Bad ratings may soon doom several series. UGLY BETTY has experienced a 53% drop in viewers this season compared to last season. That probably spells an end to that series sometime this year. TIL DEATH, the Brad Garrett comedy on FOX is amazingly still on the schedule, although FOX intends to pull TIL DEATH and the low rated African American comedy, BROTHERS off the schedule during November sweeps. FOX will also shelve DOLLHOUSE for November sweeps as well, strongly suggesting that cancellation may soon be in the works for this low rated show.
Superman also proves not to be so super this season as well as SMALLVILLE has a 36% lower audience this season compared to last season. NBC's HEROES is also in real trouble as well. with a 35% audience decline as well. And FRINGE over at FOX is also in ratings trouble with a 29% audience decline as well. THE JAY LENO SHOW continues to be a ratings drag on NBC, scoring far lower audiences than it's 10pm dramas did last season. How long NBC will stick with Leno's drag on their network is a good question? But likely all the other troubled TV shows listed here will soon be gone sometime during this season.
On the flip side, the CBS comedy, THE BIG BANG THEORY is way up in ratings with a 48% audience increase. HOUSE is also running stronger at a 32% audience increase. PRIVATE PRACTICE is up 31%. BIGGEST LOSER hasn't lost any viewers, just weight, with a 23% audience share increase. NCIS has surprised everyone by soaring to the #1 show position with a huge 22% audience share pickup. NCIS: LOS ANGELES has become a huge hit as well, and is the #3 show overall.
On cable TV, the retiring private detective drama MONK is scoring big audience numbers with over 5 million viewers per episode. The new USA Network drama WHITE COLLAR has become a hit as well, holding on to the entire lead-in audience of MONK so far. Once again, comic ventriloquist Jeff Dunham has proved to be gold for Comedy Central, with his new weekly show pulling in an awesome 5.3 million viewers. Last December, a Jeff Dunham special drew a huge audience over 6 million viewers. From this Comedy Central knew that they had a big star on their hands.
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Comments (3)
Re "Heroes" - I saw the fir... (Below threshold)1. Posted by JLawson | October 30, 2009 10:35 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Re "Heroes" - I saw the first year online - it was pretty decent. Tried to watch the second year, couldn't get into it.
I think there's a certain lifespan to tv shows, especially dramas that have a limited story arc. When the arc is over - that should be it for the show. Stretching it - well, Twin Peaks comes to mind. A real hit the first year - and nothing the second.
But - there's just not that much original content any more. How can there be? TV has been mining the same old tropes now for well over 6 decades, and there's not that much left that hasn't been condensed, refined, and scrapped numerous times.
So they recycle and recombine, and eventually end up with something that catches the attention of some of the audience for a while. And when it does, they'll put it up against the 'best' of the other networks to see if it survives. If it doesn't immediately gather a major share of the market it's scrapped and maybe the parts will be recombined into something else eventually.
But heaven forbid they do a full season's worth of a show - 26 episodes. Or let audiences build from actually watching the show and telling their friends, instead of cancelling a show that doesn't have the major share of the market in the first couple of episodes.
I don't really know what the solution is. When you add in a decline in viewers' interest, a decline in ad revenue, and a whole lot of competition from the various cable networks - the big 3 may be done for as we've known them...
1. Posted by JLawson | October 30, 2009 10:35 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 30, 2009 10:35
2. Posted by Will Johnston | October 30, 2009 2:42 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Re: The Jay Leno Show, part of the idea behind that show is that it doesn't have to draw as many viewers to be profitable because it's cheaper to produce. Now, I have no idea what the numbers look like, but it's very possible that less ad revenue is offset by lower costs.
2. Posted by Will Johnston | October 30, 2009 2:42 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 30, 2009 14:42
3. Posted by Michael | October 31, 2009 6:57 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
If they cancel Fringe, I'm never watching the Fox channel again. What a disservice to fans it would be who have been absolutely captivated by this brilliant show for years. It's been hard enough that Fringe hasn't been on the past two weeks due to baseball, I can't imagine the show being gone forever. Expect to hear the wrath of fans everywhere if Fox does indeed pull this show.
3. Posted by Michael | October 31, 2009 6:57 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 06:57