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'NCIS' Repeat Ends CBS' 'Moonlight' Curse
The Moonlight Curse appears to have been less about Moonlight and more about The Ex List, just as CBS' Friday struggles appear to be less about the inherent futility of programming on Friday night and more about CBS' specific programming.
On a purely practical level, Friday night is a strength for CBS. The network regularly wins the night in overall viewership, as well as most key demos. Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs generally dominate their hours, though, which has left CBS dealing with a 9 p.m. hour which has suffered from three straight seasons of diminishing ratings.
CBS canceled the legal drama Close to Home, punting on a weekly audience of over 10 million to program the vampire romance Moonlight. Despite some of the most dedicated fans on television, Moonlight couldn't reliably draw more than 7.5 million viewers, so CBS again pulled the plug. Of course, this season's Friday night fill-in, The Ex List, made Moonlight look robust, averaging fewer than 6.2 million viewers and earning its hasty removal from CBS' lineup.
When Moonlight was canceled, several recurring themes were heard from outraged fans, but none came up as often as the insistence that Friday night at 9 p.m. is a death slot and CBS should be pleased with 7.5 million passionate viewers. They sure looked right when the most-viewed episode of The Ex List couldn't sniff at the least-viewed episode of Moonlight. And when CBS yanked The Ex List last week, more than a few online messageboards contained postings from Moonlight fans claiming that their boycott of the Friday hour had claimed its first victim.
Then this past Friday (Oct. 31), CBS aired a repeat of NCIS in the 9 p.m. slot and drew 11.2 million viewers.
The episode, "Recoil," had originally aired last May, drawing just under 14 million viewers at the time. In this Friday encore, it crushed new reality shows on FOX and ABC, as well as its only scripted rival, a new episode of NBC's Crusoe.
So much for the notion that 9 p.m. on Fridays is an impossible hour in which to draw viewers. And so much for that Moonlight-based boycott.
In the laziest way humanly possible -- like TV critics, CBS has always taken NCIS for granted -- CBS got a reminder that the right show on Friday night will absolutely still get strong ratings. It was a reminder that should fill CBS' programmers with a little embarrassment and should fill the other three networks with a bit of shame as well. There's still an audience happy to turn on the TV on Friday nights, so why haven't you been giving them anything to watch? And guess what? There's probably an audience that would watch original programming on Saturdays, too, not that you'll ever see the networks acknowledge that audience ever again.
One week is far too tiny a sample to make an intelligent and full diagnosis, but I'm prepared to perform a little field triage.
CBS attempted to fill its Friday 9 p.m. hour by reinventing the wheel, isolating one random weekly hour by playing to an off-brand demographic with off-brand shows. Close to Home semi-succeeded on Fridays not because it was a show about a female lawyer raising a baby and, eventually, dealing with her husband's death. It semi-succeeded because it was a largely procedural drama on a network that succeeds with largely procedural dramas. In addition, airing in the 9 p.m. hour, it was wedged between two shows that are mostly procedurals. With Moonlight, CBS attempted to do a niche, female-skewing genre show with a heavy serialized component and then they were surprised and disappointed when it didn't stick. With The Ex List, the network abandoned men entirely and tried out a semi-serialized rom-com that matched nothing on the network's schedule and then they were surprised and disappointed when it didn't stick.
An NCIS repeat on Friday didn't just hit because it's an already-popular show. It hit because it was the most compatible thing CBS has aired in that slot for years. And it didn't just benefit the 9 p.m. hour and CBS' Friday bottom line. Numb3rs was up by roughly 1.5 million viewers on its season average because it actually had a copacetic lead-in.
Obviously NCIS repeats aren't a long-term answer for CBS on Friday night, if only because the Tiffany Network would probably feel chagrined using the drama in the same way FOX uses House repeats or NBC used to use permutations of Law & Order.
It should also be instantly clear that Harper's Island, the serialized slasher drama that's CBS' most ready midseason option, isn't the answer either. It's one thing to count on viewers who happen to be home on a Friday night, but it's another thing to assume that the same viewers will be home every Friday night and stick with your show.
Eleventh Hour, not really holding enough of its CSI lead-in to justify its cushy Thursday slot, would seem more instantly compatible. Unlike The Mentalist, which would also play well on Fridays, Eleventh Hour isn't performing so well that it's an immovable object. It's a totally procedural series that probably skews male, but has some female draw thanks to Marley Shelton's butt-kicking sidekick. It isn't supernatural, but it has wacky scientific elements to placate exiting Ghost Whisperer fans. Most importantly, it doesn't require dedicated or obsessive weekly viewership. Like Ghost Whisperer and Numbers, you can drop in or out at will. Moonlight viewership was predicated on actual attention and The Ex List necessitated a bit of a masochistic streak.
