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Cable
Hot girl: 'Zoey' bests NBA hoopsters
By Toni Fitzgerald
May 7, 2008 - 1:15:23 AM

The series finale of Nickelodeon’s “Zoey 101” drew huge numbers last Friday night.

The question now is whether “Zoey” could live on in any form with teen star Jamie Lynn Spears now with child. It seems unlikely.

“Zoey” drew an average 5.1 million total viewers for the hour-long finale last Friday, May 2, at 8 p.m. Another half-hour rerun that followed averaged 5.05 million, making them the two most-watched shows on cable last week, well ahead of NBA playoff coverage and the first new episode of “Hannah Montana” since Miley Cyrus’ controversial Vanity Fair pictures were released.

Both “Zoey” episodes averaged 2.3 million kids 9-14, ranking first for the week on broadcast and cable. In fact, four additional “Zoey” reruns also made the week’s top 10 in that demo.
 
The finale was nowhere near the 7.3 million total viewers who watched “Zoey’s” third-season finale in January, shortly after the 17-year-old announced she was pregnant. The show has regularly finished No. 1 among tweens this season.

Will “Zoey” ever return to the network after such a successful run, beyond the reruns that will surely remain a Nickelodeon staple?

Minutes after the season finale, online messageboards began burning up with appeals from kids asking Nick to bring the show back after Spears has given birth.

“[T]hey should let her have the baby and then make new episodes,” writes a punctuation-averse poster on the BritneyBash.com boards. “[I] enjoy this show and its a shame they ended it when it finally started to get more interesting than it was i hope they decide to put it back on i know that there will be popular demand from what i have been reading from various online polls and fan sites.”

Nickelodeon’s only comment on the show since Spears’ pregnancy has been that the fourth season would be its last. The show ended with Zoey (Spears), a high school junior, breaking up with boyfriend James for longtime pal Chase.

Posters have suggested that Nick spin off some of Zoey’s classmates for their senior year, though it seems doubtful that would do as well. Certainly one thing that drew viewers this season, sick though it may seem, was looking for Spears’ baby bump, which some claimed was visible during the series finale.

It is even more unlikely that Nickelodeon, which has been criticized for keeping "Zoey" on the air, would bring Spears back after she gives birth. As the recent controversy surrounding Cyrus suggests, parents are wary of any tween role model who steps out of line. They’re not likely to welcome Spears back after she has her baby, even if their kids are.

***

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended May 4:
 
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): TNT, USA, TBS, Discovery, Comedy Central.
 
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): TNT, USA, Fox News Channel, Nick at Nite, TBS.
 
Top movie (18-49s): USA’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (Saturday, 8 p.m.) 1.37 million
 
Top sporting event (total viewers): TNT’s “NBA Basketball: Suns vs. Spurs” (Tuesday, 9:39 p.m.) 2.81 million
 
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.); TNT’s “NBA Basketball: Lakers/Nuggets” (Monday, 10:58 p.m.); TNT’s “NBA Basketball: Suns/Spurs” (Tuesday, 9:39 p.m.); TNT’s “NBA Basketball: Hawks/Celtics” (Wednesday 8:48 p.m.); TNT’s “NBA Basketball: Spurs/Hornets” (Saturday, 10:10 p.m.).
 
Show on the rise: Adult Swim’s “Aqua Teen Hungerforce,” Monday 12:15 a.m. The animated comedy jumped 25 percent week-to-week among viewers 18-34, from 909,000 to 1.1 million, good for No. 12 for the week in the demo.
 
Show on the decline: Comedy Central’s “South Park,” Wednesday 10 p.m. “South Park” fell 43 percent week-to-week among total viewers, from 3.08 million to 1.74 million.

