nielsen-related stories
Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:33PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Ratings, Reality-Free
If you're watching television right now, congratulations. You are part of a new world record.
The Nielsen Company announced that
TV viewing for the 2008-09 season reached a new high in average watching time. Now the average American spends four hours and 49 minutes every day in front of the idiot box and the average household spends more than eight hours a day watching television. ("God bless America, land where we loaf, staring down from, our favorite futon, all day and night at the light of HBO")
However, this doesn't mean everyone to celebrating. In fact, the big four networks (five if you count the CW) actually saw a decline in viewers because we have so many other choices now between cable and the Internet. Do you any of you actually watch that much television?
Posted Oct 30th 2009 10:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
If I tell you right now, before November sweeps, that CBS will renew
NCIS: Los Angeles for a second season, you won't be surprised. The pre-season projections for this show were that it was a guaranteed success. It wasn't only that it was a spinoff from CBS's top-rated drama series,
NCIS. No, it was programming. CBS slotted
NCIS: LA in the hour right after
NCIS. It had a very strong spot, a monster lead in.
Continue reading Five reasons I'm not hooked on NCIS: LA
Posted Oct 25th 2009 5:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show
The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3 million viewers, the highest ever premiere for a show on that network. However, I mistakenly thought the show aired Friday and compared the ratings to shows on other networks that night. I sincerely apologize if that confused readers. Here's the story as it should have been written in the first place.
Jeff Dunham's success was surprising and quite a feat. As my mother might say, "Go figure."
The Jeff Dunham Show.
And the number of viewers got even better later that night when a repeat of the show aired -- 7.9 million viewers.
Continue reading Comedy Central's Jeff Dunham Show is a smash
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 1:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Casting, Reality-Free
Circle the date on the calendar. On November 24 -- that's right before Thanksgiving so you might be busy with other stuff -- don't miss
NCIS: Los Angeles because Pauley Perrette's Abby will be guesting. She won't just be on a monitoring talking to the folks in L.A.; she'll be in the City of Angels.
Goth Abby in the City of Angels?
We knew it was coming. But how oxymoronic. All that sunshine is counter to the dark vibe, although if you ask me, Abby is a walking oxymoron. She's a scientist in love with forensics who is covered in tattoos, has a dog collar as a necklace and likes pigtails.
Anyway, back to the crossover. Michael Ausiello's sources have leaked to him at EW.com that Abby's visit to the Left Coast is a major plot point. Abby is not there by choice; she's been abducted.
Continue reading Abby's trip to NCIS Los Angeles is set
Posted Oct 7th 2009 12:27PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
It's bigger than the NFL. It's drawing more than celebrity dancing. It's the little show that could. In its seventh season on the air,
NCIS is the number one show according to the Nielsen ratings. Over 21 million viewers for the week of September 28 put the drama series on the top of the heap, and there's no sign that it was a fluke. This is the
second week in a row NCIS was the top show.
The question a lot of people are asking, especially those who don't watch or have never even checked out
NCIS is this: how did that happen? It's not normal for a show to get stronger after the five year mark. Some, like a
Seinfeld for example, start slowly and nearly are canceled, but then find an audience and remain secure for the rest of it's run. Before
Seinfeld,
The Dick Van Dyke Show had done the same thing.
Continue reading NCIS is number one again
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 6:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
Over the summer, spoilers were leaked that the
NCIS season premiere would begin with a bang. They weren't kidding. Last night's show was a spine-tingling puzzle of an episode that unraveled scene by scene, building suspense to the ultimate -- satisfying -- conclusion. If you were thinking that, like last year, the team was going to be torn asunder after the way things ended with Ziva being returned to Israel, you were pleasantly surprised. More after the jump.
However, there's another story to report. The overnight ratings are in and the viewers have spoken. Twenty million of them!
The return of NCIS zoomed to the top of the ratings with 20 million viewers tuning in. That helped CBS launch
NCIS: Los Angeles, opening with 18 million, and also bolstered
The Good Wife with nearly 14 million. Any way you slice it, those are stellar numbers. The folk at the Black Rock must be dancing in the hallways.
Continue reading NCIS's big-time return on screen and in the ratings
Posted Aug 20th 2009 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Ratings
Last night, everybody's favorite obsessive compulsive decorator and house flipper, Jeff Lewis, was back on Bravo, and the ratings for
Flipping Out were through the roof. The Season Three premiere was the highest ever for the reality show, up 53 percent from last season's opener.
More important than the numbers, though, was the show itself. If you want to see how the recession has hit the real estate business, check out this show. Instead of flipping million dollar homes in Southern California, Jeff is now reduced to taking renovation jobs and working for other people. He's not used to having to work for others, but it's great to see it happen.
Continue reading Ratings boom for Bravo's Flipping Out
Posted Aug 10th 2009 3:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Ratings, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
A lot of times, the news about ratings isn't good. Or not good enough, so shows that you care about have to hope for the kindness of TV executives to give that show more time to improve or find a new time slot or something ... just to survive. That's why it's such a pleasure that
Burn Notice did great in the ratings for the summer season finale last Thursday. According to the numbers, 7.6 million total viewers were glued to the set, the most eyeballs for any scripted TV shows that night.
