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for FX's 'The Shield'
Lots of buzz, tons of hype, launch its new season
By Toni Fitzgerald
A small gold man can have quite an effect a show’s ratings.
Viewers eager to catch Michael Chiklis’ Emmy-award winning performance on FX Networks’ “The Shield” lifted the show to its best-ever ratings in its second-season debut last Tuesday.
It was the first chance for curious viewers to see a new episode of “The Shield” since September’s Emmy program, where Chiklis became the first actor from an ad-supported cable show to ever win the best lead actor in a drama statue.
“The Shield” premiered last March to respectable ratings during its 13-episode run.
But last week, the show did even better.
It was the most-watched program on cable Tuesday, attracting 4.4 million viewers.
“The Shield’s” 3.2 rating among adults 18-49 was up 39 percent versus last year’s debut. With football’s regular season finished and the playoffs showing on the broadcast networks, “The Shield” became the first non-sports program since August to rank No. 1 for the week among 18-49s and 25-54s.
It also increased its household rating by 29 percent to a 3.6.
The publicity surrounding Chiklis’ Emmy no doubt turned many more viewers on to this year’s edition than last. FX promoted the show relentlessly heading into last year’s premiere introducing corrupt cop Vic Mackey (Chiklis).
Despite decent reviews (and much praise for the acting), the show garnered more attention for its foul language and coarse violence than anything else.
That definitely remains. But perhaps viewers are more ready to deal with it.
After all, HBO’s “Sopranos,” cable’s other bloody show, has retired for the season. And “The Shield’s” time slot competitor, ABC’s “NYPD Blue,” has dulled some of the edge it once had.
Still, viewers may have simply tuned in out of curiosity. That often happens when lesser-known shows garner awards attention; look at “The Sopranos” or Fox’s “24,” which both experienced jumps after Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
But even if its numbers fall back to pre-Emmy level, “The Shield” has already proven the most successful show amidst FX’s main list of reruns and movies.
The best-performing cable movie of the week, TBS’s “America’s Prince: The JFK Jr. Story,” ranked No. 1 in households and third in 25-54s. MTV dominated the 18-34 demographic with three “Real World”-related programs in the top 10.
Ad-supported cable, which for the first time edged broadcast in viewership last year, got more good news this week.
The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau said that the top 10 national television advertisers for the 2001-’02 season got the majority of their household impressions from ad-supported cable.
Cable generated 51 percent of the total-day impressions from October ’01 to September ’02, compared to 41 percent for broadcast and 8 percent for syndication.
Cable’s total share of household impressions from the top 10 advertisers has grown by 21 percentage points since 1996-’97. Broadcast has dropped by 16 percentage points in that span, and syndication has fallen by 6.
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TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE
NETWORKS |
||||
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
||
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
TBS |
1712 |
NICK |
1310 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1703 |
LIF |
979 |
|
3 |
LIF |
1511 |
TNT |
976 |
|
4 |
NICK |
1445 |
TBS |
955 |
|
5 |
USA |
1410 |
TOON |
787 |
|
5 |
TOON |
1112 |
USA |
772 |
|
7 |
FX |
997 |
FOXN |
586 |
|
8 |
FOXN |
977 |
AEN |
539 |
|
9 |
DISC |
970 |
MTV |
515 |
|
10 |
MTV |
963 |
ESPN |
510 |
|
11 |
AEN |
948 |
TLC |
508 |
|
12 |
TLC |
853 |
FX |
499 |
|
13 |
SCIF |
838 |
DISC |
496 |
|
14 |
ESPN |
814 |
HIST |
430 |
|
15 |
CNN |
802 |
CNN |
419 |
|
16 |
AMC |
769 |
HGTV |
416 |
|
17 |
HGTV |
672 |
TVLD |
395 |
|
18 |
HIST |
659 |
AMC |
384 |
|
19 |
TVLD |
626 |
CORT |
360 |
|
20 |
TNN |
622 |
SCIF |
356 |
|
21 |
CORT |
608 |
TNN |
346 |
|
22 |
CMDY |
568 |
CMDY |
332 |
|
23 |
FOOD |
469 |
FOOD |
302 |
|
24 |
BET |
463 |
BET |
283 |
|
25 |
APL |
435 |
APL |
258 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS |
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|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
Americas Prince:The JFKJR |
TBS |
4279 |
|
2 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
3156 |
|
3 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
3149 |
|
4 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
3029 |
|
5 |
Pretty Woman |
TBS |
3003 |
|
6 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2981 |
|
7 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2974 |
