The last week has been full of reports on the shenanigans of Charlie Sheen. It seems that no matter where you turn, someone is referencing the craziness. Heck, if D.W.’s Quotation Marks post is to be believed (and really, you can trust him), it’s already worked its way into the scripts for other shows. Now, if you hate that, and all of the ridiculousness surrounding Charlie Sheen, I’m not going to argue with you. It’s beyond silly at this point. Here in the ratings column however, it is worth pointing out that no matter what you or I may think of him, he still brings the eyeballs. And television networks have never been known to shy away from any kind of behavior if said behavior brings eyeballs.
Examples! The first casualty of the Sheen incident was production of 2 ½ Men. Clearly that isn’t what CBS would have preferred. It has been the number one comedy on television for years. But how bad off are they, really? Despite being forced to run another repeat in the last week of sweeps, 2 ½ Men (11.63m/3.3) was still the most watched comedy of the week. Even more viewers than a new Modern Family.
It gets better. Or, worse, depending on your perspective. Tuesday at 10 has been a black hole for ABC all season. Detroit 187 has been so bad that it’s been pulled for sweeps and replaced with news specials. Last week, that news special was 20/20 Charlie Sheen (9.32m/3.2). Not only did it vault ABC to first in the demo for the hour, it also topped CBS’s The Good Wife by a full point. What’s more, that’s the number 3 demo of the night behind American Idol and NCIS.
The crazy continued on Friday, where the only show to top 2 in the demo was Dateline (7.27m/2.1) with — you guessed it — Charlie Sheen. So, while many of us may be tired of all things Charlie Sheen, the safe bet is that it’s not going to stop any time soon. As long as it means ratings, someone is going to keep running him up the flagpole.
ABC – As great as the Charlie Sheen 20/20 result was for the network, they had something even better to start the week, The Academy Awards (37.92m/11.8). That is off the pace of last year’s show (41.7m/13.3), but still a very good result. The news was good Monday as well, with The Bachelor (11.32m/3.5) up again, and Castle (10.11m/2.8) taking advantage of a H50 repeat. Tuesday, No Ordinary Family (4.26m/1.2) is dead in the water, and V (5.04m/1.8) is barely hanging on. Modern Family (10.11m/4.1) was again the standout on Wednesday. The Middle (7.86m/2.3) was okay, and Mr Sunshine (6.87m/2.4) actually made some small gains. Things just aren’t looking good for Better With You (5.67m/1.7) or Off The Map (4.96m/1.7).
FOX - House (11.01m/3.8) started the week on a good note, with the top demo in the hour. Chicago Code (8.04m/2.1) followed, just up in viewers and steady in the demo. That led to three straight nights of American Idol, which led to a good overall week for the network. The Tuesday (21.39m/7.6) episode was followed by Raising Hope (8.68m/3.3). Wednesday (22.77m/7.8) was followed by Traffic Light (7.32m/2.8). And Thursday (25.26m/8.2) went the full two hours. The week finished with the NAACP Image Awards (2.34m/.6) on Friday.
CBS - The Amazing Race (7.68m/2.1) took a bit of a hit from the Academy Awards to start the week. But things picked up with comedy Monday, including How I Met Your Mother (9.24m/3.4), Mad Love (7.9m/2.7), and Mike & Molly (11.35m/3.4). Mad Love remains slightly below par for the CBS Monday. Idol‘s return to Tuesday did slow down the NCIS train. But as we’ve seen in the past, the show holds up surprisingly well to the increased competition. NCIS (19.21m/3.8) and NCIS LA (15.67m/3.2) were both down, but solid. The Good Wife (11.38m/2.2) was in the usual ballpark.
Wednesday was solid as well, thanks to Survivor (11.32m/3.3), Criminal Minds (14.37m/3.6), and Suspect Behavior (10.36m/2.6). With sweeps ending, Thursday’s only offering was Rules Of Engagement (8.24m/2.4). And the week wrapped with The Defenders (8.58m/1.5) on Friday.
NBC - It was not a good week for the peacock. Monday was off to the usual slow start from Chuck (5.35m/1.7) and The Cape (4.1m/1.2). Harry’s Law (9.2m/1.8) was a little better. The Biggest Loser (7.06m/2.4) also lost a little steam with Idol back on Tuesday, which pulled Parenthood (5.03m/1.9) back below 2. Wednesday and Thursday weren’t much help, with the only new programming being an episode of Minute To Win It (3.49m/1). And the week finished with Who Do You Think You Are (6.13m/1.2) and Dateline (6.26m/1.5 – 7.27m/2.1).
CW – The run into spring is looking a little rough for the CW. 90210 (1.45m/.7), Gossip Girl (1.39m/.7), One Tree Hill (1.59m/.7), and Hellcats (1.46m/.6) were all off the pace of the season. Worse, Next Top Model (1.96m/.9) was also down. Shedding For The Wedding (1.07m/.4) was as expected. And with no new Vampire Diaries or Nikita, Smallville (2.24m/1) and Supernatural (2.22m/1) were the only shows to top 2m viewers and 1 in the demo.
CABLE - My biggest thought on cable this week is a question. How many offers do you think Charlie Sheen had this week for his own reality show? I set the over/under at 3.5.
BASIC
PREMIUM
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Mar 07, 2011 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
