SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Households: #1. CBS 9.1/14.2 rating/share (+7% in rating from week 1 in 2010); #2. ABC 8.2/12.8 (+7%); #3. Fox 5.9/9.1 (+31%); #4. NBC 3.7/5.9 (-21%); #5. The CW 1.0/1.6 (-33%).
Total Viewers: #1. CBS 14.8 million (+6%); #2. ABC 12.55 million (+3%); #3. Fox 9.97 million (+28%); #4. NBC 5.89 million (-22%); #5. The CW 1.57 million (-33%).
Adults 18-49: #1. CBS 4.1/10.8 rating/share (+11%); #2. Fox 3.8/10.0 (+27%); #3. ABC 3.4/9.0 (even); #4. NBC 2.1/5.5 (-22%); #5. The CW 0.7/1.6 (-36%).

Week 1 (Sept. 19-25) Analysis: Summer's over! We're back with another all-new TV season and we're off to a good start, minus NBC and The CW, of course. The 2011-12 season has begun and most of the shows debuted this past week, with still a few shows debuting or having their season premieres in the coming week. Through the first four days, CBS has the lead in all categories thanks to a massive tune-in sampling the new Two and a Half Men, with ABC is in second in HH/viewers, but Fox has nipped by for second in 18-49. Fox is in third in HH/viewers, while NBC is back in the familiar fourth. I expect CBS to take the week and ABC to remain second. I don't think the NFL tonight will even help NBC move to third. It's going to be a fourth place finish in premiere week. CBS, ABC and Fox are up from a good amount from last season's premiere week. Fox is up the most thanks to two nights of The X Factor, which is solid but not gigantic like Idol. NBC and The CW are down double digits from last year's premiere week and it looks to be a long fall for both.

Monday was the first night of the 2011-12 season and it was CBS on top in 18-49 and ABC in total viewers. Starting with ABC, the two-hour season premiere of Dancing with the Stars won the total viewer race with 19.03 million and a 4.0 18-49 rating, down from last fall's premiere by two million. The season premiere of Castle followed with a first place 13.28 million and a 3.2 18-49 rating, both up a good amount from the season premiere last year. The show keeps getting better and better! Next up was CBS with its comedies, with huge sampling for Ashton Kutcher in Two and a Half Men, and the season premiere of Hawaii Five-0. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 11.0 million and a 4.7 18-49 rating, way up from last year's premiere, while a second episode of How I Met Your Mother followed with 12.22 million and a 5.2 18-49 rating, that is way higher than anything it did last year and perhaps most of the credit will go to Ashton Kutcher for this. It'll be interesting if it can stay near this tomorrow or the next week or two. Then it was the season premiere of Two and a Half Men, with new star Ashton Kutcher, doing a series best 28.84 million and a 10.7 18-49 rating, which seems like ratings from pre-DVR time. Wow. I don't think any series has done this since like season three of Grey's Anatomy. The series premiere of 2 Broke Girls certainly benefited from the huge lead-in and did a great 19.37 million and a 7.1 18-49 rating, the highest rated new sitcom premiere since 2001 when the one-year wonder Inside Schwartz premiered on NBC. Mike & Molly will have its season premiere tomorrow night in this timeslot, while 2 Broke Girls will move to 8:30pm. The season premiere of Hawaii Five-0 was next doing 12.19 million and a 3.4 18-49 rating, off from the series premiere last season despite the huge lead-in. Will the numbers remain here or drop to what it was doing in the winter/spring? Fox was next with the season finale of the summer series Hell's Kitchen doing 6.04 million and a 2.6 18-49 rating at 8pm, followed by the second hour with 5.94 million and still a 2.6 18-49 rating. Not bad at all opposite premieres! Fox will launch new series Terra Nova tomorrow night with a two-hour premiere. Bets are it will do well, but if it can't do a 2.6 rating like Hell's, it will be a big disappointment. House will premiere the following week at a new time of 9pm. NBC followed with the season premiere of The Sing-Off, now a regular series, and it only did 5.3 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating, down from Chuck and The Event's premieres last year. The series premiere of The Playboy Club was next at 10pm and was lost doing only 5.02 million and a 1.6 18-49 rating, that is not good at all. The CW was in repeats, with an encore of H8R doing 1.03 million and a 0.4 18-49 rating, followed by an encore of Ringer doing 820,000 viewers and only a 0.3 18-49 rating. Look for Gossip Girl and the series premiere of Hart of Dixie launching tomorrow night.

