As I started to sift through the numbers from last week, that’s the question that came to mind. This was another week full of low numbers, with many shows actually hitting series lows. And that seems odd, given our place in the season. Most shows are ramping up to their big finale, and you might think that would bring in the viewers. Alas, that’s not the case, and there was blood in the water. The most positive numbers might have been on cable, for the newly reformatted NFL draft. The first round, on Thursday no less, managed to come in at #2 in the demo.
CBS – The week got off to a good start with the Country Music Awards (13.02m/3.2). That was good for most watched, and second in the demo on the night. Although, it does look a little disappointing when you compare it to what the other awards shows have been putting up this season. The news was also good on Monday, as How I Met Your Mother (7.71m/3.2) and Rules Of Engagement (7.49m/3) bounced back from an off week. The more interesting numbers Monday though, came from repeats of 2 ½ Men (11.42m/3.8) and Big Bang Theory (11.66m/4.1). Their repeat numbers are better than new numbers for every other sit-com on TV. CSI: Miami (10.39m/3.2) finished the night moving back to #1.
The news was decidedly worse on Wednesday. Old Christine (5.2m/1.5) and Accidentally On Purpose (5.23m/1.5) were both well off the pace. That’s going to make the decision between those two, Rules, and Gary very interesting. Things were slightly better Thursday, with Survivor (11.98m/3.6) riding the best tribal council ever to an easy win for the best demo of the night. The Mentalist (13.96m/3) also looked okay at 10, but CSI (13.35m/2.8) continues to be a worry at 9. Do you suppose William Petersen is getting some phone calls? The week finished with another nail being hammered into the coffin of Miami Medical (6m/1).
FOX - It was par for the course on Sunday, with The Simpsons (5.83m/2.7), Cleveland (5.09m/2.4), and American Dad (5.22m/2.5) all around the usual number. Monday, House (10.82m/4.1) remained down a bit, but still strong. 24 (8.94m/2.8) was okay as well. Tuesday, American Idol (19.67m/6.9) and Glee (12.98m/5.3) again easily dominated the night. The same was true Wednesday for the Idol Gives Back special (18.82m/5.9). That was down from a year ago, but still without any real competition. Thursday found Bones (9.01m/2.5) and Fringe (5.84m/2.1) in the same spot as just about every other show on the night. That’s still good for a second place for Bones, but Fringe falls to fourth.
ABC - Lows for Desperate Housewives (10.62m/3.3) and Brothers & Sisters (7.84m/2.2) on Sunday weren’t a great start to the week. But there was some good news on Monday, with Dancing With The Stars (21.07m/4.8) easily #1 on the night, and again the most watched show of the week. Alyssa Milano’s new comedy, Romantically Challenged (10.67m/2.9) had an okay start. However, it’s worth noting that Surviving Suburbia premiered with better numbers (11.25m/3) in this spot last year. So, the jury is still out on this one. Next week will be very telling. The change in lead-in also brought a drop for Castle (10.39m/2.6), which again fell behind CSI: Miami.
Tuesday was rough, with the DWTS Results (13.56m/2.4) and Lost (9.53m/3.7) both finding lows while V (5.81m/2.2) continues to struggle. Most surprising to me there is the continued drop for Lost. I thought that these final few episodes would draw some of the missing 15 million viewers back to see how things wrap up. Maybe they’re all waiting for the finale. The good news on Thursday was that despite the carnage all over the schedule, FlashForward (5.53m/1.6) was up. The bad news is that when you can go up to 1.6, you’re really in trouble. That didn’t do any favors for Private Practice (7.49m/2.3), which struggled in moving to 9. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (3.91m/1.3) and 20/20 (4.67m/1.1) finished off the week rather quietly.
NBC - The bright spots for the peacock were few and far between. It pretty much came down to The Biggest Loser (8.58m/3.4) and Parenthood (7.27m/2.9) on Tuesday, and SVU (8.75m/2.8) on Wednesday. Otherwise, the week toggled between disappointment and disaster. Celebrity Apprentice (6.82m/2.5) gained nothing from Undercover Boss being off the schedule on Sunday, but still looked good compared to the train wreck that is Monday night. Really, I’m not sure what the point of repeating Chuck (2.85m/.9) is. It’s certainly not doing anything for the new episodes of Trauma (4.68m/1.3).
Would you say that the numbers for Trauma indicate that it should probably be canceled? I would. That’s interesting when you consider that as bad as it is, it still had a better demo than Mercy (5.06m/1.2) on Wednesday, and more viewers than Community (3.67m/1.6) and 30 Rock (3.995m/1.9) from 8 to 9 on Thursday. Granted, I would normally round that 30 Rock up to 4m, but I went to three decimals just to make the point that new episodes of Community and 30 Rock couldn’t get 4 million viewers. This is what NBC wants to hang their hat on? I find it fascinating.
The Office (6.3m/3.2), by that comparison, looks stellar. But that is still well off the pace for the show. The second episode of 30 Rock (5.16m/2.5) again made the case that the show has only ever been successful when Michael Scott hands them an audience. Who Do You Think You Are (6.35m/1.3) and Dateline (7.08m/1.5) finished things up Friday.
CW - A short week started with Next Top Model (2.98m/1.4) earning a 4th place finish in the demo on Wednesday, which was again wasted on Fly Girls (.9m/.4) and High Society (.8m/.4). Vampire Diaries (3.33m/1.6) bucked the Thursday trend and was up for the week. It also tied FlashForward and Community in the demo. Supernatural (2.82m/1.4) and Smallville (2.23m/1) were both up as well.
CABLE - The big news this week on cable was the new NFL draft schedule. The league split the proceedings into three days, with the first round (7.29m/3.2) going down in prime time on Thursday night. Those are solid numbers. The only network show that managed to beat the draft in the demo was Survivor. Everything else came up short. I suspect we can plan on seeing this same schedule again next year. Also, for those wondering, the 4/16 Stargate Universe numbers were (1.42m/.5). Other cable numbers:
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Clacked by Brett Love 
on Apr 26, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Love the draft. The stories of the players are always interesting, and it’s interesting to see some of the hot shots knocked down a peg.
*POST AUTHOR*
Agreed. Watching Clausen continue to slip, and Kiper’s reaction to it, made for entertaining television.
The draft is a live event. Most of those other shows are tivo’d/hulu’d/etc events. I would guess that has a pretty big damn impact on those numbers.
*POST AUTHOR*
The draft certainly had some effect on the Thursday numbers, but it’s not enough to drag every show that far down. If you look at Monday Night Football, it does much larger numbers than the draft, but it doesn’t crater every other network show.
Is it too early for the Damages season finale numbers?