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Summer Week 7 Sitcom Ratings; Blog DVD Review Special: Hotel - The First Season (July 21)

Summer continues and everything is still pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 28-July 5)

• Til Death (Fox) - A repeat at 7pm only mustered 1.53 million.
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 3.67 million for a repeat in its regular 8pm slot and 4.31 million for a special 9:30pm repeat. Both episodes did a solid summer 1.7 and 2.0 18-49 rating.
• King of the Hill (Fox) - The 8:30 repeat did only 3.24 million, but an acceptable 1.5 18-49 rating for summer.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 4.33 million for a repeat is OK for summer, but a 2.1 18-49 rating was good enough to win its timeslot.
• American Dad! (Fox) - Only 1.96 million for a repeat at 7:30.

Summer Week 7 (July 6-12)

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.48 million for a repeat airing, doing better the last few weeks. 1.8 A18-49 rating is solid for summer. How times have a changed...
• Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 5.48 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week when it did 5.76 and built from the lead-in. It did do a 1.9 A18-49 rating.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.41 million for a repeat, going up the last few weeks. 2.8 A18-49 rating is better than solid for summer.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 8.34 million for a repeat is also going up the past few weeks. 2.8 18-49 rating is excellent, holding 100% from the lead-in. That is what CBS would like to see!

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Better Off Ted (ABC) - preempted for Michael Jackson Memorial coverage. Only 1.76 million the previous week (June 30).

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - Just 3.9 million for a repeat...after going up slowly the previous weeks, it goes back down below 4 million and only a 1.0 A18-49 rating.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 3.78 million for a repeat and only a 1.0 A18-49 rating.

Thursday Sitcoms

• The Office (NBC) 2 episodes - Only 2.9 and 2.89 million for repeats at 8:30 and 9...it was a it better news in A18-49 rating with a 1.3 each.
• 30 Rock (NBC) 2 episodes - Only 3.17 and 2.48 million for repeats at 8 and 9:30pm, and only a 1.1 A18-49 rating for each. So the 9:30pm skewed younger since it did lower in viewership bit did the same 1.1 18-49 rating.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two new episodes did 3.43 and 3.11 million, very similar to previous week's 3.4 and 3.18 million. This show should have returned...and I hope ABC does change its mind very soon.

Friday Sitcoms

• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 797,000 viewers. That was up a bit from previous week's FINAL ratings of 610,000 viewers. Let's see if the 797,000 holds up.
• The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 766,000 prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...also up from previous week's FINAL ratings of 630,000 viewers. Again let's see if the 766,000 holds up.
• Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.23 million for an all-new episode at 8pm, but up from previous week's FINAL ratings for a repeat which did 2.11 million.
• The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with 1.49 million, but still up some from previous week's FINAL numbers of 1.37 million. This week's episode was my favorite one.
• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - 2 repeats did a prelim 2.02 and 2.22 million, a bit better than previous week's FINAL ratings of 1.73 and 2.08 million. As always, check out final numbers for Friday for these shows and all the Friday shows on our message board tomorrow.

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.

Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's 'Til Death and animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline in the 7pm hour, leading into Merlin at 8, and part one of the mini-series Meteor at 9.


Coming Week Preview (July 13-19):

We are preempting this week's preview so we can you bring you a special blog DVD review on a special day! So enjoy that below.

Welcome to a special edition of the Blog DVD Review. Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Hotel - The First Season. Hotel is set at San Francisco's St. Gregory Hotel and aired on ABC from 1983-88. It was one of many Aaron Spelling shows in the '80s. See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Hotel - The First Season:

Hotel: The First Season (CBS, $49.99) brings the glitz and glamour of San Francisco's St. Gregory Hotel to DVD in a six-disc collection. Hotel is the story of the people that run the St. Gregory as well as the guests that come and go through the hotel each and every week. Sometimes the stories are bizarre, some have potentially deadly possibilities, some are stories of love and romance, some are loaded with controversy, and some are just light-hearted. And sometimes, you'll find several of the above stories contained within the same episode. It hit the airwaves in fall of 1983 on ABC.
The series stars Anne Baxter as Victoria Cabot, the sister-in-law of the hotel owner (the actual owner of the hotel was played by Bette Davis in the pilot episode, who was supposed to be a regular, but became ill and was unable to fill the role) and James Brolin as Peter McDermott, the general manager of the hotel. Hotel employees include promotions manager Christine Francis (Connie Sellecca), security director (and ex-con) Billy Griffin (Nathan Cook), and receptionist Julie Gillette (Shari Belafonte). And then of course, there are the guest stars, which were a regular feature on every episode every week! The series was created by Aaron Spelling, and in many ways resembles his previous series such as The Love Boat or Fantasy Island, except this series has more drama and isn't afraid to touch upon more serious issues.