On Tuesday, Fox nipped by CBS in 18-49, while CBS took care of total viewers. CBS had the always reliable NCIS opening the night off with 19.96 million and a 4.3 18-49 rating, up some from last year's premiere. Amazing. The season premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles was next and did 16.71 million and 3.6 18-49 rating, also up some from last year's premiere. And finally CBS premiered new series Unforgettable and did 14.09 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating. A good start. ABC was next with the a special Dancing with the Stars: Meet the Cast leading the night off doing 10.97 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, it did well, but lower than last fall's recap. The regular live Results Show followed at 9pm and did 14.79 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating, down big from last fall's premiere, but that was a best-ever Results Show premiere. We sadly said goodbye Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest). The season premiere of Body of Proof followed and did a decent 9.41 million and a 2.2 18-49 rating, which is on par with series premiere of Detroit 1-8-7. Could be better though and I think it will be consistent, even going up from time to time, unlike Detroit. Fox started off slower than last year with the season premiere of Glee doing 9.21 million and a 4.0 18-49 rating, down big from last fall's premiere as it shredded over 3 million viewers and 1.6 18-49 rating points. Looks like the best days for this series are behind them. At 9pm, we had the debut of new comedy New Girl doing a high 10.28 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating. Another surprise performance with the premiere building on its lead-in. The season premiere of Raising Hope at its new time did 6.73 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, which was similar to its launch last year. Not bad for this, but could be better given the lead-in. NBC was next with The Biggest Loser 2-hour premiere doing 6.17 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating, down again from its season premiere last fall, followed by an all-new Parenthood at just 5.28 million but a better 2.1 18-49 rating. The CW aired a new 90210 with just 1.47 million and a 0.7 18-49 rating, followed by week two of the Sarah Michelle Gellar drama Ringer at 1.94 million and a 0.9 18-49 rating. That could be better, too. 90210 just needs to call it quits already.

Wednesday again it was a face-off between Fox and ABC, with CBS in the total viewers race. CBS started the night off on top with week two of Survivor: South Pacfic at 10.46 million and a 3.2 18-49 rating, down big from week two last fall. Veteran drama Criminal Minds did 14.14 million and a solid 4.1 A18-49 rating, on par really with last season's premiere. At 10pm, it was the new night and time premiere of CSI and it did a decent 12.74 million and a 3.2 18-49 rating, up some from the premiere of The Defenders premiere last year but down some from its Thursday premiere last year. Ted Danson or not, it was like last year in the ratings. ABC started off with its Laugh On comedy block with a one-hour premiere of The Middle doing a big 9.74 million and a series best 3.1 18-49 rating, of course up from last year's premiere. The series premiere of new sitcom Suburgatory will be this week. The two-episode season premiere of Modern Family was next and opened with series highs like last year doing 14.53 million and a 6.1 18-49 rating average for both half-hours. Big stuff! The season premiere of Happy Endings will be this week at 9:30pm, as its buzz is great. Hopefully that will translate into better ratings. At 10pm the series premiere of my favorite fall series Revenge premiered to a great 10.02 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, more than doubling the The Whole Truth's premiere last year. With good buzz and reception to the pilot, it could stay in this area this week and beyond. Hopefully some growth mixed in as well. I saw episode 2 screener this weekend and it is just as good as the pilot, so watch it! Addicting! Fox launched the heavily hyped The X Factor with Simon Cowell to solid numbers doing 12.49 million and a 4.4 18-49 rating. That would be great for any other fall series, but this series has higher expectations, as it didn't even do half of Idol's numbers for a premiere (Cowell was calling 26 million+). It certainly helped Fox over last year's Wednesday, but I'm sure Fox expected more. NBC opened the night with week two of Up All Night dropping to 6.05 million and a 2.4 18-49 rating, which is not too bad but down a good amount from its special premiere. At 8:30pm, the news wasn't as good, with week two of new comedy Free Agents doing only 3.87 million and a 1.3 18-49 rating. Who scheduled this on NBC? It has no compatibility with Up All Night. Look for this comedy to be a free agent soon (but with no signing), sports pun intended! At 9pm, the new night and time premiere of Harry's Law did nothing, doing just a 1.2 18-49 rating and 7.53 million viewers. People watching in their death beds, I guess. The season premiere of Law & Order: SVU was way down from last year's premiere doing 7.63 million and a 2.4 18-49 rating. Make it 0 for 3 for NBC in the new season. The CW had week two of H8R at 1.03 million and a 0.4 18-49 rating, followed by the declining fast America's Next Top Model with 1.6 million and a 0.7 18-49 rating. Maybe the latter moves back to 8pm soon.

