The News Round-Up for Thursday, October 26th

Let's go ahead and get the press releases out of the way. Stay tuned at the end of this post for a few other news and notes.

CBS Spins Their Numbers for Wednesday: Touts Criminal Minds Over Lost

Seems like all of the networks were out in full force today to spin their numbers. Some days you see several networks doing it while other days they're suspiciously quiet.

The CW Spins Their Numbers for Wednesday: America's Top Next Model is getting good ratings

Glad to see CW having something to scream about when it comes to their ratings. They need some good news.

ABC Spins Their Numbers for Wednesday: Lost continues to get ratings

Not to be left out of the gang, ABC, the winner for Wednesday, spin their numbers.

Kathy Najimy Joins the Cast of Numbers

New recurring character for the show.

Spike TV Highlights for December 2006

Star: Trek Voyager anyone?

With that, I just have a few more things to report on. As I mentioned earlier in the week, Tuesday I believe, The O.C. is now available on Myspace.com for you to check out. I'll be watching it sooner or later, and be able to offer my own two cents on the upcoming season of The O.C. Honestly, from what I've heard, it should be good.

Also, some news on some of the freshman shows after I just talked about them yesterday. Studio 60 on the Sunset Script had three more scripts ordered which is good news for the show. ABC also ordered more scripts for The Nine, Men in Trees, and Help Me Help You. So, some good news for ABC shows.

Tomorrow will probably be the same ol' same ol' and I wouldn't expect any feature pieces. Maybe this weekend, but I'd expect it to be all quiet here.

Thanks guys.

The Pulse

The Ratings Report for Wednesday, October 25th

Another night of ratings and we're here to make it as simple as possible for you. Our apologies for being behind the ball today, but some personal stuff is keeping us away. We're also going to be behind the ball tomorrow as well so keep that in mind. Now, let's move on to the ratings report.

ABC can claim to be #1 on Wednesday evenings as they were able to just barely inch out CBS with a 9.6/15 for the evening to pull out roughly fourteen million visitors over the course of the night thanks in part to Dancing With The Stars and Lost. CBS would pull down 9.5/15 for roughly fourteen million viewers just like it's ABC counterpart and clinch second place. In terms of the number of viewers, ABC had 165,000 more to give you an idea of how close the race was. Coming in third was NBC with a 4.9/8 for seven million viewers while Fox managed to get a 3.8/6. In last place was the CW with a 3.0/5.

In the highly coveted, 18-49 demo, ABC would win that race as well with a 5.0 rating. CBS would finish second with a 4.3. In third and fourth, we have NBC with a 2.9 while the CW had a 2.1. Finally, Fox pulled up the rear with a 2.0. Now, let's break it down by hour and show.

ABC and Dancing with the Stars took first place for the 8PM hour with a 13.2/21 for a nice 19.85 million viewers for the highest season rating yet to date. In second place was the CBS rookie show Jericho with 6.8/11 for ten million viewers. Next we have a tie for third place, with NBC's 30 Rock and Twenty Good Years and CW's America's Next Top Model both getting a 3.7/6 for five million viewers, but NBC had more viewers slightly. America's Next Top Model is the highest rated show on the CW network this season. Fox trailed the networks with a washed out World Series resulting in a The War at Home episode that brought in a 3.5/6 for about 4.8 million viewers.

In the 9PM hour, we saw CBS take the hour with a 10.8/16 for 16.589 (per TV Guide) million viewers while ABC would come in second in terms of household with Lost getting a 10.3/15, but having more viewers with 16.795. That just goes to show you how crazy the ratings can be. Following those two shows, we have NBC taking third thanks to The Biggest Loser getting a 5.1/8 for seven million viewers. After that, The War at Home took fourth for Fox with a 4.0/6 for five million viewers while the CW got a 2.4/4 for 3.5 million viewers from One Tree Hill.

Finally, the 10PM hour saw CBS keep the lead with CSI: New York getting a 10.9/18 for seventeen million viewers while NBC's Dateline got a 6.0/10 for 8.5 million viewers. The Nine for ABC brought in a 5.2/8 for 8 million viewers.

That's it for the ratings. We're going to probably wrap up the day with a news roundup as we're having a fairly quiet day in the news arena.

More soon.

Thanks.

The Pulse

The Ratings Report for Tuesday October 24th

We're starting our posting day with the latest ratings which are coming down now from the Nielsen Reseach Group. The top rated show of the evening was of course, Dancing With The Stars, which was even able to best Game Three of the World Series. Let's start it off with looking at the overall network ratings. ABC found themselves in first with a 10.4/16 with an average of 14.9-15 million viewers throughout the night. In second place came Fox with a 9.2/14 for an average of 13 million viewers. Then, we had CBS in third place with a 6.6/10 for nine million viewers and NBC in a close fourth with a 5.8/9. Finally, the CW pulled up the rear with a 2.7/4 for about 3.8 million viewers throughout the night.

In the coveted 18-49 demo, there was a tie for first as ABC and Fox drew a 4.2 rating. NBC would come in third with a 3.3. Next was CBS with a 2.9 and CW came in last with a 1.7.

Now, let's break it down hour by hour and show by show. Starting off with the 8PM hour, Dancing with the Stars for ABC pulled down a 13.0/20 for about 19.5 million viewers. Dancing With The Stars continues to be one of the highest rated shows on television right now. Game 3 of the World Series started off with a 7.7/12 for eleven million viewers. CBS aired a repeat of NCIS to come in third with a 7.5/12 for about 10.7 million viewers. Then came a new episode of Friday Night Lights with a 4.0/6 for NBC for roughly five million viewers. I'll be talking more about this later on tonight, but Friday Night Lights dropped two tenths of a point after gaining viewers last week. Finally, Gilmore Girls for the CW came in last with a 3.2/5 for about 4.3 million viewers, which was an improvement over last week's 3.1/5.

Moving on to the 9PM hour, ABC stayed in first place with Dancing With The Stars getting a 14.7/22 for the start of the hour for roughly 20 million viewers and then Help Me Help You got a 7.5/11 for ten million viewers. That averaged out to be an 11.1/17 to come out at 16 million viewers. The World Series continued to grow in the ratings as it got a 10.1/15 for fourteen million viewers. Up next, we have two repeats with The Unit on CBS getting a 6.2/10 for nine million viewers while NBC's Law and Order: Criminal Intent got a 6.2/9 for a tie in third place. Bringing up the rear is Veronica Mars for the CW with a season high 2.2/3 for about 3.4 million viewers. That's up from last week's 2.1/3 and up from the season premiere of the same numbers.

To end the night, the World Series moved to the forefront of the race for FOX to claim first with a 9.7/16 four about fifteen million viewers. Another re-run for NBC, Law and Order: SVU got a 7.2/12 for eleven million viewers for second place. In third place was ABC's Boston Legal pulling down a 7.1/12 for about 10.9 million viewers while CBS had a Criminal Minds rerun getting a 6.0/10 for nine million viewers.

More soon.

Thanks.

The Pulse

The Ratings Report for Monday October 23rd

Well, the ratings have come down for last night, and some good news for fans of Studio 60 and Heroes. But, we'll get there in due time. Let's open this off with the overall network ratings. CBS came in first with an 8.8/13 for an average of 12 million viewers over the night as they claimed the #1 show of the night with CSI: Miami. NBC would come in second with a 7.8/12 to come in at an average of eleven million, but they would win the crucial 18-49 demo thanks to the best showing of Heroes yet. Next would be ABC who came in with a 5.0/8 for an average of seven million viewers of the night. Then would come Fox who came in with a 4.7/7 for roughly 6.5 million viewers throughout the night. In last place would be the CW netlet with with a 1.9/3 for roughly 2.5 million viewers.

Now, we're going to take a brief moment to look at the 18-49 demo. As I said yesterday and today, this demo is the most important demo for the networks due to the fact that it helps set your advertising rates. However, the numers to figure out the 18-49 viewers is different then the overall viewer, and takes longer to figure out. I just haven't had the time to do that yet because I don't have anything to base them off to make sure I'm getting them in an accurate field yet. But, that'll come in due time. As I said before, NBC won the 18-49 demo with a 4.6 while CBS trailed closely with a 4.5. ABC would place third with a 2.9 while Fox got a 2.6. CW came in last with a 1.2.

Now to break down the hours. Starting with the 8PM hour, NBC would win the hour thanks to Deal or No Deal with a 9.7/15 for roughly 14 million viewers watching the popular game show. Then CBS would take second thanks to the tag team of The Class with a 5.5/8 for 8 million viewers while How I Met Your Mother gets a 6.4/10 for 9.7 million viewers. Up next we've got Fox with Prison Break bringing in a 5.3/8 for about 7.5 million viewers. ABC would take fourth with a Wife Swap repeat that brought in 5.0/8 for about eight million viewers. CW would bring up the rear with Everybody Loves Chris getting a 2.1/3 for a little over two million viewers while All of Us gets a 2.0/3 to bring in slighly less then Everybody Loves Chris.

Moving on to the 9PM hour, the sitcoms would rule the hour as CBS claimed first place with Two and a Half Men getting a 9.8/14 for thirteen million viewers while The Adventures of Old Christine would pull down a 8.1/12 for eleven million viewers. Heroes would come in second with an 8.6/12 for 14 million viewers. Now, the reason behind the fact that Heroes came in second is that the average of households was higher for CBS which gave them the first place honors even though Heroes had more viewers. Also, as you can see this is not an exact science as according to TVGuide, Heroes is getting 14.2 million viewers even though it had an 8.6/12 rating. One day, this will make sense to everyone, I promise. Next, you get ABC in third with a 5.8/9 for eight million viewers with the newest installment of The Bachelor and Fox coming in fourth with Justice bringing in a 4.2/8 for 6.2 million viewers. Finally, the CW's Girlfriends got a 1.8/3 for just two million viewers while The Game got a 1.7/3 for about 1.9-2.0 million viewers.

Finally, the 10PM hour saw CBS take #1 again with CSI: Miami getting a 11.5/19 for 18 million viewers, maybe 17.8 or 17.9. Meanwhile, NBC took back #2 after last week they were #3 in this time slot with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip taking a 5.1/8 with 7.5 million viewers as the slide seems to have slowed down. In last place is What About Brian which brought in a 4.4/7 rating for six million viewers, dropping 2.3 million from last week.

That concludes our ratings report. Still to come for today will be a What to Watch tonight feature, a thoughts on last night TV feature, and my thoughts on the 24 Season Six Trailer. Tomorrow, after the ratings report I'll bring you a look at the remaining freshman shows and my thoughts on if they'll be cancelled or kept for good for the remainder of the season.

Thanks.

The Pulse

The Ratings Report for Sunday, October 22, 2006

The preliminary numbers for last night's ratings have just come down from the Nielsen National Data. Now, before I begin, ratings right now makes and breaks a show. They're extremely crucial to the numbers game that is played in Hollywood, as you need to score a number of viewers to get a certain ad rate. If you get 20 million viewers a week, you obviously get more dollars for that show then a show that just gets 8 million viewers a week. Also, the other number that the networks look at is the 18-49 demographic, which is the demo that the advertisers want as they're the most influential and most likely to actually buy something.

Now, if you're new to the ratings game then you're going to look at the numbers and be rather confused. What the heck does it mean when my favorite show got 8.3/10? That's too confusing! Well, the purpose of this little post is to break it down so you can understand it. I'll always post it in the millions of viewers for both overall viewers and the demographic I described above. Eventually, I'll be able to explain the numbers in a why that will make sense for you, but first we have to be able to gauge the numbers so that they make sense to you.

So, let's start with last night's slate of shows.

Overview

Fox is going to feeling pretty happy this morning as they were able to win the night courtesy of Game Two of the World Series which saw the Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. The numbers for Fox came back as a 10.2/16 because of the World Series and the late ending NFL games. What that means is that Fox came down with approximately 11.3 million households watched the game, and roughly sixteen million viewers. Obviously, that number will change as the time goes on due to the fact that it was a live broadcast, and numbers are normally flimsy in that department. Also, I'm not privy to the actual number of viewers watch each network so I have to go with my best estimates based on other numbers and math. So, if I'm wrong, I'll let you know, and weekly I'll try to give you an update on the actual numbers that come down from the Nielsen.

ABC and CBS would tie for second with ABC having more viewers overall. Overall, they both end up with an 8.4/13 to come out with 9.35 households and an average of thirteen million viewers a piece. NBC came in fourth with a series of re-runs that brought in a 3.3/5 which comes out to 3.6 million households and five to six million viewers. Finally, the CW came in last with a 1.6/2 which comes out to be 1.8 million households and roughly a little over two million viewers. Now, let's break it down show by show for each hour.

At the 7PM hour, Fox came in first thanks to the ending of NFL games and the World Series pre-game show. That came in at a 9.6/16 for fifteen million viewers. Then, came 60 Minutes for CBS which got an 8.1/14 for about 12.9 million to 13 million viewers to place second in the hour. Following that, we have ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos with a 5.5/9 or about eight million viewers. Then came Football Night in America on ABC that brought in

At the 8PM hour, the start of Game 2 of the World Series brought in 10.5/16 for another fifteen million, though a bit higher then before as it was shown in more households. ABC would then move in second thanks to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a 7.4/11 for a nice ten million viewers. The Amazing Race would come in third place for CBS with a 6.8/10 for nine million viewers. Finally, the first of three repeats of Heroes over on NBC would get a 3.7/6 to begin with a little less than five million viewers while the CW's 7th Heaven brought in the rear with 2.1/3 for 2.5-2.9 million viewers for the network.

At the 9PM hour, the gears would shit as Desperate Housewives would take first place with a 12.4/18 as they show continues to decline and gets a rough 19 million viewers, if not dipping slightly into the 18 millions. However, Desperate Housewives was still the number one show for the evening. The World Series would pull in a second place with 10.7/16, continuing to climb as it's in the high fifteen million range, maybe even getting 16 million viewers depending on what the final numbers are. CBS claimed third thanks to Cold Case which got 9.2/13 for twelve million viewers while Heroes drew a 3.5/5 for four million viewers, and CW's America's Next Top Model repeat got a 1.3/2 for roughly 1.5 million viewers.

Finally, at the 10PM hour, we see Fox take the lead once again with a 10.1/16, losing some households, and holding steady right around fifteen million viewers. Without A Trace brought CBS into second with a 9.5/15 for 13.9 million viewers approximately. Then came the new show from ABC, Brothers and Sisters, to pull in a respectable 8.3/13 for roughly twelve million viewers. Finally, NBC pulls in the rear with the third of their repeats of the hottest new show of the season, Heroes, with a 3.7/6, gaining more viewers, to have a nice 4.5-5.0 million viewers.

I'm going to bring you the demographic numbers later on in the day as they're harder to pin down in terms of actual viewers, and take a little bit longer to verify. If you have any questions, news, reports, or anything you want to offer, please send them to thepulseattelevision@gmail.com and I'll get back to you.

Thanks.

The Pulse