You didn’t have to be a faithful follower of the numbers to know what was going to come out on top last week. Of course, Super Bowl XLIV was going to be huge. It wasn’t just huge. It finally knocked off the M.A.S.H. finale as the most watched program ever. That made for a great start to the week for CBS. With more great numbers for the Monday comedies, the NCIS duo, and the return of Survivor, the good news lasted all week. At the other end of the week, NBC took over. The opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics were well below Super Bowl levels, but rather impressive all on their own.
CBS - Super Bowl XLIV (101.43m/38.2) managed to top 100 million viewers. Jiminy. With that many people tuned in, even a trainwreck like Undercover Boss (38.65m/16.2) can look like a world beater. Round two of that one is obviously going to take a huge hit. The question now is how much it will drop. Can Undercover Boss stand on its own? Monday night, with How I Met Your Mother (10m/3.8), Accidentally On Purpose (9.1m/3.3), 2 ½ Men (17.67m/5.7), Big Bang Theory (16.26m/6), and CSI: Miami (13.53m/3.9) looked to have received a bit of a Bowl boost as well. Check out that 6 in the demo for Big Bang. I’m sure it makes the Belarusian rip-off a little easier to swallow.
Things were good on Tuesday as well. NCIS (19.75m/4.1) remains virtually unphased by Idol. And NCIS:LA (17.91m/4.1) managed to keep all of Jethro’s demo for the first time, even while airing against Lost. The Good Wife (14.75m/3.1) was strong as well. Wednesday wasn’t as exciting to start, but Old Christine (8.1m/2.3) and Gary Unmarried (7.5m/2.4) were both up. Criminal Minds (14.33m/3.6) remained steady versus Idol while CSI:NY (12.98m/3.3) easily won its hour. Thursday brought the return of Survivor (14.15m/4.5), and it looks like people like the Heroes vs Villains. That two hour premiere led to a nice performance from The Mentalist (15.86m/3.7).
NBC - The week started on Monday, with Chuck (6.6m/2.2) slipping a bit more while Heroes (4.43m/2) limped through a season (series?) finale. The Biggest Loser (8.89m/3.5) looked better on Tuesday, although it has taken a sizable hit from the return of Idol. Wednesday, Mercy (6.78m/1.8) continued to struggle. That’s good for a 4th place, losing to the 834th repeat of the Charlie Brown Valentines episode.
Community (5.15m/2.3), Parks & Recreation (4.98m/2.3), The Office (7.44m/3.7), and 30 Rock (6m/2.8) were all about where one would expect on Thursday. The big news came Friday, as millions of people tuned in to see Catriona Le May Doan light the flame in the opening for the Winter Olympics (32.6m/7.7). The Olympics made for an oddly active Saturday night as well, with NBC reporting an average of 26.2 million viewers for the night.
FOX - House (13.6m/5.1) was again on top to kick off Monday, followed by another solid outing for 24 (10.27m/3.3). American Idol took over from there, with “Hollywood Week” bringing good numbers on Tuesday (27.89m/10.1) and Wednesday (25.17m/9.5). Past Life was just ok, following Idol on Tuesday (8.32m/2.8), and then collapsed completely standing on its own on Thursday (5.31m/1.4). Human Target (8.91m/2.5) again led off Wednesday, with a number that puts it squarely on the bubble.
ABC - The Bachelor (12.35m/4.1) wasn’t the number one show on the network, but it might have been the most impressive, given expectations. Castle (9.54m/2.5) followed, and was down, but still looks good considering the rest of the 10PM schedule. Round two for Lost (11.05m/5) looked very good on Tuesday. That wasn’t too far off the premiere number, and it was the #1 demo for the network. That made for a small boost to The Forgotten (5.92m/2).
Wednesday, The Middle (7.83m/2.9) continued to grow, and Modern Family (9.84m/4.1) put up great numbers against Idol. Cougar Town (6.41m/2.7) didn’t stand up nearly as well against the increased competition. Ugly Betty (4.68m/1.6) seems to have found its Wednesday level. On Thursday, the bad news continued for The Deep End (5.7m/1.5). And, while not bad news, Grey’s Anatomy (12.74m/4.4) remained off the pace. Private Practice (9.04m/3.1) was solid at 10.
CW - It was more of the same from the three night CW schedule. Monday, One Tree Hill (2.17m/1.1) was normal and Life Unexpected (2m/.9) took another small dip. Thursday found Vampire Diaries (3.51m/1.5) and Supernatural (2.51m/1) down a bit against the return of Survivor. And Friday, Smallville (2.48m/1) continued to plug along.
CABLE - There’s good news, and bad news. The good news is that White Collar (3.83m/1.3) and Psych (3.57m/1.3) both bounced back after an off week. The bad news comes from Caprica (1.13m/.4). The numbers are in from the February 5th episode, and the show took another sizable hit. Other cable numbers for the week:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Feb 15, 2010 @ 08:55 EST5EDT
What do you make of the numbers for Damages? Is that about right for FX? What kind of numbers did The Shield pull in its heyday? Damages is just so good, it’s hard to believe more people haven’t found it. Isn’t FX a free cable station?
*POST AUTHOR*
Yes, FX is a free cable station, and the numbers for Damages are horrible. I don’t have any of the numbers for The Shield handy at the moment, but a better example is probably the most recent season of Sons Of Anarchy. It was regularly around 3.5 million viewers and a 2 in the demo. So, triple the viewers and 10x the demo…
My theory for why it sticks around is that, like you, FX believes it’s a really good show. The fact that it gets recognized by the various awards shows also helps, and it also scores well when measuring the viewer base by wealth. That being said, those numbers mean it lives on the bubble. It could be gone after this season, and it would be hard to argue against that decision.
Funny I came here to ask the exact same thing. .2 in the demo. Yowser..
The relative numbers for Caprica and SGU prove to my mind that the Cylons are wrong: there is no God in their universe.