Media Life Magazine - Waiting for the word: 'Life Unexpected'

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Waiting for the
word: 'Life Unexpected'

Ratings have fallen for this first-year CW show

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 22, 2010

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"Life Unexpected" premiered to decent numbers on the CW last month, drawing the network's largest audience in its timeslot in more than a year and matching usual timeslot occupant "Gossip Girl's" average among adults 18-34.

Numbers for the new drama, which airs tonight at 9, have slipped since, going from 2.74 million total viewers in its premiere to 2 million two weeks ago, before the Olympics clobbered everything on the night, and falling 35 percent among 18-34s to a 1.1 Nielsen rating.

Certainly a bit of that can be explained by time-shifted viewing. But when the CW announced five early pick-ups last week, "Life" was not among them.

Still, there's hope for the show, which received generally decent reviews for its sweet premise about a teenager in foster care who tracks down her birth parents.

"Life" is drawing decent numbers on Wednesday, where the CW has been running reruns of the Monday originals, and the network says more than three-quarters of the people tuning in are new viewers. Last week 1.3 million tuned in to the Wednesday episode, and it averaged a 1.1 in women 18-34, 0.3 lower than for its original.

That's still well below the CW's 1.5 season average in the demo, but it does indicate to the network that there's continued interest in the show, which runs in a very tough timeslot opposite ABC's "The Bachelor," Fox's "24" and CBS's "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory."

It could be enough to convince the CW to bring "Life" back at midseason, with media buyers saying they want to see fewer reruns and more originals on the network throughout the year.

The young-skewing CW puts a lot of stock in buzz, which arguably led to "Gossip's" renewal after a low-rated season one. The show has gone on to become one of the CW's defining hits, but it got a good chunk of viewership online during its first season.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	ABC	“The Bachelor” (R)	Fifteen rejects vent on the customary “Women Tell all” episode.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	The ice dancing final is tonight’s featured event.
9 p.m.	Fox	“24” (D)	The president’s peace plan is called into question.
9 p.m.	CW	“Life Unexpected” (D)	Ryan and Cate’s bosses want Baze to make an on-air appearance.
10 p.m.	ABC Family	“Greek” (D)	Casey tries to set up both Rusty and Katherine for Valentine’s Day.
10 p.m.	truTV	“NFL Full Contact” (R)	Looking at preparations for last year’s game at Wembley Stadium in London.
10 p.m.	FX	“Damages” (D)	Patty struggles with the DA in order to contact a key witness.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Performances get underway with the 12 female semifinalists.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Live coverage of the women’s figure skating short program.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	A key SEC matchup between Tennessee and Florida.
9 p.m.	National Geographic Channel	“Paranatural” (N)	Series premiere. Examining the mythical chupacabra, which supposedly hunts pets and livestock.
9 p.m.	VH1	“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (R)	The contestants perform celebrity impersonations on a game show.
10 p.m.	Syfy	“WWE NXT” (R)	Series premiere. Wrestling stars show newcomers what it takes in the ring.
10 p.m.	USA	“White Collar” (D)	Neal tries to remake an old bottle of wine once owned by Benjamin Franklin.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Tonight the 12 male semifinalists take the stage.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Lindsey Vonn skis live in the women’s giant-slalom final.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“NBA Basketball” (S)	A good Western Conference game between the Lakers and Mavericks.
10 p.m.	Bravo	“Shear Genius” (R)	This week the stylists work flowers into their styles.
10 p.m.	FX	“Nip/Tuck” (D)	Julia pays a visit to Sean and Christian, and Liz reveals that she’s pregnant.
10 p.m.	MTV	“The Real World” (R)	Tension boils over when play fighting escalates to the real thing.
10 p.m.	USA	“Psych” (D)	A think tank is formed to prevent a businessman from being assassinated, but it turns out one of its members may actually be plotting to kill.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	CBS	“The Early Show” (N)	Johnny Depp and Tim Burton guest and talk about “ Alice in Wonderland.”
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Two guys and two gals are cut in the season’s first elimination episode.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Tonight’s highlight is coverage of the women’s figure skating free skate.
9 p.m.	TLC	“Police Women of Maricopa County” (R)	Season premiere. This round of officers deal with perps in the Phoenix area.
10 p.m.	USA	“Burn Notice” (D)	A kidnapper is hiding a secret and is also kinda paranoid.
10:30 p.m.	TNT	“NBA Basketball” (S)	If you like run-and-gun basketball, tonight’s Denver-Golden State game is for you.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Apolo Ohno and Lindsey Vonn are back competing for more medals.
8 p.m.	Fox	“NAACP Image Awards” (A)	Live coverage of the 41st annual awards show.
8 p.m.	ABC	“Blades of Glory” (M)	Perhaps the best figure skating parody movie ever. Also maybe the only figure skating parody movie ever.
9 p.m.	VH1	“Famous Crime Scene” (N)	Another look at the circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson’s death.
9 p.m.	Syfy	“Caprica” (D)	Tamara becomes friends with gamers in a virtual world.
10 p.m.	Starz	“Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (D)	Spartacus thinks of a backup plan in case he’s not able to reunite with his wife.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	National power Kentucky faces a tough test at Tennessee.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Cops in Texas find out a drunk driving suspect has more than one identity.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Medal winners in figure skating perform at the Champions Gala.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Villanova faces Syracuse in a game that could end up deciding the Big East regular-season title.
11 p.m.	Fox	“The Wanda Sykes Show” (C)	Ray Romano, Roland Martin and Kevin Hart all guest.
11:30 p.m.	NBC	“Saturday Night Live” (S)	Jennifer Lopez serves as guest host.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	The gold medal game in men’s hockey is featured.
2 p.m.	Fox	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	A Sprint Cup race from Las Vegas.
7 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	It’s all over: the closing ceremonies bring an end to this year’s Games.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Undercover Boss” (R)	The co-owner of White Castle serves up sliders himself.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Desperate Housewives” (D)	Celia comes down with chicken pox, so Gaby stays with Bob and Lee.
9 p.m.	HBO	“Big Love” (D)	Marilyn comes up with a plan that could affect Bill’s political aspirations.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.