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Week 11 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Households: 1. CBS 6.1/9.8 (rating/share); 2. Fox 4.9/7.7; 3. NBC 4.3/6.9; 4. ABC 4.2/6.7; 5. The CW 1.1/2.7
Total Viewers: 1. CBS 9.67 million; 2. Fox 7.97 million; 3. NBC 6.73 million; 4. ABC 6.63 million; 5. The CW 1.59 million.
Adults 18-49: 1. Fox 2.9/7.7 (rating/share); 2. CBS 2.7/7.3; 3. NBC 2.3/6.0; 4. ABC 2.1/5.6; 5. The CW 0.8/2.0

Week 11 (Nov. 30-Dec. 6) Analysis: For week 11, November sweeps is now over so now we are heading towards the holidays and repeats. In a slow week, so far through the first four days of final numbers, CBS is first in HH/viewers, while Fox thus far has the 18-49 lead. Fox is second in HH/viewers, while CBS is second in 18-49. NBC and ABC is battling for third right now, with NBC with the edge actually. Last week, week 10, CBS beat second place ABC in HH/viewers for a first place finish, while Fox prevailed in 18-49 dethroning ABC, who won the previous two weeks. CBS and NBC was tied for second in 18-49, with ABC right behind them by only 0.1. Fox and NBC battled for third in HH/viewers. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend really affected the ratings in week 10.
On Monday it was Fox on top, with Dancing with the Stars now over on ABC and CBS in repeats. Fox started with House doing a solid 13.25 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating, both up week-to-week with less competition, followed by Lie to Me at only 7.49 million, but up some from previous week. Next up was CBS with repeats of its comedies and a repeat of CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with a repeat doing 6.09 million, while a repeat of Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 5.27 million, they are repeats but could be better since CBS Monday comedies usually repeat better. Two and a Half Men followed with a repeat doing 11.38 million, nice showing for a repeat, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a repeat of its own doing 10.09 million, also a good showing for a repeat. 3.2 18-49 rating for a repeat is also good. A repeat of CSI: Miami did 9.48 million, seems lower than usual for a repeat. ABC was preempted in the New England area for a NFL game, but the rest of the country saw the holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas doing a solid 9.2 million, followed by the new classic Shrek the Halls doing a solid 9.15 million. Would have done better with the Boston area mixed in. The first new Find My Family did 6.95 million and a 2.0 18-49 rating, both down big from previous week's half-hour preview. A repeat of Castle followed with a decent 6.01 million. A new Castle airs tomorrow! NBC was next with Heroes doing 5.39 million, up a bit from the previous week. A new episode of Trauma followed and did only 5.36 million and only a 1.6 A18-49 rating, both down a tad from the previous week. The Jay Leno Show followed with only 4.18 million, down from previous week despite facing two repeats on CBS and ABC. The CW was all-new with One Tree Hill doing 2.4 million and Gossip Girl doing 2.23 million. Should be better than that.
On Tuesday, the President had an address to nation in the 8pm ET hour, affecting programming for the night. Ratings for the address do not count. The address ended at 8:36pm ET. CBS followed the address with an Analysis of the address doing 8.95 million (as I'm sure many were waiting for NCIS). A repeat of NCIS followed at a special time of 9pm doing 14.28 million. How?? NCIS: Los Angeles was preempted due to the address to the nation. And finally CBS preempted The Good Wife for the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show special doing a solid 8.01 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating. Seems below normal, though. NBC was next airing a 15-minute joined in progress repeat of The Biggest Loser at 8:45pm ET following the Presidential Address doing 6.13 million, followed by two-hours of The Biggest Loser at a special time of 9-11pm doing 9.99 million, up a million from previous week when it was on 8-10pm, so the The Jay Leno Show was preempted for the first time this season...and look how well NBC did at 10pm this week. ABC aired the Presidential Address, followed by a joined in progress repeat of Modern Family at 8:38pm ET doing 4.7 million. Then it was the season premiere of Scrubs [Med School] doing 4.63 and 4.43 million only, but the 18-49 demo was decent at a 2.0 for both episodes. The show will do better with a Prep & Landing lead-in this week. At 10pm, the forgotten was all-new and did only 5.48 million and just a 1.2 18-49 rating. Fox aired So You Think You Can Dance from 8:36-10:36pm ET after the Presidential Address and did only 5.84 million, but up some from previous week. The CW was next with 90210 doing 2.15 million, followed by a new Melrose Place at an even worse 1.41 million.
