SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Week 12 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 12 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: CBS: 7.8/12.5; NBC: 6.0/9.6; Fox: 4.5/7.1; ABC: 4.2/6.7; The CW: 2.0/3.1; MNT: 1.0/1.6
Total Viewers: CBS: 12.12 million; NBC: 9.21 million; Fox: 6.92 million; ABC: 6.22 million; The CW: 2.89 million; MNT: 1.56 million.
Adults 18-49: CBS: 3.4/9.3; NBC: 2.9/8.0; Fox: 2.4/6.4; ABC: 2.1/5.7; The CW: 1.3/3.4; MNT: 0.4/1.1.

Analysis: Week 12 has been filled tons of repeats. CBS has had the most new episodes this week, which included all of Wed-Fri, and a dash of new airings Monday with CSI: Miami and even How I Met Your Mother. NBC is airing more Deal or No Deal, which is why it has been doing decent actually. They aired 5 five hours worth from Mon-Wed. ABC has had tons of repeats, with only Pushing Daisies new and the new Monday sitcoms and October Road. While Fox also has been repeat filled except for Thursday reality shows, Kitchen Nightmares and the terrible K-Ville. Last week CBS won the top spot in all categories: HH, viewers, and 18-49. ABC was second in HH, viewers, and 18-49. With NBC third and Fox fourth.
Through the first four days of this week, CBS has a lead in all categories in week 12 with NBC second, Fox in third and ABC uncharacteristically in fourth. Repeats of course don't do as good as new episodes, most of ABC's shows are serialized, and they do even worse in repeats.
The day by day analysis will return when the holiday season is over and we are sort of back to more new than repeats.
As for the week, CBS will win in HH, viewers and 18-49, NBC will be second, with a close finish for second place in 18-49...it could be NBC or even Fox if the NFL overrun does big. ABC will be in the fourth spot for the first time this season. It'll be a better week this week for ABC, as the repeats will be replaced by the game show Duel, which will do better obviously. NBC won't do as good without Deal or No Deal, as Clash of the Choirs looks to be dud. New scripted programming this week: CSI Miami on CBS and Notes from the Underbelly and October Road on ABC tomorrow; CBS Tuesday; Criminal Minds and CSI NY on CBS Wednesday; and burn-offs of K-Ville on Fox (Mon) and the final two episodes of the canceled Journeyman (Mon and Wed) on NBC.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of December 3-9)

• Aliens in America (The CW) - A repeat did just 830,000 viewers, down 50k from the previous week.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - A repeat did 7.57 million...not bad.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) 3 episodes - Two repeats in the 7pm hour did only 3.46 and 4.58 million, while a new episode at 8:30 couldn't hold or build on the lead-in and did 6.58 million.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - A repeat did 7.9 million and a 3.9/9 18-49 rating...good stuff for a repeat.
  
• American Dad (Fox) - Like King, only did 6.51 million...and this was a new one also.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - I thought this show was done with new episodes, but was wrong...one final episode they had finally aired and did 8.3 million...not bad.
  
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - Since the lead-in was new, a repeat of this show spiked up to 7.37 million, more than the previous week's 6.41 million.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.49 million tuned in for a repeat, slightly down from previous week.
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 9.34 million tuned in for an encore, also slightly down from previous week, but same retention percentage from lead-in basically.
  
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - Last new episode until February did just 6.71 million...better to save them then waste them in December.
• Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) - Just 4.5 million...down from previous week's 5 million and the season premiere's 7.45 million, which was a series high excluding the pilot.
  
• CW Monday Comedies: Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends, The Game. All were new ... Aliens did a terrible 1.84 million and The Game did 2.42 million and led the block.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did 5.89 and 5.45 million from 9-10pm...OK. Should haven done better, but they have repeated last season's episodes so many times already.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Back to You (Fox) - I think everyone knows now it is repeats, just 4.19 million.
  
• Til Death (Fox) - Only 4.09 million for a repeat.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• The Office (NBC) - An encore from 8-9pm did 5.71 million.
  
• 30 Rock (NBC) - A new episode at a special time of 9pm did 5.58 million...maybe the show should follow The Office?
  

Friday Sitcoms
None.

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is a repeat of Aliens in America on The CW at 7:30, and Fox's animated comedies are a mix of new and repeats.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement were impressive for the week (and they were repeats!). Everything else was OK (such as Samantha Who?, The Office repeat) or just plain old terrible (Back to You, Notes from the Underbelly).