But does anybody actually like Eleventh Hour enough to follow it to a new night?
While Swingtown, which aired on Fridays to sluggish ratings in the summer, would be exactly the wrong sort of show to wedge into the hour come midseason, the already renewed Flashpoint also feels like a logical fit.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: CBS didn't err in canceling Moonlight. The network erred in making an even worse programming decision in its place, a programming decision that, frankly, looked foolish from the beginning. It took all of one week and one procedural repeat to see that Friday night's ceiling doesn't have to be 7.5 million viewers or even 10 million. The next move is up to CBS.
What do you think CBS should do with the 9 p.m. hour? And saying "Bring Moonlight Back!" isn't going to be productive, probably...
A western would be nice.
lrp | Nov 3, 2008 2:37:54 PM | #We'll have to wait and see. I kinda doubt that NCIS reruns can get 11 million viewers every week. A lot of people may have been tricked into thinking that was a new episode as they advertised it as a "special NCIS".
Amy | Nov 3, 2008 2:43:40 PM | #Amy- Just as a quick response to the point you raised... According to fast national nielsen reports, "NCIS" added nearly 500,000 viewers in its second half-hour. If viewers were somehow fooled into flocking to a repeat they thought was new, they presumably would have been able to turn it off...
My point is less that "NCIS" repeats are CBS' forever solution and more that it's apparently *possible* for a show to draw 11.5 million in that slot, even if "Close to Home," "Moonlight" and "The Ex List" couldn't do it.
-Daniel
Daniel | Nov 3, 2008 2:47:56 PM | #I'm not a Moonlight fan but wasn't it fairly procedural as well?
Michael | Nov 3, 2008 2:48:54 PM | #I agree. Eleventh Hour would fit well, and we love it.
Jeff | Nov 3, 2008 3:12:07 PM | #Why couldn't CBS just move new episodes of NCIS to Friday at 9 and find something else for Tuesday at 8, possibly an easier slot to fill?
Rick | Nov 3, 2008 3:13:11 PM | #I really think moving "NCIS," a show which regularly wins all of Tuesday night to Friday would be suicidal by CBS. Personally, I wonder why they don't bring back the second season of "Flashpoint" and schedule it in this slot?
trumanhorn | Nov 3, 2008 3:35:35 PM | #I think the key point here is the right show will draw the viewers. That's not to say Moonlight was the WRONG show ... but it was the wrong show for that time slot and CBS should be kicked in the pants for not trying it elsewhere. Similarly, I still believe Saturday night deserves to have original programming again, not just reruns and reality shows. Make shows people want to watch at those hours and you'll do fine. Otherwise you'll just keep losing viewers to downloads and DVD.
Alex | Nov 3, 2008 3:44:23 PM | #I think Flashpoint would be a good solution to fill the slot until the new year as they have 4 unaired episodes left over from its first season.
Rishi | Nov 3, 2008 4:10:06 PM | #I would like to either see Flashpoint or Eleventh Hour in the time slot.
If Flashpoint can garner decent ratings in the summer time, then logic says it should do well any other time. I thought it was a great show.
I really enjoy Eleventh Hour. I think it is a great show and yes some females enjoy it. While Rufus isn’t Johnny Depp, he is still pretty easy on the eyes!
I loved Moonlight, but I have to admit I am biased when it comes to hot vampires and was a fan of Alex’s since the Shield. But I also loved Close To Home and the only eye candy on that was Christian Kane, who was hardly on it when his character was alive.
I have never figured the logic to the Friday at 9 anyway. I mean if you have 2 shows performing well at 8 and 10, then 9 should do fine as well. Friday nights is often considered a bad night because it is the start of the weekend and presumably the key demographic area is out partying. But people don’t hang around to watch a show at 8, go clubbing for an hour, and then pop back in at 10.
CBS' biggest problem is that they have basically all procedural shows. Nothing different. Tassler continues to want out-of-the-box programming but nothing to fit with it because they refuse to try and make it stick. Weekends would be a decent solution but hey, that's where every version of CSI goes for repeats. The only solution for out-of-the-box shows are during the Summer. That's when the time is lenient. Many people did tune into "Swingtown" that aren't those who are followed by big brother and the dictatorship of Nielsen too. Why not leave that part of the season open to give viewers something other than the typical Fall fare? Other stations program shows that you don't normally see the rest of the year instead of repeats only. In all fairness "The Ex List" should have been scheduled for the Summer. That was escapism away from the yellow tape CBS lives off of. Just watch how fast "Harper's Island" will land in the trash.
