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Any hits yet? Sure, maybe. Kinda.
The first full week of the TV season has come and gone, and if there's an official Hot Show out there among the crop of newbies, I can't find it.
Sure, several shows have enjoyed pretty successful starts. Time-slot competitors Private Practice and Bionic Woman each beat incumbent Criminal Minds last week, and networks can find positive spin in the performance of Cane, Chuck and Life too. But nothing has broken from the pack on the order of Lost or Desperate Housewives three years ago; they remain the standards for out-of-the-box success in recent years.
When the weekly ratings are released Tuesday, the rankings will show that Private Practice was the most-watched new series, with about 14.4 million people tuning into the Grey's Anatomy spinoff. Bionic Woman wasn't far behind, logging 13.9 million viewers. NBC's remake will also sit atop the new-show heap in the key adults 18-49 demo, scoring a 5.9 rating, while Practice did better among adults 18-34.
CBS has to be encouraged by the debut of Cane in what has been one of the network's few weak timeslots in recent years. While its demo numbers weren't great (3.0 in adults 18-49), it did draw 11.2 million viewers, which was the net's best series premiere in that spot in eight years. And Life, somewhat surprisingly, held on to enough of Bionic Woman's 18-49 audience to beat CSI: NY and Dirty Sexy Money in the demo.
A note about all these ratings: They're probably going to change a little more when Nielsen releases its initial "live + 7" ratings count -- that is, ratings that include people who watch a show up to a week after its initial airing. Close to 20 percent of homes in the Nielsen sample have DVRs now, so their effect on ratings will probably increase this season.
A week into the season, here's a quick look at how the networks' new shows are faring:
NBC: Promising. Three of the network's four new series did well in their premieres -- the aforementioned Bionic Woman and Life, as well as Chuck, which finished second in its time period (to Dancing with the Stars) and increased its ratings at the half-hour. Only Journeyman struggles, losing about 5 million viewers from its Heroes lead-in.
CBS: Consistent. In addition to Cane, The Big Bang Theory and Moonlight either held onto or slightly increased the audiences from their lead-ins (How I Met Your Mother and Ghost Whisperer, respectively). Kid Nation, however, took a bit of a hit in its second week as competition increased.
ABC: Incomplete. Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money made a pretty good duo on Wednesday night; although DSM bled some audience from its lead-in, it still won its hour among adults 18-34 and the female demographics ABC tracks. Big Shots didn't do a whole lot on Thursday, losing better than 40 percent of the Grey's audience. Three more shows -- Cavemen, Carpoolers and Pushing Daisies -- debut this week, and three more are due later in October and November.
FOX and The CW: Scuffling. FOX's K-Ville started off solid two weeks ago but took a beating last week opposite Heroes and Dancing with the Stars. Back to You and Kitchen Nightmares held on to their premiere audiences a little better on Wednesday. And the network is (or was) also home to the season's first casualty, the DOA unscripted series Nashville. Over at The CW, Reaper built on its lead-in audience, but not by much, and while teenage girls are gobbling up Gossip Girl, the show hasn't found many viewers old enough to buy beer legally.
It is sad that Journeyman is not doing well. It is truly a great show with an amazing concept. It is also difficult to catch everything, but if the viewers woud have stayed around until the second half hour of the show they would have found out it all starts to make sense. Hopefully it does not get cancelled quickly before it can develop an audience.
Matt | Oct 1, 2007 2:07:53 PM | #Why can't we get Showcase in our area...it's about the only channel that we can't get!
Dave | Oct 1, 2007 6:27:26 PM | #I hope Reaper builds some momentum, the pilot was great, and I could see this becoming a rockin' good show.
Siansonea | Oct 1, 2007 8:29:18 PM | #So far, I'm rooting for Dirty Sexy Money and Reaper.
Jason | Oct 2, 2007 2:22:54 PM | #Reaper rocked! But I'm looking forward to Pushing Daisies! That show looks too cute!
