TV Talk Discussion Group

Topic: show ratings (but not meant to replace your posts, Signy!)

I was curious about how well some of these newer programs are doing, so just looked up both the ratings for the entire season and for last week (week of October 18).  "FlashForward," the new show we're talking about here, doesn't make the top 20 at all, though the Thursday night ABC shows that follow it do ("Grey's" at #11 for that week, #4 for the season, and "Private Practice" at #20 for the season though it didn't show up there last week, when you'd think this mystery about Violet would have drawn in more watchers).

Anyway, here are the lists:

For week ending October 18:
1   NCIS
2   NBC Sunday Night Football
3   Dancing with the Stars
4   NCIS: Los Angeles
5   CSI
6   The Mentalist (wow!)
7   60 Minutes
8   Two and a Half Men
9   Dancing with the Stars Results Show
10  Criminal Minds
11  Grey's Anatomy
12  Desperate Housewives (yay!! at one point I thought it might get cancelled)
13  House
14  CSI: NY
15  CSI: Miami
16  The Big Bang Theory
17  The Good Wife (wow - and hear I thought it was just a re-tread of legal dramas)
18  Sunday Night Football Kick-Off Show
19  Survivor: Samoa
20  Amazing Race 15

For this season as a whole:
1    NCIS
2    NBC Sunday Night Football
3    Dancing with the Stars (WOW, I had no idea it was even more popular than "Grey's" now!)
4    Grey's Anatomy
5    NCIS
6    The Mentalist (is this mainly due to its eye-candy star or the stories, do you think?)
7    CSI
8    CBS NFL Post-Game Show (come on - people really LIKE Terry Bradshaw?! I think he's still on it)
9    House
10  The Good Wife
11  Criminal Minds
12  CSI: Miami
13  60 Minutes
14  Desperate Housewives
15  CSI: NY
16  NBC Sunday Night Football Kick-Off Show
17  Two and a Half Men
18  Dancing with the Stars Results Show
19  The Big Bang Theory
20  Private Practice

DH has never been in danger of cancellation. In fact, it still commands one of the highest advertising rates of any show on the air, considerably higher than Dancing With the Stars does, for instance. The list you give is of total viewership, but what's more important is who specifically watches which shows. The amount of money a network can charges advertisers comes into play there. For instance, certain age groups of viewers are much more important to advertisers than others are. So one show could, theoretically, have 15 million viewers, while another has 10 million, yet the one with 10 million is a more valuable property because it has a greater concentration of younger viewers.

As it happens, that's pretty much the case with Private Practice and The Mentalist. Practice has fewer total viewers, but they fall into a better demographic, so Practice has noticeably higher ad rates than Mentalist does. Likewise, Grey's has lower total viewership than CSI, but higher ad prices. And FlashForward is doing very nicely, commanding more ad money than Survivor does.

I'll make a separate post about the subject, I think.... Also, the shows in danger of cancellation could be discussed there. Several are not looking too good right now.

Replies: (list all replies)

I believe there was some talk about DH getting cancelled, lisa3, a couple years ago when its stories were getting a bit outlandish and people were getting bored with it. I certainly remember most people here crititizing it, and there was plenty of criticism in TV Guide, for instance. But I think it's made a big comeback in the last year or two. -Spell

I'm sure some people expressed the sentiment that based on quality alone, the show should be cancelled (though IMO, it's always been good). But based on ratings, it's never been in danger. First season was highest rated, followed by the second. Actually, the current season has the lowest viewership it's ever had, but DH is still among the most popular shows and very safe. (Viewership numbers can be found at Wikipedia. It's strange that I've never much liked math, but I enjoy checking out TV ratings figures.) eom/lisa3

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Posted by: fuzzwuzz
Date posted: Sun Oct 25 0:51:10 2009
Message:

I'm thrilled to see ''The Mentalist'' doing well!!  I love that show and have watch every eppy since the beginning!  I like everything about it.  I like the whole relationship between all the characters.  It's cute and it's fun!!

Amazed to see ''CSI: Miami'' up there even though we watch every show!  So many people make fun of it and the stars!!!

Good list.  I enjoyed seeing which shows are hanging in there!!

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