-hour version of last night's semi-finals preceding it with 9.07 million. Boston Legal at 10 was at its normal levels with 10.28 million. CBS was third with just 9.27 million for The Academy of County Music Awards from 8-11. NBC was fourth for for the night with both Law & Order spin-offs doing 6.93 and 12.75 million from 9-11pm (SVU was up though at 10), with another Dateline kicking the night off with 5.51 million. The CW aired the series finale of Gilmore Girls (4.86 million) and Veronica Mars (2.1 million). The latter's finale is this week...90% chance it is the series finale!
Wednesday again Fox got the boost from that show called American Idol, doing 28.05 million at 9pm, down slightly from last week. Bones preceded with 10.88 million at 8 for pre-Idol tune-in. CBS was second for the night with a Price is right: Million Dollar Spectacular special doing a healthy 13.99 million (up big from previous week's timeslot) followed by a new Criminal Minds and a new CSI: NY doing 13.21 and 13.07 million, both slightly up from previous week. ABC followed with According to Jim & Notes from the Underbelly doing OK to open up the night with 5.4 and 4.56 million (both down from last week), followed by a repeat of According to Jim & the season finale of Notes from the Underbelly doing 4.18 and 3.87 million, down from last week's sitcom repeats, and an all-new Lost closed the night off with a solid 12.32 million. The shocking two-hour season finale is this week! NBC was again fourth for the night with a new Thank God You're Here doing 4.58 million (down a million from last week again), Crossing Jordan followed with just 6.44 million for a new episode, though up from last week. A new Medium followed built on the lead-in with 7.75 million, slightly down from last week. The CW was in the game at 8 with the season finale of America's Next Top Model doing an impressive 6.42 million, followed by One Tree Hill doing just 2.68 million, with the lead-in it had, it was still down from last week! Pathetic!
On Thursday we saw CBS and ABC take control. The 75 minute season finale of Grey's Anatomy for ABC at 9pm did 22.57 million, obviously up from last week. The season finale of Ugly Betty opened the night off with 10.5 million, up from last week. A Lost: The Answers special aired at 10:15pm and did 9.12 million...season finale this Wednesday from 9-11pm! CBS's special Bob Barker: 50 Years was first at 8 with 14.33 million, up from last week's timeslot holder, but down in the demos from last week's holder. Season finale of CSI and a repeat of CSI followed with 20.45 and 13.33 million. NBC was third with one-hour season finales of its comedies and the season finale ER, which just did 9.51 million, slightly up from last week. Fox was way back with the movie The Day After Tomorrow with just 4.2 million. And CW aired new episodes of its Thursday dramas doing 4.14 and 2.72 million, first one was up from last week and the latter again down from last week.
Friday (numbers not counted in our ratings), saw CBS win the night with the season finale of NUMB3RS, but the 8-10pm specials on Walter Cronkite and Dr. Phil didn't nearly do as well as Bob Barker's special, though Dr. Phil won its timeslot. NBC did much better from 8-10 with Dateline and it looks like that is helping Law & Order at 10, as its season finale did well. ABC aired the season finale of America's Funniest Home Videos at 8 and was first in viewers but second in households, followed by National Bingo Night at 9 at a disappointing third place (but still did over 6 million...better than what ABC does usually in this slot since Men in Trees left), and finally 20/20.closed the night in third in its slot. Fox aired repeats of House & Bones for 4th place. The CW was last for its WWE coverage
Saturday ratings are not available thus yet, look for CBS to win in viewers and either Fox or ABC in 18-49. As for tonight, ABC will win big with its season finale. As for this week in general, it should be a race to the finish for the last three days! We have season finales of Dancing with the Stars, Heroes, 24, American Idol, and Lost!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of May 7-13)

• King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - 2.9 million for a repeat and 3.68 million for a new episode, both down from previous week.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 6.54 million for a new episode followed by a repeat at 6.86 million...both down well over a million from previous week.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 7.22 million for a new episode, slightly down from previous week, but the highest of the animation block.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - 5.67 million, down from previous week again.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Season finale did 7.7 million...up from previous week's 7.69 million.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.16 million...down about 3 million from last week, but this week it aired at 8:30pm.
• King of Queens (CBS) - 13.61 million for the one-hour series finale, a bit up from last week. 9:30 saw a huge jump.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, All of Us, The Game. All-new episode of Chris started it off with 2.32 million, followed by a new episode of All of Us at 2.5 million, and the one-hour finale of The Game did 2.51 million.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None

Wednesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) - New episode at 8 did 5.4 million, down from last week. A repeat at 9 did 4.18 million.
  
• Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) - 4.56 million, down from last week. The season finale at 9:30 at a special time did 3.87 million...a series low.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• The Office (NBC) - 7.88 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating for the one-hour season finale. Up a bit up from last week in viewers, same in 18-49.
  
• Scrubs (NBC) - 5.28 million for the one-hour finale, down 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, The Office, and King of Queens were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, According to Jim) or just plain old terrible (Notes from the Underbelly, Everybody Hates Chris).