We’ve now entered the home stretch on this television season. Last Thursday kicked off the final sweeps period for the season, and everyone is gearing up to go out with a bang, or a whimper in some cases. The good news for viewers is that means one final rush of new programming before summer hits and we all go outside and do stuff, or something. CBS took the early lead, winning the first two nights of sweeps in viewers, and going first and second in the demo. That won’t last though, as the Idol doubleshot is looming.
CBS - As usual, The Amazing Race (10.65m/3.2) got the week off to a good start. It all went to hell pretty fast though, when the TV movie When Love Is Not Enough (7.06m/1.2) stepped in for Undercover Boss and Cold Case. Monday was slow as well, with only Rules Of Engagement (6.83m/2.5) being new. Of the repeats, it’s worth noting that Big Bang Theory (10.83m/3.6) was still the most watched sit-com of the week, and finished #2 in the demo.
Tuesday brought a full slate, with NCIS (16.29m/3.5) and NCIS: LA (15.62m/3.2) both down from where they’ve been most of the season, but still very solid. The Good Wife (12.07m/2.2) isn’t standing up to the end of the season nearly as well. Survivor (12.74m/4.1) remains the star of Thursday, with the #1 demo for the night on all networks. It’s amazing how well the show is holding up after so many seasons. CSI (13.63m/3) can’t say the same thing as it continues to show its age. Still, the two combined with The Mentalist (14.84m/3.2) to easily win the first night of sweeps. Things wrapped up Friday with soft performances from Ghost Whisperer (6.52m/1.5), Medium (6.33m/1.4), and Miami Medical (6.72m/1.3).
ABC - The numbers still look a little off for Desperate Housewives (11.29m/3.4) and Brothers & Sisters (8.36m/2.3), but there are clearly bigger fish to fry at the network. Dancing With The Stars (20.4m/4.4) remains solid, again taking home most-watched show honors for the week. Romantically Challenged (9.06m/2.6) followed with the expected second week drop. That puts it just behind Surviving Suburbia‘s second episode (9.71m/2.6). Probably not a great sign.
The news wasn’t great on Tuesday either. DWTS Results (12.39m/2.4) doesn’t hold up well against full competition, falling to fourth in the demo. Worse, a repeat of Lost (5.58m/1.8) saw the numbers drop for V (4.87m/1.9). Things were kind of mixed on Wednesday. The Middle (7.1m/2.4) and Cougar Town (6.49m/2.8) aren’t doing great, but they’ve both managed to gain some traction. Modern Family (10.01m/4.2), on the other hand, is a legitimate hit. And bringing up the rear, it would appear that Happy Town (5.25m/1.7) is not long for this schedule.
FlashForward (5.17m/1.6) continues to give the network reason to cancel it on Thursday, while Grey’s Anatomy (10.47m/3.8) and Private Practice (7.78m/2.9) continue to be down, but solid. Despite the late season declines, Grey’s still has the #1 demo at 9. Friday brought more Wife Swap (3.73m/1.3) and 20/20 (4.39m/1.4).
FOX - The Simpsons (5.92m/2.7) and American Dad (5.33m/2.7) were the new half of Animation Domination that kicked off the week. House (10.86m/4.2) and 24 (9.12m/2.8) followed on Monday with the expected numbers. The combination of American Idol (19.42m/6.9) and Glee (12.18m/5.2) continues to be perfect on Tuesday. And the Idol Results (20.06m/6.7) don’t suffer from the dropoff that DWTS does. Bones (9.28m/2.6) is now a solid #2 on Thursday against a full schedule. That half of the Thursday plan has worked very well. The Fringe (5.55m/2) half? Not so much.
NBC – Celebrity Apprentice (7.93m/3.1) made for a good start to the week. It looks very good when the Undercover Boss isn’t around. On Monday, the return of Chuck (5.78m/2.1) was right on pace with its last original, which means that the decision for another season is going to go to the wire. The decision on Trauma (5m/1.5) was already made once, and will most likely be made again. The Biggest Loser (7.54m/2.8) felt some pressure from a full slate on Tuesday, but held up well.
Parenthood (5.81m/2.4) also took some heat, but did manage to still win the hour in the demo. Mercy (4.92m/1.4) remains a disappointment on Wednesday, but SVU (9.49m/2.9) continues to bounce back. The 10 o’clock hour really agrees with the show. Community (4.36m/1.9) and Parks & Recreation (4.03m/1.9) had the 8 o’clock hour up a bit for the week, but both remain short of what My Name Is Earl (5.16m/2.1) did last year. The Office (7.01m/3.6) remains the biggest highlight for the network, while 30 Rock (5.44m/2.7) finished as expected. The Marriage Ref (4.37m/1.9) is looking more and more like it should be a special event type series that avoids big series competition. Who Do You Think You Are (5.21m/1.2) and Dateline (7.3m/1.9) finished things up.
CW - There were no surprises from One Tree Hill (2.01m/1.1) and Gossip Girl (2.05m/1.1) to start the week. Or from 90210 (1.54m/.7) and Next Top Model (3.29m/1.5). Those numbers all look just like what we could guess those shows would bring in at this point. The one surprise to me came on Thursday. Vampire Diaries (3.39m/1.6) was right on pace with the week before, but Supernatural (2.38m/1.1) was down nearly half a million viewers. I didn’t see that coming. Smallville ( 2.37m/.9) remained steady on Friday.
CABLE – The big news on cable this week is actually from last week. The cable numbers for 4/23 came in and almost nobody is watching Party Down (.13m/.1). The only thing that comes to mind that has seen less viewers than that is Gravity (.12m/.1), which aired after it. My initial reaction was that since the show is on Starz, it really doesn’t reach a lot of viewers. But then I remembered that Spartacus was getting over a million viewers. So the potential viewers are there, but they have no interest at all in Party Down. I find it strange. On the positive side of cable, check out Pawn Stars (5.36m/2).
Basic
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Clacked by Brett Love 
on May 03, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Chosing Parvati as picture for this post… you sly fox ;-)
*POST AUTHOR*
Thank you. But really, the sly foxes are the powers that be over at Survivor. In its 20th season(!!)the show is still as compelling as ever, even able to surprise us with what happens at tribal council. I think much of the success for this season goes to how they chose the heroes and the villains. It’s a very good group.
And if I have the math right, Parvati has now spent more time on Survivor than anyone else. That’s smart, because while she is arguably the most beautiful contestant they’ve had, she’s also one of the craftiest players of the game.
That was _exactly_ what I was getting at :-)
Somebody should really write that down. Maybe in form of a post.
*nudge*
;-)