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Rise of the Old Guard
February 14
Hello everyone back in
number land. I finally got my first piece of email to this column. Thank
you, emailer! This person asks me this:
I wanted to ask you a
question since you seem to be the ratings guru. What do Drew Carey's
ratings look like? What about compared to Bob's? I heard the show wasn't
doing as well now that Drew is there. I poked around the site, but I
didn't see any ratings for Price. Maybe I missed them?
Thanks for the email. The answer is that
Drew Carey is not doing as good as Bob Barker (then again, with 50+
years under his belt, who would?). However, with over a 5.0 average
rating in the second half hour, The Price is Right has been easily
winning it's time slot and is only second to CBS's soap opera 'Young and
the Restless' for total viewers. So despite the ratings falling off 9%,
TPIR is in no danger of going anywhere. You can say the same thing of
most of the veteran shows in the line-up, as we look at the numbers this
week.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
American Idol
1/16/08 - 30.28 Million Viewers (12.6 Mil for 18-49)
1/23/08 - 27.75 Million Viewers (11.1 Mil for 18-49)
1/30/08 - 25.3 Million Viewers (9.9 Mil for 18-49)
2/6/08 - 26.02 Million Viewers (10.5 Mil for 18-49)
And as Idol approaches year #7 (and as we see it's only competing
against repeats), Idol rebounds - and expect that to continue this
Wednesday when we see the Final 24 revealed. Check out Tuesday to see
why I think it will get a nice bump upwards.
The Moment of Truth
1/23/08 - 23.2 Million Viewers (10.2 Mil for 18-49)
1/30/08 - 17.9 Million Viewers (7.9 Mil for 18-49)
2/6/08 - 16.9 Million Viewers (7.2 Mil for 18-49)
So the final numbers here seem to be 15-16 million in the post-Idol
slot. That is still the best numbers to come out of a post-Idol slot and
worthy of a renewal. The question on everyone's mind, however, is can
they pull those same numbers with no Idol backup? We'll see in March.
Deal Or No Deal
1/2/08 - 12.2 Million Viewers
1/9/08 - 13.2 Million Viewers (3.5 Mil for 18-49)
1/16/08 - 11.83 Million Viewers (3.1 Mil for 18-49) (IDOL Week #1)
1/23/08 - 13.76 Million Viewers (3.7 Mil for 18-49) (IDOL Week #2)
1/30/08 - 9.8 Million Viewers (2.4 Mil for 18-49) (Repeat)
2/6/08 - 8.1 Million Viewers (1.8 Mil for 18-49) (Repeat)
We get another repeat. The numbers should
jump next week because it's a new episode. However, NO ONE WINS THE
MILLION HERE. Why? Because the site already promises us a Million Dollar
Mission episode on Monday. So hence, we know they also won't win the
million on a new episode on Thursday. Dumb-asses.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Survivor
2/7/08 - 13.87 Million Viewers (4.8 Mil for 18-49)
Survivor is still going strong, but this is the lowest debut rating for
the show ever. Still, it easily wins it's time slot, and it should stay
that way until Idol shows up in 2 weeks. The 4.8 rating for 18-49 (which
is huuuuge) certainly doesn't hurt.
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
1/10/08 - 10.8 Million Viewers (2.9 Mil for 18-49)
1/17/08 - 11.5 Million Viewers (3.7 Mil for 18-49)
1/24/08 - 8pm - 10.47 Million Viewers (3.2 Mil for 18-49)
1/24/08 - 9pm - 10.18 Million Viewers (3.3 Mil for 18-49)
1/31/08 - 10.5 Million Viewers (3.1Mil for 18-49)
2/7/08 - 9.51 Million Viewers (2.7 Mil for 18-49) (Survivor Debuts)
It doesn't hurt 5th grader per se, but it does ding it a little. Still,
a 9.5 is considered a hit, (especially in the Thursday Prime Time Real
Estate) and FOX will be more than happy to take that number. Can we have
3 game shows do well in Prime Time?