Becky | Oct 2, 2007 4:03:40 PM | #Yes, Reaper is my favorite so far. DSM was dissappointing for me, so I'm hoping Pushing Daisies lives up to the hype.
Aaron | Oct 2, 2007 4:35:38 PM | #Reaper(Ummm, Chicken fried steak!), Chuck and DSM....
Sherry | Oct 2, 2007 4:57:23 PM | #I'm happy to live in Canada with our crazy network schedules. The Canadian network that shows Pushing Daisies has put it on Tuesday nights, right after the East Coast showing of Reaper. So I know how I will be spending 2 hours on Tuesdays from now on. Watching my two favorite new shows of the season.
James | Oct 3, 2007 9:17:29 AM | #"Close to 20 percent of homes in the Nielsen sample have DVRs now, so their effect on ratings will probably increase this season."
I thought the ratings were for all DVR viewers. No? It's still just those same Neilson families controlling what we watch?
Marianne | Oct 3, 2007 11:03:13 AM | #NBC:
Journeyman is my favorite of NBC's new offerings. Bionic Woman I like but am still on the fence...it might be a little bit "too different" from the original for me. And with NBC I am still holding a grudge against them for canceling Pretender, Profiler and Freaks and Geeks.
ABC:
I have been mostly disappointed with all of ABC's offerings. Which is disappointing because I was looking forward to their schedule the most. Dirty Sexy Money was too "campy" and "over the top". I feel like they tried to take Ugly Betty and multiply it 25 times.
CBS:
On the other hand, it is the opposite with CBS. I was very disappointed and unimpressed with the schedule laid before by CBS. However, I have found the most return on my investment from CBS. Still bitter over the cnacelation of The Class but Big bang Theory is funny! I was surprised how good Cane is and I really like Moonlight. Kid Nation is just fun entertainment as well.
CW:
Still P-O'd about no Everwood. But, Gossip Girl is one of my top favorites of all this season.
FOX:
I hate American Idol therefore I hate FOX.
Reaper is a great show but it isn't even getting "Veronica Mars" numbers and we all know what happened to our favorite female detective. This is a bad time period against tough real network competition.
"Reaper" will not be able to build numbers Tuesday at 9:00pm and another fantastic show is going to be cancelled due to crappy scheduling. They should have sold this idea to a cable network where numbers aren't everything.
Brian | Oct 3, 2007 3:54:44 PM | #
I haven't got onto many new shows this year, but "Chuck" and "Back to You" I tried and I'm still tuning in, so if that says anything...
"Chuck" wins over "B2Y" by far, though...
Lauren B | Oct 3, 2007 4:39:53 PM | #I don't get the CW here so "Reaper" is a big ? for me.
Right now I would have to rank the new shows like this...
Keep watching it
Chuck, Journeyman, Moonlight, Cane
Going to give it a chance:
The Big Bang Theory, Bionic Woman, Life
Seen it, done with it:
Cavemen, Carpoolers, K-Ville, Dirty Sexy Money, Big Shots, Nashville, Back to You.
If a show isn't listed, I have not watched it.
John L | Oct 3, 2007 8:44:07 PM | #"Pushing Daisie"s is easily the best new show of the season.
Matt | Oct 7, 2007 7:17:30 PM | #Chuck I stummbled upon by accident and I think it is fab-u-lous. Also, the Reaper is great, with only three episodes shown the characters have stuck in my mind. (Impressive) Let's give a giant WOO HOO for Kevin Smith!!!!
Finally, Gossip Girl is a Super fabulous fill for the hole in my night that One Tree Hill, Everwood and Gilmore Girls left *sigh*.
If you want to forget about the day and loose yourself in some tele....(other than the obvious-CSI,My Name Is Earl, Survivor, etc-)....I highly recommend those three.
Amber | Oct 13, 2007 10:42:37 PM | #
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