Wednesday it was CBS on top in a lower than usual night. CBS started with the all-time classic Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer doing a decent 10.59 million and a 3.8 18-49 rating, both seem lower than usual though. Old Christine and Gary Unmarried were preempted. Next CBS didn't do well with the Grammy Nomination Concert doing only 6.28 million. Criminal Minds was next at 10pm at a special time with a repeat doing 8.05 million. CSI: NY was preempted. ABC comedies were next, a repeat of Modern Family did a decent 5.65 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating. The Middle was all-new and next and did 6.19 million and a 2.0 18-49 rating, not bad mixed in with an all-repeat night. Modern Family was a repeat and did 6.5 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating, not bad for a repeat. Cougar Town was also a repeat and did 5.14 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating. The comedies will be all-new again this Tuesday with Christmas episodes! Eastwick was new though and did 4.25 million, but up from previous week at least. NBC preempted Mercy again for the annual special Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center doing 8.69 million and Law & Order: SVU was next with a repeat doing a decent 8.12 million. At 10pm NBC aired The Jay Leno Show of course at just 5.52 million, but up week-to-week. Fox started with So You Think You Can Dance doing 6.27 million, up from previous week, and Glee was next at 8.15 million and a 3.6 18-49 rating, both up with less competition than normal. The CW aired repeats of Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries doing 990,000 viewers and 1.04 million.
Thursday it was CBS on top with mostly repeats. ABC started with the fall finale of FLASHFORWARD doing only 7.07 million, but ABC was preempted in Buffalo for the NFL game. What luck. Grey's Anatomy was totally preempted, as ABC went with a two-hour all-new Private Practice doing a solid 9.21 million. What an episode! CBS opened with Survivor: Samoa at a solid 12.82 million and a 3.9 A18-49 rating. A repeat of CSI followed with a solid 9.9 million. At 10pm The Mentalist was also a repeat and did an even better 10.74 million. Fox was next with an all-new Bones doing 9.92 million and an all-new Fringe doing an improved 6.94 million. NBC was all-new, with a new Community doing 5.42 million, followed by Parks & Recreation at 4.8 million, still could be better. The Office was next and all-new and did 8.05 million and a 4.1 A18-49 rating, followed by a new 30 Rock at 6.08 million and a 3.0 18-49 rating. Nothing special. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 4.72 million, down week-to-week, yes it did better on Thanksgiving night. The CW aired repeats of Vampire Diaries and Supernatural at only 1.33 million and 1.19 million, but they were preempted in NY for the Jets NFL game.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but CBS won Friday with new episodes of their dramas as usual but they were down from normal, especially Medium. Monk had its series finale on USA Network.
Saturday numbers had ABC's College Football prevailing in all areas by a big margin, as they aired The Big-12 Championship Game as Texas won in the final second to advance to the BCS Championship Game (airing Jan. 7 on ABC).
Tonight the full ABC Sunday line-up is on (AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters) look for solid ratings with big episodes of Housewives and Brothers tonight. Fall finales of both. NBC has an NFL game tonight so they will win the night though with media sensation Brett Favre in action. CBS has the Amazing Race season finale at 8pm that should compete, but everything else will be in the low 2's in 18-49. Fox has repeats of its comedies from 8:30-10 and an NFL overrun and the BCS Selection Show. Look for CBS to win the week likely in HH/viewers over ABC. 18-49 is up in the air, I think Fox will take it thanks to an overrun of the Giants/Cowboys and the BCS Selection Show. NBC could be second though, with ABC and CBS battling for third in 18-49. As for this coming week, look for the new holiday special Prep & Landing Tuesday at 8:30pm on ABC that should do VERY big and the season premiere of Better off Ted at 9:30pm Tuesday on ABC, part of ABC "Twosday" with Scrubs!