Thursday it was Fox with the win, but ABC and CBS were close. ABC opened the night with the series premiere of Charlie's Angels doing only 8.76 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, both up from My Generation's premiere last year. This was what I expected in total viewers, but it skewed older than I thought. An OK premiere and if does close to these numbers the rest of the way, ABC will take it in a tough time slot. The two-hour Grey's Anatomy season premiere followed with 10.38 million and a 4.1 A18-49 rating. down from last year's premiere (which featured the hospital shooting). The season premiere of Private Practice is this week, with Benjamin Bratt joining the cast. CBS opened with The Big Bang Theory at 14.3 million and a 4.9 A18-49 rating, on par with its premiere last season. A second episode followed with 14.94 million and a 5.1 18-49 rating, as the series premiere of How To Be A Gentleman is this week. The series premiere of Person of Interest followed with 13.33 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, down from last season's CSI premiere. That is not encouraging for CBS. The season premiere of The Mentalist followed and did 13.56 million and a 2.8 18-49 rating, down quite a bit from last year's premiere. Fox aired night two of The X Factor premiere and it was nearly identical to night one, doing a solid 12.51 million and a 4.3 18-49 rating. NBC was in the familiar fourth place with the should-be-not leading-off Community doing 3.93 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating only, followed by Parks and Recreation on its new time at only 4.11 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating.The entire hour was down from last fall's premiere night. At 9pm The Office jumped to 7.64 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating, but down from last season's premiere. I am predicting it will go down each week, like it did last season. The premiere of Whitney closed the comedy block with 6.84 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, but it had a noticeable drop in the second half, so be aware of that this week. It was down from the Outsourced premiere, which had a stronger The Office lead-in, though. NBC has another drama bust with the premiere of Prime Suspect closing the night with only 6.05 million and a 1.8 18-49. The waiting for a scripted hit for NBC continues. The CW's big gun Vampire Diaries did 2.52 million, and a 1.2 18-49 rating in week two, which was down from last year's week 2, followed by a new The Secret Circle at 2.12 million and a 0.9 18-49 rating. What has happened here? No more over 3 million on Thursdays now for The CW?

Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but CBS won Friday with their dramas including the premiere of A Gifted Man which skewed old and the season premiere of Blue Bloods. ABC was in repeats from 8-10pm and NBC's Dateline season premiere did solid from 9-11pm. Fox had a decent (for Friday) night with the season premieres of Kitchen Nightmares and Fringe. The latter was third in its time period though and fourth in total viewers, losing to an encore of the Revenge pilot on ABC.
Saturday numbers had ABC win the night with Saturday Night Football, as drama pilot encores on CBS and NBC didn't do much.

Tonight are the season premieres for ABC Sunday (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and the premiere of Pan Am). It is the final season premiere of Desperate Housewives so watch it! NBC should do well with the NFL but the game is not as intriguing with the Manning-less Colts vs. the Steelers. CBS has the season premiere of Amazing Race following 60 Minutes, and the new night and time premiere of The Good Wife at 9pm leading into CSI: Miami. Fox launches its animation block with season premieres from 8-10pm. No new series on the night for Fox until late October.

As for the week (week 1), CBS will win in HH, viewers and 18-49 most likely. ABC or Fox could come close in 18-49, especially if Desperate/Pan Am do big tonight and the NFL overrun on Fox, but CBS will likely still win. I think the first four night rankings will remain intact for the end of the week. Look for Pan Am to do well tonight, it was in my top 5 new series to do well in the ratings (with 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, Revenge, and X Factor). As for the coming week (week 2), look for the series premiere of Suburgatory on ABC Wednesday at 8:30pm (our review will be posted Tuesday) with the season premiere of Happy Endings later in the night, the season premiere of CBS' Mike & Molly tomorrow night, and the series premiere of CBS's How To Be A Gentleman at 8:30pm on Thursday.

Week 1 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for summer week 16 -- September 12-18)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - preempted, season premiere tonight
  
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - preempted, season premiere tonight.
• Family Guy (Fox) - preempted, season premiere is tonight.
• American Dad! (Fox) - preempted, season premiere is tonight.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 2 episodes - The season premiere did 11.0 million and a 4.7 18-49 rating is good, up 3 million and over a point in 18-49 from last year's premiere. A second episode did even better with 12.22 million and a 5.2 18-49 rating. Is this because of pre-tune in for Ashton Kutcher in Two and a Half Men? We shall see the next week or two when normalness kicks in.
  