Continue reading Great news for Burn Notice
Posted Jun 18th 2009 8:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Cable/Satellite, Hardware, Reality-Free
Earlier this year, when we were going to switch to digital television in February, my sister sent me an e-mail and asked me if I was ready for the switch, and I thought to myself, I think I've been ready for several years. So I'm not quite sure why people are still having a problem switching from analog to digital (I'm especially confused when people say that older citizens use TV as their "lifeline" to the outside world - if you're using words like that, you really should switch or your family should switch for you).
Nielsen is reporting that
2.5 million homes still haven't switched to a digital TV or bought a converter box, even though that original switch date was
extended to last Friday. I'm wondering why these people haven't switched yet. I'm not talking about people who have a TV but really don't watch it because they read books (as if you can't do both, but that's another rant). I'm talking about people who watch TV a lot and haven't made the switch yet.
Posted May 22nd 2009 9:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: American Idol, Watercooler Talk, Ratings, Judges
The week before the
American Idol gigantic-mahunga-godzilla two-hour-plus finale aired, Simon Cowell predicted it would be a
"ding-dong finale." Of course, that brilliant prognostication was hype personified, but Simon did his job. The finale drew 28.8 million viewers. Ironically, the buzz in the biz when those figures were revealed skewed it as a bad thing.
It was the lowest-rated American Idol finale ever. But it still drew a tremendous amount of eyeballs, so why is it being characterized as a flop?
The answer is simply this:
American Idol is competing with itself. It's expected to exceed its highs year after year, and generally speaking in television, that just doesn't happen. Older shows decline, and yes, even superhits like American Idol can't stay on top forever. Look at
ER or
CSI.
Continue reading American Idol's finale was a flop?
Posted Apr 3rd 2009 9:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Ratings, Reality-Free
According to industry scuttlebutt,
My Name Is Earl is on the ropes and at risk of being canceled by NBC. Nikki Finke is reporting that it's practically a done deal at NBC, but
Earl could be moving to Fox.
It's not just the lousy Nielsen ratings that have done the shaggy-dog sitcom in, it's also the rising production costs. NBC has an entire line-up that's bleeding in the ratings, so surgery is required. It is very likely that
Earl will get the ax.
Continue reading Could My Name Is Earl jump to Fox?
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 1:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
How happy is
Chuck Lorre this morning? I'd say on a scale of one-to-ten, he's an eleven. According to reports,
CBS wants more of its Chuck Lorre sitcoms. In particular, they're talking three years more of
Two and a Half Men and at least two for
The Big Bang Theory.
While other shows sweat out the word of renewal or cancellation, Mr. Lorre seems to be CBS's prime time player they count on the most. Okay, second-most.
Jerry Bruckheimer is numero uno with the
CSI franchises,
Without A Trace, Cold Case, Eleventh Hour and
The Amazing Race.
Continue reading CBS sticking with Men and Big Bang
Posted Feb 25th 2009 2:04PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
Television as an industry is in need of a major overhaul. It's old, dusty, soiling itself, and not keeping up with the technology that changes from day to day. If it were an old, sick animal, or Larry King, it would probably be put to sleep. Alas, so many of us rely on the old biddy that it would be hard for us to say good-bye.
Luckily, I am a resourceful, intelligent and, dare I say it, gorgeous human being who has some ideas in mind to freshen up the television landscape. Yes, it may mean sacrifice from some of us (mainly network executives) and we may lose something in the process. But, in the end, the industry that we love to quietly despise while watching Cheaters will thrive once again.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: What I would get rid of in television
Posted Dec 10th 2008 6:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Ratings, Reality-Free, The Mentalist
In sports parlance, every now and then a rookie sensation comes along and is an instant success. Like Robert Redford in
The Natural, only it's fact and not fiction. In TV parlance, Simon Baker -- who kind of looks like younger Redford (think
The Sting and
The Way We Were) -- has pulled off a rookie success that makes him look like pure gold.
The latest weekly Nielsen ratings are in and
The Mentalist is number one, just slightly ahead of
NCIS, with 18.8 million viewers. Simon Baker has a certifiable, solid and probably long-term hit series on his hands, and you know the powers that be at CBS have to be dancing in the corridors at the Black Rock.
Continue reading Rookie sensation: The Mentalist tops the Nielsens
Posted Nov 18th 2008 8:27AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free
All things Obama are doing really well right now. Not just winning the election, but the top of the charts for Senator Barack Obama's two books, merchandise with Obama's image and name, anything and everything about the president-elect is hot, hot, hot. Thanks to the first major post-election sit-down interview with Barack and Michelle Obama last Sunday,
CBS's 60 Minutes had its largest audience in nearly a decade. The 6.4 rating/16 share (adults 18-49) translated into a viewing audience of just under 25 million.
The enthusiasm and excitement for Obama is not unusual when you're talking about a new president. I recall this kind of buzz before Bill Clinton took office in 1993.
The Clinton Inaugural even warranted a two-hour TV special that featured a glitzy array of celebrity Friends of Bill, like Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Fleetwood Mac, Warren Beatty and more.
Continue reading 60 Minutes scores with Obama
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