Summer Week 13 Sitcom Ratings; Blog DVD Review: NCIS - The Sixth Season (Aug. 25)

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Summer Week 13 Sitcom Ratings; Blog DVD Review: NCIS - The Sixth Season (Aug. 25)

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 August 10-16)

Til Death (Fox) - A repeat at 7pm only mustered 1.72 million...but up slightly week-to-week...after going going down slightly the previous week.
The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - We got double dose of repeats this week with the regular 8pm airing getting 4.74 million, a big boost from normal! Why? because a special 7:30pm repeat was the lead-in and did 2.71 million, much better than the usual American Dad 7:30pm repeat.
King of the Hill (Fox) - preempted.
Family Guy (Fox) 3 episodes - A mini marathon from 8:30pm-10pm did decent for repeats. 8:30pm repeat did 4.91 million, while the regular 9pm airing did 5.3 million for a repeat. A 9:30pm repeat did 5.03 million. 2.4, 2.5 and 2.3 A18-49 ratings as well. Very solid for repeats these days.
American Dad! (Fox) - preempted.

Summer Week 13 (August 17-23)

Monday Sitcoms

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 2 episodes - 4.28 million for a repeat airing in its normal 8pm slot, down from previous week. 1.4 A18-49 rating was also down as the previous week. A repeat at 8:30pm did worse with 4.22 million and a 1.5 A19-49 rating, both lower than the usual Rules of Engagement repeats from this summer in this slot.
Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 8.55 million for a repeat, down a bit from previous week. 2.5 A18-49 rating was up though by a bit from previous week.
The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 8.04 million for a repeat is down from previous week. when it has the closest retention yet in total viewers from the lead-in. 2.7 18-49 rating is excellent, though down a tenth from previous week...but still up .2 from the lead-in! This is the sitcom to watch in the fall.

Tuesday Sitcoms

None.

Wednesday Sitcoms

Old Christine (CBS) - Only 3.82 million for a repeat, up some from previous week and up a tenth also in A18-49 rating with a 1.1 rating...up from previous few weeks.
Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Only 3.73 million...on par really from previous week again, and the same A18-49 with a 1.2 rating from previous week.

Thursday Sitcoms

The Office (NBC) - 3.28 million for a repeat at 9pm...up a tad from previous week.
30 Rock (NBC) 2 episodes - 3.07 and 3.04 million for repeats at 8 and 9:30pm...8pm did better than previous week weeks, while 9:30pm was basically on par.
Parks & Recreation (NBC) - A repeat did just 2.37 million at 8:30pm...the lowest of the sitcom repeats again.

Friday Sitcoms

Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 964,000 viewers. That was down from previous week's prelim numbers.
The Game (The CW) - A repeat did a prelim 1.2 million, also down from previous week's prelim numbers.

Saturday Sitcoms

According to Jim (ABC) - A one-time-only repeat at 8pm did a prelim 3.14 million (could change due to NFL preemptions). This was the last network airing of the show on ABC.

Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's 'Til Death and animated comedies from 7-10pm. Elsewhere ABC has the finale of the 10th anniversary of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Regis at 8pm leading into a new Shark Tank and an all-new episode of drama Defying Gravity at 10pm. CBS has 60 Minutes & Big Brother followed by a new episode of There Goes the Neighborhood at 9pm, while NBC will have two episodes of Merlin at starting at 7pm, followed by Miss Universe at 9.

Coming Week Preview (Aug. 24-30):

I'm going to have to preempt this section for a blog DVD review again.

It is time for a special Sunday edition of the "Blog DVD Review." Today we we take a look at CBS DVD's Sixth Season of Navy NCIS. See Seth Thrasher's blog DDVD review of NCIS - The Sixth Season and:

NCIS - The Sixth Season (CBS, $55.98) is now on DVD. This season finds the highly skilled NCIS team still under the able command of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), an uncompromising leader who will see justice done -- even if it means bending the rules. This season, Gibbs starts out welcomes two new members to the unit, wile directing the veteran agents in their dangerous investigations outside the chain of Naval and Marine command. Co-starring Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, and Rocky Carroll, this six-disc set includes all 25 action-packed Season Six episodes.

