| medialifemagazine.com Broadcast recap
The season’s top-rated new comedy, “The Cleveland Show,” and top-rated new drama, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” are both spinoffs. ABC’s “Private Practice,” a spinoff of “Grey’s Anatomy,” is one of the few returning programs to see year-to-year gains. Even the No. 1 show among total viewers this year, “NCIS,” is a spinoff of the long-forgotten “JAG.” For the week ended Oct. 18, the most recent available, Fox’s “Cleveland,” a spinoff of “Family Guy,” averaged a 3.8 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. That was No. 1 among all new shows and No. 15 overall on broadcast. “NCIS: LA,” spun off of the original “NCIS,” averaged a 3.4, first among new dramas, third among new shows behind “Cleveland” and ABC’s Modern Family,” and tied for 20th overall. The show also finished fourth overall in total viewers with 15.4 million. “NCIS” was tops with total viewers for the fourth straight week, averaging 21 million, its second-biggest audience ever. And “Practice,” the third-year show set in a Los Angeles clinic, averaged a 3.8 in 18-49s, tying for 12th for the week and well up from the same week last year. So why all the love for spinoffs, after a few years of merely so-so results? Give some credit to placement. Three of the shows are spinoffs of programs that are still airing, and they’re paired along with those shows, ensuring that viewers who already watch the original will be funneled right into its spawn. “Practice,” for instance, moved behind “Grey’s” on Thursday nights last winter, and its ratings immediately spiked from what it had been averaging on Wednesday, where it was not being promoted alongside “Grey’s.” And already this season, a character from “Grey’s” has crossed over to “Practice.” “NCIS: LA” airs after “NCIS.” In fact, during premiere week, a character was shown on “NCIS” saying he was flying to Los Angeles, and an hour later, he showed up on “NCIS: LA.” That's the sort of continuity that keeps people watching. “Cleveland” actually leads into “Guy,” but it airs in the middle of a two-hour animation block. It’s virtually assured that if you like one of Fox’s four shows between 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday, you’ll like them all, including “Cleveland.” These spinoffs also came at the right time. “Joey” premiered after “Friends” had already gone off the air, and the “L&O” craze was waning by the time “Trial by Jury” debuted. By contrast, ratings for “Guy,” “Grey’s” and “NCIS” are all up this year. Finally, though none of the shows are critical favorites, they’re all remarkably close in tone to the shows they spun off of. If you’ve ever suffered through an episode of “Joey,” you know how important that is. *** In broadcast ratings for the week ended Oct. 18: Among adults 18-49, CBS was first with a 3.2 average rating and a 9 share, followed by Fox at 3.1/9, NBC and ABC at 2.6/7, Univision at 1.3/4, CW at 1.1/3, Telemundo at 0.5/1, Telefutura at 0.4/1, Ion at 0.3/1 and Azteca at 0.1/0. Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 7.2; 2. Fox’s “House” 5.2; Tie-3. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” 5.0; 5. CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” 4.8. Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. CBS’s “NCIS” 21.04 million; 2. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 18.17 million; 3. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” 16.79 million; 4. CBS’s “NCIS: Los Angeles” 15.38 million; 5. CBS’s “CSI” 15.38 million. Top five time-shifted English-language Big Five shows (18-49s, by Live+7 playback, week ended Sept. 27): Tie-1. Fox’s “House” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” 2.8 increase (up 34 percent); 3. NBC’s “The Office” 2.1 increase (up 43 percent); 4. CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” 1.7 increase (up 30 percent); 5. NBC’s “Heroes” 1.7 increase (up 46 percent). Show on the rise: “So You Think You Can Dance,” Fox, Wednesday 8 p.m. The dance competition jumped 12 percent week to week among 18-49s from a 2.5 rating to a 2.8. Show on the decline: “Lie To Me,” Fox, Monday 9 p.m. The Tim Roth drama slid 10 percent week to week among 18-49s from a 3.1 to a 2.8.
SEASON-TO-DATE PRIMETIME AVERAGES BY NETWORK
Network
Households
People 2+
Adults 18-49
Rtg%
(000)
Shr
Rtg%
(000)
Shr
Rtg%
(000)
Shr
CBS
7.7
8860
13
4.2
12400
11
3.4
4410
9
ABC
6.4
7350
11
3.4
9970
9
3.0
3960
8
NBC
4.9
5680
8
2.7
7840
7
2.8
3620
8
FOX
4.7
5400
8
2.7
7960
7
3.2
4250
9
UNI
1.9
2150
3
1.3
3660
3
1.4
1890
4
CW
1.6
1870
3
0.8
2450
2
1.2
1560
3
TEL
0.5
610
1
0.4
1050
1
0.5
650
1
ION
0.5
590
1
0.3
750
1
0.2
290
1
TF
0.4
510
1
0.3
880
1
0.4
530
1
AZA
0.1
140
0
0.1
200
0
0.1
130
0
*
Each rating point is equivalent to
1. 149
million homes
Note: Season-to-date estimates are a weighted average of pre-TSV and Live+SD data.
© 2010 Media Life |
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