• 2 Broke Girls (CBS) - The series premiere aired at a special time of 9:30pm, after the huge launch of Ashton Kutcher, doing 19.37 million a 7.1 18-49 rating. Excellent start! If it can do even a 4 rating at 8:30pm, CBS will be very pleased. It moves to 8:30pm tomorrow night.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 28.74 million and a gigantic 10.7 18-49 rating even is more than doubled from last season's season premiere, which I mind you was up from the previous year's premiere. The question now is how much will it drop? We won't be able to tell for another few weeks, but tomorrow night will probably be the steepest drop. I am guessing high 6s. It should be able to do high 4s or 5s the rest of the season though, which is about what it has done in recent seasons. All in all, no one expected the premiere to be this big! It seems like 2006 again.
  
• Mike & Molly (CBS) - preempted. Season launch is tomorrow night.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• New Girl (Fox) - The series premiere aired after Glee, which did a 4.0 18-49 rating (down 28% from last season's premiere), did very well. The pilot did a surprisingly high 10.28 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating, building on its lead-in. Wow. Sitcoms are certainly back. It'll be interesting if it remain in this range. Even if it does 3's, Fox is happy. I think this premiere is more of a success than 2 Broke Girls, because that show had a huge lead-in while this series built from its lead-in!
  
• Raising Hope (Fox) - The season premiere of this comedy did 6.73 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating. This was on par with its series premiere last season at 9pm out of Glee's 5.6 18-49 rating. A good showing, but could have been higher.
  

• The Middle (ABC) - The one-hour season premiere from 8-9pm did nearly series highs in total viewers with 9.74 million and a series best 3.1 18-49 rating. Excellent start to the season!
  
• Suburgatory (ABC) - The series premiere is this Wednesday at 8:30! My fave fall comedy!
• Up All Night (NBC) - After premiering at 10pm the previous week, the second episode dropped to 6.05 million and a 2.4 18-49 rating. OK, but decent for NBC. Will it stay in this range though?
  
• Free Agents (NBC) - Week two of this comedy did terrible with only 3.87 million and a 1.3 18-49 rating. That's a big drop from the lead-in.
  
• Modern Family (ABC) - The two-episode season premiere did a massive 14.53 million for a series high and a gigantic series high of a 6.1 18-49 rating. This show is breaking out even more than last season! I think it will be the top sitcom once the season ends (and Ashton's sampling ends).
• Happy Endings (ABC) - The season premiere of this sitcom is this Wednesday and we cannot wait!
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 2 episodes - The season premiere did 14.3 million and a 4.9 18-49 rating, on par with last year's premiere. A second episode did a bit better with 14.94 million and a 5.1 18-49 rating. Nice numbers.
  
• How To Be A Gentleman (CBS) - The series premiere will be this Thursday.
  
• Community (NBC) - The season premiere did 3.93 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating. Certainly not good and down a good amount from last year's premiere. This show will just never hit, why it leads off is beyond me.
• Parks and Recreation (NBC) - The season premiere on its new time did 4.11 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, off from the 30 Rock premiere in this time period last year. Not good, but growing nearly half a point in 18-49 is good.
• The Office (NBC) - The season premiere of this series did 7.64 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating, down from last year's premiere. Last season this show was dropping each week, so I expect that pattern this year, especially with no Carell.
  
• Whitney (NBC) - The series premiere did 6.84 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, which is decent but down from the premiere of Outsourced last year. The concern was the huge drop from 9:45-10pm and that doesn't bode well for next week. For now, a good start but be aware next week. This is another mismatch pairing for NBC.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• Modern Family (ABC) - A special repeat of the two episode season premiere did OK for a repeat with a prelim 3.9 million and a prelim 1.0 18-49 rating in a weak 8-9pm hour.
  
• Up All Night (NBC) - A repeat of the second episode did a prelim 3.16 million and a prelim 0.8 A18-49 rating at 8:30. This series will repeat in this slot through mid-October.
  
• Whitney (NBC) - An instant repeat of the pilot from the night before did a prelim 3.1 million and a 0.9 18-49 rating. Look for Friday encores through Oct. 14, if you miss it on Thursdays.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• American Dad (Fox) - A repeat did a prelim 1.7 million and a prelim 0.7 18-49 rating.
  
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - A repeat of this animated comedy followed with a prelim 1.77 million and a prelim 0.8 18-49 rating. Where's AMW for Fox when you need it?
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) are season premieres of Fox's animated comedies from 8-10PM.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, The Middle were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Up All Night, Raising Hope, Whitney) or just plain old terrible (such as Free Agents, Community).