Week 11 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 10 -- Nov. 23-29)

• Brothers (Fox) - preempted due to NFL.
• The Simpsons (Fox) - 8.87 million tuned in for a new episode at 8pm, up 2 million from the previous week thanks to a NFL lead-in. 4.2 18-49 rating was also up sharply from previous week, when there was no NFL lead-in.
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - 7.17 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating. Up from previous week by a bit, but not as much as the lead-in.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 8.5 million and a 4.4 18-49 rating is excellent for a new showing...and both up from previous week.
• American Dad (Fox) - 6.38 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating...up from previous week.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did 6.09 million...nothing to complain since it was a repeat.
• Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 5.27 million for a repeat. That seems low for a CBS comedy on Monday.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.38 million for a repeat, more than doubling its lead-in. 3.2 18-49 rating, too. And it was a repeat...
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - Didn't build on the lead-in as it did the previous week, but a repeat still did 10.09 million. 3.2 18-49 rating is also excellent for a repeat, holding 100% from the lead-in. Only gripe is, this doesn't repeat as well as Men...but I'm not complaining.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• Scrubs (ABC) 2 episodes - The season premiere was affected by President Obama. Instead of having an all-new holiday special as its lead-in, it got Obama and a Modern Family repeat that was joined in progress. The two episode premiere did 4.63 million and 4.43 million, but a 2.0 18-49 rating for both episodes. It should do much better this week with the holiday special Prep & Landing as the lead-in. If it can do 6 million and more than 2.5 18-49 rating this week, then ABC will be happy if the new holiday special does major (over 15 million and a 5 18-49).
• Modern Family (ABC) - A joined in progress repeat at 8:38pm ET did 4.7 million following the Presidential Address in the East/Central. Out west it aired in its entirety following a repeat of The Middle, but that doesn't count in the ratings.

• Old Christine (CBS) - preempted.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - preempted.
• The Middle (ABC) - 6.19 million for an all-new showing of this underrated family comedy. Another great episode and decent ratings sandwiched between repeats.
• Modern Family (ABC) 2 episodes - A repeat at 8pm did 5.65 million, not bad. Another repeat at 9pm, in its normal time, did a solid 6.5 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating...good for ABC as their shows don't repeat too well.
• Cougar Town (ABC) - A repeat did 5.14 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating. Don't forget ABC Comedy Wednesday is all-new this Wednesday with holiday episodes! ABC Comedy Holiday Wednesday!
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Community (NBC) - 5.42 million and 2.2 18-49 rating for a new episode...an improvement.
• Parks & Recreation (NBC) - 4.8 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, could be better, but it is consistent at least.
• The Office (NBC) - A new episode did 8.05 million and a more telling 4.1 18-49 rating, nearly doubling its lead-in.
• 30 Rock (NBC) - 6.08 million and 3.0 18-49 rating for a new episode. Looks like last fall with the Palin effect was this show's high watermark. I don't think it will ever go above 8 million ever again.

Friday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• Parks and Recreation (NBC) - A special repeat at 8pm did only a 1.4 million in prelim numbers. That was expected.
• The Office (NBC) - A special repeat at 10:30pm following a movie from 8:30-10:30 did a prelim 3.74 million...that's better. Why didn't NBC air this at 8 and Parks at 10:30?
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) are Fox's animated comedies from 8:30-10pm tonight, but they are repeats.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, The Office & Modern Family 9pm were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as The Middle, How I Met Your Mother) or just plain old terrible (such as Scrubs, Parks and Recreation Sat repeat).

Posted by Pavan -- SitcomsOnline.com at 6:15 PM

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Labels: Weekly Ratings