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

Primetime

Total Day

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

TNT

2197

NICK

1634

2

USA

1760

NAN *

1295

3

FOXN

1433

TNT

1162

4

NAN

1375

USA

887

5

TBSC

1252

ADSM*

881

6

ESPN

1116

FOXN

826

7

LIF

1022

TOON

796

8

DISC

978

TBSC

742

9

TOON

941

LIF

732

10

SPK

933

ESPN

680

11

HALL

910

AEN

600

12

AEN

903

HALL

567

13

HGTV

846

DISC

556

14

FX  

839

TRU

539

15

CMDY

826

SPK

529

16

HIST

808

HGTV

515

17

CNN

789

HIST

506

18

SCIF

778

FX  

502

19

TRU

777

CMDY

492

20

MTV

753

CNN

485

21

FAM

724

FAM

481

22

AMC

710

FOOD

463

23

TLC

690

AMC

462

24

FOOD

641

MTV

458

25

TVLD

580

TVLD

457

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

Program

Net

(000)

1

Suns/Spurs

TNT

3539

2

Zoey Movie Chasing Zoey

NICK

3514

3

Zoey 101

NICK

3454

4

WWE Entertainment

USA

3325

5

Lakers/Nuggets

TNT

3144

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

3006

7

The Hills

MTV

2989

8

Hawks/Celtics

TNT

2966

9

Spongebob

NICK

2948

10

Spurs/Hornets

TNT

2901

11

Spongebob

NICK

2870

12

The O'Reilly Factor

FOXN

2847

13

iCarly

NICK

2816

14

iCarly

NICK

2806

15

Spongebob

NICK

2772

16

Celtics/Hawks

TNT

2764

17

Spongebob

NICK

2744

18

Spongebob

NICK

2718

19

Zoey 101

NICK

2690

20

Spongebob

NICK

2674

21

Spongebob

NICK

2646

22

Zoey 101

NICK

2625

23

Spongebob

NICK

2553

24

Spongebob

NICK

2532

24

iCarly

NICK

2532

Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

TNT

838

ADSM*

474

2

USA

630

NAN *

408

3

TBSC

542

TNT

394

4

MTV

469

TBSC

315

5

CMDY

453

NICK

311

6

DISC

364

ESPN

280

7

ESPN

330

USA

259

8

FX  

327

CMDY

252

9

NAN

320

MTV

230

10

SPK

299

FX  

210

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

The Hills

MTV

2712

2

Real World XX

MTV

1640

3

Suns/Spurs

TNT

1463

4

Lakers/Nuggets

TNT

1450

5

WWE Entertainment

USA

1320

6

Family Guy

ADSM

1305

7

Spurs/Hornets

TNT

1298

8

Hawks/Celtics

TNT

1250

9

Family Guy

ADSM

1223

10

The Office

TBSC

1168

Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
 Week Ending May 4

  Rank

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

TNT

1590

TNT

788

2

USA

1185

NAN *

686

3

TBSC

951

ADSM*

595

4

DISC

762

TBSC

547

5

CMDY

675

USA

536

6

ESPN

658

NICK

531

7

FX  

635

ESPN

478

8

SPK

621

DISC

399

9

NAN

588

LIF

397

10

MTV

575

CMDY

383

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

The Hills

MTV

3260

2

Suns/Spurs

TNT

2807

3

Lakers/Nuggets

TNT

2563

4

WWE Entertainment

USA

2438

5

Deadliest Catch

DISC

2418

6

Hawks/Celtics

TNT

2323

7

Spurs/Hornets

TNT

2319

8

Celtics/Hawks

TNT

2182

9

WWE Entertainment

USA

2015

10

Real World XX

MTV

1910

Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
 Week Ending May 4

 

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Rank

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

TNT

1461

TNT

746

2

USA

1091

USA

521

3

TBSC

773

NAN *

496

4

DISC

713

TBSC

448

5

ESPN

647

NICK

431

6

SPK

602

ESPN

402

7

AEN

576

LIF

402

8

SCIF

563

AEN

366

9

FX  

545

DISC

362

10

LIF

524

TRU

337

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
 Week Ending May 4

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

Suns/Spurs

TNT

2662

2

WWE Entertainment

USA

2473

3

Deadliest Catch

DISC

2304

4

Lakers/Nuggets

TNT

2139

5

Spurs/Hornets

TNT

2074

6

Hawks/Celtics

TNT

2038

7

WWE Entertainment

USA

1991

8

Celtics/Hawks

TNT

1900

9

Rockets/Jazz

ESPN

1626

10

Celtics/Hawks

ESPN

1603

Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

 



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