|
8 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2921 |
|
9 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2920 |
|
10 |
Real World XII |
MTV |
2880 |
|
11 |
The Shield |
FX |
2879 |
|
12 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
2878 |
|
13 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2847 |
|
14 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2823 |
|
15 |
Pretty Woman |
TBS |
2804 |
|
16 |
Osbournes |
MTV |
2773 |
|
17 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2734 |
|
18 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2695 |
|
19 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2652 |
|
20 |
Perfect Storm, The |
TNT |
2639 |
|
21 |
Jimmy Neutron |
NICK |
2608 |
|
22 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2601 |
|
23 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2589 |
|
24 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2585 |
|
25 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2583 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP
10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
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Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
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|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
MTV |
640 |
MTV |
340 |
|
2 |
TBS |
548 |
TBS |
339 |
|
3 |
USA |
479 |
NICK |
256 |
|
4 |
TNT |
466 |
TNT |
251 |
|
5 |
FX |
399 |
USA |
233 |
|
6 |
CMDY |
357 |
LIF |
214 |
|
7 |
TLC |
329 |
TLC |
208 |
|
8 |
DISC |
314 |
CMDY |
205 |
|
9 |
LIF |
271 |
ESPN |
192 |
|
10 |
NICK |
258 |
FX |
177 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
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Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Real World XII |
MTV |
2330 |
|
2 |
Osbournes |
MTV |
2278 |
|
3 |
Rw/Rr Battles Of Sexes |
MTV |
1765 |
|
4 |
The Shield |
FX |
1524 |
|
5 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
1426 |
|
6 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
1410 |
|
7 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
1379 |
|
8 |
Whl U Were Out |
TLC |
1172 |
|
9 |
Real World XII |
MTV |
1165 |
|
10 |
Social Hist Of Tattoo |
MTV |
1135 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP
10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
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Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
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|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
TBS |
1203 |
TBS |
674 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1176 |
TNT |
654 |
|
3 |
USA |
969 |
LIF |
527 |
|
4 |
FX |
903 |
NICK |
497 |
|
5 |
MTV |
800 |
USA |
492 |
|
6 |
LIF |
785 |
MTV |
414 |
|
7 |
TLC |
684 |
FX |
397 |
|
8 |
DISC |
667 |
TLC |
390 |
|
9 |
SCIF |
604 |
ESPN |
360 |
|
10 |
NICK |
526 |
DISC |
336 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
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|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
The Shield |
FX |
3128 |
|
2 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
3124 |
|
3 |
Osbournes |
MTV |
2793 |
|
4 |
Real World XII |
MTV |
2690 |
|
5 |
Americas Prince:The JFKJR |
TBS |
2488 |
|
6 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2448 |
|
7 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2380 |
|
8 |
Whl U Were Out |
TLC |
2349 |
|
9 |
Rw/Rr Battles Of Sexes |
MTV |
2184 |
|
10 |
Dead Zone, The |
USA |
2165 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
TNT |
1322 |
TNT |
709 |
|
2 |
TBS |
1222 |
TBS |
646 |
|
3 |
USA |
975 |
LIF |
579 |
|
4 |
LIF |
925 |
NICK |
503 |
|
5 |
FX |
892 |
USA |
479 |
|
6 |
DISC |
720 |
FX |
402 |
|
7 |
TLC |
705 |
TLC |
387 |
|
8 |
SCIF |
669 |
DISC |
356 |
|
9 |
NICK |
523 |
ESPN |
322 |
|
10 |
ESPN |
491 |
AEN |
300 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
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|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
The Shield |
FX |
3228 |
|
2 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
3142 |
|
3 |
Americas Prince:The JFKJR |
TBS |
2706 |
|
4 |
Perfect Storm, The |
TNT |
2437 |
|
5 |
Whl U Were Out |
TLC |
2318 |
|
6 |
Armageddon |
FX |
2158 |
|
7 |
Pretty Woman |
TBS |
2112 |
|
8 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2053 |
|
9 |
Pretty Woman |
TBS |
2015 |
|
10 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
1998 |
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Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
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January 15, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life
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