Television
NBC's sweeps strategy: Sacrifice play
By Toni Fitzgerald
May 7, 2008 - 1:20:57 AM

NBC has kept several top shows off its May schedule, including “Heroes” and “American Gladiators,” opting instead to return them with longer runs later this year.

In their place, the network has subbed in low-rated extended editions of “Deal or No Deal” and unscripted leftovers like “Most Outrageous Moments.”

That’s left NBC far behind its competitors this month. For the week ended May 4, NBC finished a distant fourth with an average 2.0 rating and 6 share, 23 percent behind second-place CBS’s 2.6/7.

Among total viewers NBC was 2.7 million behind No. 3 ABC, averaging just 6.46 million last week and putting only one show, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” in the top 25.

But while its May schedule certainly looks bad, with four nights per week including at least one rerun, the network won’t be bad off for long. It’s essentially sacrificed May for a better schedule going forward.

NBC held the second edition of “Gladiators,” its top-rated new show, off the schedule until later this month in order to help launch its summer schedule. “Gladiators” will serve as a lead-in for the relocated USA Network program “Nashville Star” on Mondays next month, part of a network strategy that includes new programming almost every night of the week.

That, of course, is a key part of NBC’s much-talked-about year-round programming strategy, which begins in a few weeks. It will have more than 300 hours of new summer programming.

But NBC also decided to leave three scripted series, “Chuck,” “Life” and “Heroes,” its No. 1 scripted show last fall, off the schedule this May. The network figured it would be smarter to hold new episodes of those programs, at least one of which ("Heroes") is highly serialized, and give them a splashy relaunch this fall.

That may prove to be a very smart decision.

The other networks have found that while the writers’ strike may be over, many viewers aren’t coming back to broadcast. Ratings for top shows like Fox’s “House,” CBS’s “CSI” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” are well off from last fall, and some theorize that’s because fans don’t know that fresh episodes are back on the air.

By waiting until fall to bring back a trio of programs, NBC may benefit from the premiere week bump, when viewers know for sure that their shows are coming back. What’s more, they won’t have missed any spring episodes because they didn’t know they were there.

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Meanwhile, in broadcast ratings for the week ended May 4:
 
Among adults 18-49, Fox was first with a 3.5 rating and a 10 share, followed by ABC at 2.9/8, CBS at 2.6/7, NBC at 2.0/6, Univision at 1.6/5, CW at 1.1/3, MyNetworkTV at 0.5/1, Telemundo at 0.4/1, TeleFutura at 0.3/1, and Ion and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Among adults 18-34, Fox was first with a 2.9 rating and a 10 share, followed by ABC at 2.3/7, Univision at 1.9/6, CBS at 1.6/5, NBC at 1.5/5, CW at 1.2/4, Telemundo at 0.5/2, MyNetworkTV and TeleFutura at 0.4/1, and Ion and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Among adults 25-54, Fox was first with a 3.9 rating and an 11 share, followed by ABC at 3.5/9, CBS at 3.4/9, NBC at 2.5/6, Univision at 1.5/4, CW at 1.0/3, MyNetworkTV at 0.5/1, Telemundo at 0.4/1, TeleFutura at 0.3/1, and Ion and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. Fox’s “American Idol - Tuesday” 9.0; 2. Fox’s “American Idol - Wednesday” 8.4; 3. ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” 6.3; 4. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” 6.1; 5. Fox’s “House” 5.8.
 
Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. Fox’s “American Idol - Tuesday” 25.09 million; 2. Fox’s “American Idol – Wednesday” 22.8 million; 3. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” 18.22 million; 4. CBS’s “CSI” 18.01 million; 5. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars Results” 17.06 million.
 
Top five Live+7 English-language Big Five shows (households, week ended April 20): Fox’s “American Idol – Tuesday” 14.5; 2. Fox’s “American Idol - Wednesday” 13.9; 3. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” 11.6; 4. ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” 10.9; 5. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars Results” 10.3.
 
Top five Live+7 English-language Big Five shows (18-49s, week ended April 20): 1. Fox’s “American Idol - Tuesday” 9.4; 2. Fox’s “American Idol - Wednesday” 9.2; 3. ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” 6.2; 4. CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” 5.8; 5. NBC’s “The Office” 5.7.
 
Show on the rise: “Hell’s Kitchen,” Fox, Tuesday 9 p.m. Chef Ramsay’s reality competition posted a 5.4 rating among viewers 18-49, up 10 percent from a 4.9 the previous week.
 
Show on the decline: “Law & Order,” NBC, Wednesday 10 p.m. Airing against an original of CBS’s “CSI: NY,” NBC’s crime procedural fell 19 percent week-to-week among viewers 18-49, from a 3.7 the previous week, when Jesse L. Martin exited, to a 3.0.