Deal or No Deal
2/7/08 - 9.31 Million Viewers (2.7 Mil for 18-49) (Against 5th
Grader and Survivor)
Apparently, it can. Howie's group also pulls respectable numbers against
5th Grader and Survivor. Something interesting to note: DOND does better
against Idol than it does against 5th Grader and Survivor. If you notice
the 18-49 rating, you'll see that DOND skews to an older demographic,
which is why Idol (geared towards the kiddie set) doesn't pull away as
much audience as Survivor (which clearly is an adult attractor) or 5th
grader (a 'family' show that both adults and kids will watch) will.
Celebrity Apprentice
1/3/08 - 11 Million Viewers (4.5 Mil for 18-49)
1/10/08 - 8.3 Million Viewers (3.9 Mil for 18-49) (Gray's Anatomy Season
Finale)
1/17/08 - 8.99 Million Viewers (3.9 Mil for 18-49) (Gray's Anatomy Goes
into Repeat mode)
1/24/08 - 8.87 Million Viewers (3.7 Mil for 18-49) (Gray's Anatomy Goes
into Repeat mode)
1/31/08 - 6.87 Million Viewers (2.7 Mil for 18-49) (LOST New Season
Debuts)
2/7/08 - 8.66 Million Viewers (3.3 Mil for 18-49) (LOST)
Well, that's a surprise. The Apprentice gets the 2 million viewers back
that they lost last week. You could attribute it to some very negative
reaction to Lost, which loses some viewers, but maybe The Donald has a
loyal crew as well. We'll see next week which number was the aberration.
Don't Forget the Lyrics
1/10/08 - 6.7 Million Viewers (2.3 Mil for 18-49) (Gray's Anatomy Season
Finale)
1/17/08 - 8.77 Million Viewers (3.4 Mil for 18-49) (Gray's Anatomy Goes
into Repeat mode)
1/24/08 - NO AIRING
1/31/08 - 10 Million Viewers (3.2 Mil for 18-49) (LOST New Season
Debuts)
2/7/08 - 8.57 Million Viewers (3.1 Mil for 18-49) (REPEAT)
An 8.57 and a 3.1 on a repeat? FOX will take that in a heartbeat. Maybe
FOX gained some viewership from the Superbowl after all…
Friday, February 8, 2008
1 vs. 100
1/4/08 - 8.59 Million Viewers
1/11/08 - 7.69 Million Viewers (1.9 Mil for 18-49)
1/18/08 - 7.16 Million Viewers (1.8 Mil for 18-49)
1/25/08 - 8.44 Million Viewers (2.2 Mil for 18-49) (Unopposed)
2/1/08 - 7.87 Million Viewers (2.0 Mil for 18-49)
2/8/08 - 7.1 Million Viewers (1.7 Mil for 18-49) (Unopposed)
Uh oh. That is not a good number to pull when you're only running
against repeats and Smackdown!. The gimmicks aren't working, and this is
clearly a show on the fence. The ratings will be very telling when it
has to go up against Episode #1 of Drew Carey's The Price is Right
Million Dollar Spectacular in 2 weeks.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Dance Wars
1/7/08 - 10.97 Million Viewers
1/14/08 - 10.50 Million Viewers (2.9 Mil for 18-49)
1/21/08 - 9.86 Million Viewers (2.6 Mil for 18-49)
1/28/08 - 9.3 Million Viewers (2.4 Mil for 18-49)
2/4/08 - 9.8 Million Viewers (2.5 Mil for 18-49)
2/11/08 - 9.1 Million Viewers (2.4 Mil for 18-49)
American Gladiators
1/7/08 - 10.73 Million Viewers
1/14/08 - 10.66 Million Viewers (4.6 Mil for 18-49)
1/21/08 - 10.08 Million Viewers (4.3 Mil for 18-49)
1/28/08 - 8.4 Million Viewers (3.5 Mil for 18-49) (NOT AIRED IN ALL OF
AMERICA)
2/4/08 - 9.5 Million Viewers (3.3 Mil for 18-49)
2/11/08 - 8.8 Million Viewers (3.7 Mil for 18-49)
With only 1 episode left (and with both
shows doing around the same thing) I'll give the same evaluation to both
shows. They will both get a second series renewal. However, they should
both be relegated to the summer - I think both shows, against non-repeat
programming, would get hammered. The fact that the numbers are going
down while both shows are racing towards a conclusion is not a great
sign. And make both shows an hour. The 90 minutes episodes are
sleep-inducing.
