SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

ABC Family Sitcoms Deliver Solid Ratings; ION Fall 2009 Preview; Mork & Mindy Sighting on Syfy

Surging by double-digit percentages across all key targets, ABC Family's hit original comedy 10 Things I Hate About You posted series highs in Females 12-34 (771,000), Teens 12-17 (511,000) and Female Teens (448,000) in its third episode on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. Week to week, 10 Things delivered impressive growth across the board, including by 45% in Total Viewers (1.6 million vs. 1.1 million), by 20% in Adults 18-34 (424,000 vs. 352,000), by 22% in Adults 18-49 (616,000 vs. 503,000) and by 26% in Viewers 12-34 (935,000 vs. 740,000). The three-week count so far for 10 Things is OK in total viewers so far with 1.6, 1.1, and 1.6 million.
ABC Family's newest original comedy, Ruby & the Rockits, launched on Tuesday (July 21) as the network's No. 2 comedy series debut on record in Adults 18-49 (654,000) and Women 18-49 (483,000), behind only the premiere of 10 Things I Hate About You (7/7/09). Ruby & the Rockits also stands as the net's No. 2 comedy launch on record in Total Viewers (1.6 million), Teens (489,000) and Females Teens (436,000), behind Roommates (3/23/09). Ruby & the Rockits built over its 10 Things I Hate About You lead-in by 6% in Adults 18-49 (654,000 vs. 616,000) and by 9% in Women 18-49 (483,000 vs. 444,000). The series also built on its lead-in in households (1.0 vs. 0.9) and matched its lead-in in total viewers with 1.6 million. Let's see if it can maintain or build on that this coming week and beyond. We're not calling this a success yet.

Central to its strategic re-branding as a destination for engaging appointment television, ION Television is aggressively moving forward with a full slate of new off-network and original primetime programming, beginning Monday, September 7.
Kicking off the schedule at 8:00 p.m. is the Emmy-nominated, off-network hit series Ghost Whisperer, which premiered to strong ratings on ION Television on Mondays starting in June. Ghost Whisperer now moves to four nights a week, Monday through Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Debuting at 9:00 p.m. is the off-net series Criminal Minds, which will air every Monday, with additional episodes airing Tuesdays (9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.); Wednesdays (10:00 p.m.); and Fridays (10:00 p.m.) ION Television has acquired all 91 episodes of the Emmy-nominated show thus far. The critically acclaimed and award winning Durham County, ION Television's first original series, will air Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.
This is just a sneak peek at ION Television's Fall 2009 line-up. We will have the full schedule very soon as we start out of annual fall schedules blog posts with a barrage of schedules every weekday starting Monday! We've got Lifetime, TBS, and so many more. Stay with us for all of them!

Syfy made a very last minute change that we couldn't even tell you about it in time. Last night (Thursday, July 23, 2009) instead of the movie War of the Worlds 2, they aired the sitcom Mork & Mindy from 11:30pm-2am ET/PT! What a treat that was! The first five episodes aired. If you missed it, don't worry because next Thursday night, they will air another marathon. That's Thursday, July 30 from 11pm-1am ET/PT this time, and they will continue the episodes in order. And again this wasn't originally scheduled either, as this will preempt the movie Cabin Fever.
The last time Mork & Mindy aired on Sci Fi was in November with an all-day marathon the day after Thanksgiving. I'll for sure let you know if more airings are added in, and let's hope we get some. Maybe this name change to Syfy was a good idea afterall! Na-nu na-nu!