The series begins with a two-hour pilot film, which actually has not been part of the syndication package, but is included on this set, where Christine Francis wants the job as Peter McDermott's Executive Assistant, and will do anything to get that job. Bette Davis appears is the star of the series in this pilot, even though she would be replaced by the first episode of the series, "Blackout," where her sister-in-law Victoria Cabot takes over the reigns of the hotel. The whole hotel is on edge when a delegation from the Israeli ministry comes to the hotel, along with FBI warnings of an assassination, in "Charades." A man and woman discover that their child has been a victim of child molestation in "Secrets," and Peter has to intervene to determine the truth about her molester. Peter's ex-wife is back and wants to rekindle the relationship in "Flashback," but is this what he wants too?
A group of white supremacists are having a convention at the hotel in "Confrontations," and it is up to the African-American employees to protect them from the protesters. Peter has to ponder his future at the St. Gregory when given a nice offer in "The Offer." It's Christmastime at the hotel in "Christmas," but is it also the beginning of a new relationship for Peter and Christine? Peter goes to a society event in "Designs," and finds a girl that he likes--and she kind of forgets to tell him she is married. Peter is the object of infatuation of two personalities that happen to be one person in "Reflections," and she is crazy enough to commit murder.
A Holocaust survivor sees somebody that he'd rather not see in the hotel lobby in "Passages." A young couple is set to have their wedding at the hotel in "The Wedding," but will family money issues and the bride having an affair spoil that wedding plan? A man can't remember his own identity in "Memories," but he is sure that he committed murder and robbery at a jewelry store. Peter receives a visit from a former lover in "Encores," but the big surprise is that the four-year old son that she brings with her is allegedly Peter's son! Mrs. Cabot and Peter are held hostage and put on trial in "Trials."

The season offers plenty of guest stars, including Erin Moran, Mel Torme, Shirley Jones, Morgan Fairchild, Heather Locklear, Peter Marshall, Nanette Fabray, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Vaughn, Robert Reed, Charlene Tilton, Vic Tayback, Donna Pescow, Diana Canova, Martin Landau, Scott Baio, Barbara Parkins, Tori Spelling, Jane Wyatt, McLean Stevenson, Barnard Hughes, Robert Stack, Vera Miles, Jan Smither, Eva Gabor, Markie Post, Shelley Winters, Lew Ayres, Ted Shackelford, and Melissa Sue Anderson. And that isn't even close to a complete list!

Like many other CBS DVD sets, we really don't have fancy packaging on this set. All we have is the traditional DVD case, which holds all six discs and has episode descriptions, airdates, and guest stars inside the case. There really isn't any artwork at all on the discs, just the standard gray CBS DVD artwork. Each disc contains four episodes, except for Disc 1, which contains the pilot movie and two additional episodes. Similarly, the menus are not that impressive, with a main menu that simply has a cast snapshot and has a list of the episodes on the disc, along with a Play All option. There are chapters placed within each episode at all of the appropriate places.

Still, not all is lost on the set. The video and audio quality of the set is, while not necessarily over-the-top impressive, more than just adequate, and with the exception of some grain and debris, the episodes look decent. The audio levels on the DVD are fine, and the audio, being presented in mono (right near the "end of the road" for series being presented in mono, as stereo audio was soon to become the standard) sounds fine. There are no subtitles or alternate languages, but each episode is closed-captioned. The set does have the standard CBS DVD disclaimer about edited episodes, but I don't see any real cause for concern on any of the episodes, as each one runs around 48 minutes. Some episodes contained music (usually instrumental versions of hit songs from the era), and it seems that these songs have been left intact.

Sadly, the set is lacking on special features. There isn't a single special feature anywhere on the set. A retrospective to look back on the series would have been nice, although it seems as if most of the people involved with the series have since moved on or passed away--even though it was only about 25 years ago.

This is my first experience of ever watching the series, and I found it to be a surprisingly pleasant series to watch. It kind of brings in the best parts of a series like The Love Boat with series like Dynasty... although you won't find any catfights here. It is kind of nice to see the guest stars that come to stay just for the week turn out to be the "bad guy" every now and then. Admittedly, there are some episodes in this batch that are just plain rotten, but that is what you get when you have a series like this, and besides that, there are too many interesting ones to balance those episodes out. My advice? Check in for this set if you are a fan of dramas which prominently feature guest stars.

-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
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