Here & there
Strong debut for TNT drama 'Men'
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Dec 9, 2009 - 1:01:53 AM

Ratings roundup: Strong debut for TNT drama 'Men'
Apparently everybody still loves Ray Romano. The former “Everybody Loves Raymond” star’s new TNT drama “Men of a Certain Age” averaged 5.4 million total viewers during its Monday premiere, as well as 4.1 million households and 2.6 million viewers 25-54. Among households and 25-54s “Men” became ad-supported cable’s top series premiere of the year. Meanwhile, in other cable ratings, Nickelodeon’s Saturday night special “iQuit iCarly” averaged 8.8 million total viewers, a series best, while also hitting series highs among kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14. For the week, the special was No. 3 on ad-supported cable among total viewers, behind ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” and the series finale of USA’s “Monk.” And Showtime’s “Dexter” averaged 2.1 million total viewers on Sunday night, the most-watched episode ever and Showtime’s most-watched telecast of any kind since 1999. The season's penultimate episode helped lead-out “Californication” average 913,000 total viewers, also a series best.

Moonves: Scatter prices jump 25 percent
The broadcast networks were apparently wise to hold back so much of their inventory for the scatter market. Advertisers are now paying a premium over the prices secured during the upfront market, as advertising demand picks up, consumer confidence rises, and the economy shows small signs of perking up. Analysts have been reporting the increase in scatter prices for weeks, and yesterday CBS CEO Les Moonves confirmed those reports, saying at the UBS media conference that his network is seeing an average increase of 25 percent for commercial time bought now versus last summer, when the much-delayed upfront took place. Back then, CBS's CPMs slipped 2 percent compared to last year, as all the networks took a hit. That prompted all of them to hold back some inventory, betting that economic conditions would improve and allow them to charge higher rates to advertisers.

Programming notes: TNT renews 'Dark Blue'
Unlike Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dylan McDermott has a job for at least another year. TNT has ordered a 10-episode second season of “Dark Blue,” the police drama that stars McDermott and is executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The show will return sometime next year. TNT has also recently picked up a second season of the medical drama “HawthoRNe,” and in January it will roll out “Southland,” the NBC drama that was canceled before this season even began. "Blue's" renewal was far from a sure thing. Like "HawthoRNe," it had merely so-so ratings, and another show that performed similarly, Gosselaar's "Bar," was canceled just a few days ago. Meanwhile, in other programming, Animal Planet is turning Saturdays into dog night beginning on Jan. 2. At 8 p.m. that night the network will air “Underdog to Wonderdog,” a dog makeover series, followed by “It’s Me or the Dog,” which stars dog trainer Victoria Stilwell. MTV on Jan. 28 will roll out a new season of “Taking the Stage,” the reality show set at a performing arts school. The network has also picked up a fifth season of “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew.” VH1 will premiere “Basketball Wives” on March 15, a reality series that follows wives, girlfriends and exes of NBA stars. And on broadcast, NBC has slashed its midseason order for the comedy “100 Questions” from 13 episodes to six. The network claims the move is due to full-season pickups for “Community” and “Parks and Recreation.” “Questions” is about a woman who joins a dating service and has to answer a 100-question survey.

Nielsen: Online video and DVR viewership soar
It seems you can find video content just about anywhere these days, and American consumers are doing more and more hunting for it. The average consumer watched three hours and 24 minutes of online video per month during the third quarter of the year, according to Nielsen’s Three Screen Report, up 34.9 percent from 2 hours and 31 minutes during the same period a year earlier. At the same time, the average viewer increased DVR playback by 21.1 percent year-over-year, from five hours and 56 minutes per month to seven hours and 12 minutes. But perhaps the most interesting note is that those methods of video watching grew significantly without siphoning off much traditional TV time. According to the report the average American watched 129 hours and 16 minutes of TV in the home per month during the third quarter, off just 0.4 percent, or 29 minutes, from 129 hours and 45 minutes during third quarter 2008. Meanwhile, one video method saw more substantial declines. Mobile phone subscribers spent three hours and 15 minutes per month watching video on their phone, off 10 percent from three hours and 37 minutes the year before but flat to second quarter 2009.



© 2012 Media Life