After last season's awesome cliffhanger, fans were left wondering why the team had been split up. The answers are provided in the first episode of the season, Last Man Standing -- when it's revealed that there was in fact a traitor in their midst -- the agents assigned to Gibbs are in fact the suspects. The storyline, while appearing to be resolved to the main characters, ultimately comes back later in the season. One of the nice things about NCIS in particular is the way that storylines branch out from one episode to the next. It's one of the things (quality of characters is another) that sets this apart from other similar series in the genre. This plot arc style would surface in a larger way in the series final few episodes, as more and more questions arise over the loyalty of Ziva. At the season's end, Gibbs' boat is no more, the team presumes Ziva to be back working in Israel, and in the final shots...Ziva has been taken captive and is being asked what she knows about NCIS.

In terms of the technical side of the set, the packaging is as always an outer box containing slimcases -- three cases holding six discs this season. The discs feature the standard silver look of Paramount/CBS releases. Box art features Gibbs (Harmon) in the foreground, with the remainder of the cast members each occupying a narrow vertical bar behind him. The rear cover's photo has the entire cast posed in a white room, all wearing various elegant clothing.

Menus are well-designed but static, with no music in the background. Each main menu features the white room featured on the rear cover, with a photo of one of the cast members. Each disc's main menu features a different member of the team.
In regards to audio and video, a great thing about working with newer series is that the video quality and audio quality are great almost by default. This set is no exception -- the video looks flawless in its presentation. Color balance is nice and even, there are no compression artifacts, there are no problems in the transfer -- nothing. Audio is a crisp and clear 5.1 audio track. The only way this show's presentation could be nicer would be for the show to appear on one of the high-definition video formats. You get the usual disclaimer about how some episodes might be edited, but the only thing I noticed was that, as always, the "Next time on NCIS" bumpers are gone. More than likely, in an era of pre-negotiated DVD rights, that disclaimer is just for legal purposes. I highly doubt anything substantive is cut.

And since NCIS is a popular series currently airing on TV, that means more effort goes into the bonuses on a release. It's always nice to review a set whose DVD presentation isn't half-baked. There are SEVEN special features, including cast and crew commentaries, a tour of the company that creates the bodies used on the show, a feature on the season's opening arc, a feature revolving around the season episode "South By Southwest," two pieces with the cast and crew reflecting on the season, as well as a special feature in which Pauley Perrette *sings*. All great stuff to sit through and watch/listen to. The commentaries in particular are interesting to listen to -- I just wish there were more than the three included on the set. The three episodes with commentary are "Broken Bird" (commentary by David McCallum and James Whitmore Jr.), "Bounce”" (commentary by Michael Weatherly), and "Toxic" (commentary by Pauley Perrette and Sean Murray.)

I was fortunate to have a former roommate of mine get me hooked on the show early on. There are as mentioned still viewers, six years on, who haven't come to understand what a quality series this is. Perhaps, they're scared off by the basic framework of the typical crime procedural. The show does feature those elements, but they're secondary to the story elements themselves -- the plot (yes, NCIS does typically feature an actual plot) and characters (the show has some of the best on broadcast TV right now). Others might be a little weary over the military aspect. The series was a spin-off of JAG, a series that I'll be the first to admit was neck-deep in the military aspect. On NCIS, it provides the setting and back-story, but unlike JAG it's typically only a minor to intermediate part of any plot -- in most episodes, anyway.

If you're reading this and you aren't really a fan, I'd like to ask you to give the show a chance. USA Network runs the show approximately a billion times per week, so if you're dedicated you can pretty much catch the entire run in about a week. Exaggeration aside you *can*, in one week's time on USA you can catch a large quantity of episodes to sample, and I urge you to do so. I think that if you give the show a fair chance, you'll come to really enjoy it.
Those of you who already enjoy it? This set streets on Tuesday, and if you don't have it pre-ordered you know what you should be doing as soon as it's financially sound to do so. This set wants a place in your DVD collection, and it most certainly deserves it. Strong recommendation.

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher