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for 'Reno 911!'
Comedy Central has a new hit in copper spoof
By Toni Fitzgerald
“South Park” has become the measuring stick by which all other Comedy Central shows are rated, and so not surprisingly, the network often takes advantage of its biggest hit by debuting new programs post-“Park.”
The shows usually draw a decent sampling, but they almost never build on “South Park’s” audience.
Last week was one of the exceptions. The debut of “Reno 911!,” a “Cops” spoof with the same non-delicate sense of humor as “South Park,” got a huge response from males both very young and those old enough to know better, and became just the second show in the network’s history to build on its “South Park” lead-in.
The Wednesday “Reno” increased “South Park’s” viewership among 18-49s by 20 percent to 1.5 million.
It bettered the average in the 10:30 p.m. time slot for the previous six weeks by 86 percent in that demo.
Among men, the show was even more popular. “Reno 911!” was the highest-rated basic cable program of the night among males 12-34.
Media Life's Jeff Bercovici, a male who is in that demographic, described "Reno" as "an intermittently hilarious new Comedy Central series that does for small-town police forces what 'This Is Spinal Tap' did for heavy metal bands" in his review last week.
"Reno" won its time slot among all the major male demographics, including 12-34s, 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s. The show ranked No. 14 among 18-49s overall last week and 17 among 18-34s.
Of course, it’s important to note that last week’s “South Park” was not an original episode, and thus didn’t perform as well as it did back in January, when the other show to better a “Park” lead-in premiered.
“Chappelle’s Show,” which recently was renewed for a second season, became Comedy Central’s second-highest-rated behind “Park” this year.
“Reno” didn’t come close to equaling “Chappelle’s” debut ratings. The latter averaged a 2.1 rating among 18-49s earlier this year, compared to “Reno’s” 1.5 last week, a 29 percent difference.
FX’s “Nip/Tuck” also had a strong debut, becoming the fifth-most-watched program bow in cable history. But it may take another week to brand the show a hit. After all, former time slot occupant “Lucky” also had a strong sample to start, only to fall off after the first three weeks.
One show that has managed to hold its strong start is HGTV’s “Divine Design” Mondays at 8:30 p.m. After five weeks on the air, the show is bettering HGTV’s average second quarter time slot rating by more than 60 percent among households.
The Pocono 500 on TNT, although the week’s top-rated program in most demographics, saw a year-to-year dip in viewing among households of 8 percent.
The debut of the Melissa Joan Hart-gets-married series "Tying the Knot" on ABC Family failed to improve on the network's numbers for the same time slot last year, averaging 1.1 million viewers Sunday at 9 p.m.
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
||
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
TNT |
1776 |
NICK |
1255 |
|
2 |
LIFE |
1552 |
TOON |
1075 |
|
3 |
NICK |
1445 |
LIFE |
1071 |
|
4 |
TOON |
1352 |
TNT |
966 |
|
5 |
TBS |
1290 |
TBS |
825 |
|
5 |
USA |
1245 |
FOXN |
784 |
|
7 |
FOXN |
1232 |
USA |
671 |
|
8 |
A&E |
1042 |
A&E |
533 |
|
9 |
DISC |
925 |
TLC |
528 |
|
10 |
TLC |
842 |
MTV |
478 |
|
11 |
TNN |
836 |
CNN |
474 |
|
12 |
MTV |
807 |
DISC |
469 |
|
13 |
SCIF |
768 |
ESPN |
463 |
|
14 |
ESPN |
757 |
HIST |
433 |
|
15 |
FX |
744 |
HGTV |
415 |
|
16 |
AMC |
693 |
FX |
413 |
|
17 |
HGTV |
679 |
TNN |
401 |
|
18 |
HIST |
670 |
AMC |
396 |
|
19 |
CNN |
660 |
TVLD |
377 |
|
20 |
CORT |
610 |
SCIF |
364 |
|
21 |
FAM |
573 |
BET |
346 |
|
22 |
TVLD |
567 |
CORT |
330 |
|
23 |
CMDY |
501 |
FOOD |
325 |
|
24 |
VH1 |
474 |
CMDY |
302 |
|
25 |
FOOD |
473 |
FAM |
299 |
|
Source: Turner
Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.
|
||||
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS |
|||
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
Pennsylvania 500 |
TNT |
3966 |
|
2 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
3775 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
3459 |
|
4 |
Homicide: Life O/T Street |
TNT |
2711 |
|
5 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2634 |
|
6 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2585 |
|
7 |
Yankees/Red Sox |
ESPN |
2579 |
|
8 |
Monk |
USA |
2575 |
|
9 |
Nip Tuck |
FX |
2537 |
|
10 |
GI Jane |
TNT |
2513 |
|
11 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2489 |
|
12 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2460 |
|
13 |
Strong Medicine |
LIF |
2412 |
|
14 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2402 |
|
15 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2393 |
|
16 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2372 |
|
17 |
Real World XIII |
MTV |
2369 |
|
18 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2356 |
|
19 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2329 |
|
20 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2323 |
|
21 |
The Oreilly Factor |
FOXN |
2255 |
|
22 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2247 |
|
23 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2235 |
|
24 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2207 |
|
25 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2193 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
MTV |
517 |
TBS |
343 |
|
2 |
TNT |
459 |
MTV |
263 |
|
3 |
TBS |
397 |
TNT |
254 |
|
4 |
USA |
361 |
NICK |
241 |
|
5 |
TNN |
309 |
LIFE |
222 |
|
6 |
CMDY |
296 |
TOON |
221 |
|
7 |
VH1 |
296 |
USA |
205 |
|
8 |
FX |
277 |
TLC |
186 |
|
9 |
DISC |
269 |
ESPN |
168 |
|
10 |
TOON |
265 |
CMDY |
165 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
||||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
|||
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
1929 |
|
2 |
Real World XIII |
MTV |
1813 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
1804 |
|
4 |
Osbournes |
MTV |
1681 |
|
5 |
Road Rules XII |
MTV |
1177 |
|
6 |
Making The Band 2 |
MTV |
1133 |
|
7 |
GI Jane |
TNT |
1043 |
|
8 |
Nip Tuck |
FX |
999 |
|
9 |
Pennsylvania 500 |
TNT |
947 |
|
10 |
Dead Zone, The |
USA |
931 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
|
1 |
TNT |
1131 |
TNT |
645 |
|
2 |
USA |
831 |
TBS |
581 |
|
3 |
TBS |
762 |
LIFE |
532 |
|
4 |
LIFE |
675 |
NICK |
446 |
|
5 |
MTV |
661 |
USA |
414 |
|
6 |
TNN |
637 |
TLC |
354 |
|
7 |
DISC |
624 |
TOON |
335 |
|
8 |
TLC |
586 |
MTV |
327 |
|
9 |
FX |
577 |
FX |
308 |
|
10 |
NICK |
484 |
DISC |
306 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data
from Nielsen Media Research.
|
||||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
|||
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Pennsylvania 500 |
TNT |
3059 |
|
2 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
3012 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2917 |
|
4 |
GI Jane |
TNT |
2178 |
|
5 |
Real World XIII |
MTV |
2085 |
|
6 |
Nip Tuck |
FX |
2030 |
|
7 |
Osbournes |
MTV |
2001 |
|
8 |
Dead Zone, The |
USA |
1652 |
|
9 |
Yankees/Red Sox |
ESPN |
1628 |
|
10 |
Road Rules XII |
MTV |
1612 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data
from Nielsen Media Research.
|
|||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||
|
Rank |
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
TNT |
1177 |
TNT |
661 |
|
2 |
USA |
881 |
LIFE |
579 |
|
3 |
LIFE |
784 |
TBS |
494 |
|
4 |
TBS |
732 |
NICK |
420 |
|
5 |
DISC |
678 |
USA |
395 |
|
6 |
TNN |
622 |
TLC |
341 |
|
7 |
TLC |
621 |
FOXN |
332 |
|
8 |
FX |
596 |
DISC |
321 |
|
9 |
SCIF |
574 |
FX |
306 |
|
10 |
FOXN |
499 |
ESPN |
282 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data
from Nielsen Media Research.
|
||||
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS |
|||
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Pennsylvania 500 |
TNT |
3491 |
|
2 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2618 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
TNN |
2607 |
|
4 |
GI Jane |
TNT |
2271 |
|
5 |
Nip Tuck |
FX |
2151 |
|
6 |
Monk |
USA |
1891 |
|
7 |
Trading Spaces |
TLC |
1789 |
|
8 |
Discover Card Pre-Race |
TNT |
1681 |
|
9 |
Yankees/Red Sox |
ESPN |
1680 |
|
10 |
Dead Zone, The |
USA |
1677 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data
from Nielsen Media Research.
|
|||
July 30, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life
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