Tracy | Nov 3, 2008 4:54:17 PM | #I think Close to Home was a great show and did pretty damn well in that time slot. Moonlight was good to but a bit to niche I guess to be a big hit.
Anthony M | Nov 3, 2008 5:23:29 PM | #I think they should move Eleventh Hour to Fri @ 9 and place Harpers Island on Thurs @ 10
everwood | Nov 3, 2008 5:51:15 PM | #trumanhorn...
I don't necessarily think moving "NCIS" to Fridays would be suicidal, especially since CBS does better than any other network on the night and the series that "NCIS" was spun-off from - "JAG" aired for several seasons (quite successfully, I might add) on Fridays after airing on Tuesdays for several years as well.
If CBS were to move "NCIS" to Fridays, they will likely wait until next fall since the network wouldn't have anything to plug the new hole on Tuesdays with, unless CBS feels that "Flashpoint" is strong enough to lead off the night - which it likely isn't.
It's definitely possible to program the 9pm Friday slot. The first few years of The X-Files were in that slot. Grant it, when they moved it to Sundays, the ratings really kicked up, but people certainly watched it when it was in that slot.
Kate | Nov 3, 2008 6:26:21 PM | #Flashpoint would be the best solution for 9 PM on Friday nights.
Scott | Nov 3, 2008 6:26:43 PM | #NCIS is the greatest. It would boost any time slot. But I dunno how they can get more shows like it. That sort of team talent and chemistry doesn't come together that often.
Nabi | Nov 3, 2008 6:29:04 PM | #The problem is that they cant always show repeats of successful shows in that time slot they need to either move a show permentaly there or they will once again have to find new talent Moonlight might not of gotten a rerun of NCIS's viewers but they were in fact a brand new show not doing to badly in that timeslot. The trouble is networks killing shows before there given a chance if they dont get csi viewers right away there canned.
Katie | Nov 3, 2008 6:36:11 PM | #Doesn't surprise me that 'Ex-List' didn't make it on CBS. "Moonlight" was a great show, and CBS didn't give it a chance to build....they screwed up. Perhaps if they had moved it, that would have helped. BUT, it had a wonderful ENSEMBLE cast, NOT just Alex O'Loughlin, although he was so good as 'Mick St. John', my family and I watched 'Moonlight' because of the ENTIRE cast, the excellent writing/character build-up. We're anxiously awaiting the release of the Moonlight DVD in January. Sales will sky-rocket, believe me. We're hoping that down the way, another network will pick the series up and give it a chance. Networks are showing the same-old-same-old, that's why "Moonlight" was so refreshing and different, CBS had a winner and they dropped it unfortunately. But then, I recall they did the same thing with "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" that was on Saturday night...and the star, Jane Seymour, heard about the cancellation from a FAN for pete's sake. The show was replaced with some martial arts series, that didn't last at all. This is why viewers are going to cable, VHS/DVD tapes. Good television isn't what it used to be I'm afraid. When I get the Moonlight DVD, THAT'S what I'll be watching over and over on Friday nights at 9:00pm....it was a perfect slot following "Ghost Whisperer". Sorry CBS!!!!!
Kris | Nov 3, 2008 6:50:03 PM | #I think the most logical reason that the viewers were there this past Friday night was that adults with children were just getting home from trick or treating and NCIS is a very easy show to turn on and watch. Not too heavy, not too gory, light and funny in places and a cast that had jelled very well.
Linda | Nov 3, 2008 7:12:03 PM | #I have to say just one word regarding CBS' Friday at 9p timeslot: Dallas.
Jeff | Nov 3, 2008 8:11:46 PM | #I love "NCIS" and will watch it every time its on -- even repeats. I also like "Flashpoint" and think it would be a really good fit on Fridays.
John in Sac | Nov 3, 2008 8:37:14 PM | #i think cbs would have been better off having moonlight on at 10pm another night and the show was well done and written.as evidenc e of hbo doing true blood there is a call for vampire shows.i agree 11th hour would do better on fri and i like the show.swingtown would have been better to me on cable than regular tv.
mark schechter | Nov 3, 2008 8:46:30 PM | # Yes I would follow "Eleveth Hour" to fridays, just as I watched "Joan of Arcadia" when it was on. What you didn't cover was that CBS has a history of pulling shows with a loyal fan base. Dr. Quinn & Walker along with Joan & Moonlight to name a few.
CBS dosen't seem to know what it wants to do with its weekend lineup, so would it be that bad to give a show with loyal fans a chance?
The answer is obvious.
NCIS spinoff.
NCIS: DiNozzo
Funnier, sexier and a whole like friday-ier!
J | Nov 3, 2008 9:29:38 PM | #
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