The Great Pumpkin Rocks

ABC’s seventh airing of former CBS classic It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown rocked the ratings last night, notching a second-place 7.2 household rating and a first-place 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, which is up 46 percent from last year’s airing, which landed on a Friday, and posted significant ratings improvement over the sagging time period averages of Cavemen and Carpoolers. […]

Viva Las Whacked

After a very lackluster debut Thursday night, CBS’ new critically-scathed musical Viva Laughlin collapsed last night, drawing a historically low 1.2 among adults 18-49, finishing fourth in the time slot. Only the CW’s Life is Wild drew lower ratings, but that program is expected to be around for the long haul. See, this is what happens when you cast the […]

NLCS bombs in the ratings

No surprise here: The National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies averaged an anemic 2.8 rating and 6 share on TBS, down 61 percent from last year’s series between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals, which aired on Fox. This year’s NLCS ended in a four game sweep with the Rockies sweeping […]

Three way battle for off-net supremacy

A big race is shaping up for off-network sitcom supremacy. Yours truly has been following the syndication business since 1984, and I haven’t seen a race like this since The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and Married… With Children were all battling for the crown in the early ’90’s. Three sitcoms – Warner’s Two and a Half Men, Twentieth’s […]

Sports broadcasts continue to struggle in the ratings

If you thought Chicago sports teams were having a bad year… ratings for live sports broadcasts are still struggling just as badly, and no wonder: – The National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies on TBS had a household rating of 2.2 for Game 1. Colorado swept the series from Arizona 4-0 with last night’s […]

Chicago is "Family Guy’s" kind of town

It looks like Family Guy has succeeded where The Simpsons succeeded. According to numbers supplied by Twentieth Television (from a banner ad that appeared on TV Week’s website), Family Guy’s airing at 10 p.m. on WGN-TV finished number one in the time period between Sept. 17 and Sept. 21 among men 18-34 (2.2) and women 18-34 (2.6). It beat not […]

Cubs a ratings flop?

The only reason yours truly is quoting this article is because the numbers are here. Otherwise, I would not recommend it because Sherman failed to note that DVR usage is at an all-time high, as less and less people are watching TV live and time-shifting their programming, and that includes the Cubs. With the late start for the two games, […]

"Cavemen" gets sampled amptly

Cavemen and Carpooling had solid sampling last night, with Cavemen tying for #1 at 7 p.m. (CT) in adults 18-49 and winning the slot in adults 18-34. Given the fact Britney Spears’ Gimme More is number one on iTunes, it’s official – the dumbing down of America is complete.

"Family Guy" new off-net champ

Victory is mine! Family Guy has surged ahead of Everybody Loves Raymond to become the top-rated off-network sitcom in syndication for the week ending Sept. 23. Twentieth’s Family Guy surged 20 percent in the ratings to nab a 4.2, while CBS’ Raymond fell 3 percent to a 3.7. Warner Bros.’ Two and a Half Men finished with a 3.3, ahead […]

Returning shows dominate on Thursday

Thursday’s ratings race showed established returning shows picking up where they left off – grabbing lots of viewers. Here’s a quick analysis (all times Central): 7 p.m: Four of the five shows had something to crow out, with Survivor winning in adults 18-49 and total viewers. NBC’s hour-long season premiere of My Name Is Earl also did well, particularly among […]

Wilkos leads first-run syndicated rookies…

with a huge, huge, gigantic 0.9 rating. Meanwhile, Family Guy finished ahead of Friends and Seinfeld among off-network sitcoms and finished only behind Everybody Loves Raymond, whose rating fell thanks in part to downgrades by several stations (including WGN-TV here) into the wee hours because of an expiring contract that comes next spring. In other words, Raymond is in “lame […]

"Private", "Bionic" score

NBC’s Bionic Woman scored an upset over ABC’s Private Practice in the 18-49 demo, 5.5 to 5.1 (though Private drew more viewers, 14.24 to Bionic’s 13.59.) CBS’ Criminal Minds also was strong in the 8 p.m. (CT) time period, so that may be bad news for CW’s Gossip Girl and Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares, both turning in less than spectacular ratings […]

First week results in syndication

The first week results for the new programs (and freshman off-network shows) in syndication are in the book: Program RTG/SHR 9/06 TP Lead-in First- Run: TMZ 1.5/3 2.0/4 1.8/6 Morning Show- Mk-Jul 1.1/4 1.5/6 1.9/7 Steve Wilkos 1.1/4 1.2/3 1.0/3 David Young 0.9/3 0.9/3 0.9/3 Crosswords 0.8/2 1.3/4 1.0/3 Temptation 0.5/2 1.1/3 0.6/2 Off-Network Two and a Half Men 2.0/4 […]

How to make it on a 1.0

How do you make money on a syndicated show that averages a 1.0 rating? Find new revenue streams, an interactive element (like home shopping), and a tried-and true format (like game shows and courtroom shows.) The 1.0 rating cutoff for syndicated fare is quite low – in 2002, Pyramid was dropped with a 1.9. The bar was even higher way […]