Deal or No Deal
1/7/08 - 10.93 Million Viewers
1/14/08 - 15.0 Million Viewers (5.0 Mil for 18-49)
1/21/08 - 14.13 Million Viewers (4.4 Mil for 18-49)
1/28/08 - NO SHOW
2/4/08 - 12.7 Million Viewers (4.4 Mil for 18-49)
2/11/08 - 13.0 Million Viewers (4.2 Mil for 18-49)
DOND will keep these number as long as it's stuck at 9:30, so expect the
same thing next week. When (if) it gets back to family viewing time, the
numbers should rise - assuming we're still in Million Dollar Mission
territory.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
American Idol
1/15/08 - 33.24 Million Viewers (13.8 Mil for 18-49)
1/22/08 - 29.05 Million Viewers (11.7 Mil for 18-49)
1/29/08 - 28.0 Million Viewers (11.0 Mil for 18-49)
2/5/08 - 27.79 Million Viewers (11.2 Mil for 18-49)
2/12/08 - 29.87 Million Viewers (12.2 Mil for 18-49)
We’ve said for the longest time that America wants to see the talent,
and not the jokes. As this was the first episode of Hollywood week, the
numbers coincide with that, as we have gotten the best episode of this
show since season 4. If the public likes the Top 24, then we can see
30's across the board next week - and I think we will.
The Biggest Loser 5
1/1/08 - 8.5-12.72 Million Viewers
1/8/08 - 8.48-12.13 Million Viewers (5.2 Mil for 18-49)
1/15/08 - 7.28 Million Viewers (3.0 Mil for 18-49) (IDOL Premiere)
1/22/08 - (AGAINST IDOL (8-9)) 7.01 Million Viewers (2.9 Mil for 18-49)
1/22/08 - (NOT AGAINST IDOL (9-10)) 10.87 Million Viewers (4.5 Mil for
18-49)
1/29/08 - (AGAINST IDOL (8-9)) 6.8 Million Viewers (2.7 Mil for 18-49)
1/29/08 - (NOT AGAINST IDOL (9-10)) 9.7 Million Viewers (3.9 Mil for
18-49)
2/5/08 - 7.9 Million Viewers (3.2 Mil for 18-49)
2/12/08 - 7.47 Million Viewers (3.0 Mil for 18-49)
So why is this a good number? Because it's up against American Idol,
it's pulling their best numbers since season 1 and it would have
probably hit a 10 or better if it wasn't against Idol. NBC has already
renewed the show for season 6 (and well justified) - but can it pull the
same numbers next week against a live show?
Big Brother
2/12/08 - 7.3 Million Viewers (2.7 Mil for 18-49)
So why is this a good number? Because it's holding it's own against Idol
as well, almost drawing even with The Biggest loser. We'll see in a week
whether or not the game and twists went over with the audience - or if
they'd rather watch Idol. But if they get the same numbers on Wednesday,
it would be almost double what Power of 10 drew (no pun intended), so
that would be a good sign for the show.
So the old guard of Survivor and Big Brother either won it's timeslot or
did well enough to make their network happy. But can they keep it up
against a Live Idol? Is moving American Gladiators to Sunday for the
finale a good idea? Will My Dad be better than your repeats? And will
the Pussycat Dolls be Girl-icious or Girl-icky? Find out the answers in
7.
Gordon Pepper scored the final touchdown with 35 seconds left to play.
E-mail him at
gordon@gameshownewsnet.com.
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