TV ratings: Colts-Patriots scores Sunday for NBC

Wow!! A multi-post re-run!! How flattering! ;)

Anyway, not much to observe there, except how the lead-in did wonders for The Simpsons' numbers (and the rest of FOX's night).

CBS needs re-inforcements on the night and Three Rivers ain't it (no surprise for me there). Cold Case is probably at the end of its useful life and CBS probably wishes (like all the other networks) that it had a full bench full of new shows (like they used to have in the past).

I like to write on this blog because I have no friends and no one will listen to me..so I write up analysis dribble that no one cares about and post it here. Hopefully someone will think I am intelligent and hire me to work at Zap2it.com or Neilsen.
If not, I'll have to just keep wrigin on this wall while I pet my kitty

Back to regular programming, The Futon Critic published ABC's press release and guess what? They claim to be... [wait for it]... Number 1!!

Yes indeed, even though they did not even win a single hour, ABC "cunningly" decided not to count sports and decided it won the night...

Now, as I posted (in the one real post that's from me up in the thread), CBS is definitely in need of rejuvenation and FOX is a perennial also-ran when Football doesn't go overtime, but really...

Look for that ridiculous claim to make its way into the trades where "ABC is having a great year" has become a motto and James Hibberd and Rick Kissell will be more than happy to claim one more great "victory" for their pals (one has to assume) at ABC. ;)

Rena the truth is:

ABC’s lineup rebounded strongly from last Sunday’s lows, with every show up double digits. America’s Funniest Home Videos increased 20%+ to a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was up 20% to a 3.6 rating which is a season high. Desperate Housewives was up 11% to a 49 rating. And Brothers & Sisters was up 10% to a 3.2 rating. ABC drew its biggest non-sports audience on the night (excluding the Oscars) in nearly 1 year and its best Adult 18-49 number in 6 months – since 11/30/08 and 5/17/09, respectively.

You are such a hater.

I can't always tell who's faking as who, but to those of you who are taking old comments and just re-posting them, you'll be deleted from here on out.

Looks like a season high in the demos for EM: HE. ABC made a good decision adding celebrity designers that has really helped the show rebound.

The facts are:

Football-ignited NBC scored a touchdown in the Sunday ratings, with 6.37 million more viewers than second-place ABC (which also benefited by a whopping 22.04 million viewers and an 8.0 rating/23 share among adults 18-49 for a 7-7:30 p.m. football overrun). Last in both categories was CBS, which has sprung a leak as a result of lackluster medical drama Three Rivers.

The New England/Indianapolis match-up on NBC’s Sunday Night Football averaged an approximate 19.85 million viewers and a 7.5 rating/18 share for the primetime portion (from 8:30-11 p.m.), with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Sunday Night Football (NBC)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 22.23 million (#1), A18-49: 8.1/19 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 21.06 million (#1), A18-49: 7.5/17 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 20.77 million (#1), A18-49: 7.8/18 (#1)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 17.88 million (#1), A18-49: 7.0/18 (#1)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 17.32 million (#1), A18-49: 6.9/19 (#1)

Earlier in the evening on NBC was Football Night in America (plus the Pre-Kick in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour), which fared as follows by half-hour:

Football Night in America (NBC)
7:00 p.m., part one – Viewers: 6.50 million (#4), A18-49: 2.3/ 6 (#2)
7:30 p.m., part two – Viewers: 8.24 million (#4), A18-49: 3.0/ 8 (#2)
8:00 p.m., part three – Viewers: 15.18 million (#1), A18-49: 5.3/13 (#1) – plus Pre-Kick

Keep in mind, of course, that results for any live sporting event are always estimated.

Over at Fox, and out of the aforementioned half-hour primetime football overrun was post-game The OT at a dominant 12.97 million viewers and a 5.1/14 among adults 18-49 at 7:30 p.m. That led into The Simpsons at an above-average 9.04 million viewers (#4) and a 4.2/10 in the demo at 8 p.m. (#2), followed by recently launched The Cleveland Show (Viewers: #4, 7.01 million; A18-49: #3, 3.3/ 8), Family Guy (Viewers:” #4, 8.28 million; A18-49: #3, 4.1/10), which always builds at 9 p.m., and American Dad (Viewers: #4, 5.99 million; A18-49: #3, 2.9/ 7).

Elsewhere, the clock keeps ticking on older-skewing CBS granddaddy 60 Minutes, which averaged 12.26 million viewers (#2) and a 2.2/ 6 among adults 18-49 (#3t) in the 7 p.m. hour. That led into multi-Emmy winning reality/competition The Amazing Race at 11.64 million viewers (#2) and a 3.2/ 8 in the demo (#4) at 8 p.m., at 8 p.m., followed by failing medical drama Three Rivers (Viewers: #3, 8.45 million; A18-49: #4, 2.0/ 5) and relocated Cold Case (Viewers: #3, 9.24 million; A18-49: #3, 2.1/ 5), which is clearly in its last season. Of note for The Amazing Race was adult 18-49 growth of 45 percent out of 60 Minutes.

ABC has nothing unusual to report with its Sunday combination of America’s Funniest Home Videos (Viewers: #3, 8.48 million; A18-49: #3t, 2.2/ 6), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Viewers: #3, 11.58 million; A18-49: #3, 3.6/ 9), Desperate Housewives (Viewers: #2, 14.35 million; A18-49: #2, 4.9/12) and Brothers & Sisters (Viewers: #2, 10.17 million; A18-49: #2, 3.2/ 8), which is having a terrific season creatively. Too bad the same cannot be said for Desperate Housewives, which needs to drop this whole Susan/Mike/Katherine nonsense.

@Peanuts: Thanks for the reminder. :)

The rule of thumb is that you need about 100 episodes minimum to have a chance to make real money in syndication, although these days, you can sell shorter runs to cable (albeit for lower prices if my info is correct).

Also shows with fewer episodes peter out faster and bring in less revenue over the long term.

@TJ Spyke: It is indeed almost strange that MNT is not reported by the press, given that MNT beat CW 14 weeks in a row in the summer.

I think the reason could be that FOX doesn't want its lack of success in launching MNT to be widely publicized while CW has staked its suture on the (so far failed) strategy of spending a lot of money on PR to hype its shows.

Regardless, both endeavors have, sadly, been resounding failures.

@Dave R: CBS is indeed King of Fridays, but being content being #1 on Fridays with declining numbers would be the same as Microsoft being content with eroding profits even as it stays #1 by a very wide margin.

@EDell: if low numbers are the real reason for Nielsen not reporting MNT numbers, why are they reporting CW's? ;)

@linda: The pattern you are observing is that syndication requires a number of episodes before it can be started, otherwise you start repeating the same episodes too often to sustain good viewership.

Shows do tend to start their syndication runs as the wind down their network runs.

While the networks have extended the life of many shows in the past ten years (to quickly diminishing ratings IMO), most shows were lucky to see five seasons, which was the minimum for successful syndication (and I think still is as far as financial results are involved). And even though there are shows lasting ten years and more in greater numbers than ever, there are still shows that reach five years and then go on to (hopefully) successful syndicated runs.

The street teamers are out in full force again. But I will NOT be bullied!

The Prisoner on AMC was the best thing on last night.