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TV ratings: 'American Idol' rises, rules Tuesday
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Fast National ratings for Tuesday, March 23, 2010"American Idol" improved on its performance from last week, rising by more than a million viewers as it ran away with Tuesday's ratings crown. As things stand now, though, it trails the "Dancing with the Stars" premiere for the week's most-watched honors.
FOX scored 23.8 million viewers and a 13.3 rating/21 share in households for the night, more than doubling the viewer total for second-place CBS (10.7 million, 6.9/11). NBC (7.7 million, 4.7/8) and ABC (6.1 million, 3.8/6) both saw their fortunes rise a bit against CBS' rerun slate. The CW, per usual, brought up the rear with just 1.3 million viewers and a 1.0/2.
In the adults 18-49 demographic, FOX's 8.3 rating beat the combined total of the other four networks. CBS was the best of the rest at 2.9, followed by ABC at 2.4 and NBC at 1.9. The CW drew a 0.6.
Tuesday's hourly numbers:
8 p.m.
FOX: "American Idol" (22.7 million viewers, 12.8/21 households)
CBS: "NCIS" rerun (12.8 million, 8.1/13)
NBC: "The Biggest Loser" (7.3 million, 4.4/7)
ABC: "Lost" rerun (4.2 million, 2.8/5)
The CW: "90210" (1.6 million, 1.2/2)
18-49 leader: "American Idol" (7.8)
9 p.m.
FOX: "American Idol" (25 million, 13.9/21)
CBS: "NCIS: Los Angeles" (11.2 million, 7.2/11)
ABC: "Lost" (9 million, 5.4/8)
NBC: "The Biggest Loser" (8.7 million, 5.2/8)
The CW: "Melrose Place" (1 million, 0.8/1)
18-49 leader: "American Idol" (8.8)
10 p.m.
CBS: "The Good Wife" rerun (8 million, 5.4/9)
NBC: "Parenthood" (7.1 million, 4.5/8)
ABC: "Lost" (ended at 10:06)/"V: The Arrival" (5.1 million, 3.2/6)
18-49 leader: "Parenthood" (2.7)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.
More ratings at Zap2it: Daily, weekly and cable
Photo credit: FOX
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Parenthood last night was great show. I am glad The Good Wife was repeat last night or I would not found a gem of a show
It's true AI may possibly lose the crown of the most viewers for the week, but AI will still blow away DWTS in the Demo ratings. Which is way more important than the overall ratings. The final numbers for "V" will likely dip because of Lost overrun.
Melrose is likely to be cancelled by the end of the season. They have low ratings and low demo.
CW, please put Melrose Place out of its misery.
UGH, it's just so frustrating that the merger of The WB and the god-awful UPN was supposed to INCREASE both networks' viewership.
Clearly, The WB NEVER had such dismal ratings.
The WB was a far superior network than any of The CW's shows; what's interesting is that with an excpetion of America's Next Top Model, all of The CW's successfull shows are from The WB... and Life Unexpected stars actors from The WB.
If The CW doesn't improve within a year or two, that network will cease to exist.
How to fix it:
1) Renew Life Unexpected
2) Bring better writers to the mix
3) Overhaul the management and let someone else, other than Dawn, run the network.
American Idol is going to have difficutly not because of Paula-less idol but because the remaining singers are a trainwreck. How did this become the top 12? I don't know if DWTS will hold their numbers once Buzz Aldrin is gone and that will be very soon. I watched Lost last night and I'm so bored with it I don't know how I will continue with the final episodes. They have really dropped the ball this season.
@Dennis: I agree with you 99% :)
You are entirely right that Dawn Ostroff hasn't shown any knack for picking shows that will bring in viewership.
You are also right that the way she selects producers (such as fawning over Josh Schwartz and his massive Gossip Girl bomb) is completely befuddling and doesn't seem to follow any sound business principle.
The only caveat I have is that WBN wasn't doing so well. That's why it was folded with UPN into CW.
You are again right to remember that CW announced that it'd grow by mixing the best of both worlds (which still would have made it 5th, but a much closer 5th to NBC's 4th) but keeping Dawn Ostroff after she had figuratively bankrupted UPN produced very foreseeable results.
The question (one that the press is very unlikely to ask) is why Dawn Ostroff was retained after her catastrophic tenure at UPN and why she is still in power at CW after her disastrous tenure there.
Some may ask why I am so hard on CW and Dawn Ostroff. The reason is I love network TV and it is just sad to see it self-destroy that way. :(
Maybe if you knew how to read instead of spewing out your tired template of a response (basically u say the same sh*t over and over), you would see that rick wrote, "both saw their fortunes rise a bit against CBS' rerun slate." So nice try in attempting to call Rick out. You just made yourself love even more foolish.
BTW, Lost is a cultural landmark. No point in arguing with you when u clearly are delusional.
Looking at the 9pm hour, I can't but be amused - or perhaps fakely bemused ;) - that an NCIS LA re-run (as I believe it was a re-run my dear Rick :) is beating soundly the "cultural landmark" that is supposed to be Lost.
It's amazing the way the press fall unto itself to hype anything J.J. Abrams does, no matter how poorly received and how they entirely ignore shows on CBS.
That should be a 2.9 for NBC, and a 1.9 for CBS.
ABC, Down 7% In Adults 18-49 For The Season, Hopes For A Dancing Revival
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/24/abc-down-7-in-adults-18-49-for-the-season-hopes-for-a-dancing-boost/45936?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Tvbythenumbers+%28TVbytheNumbers%29
Wow, I thought NBC was the basement dweller but the numbers show me to be mistaken ... ABC is in last place (I don't count the CW as a "real" network ... real networks have shows on 7 days/week) ... no wonder the ABC spin cycle is running 24/7 ... it's hard to empty the sinking boat with spoons when 300+ million people are peeing on you.