Sweeps eve: How are the Big Four networks faring?
11/01/06 12:11 PM
By ED BARK
The November sweeps are upon us. Just don't expect any of the big movies, miniseries or specials that added a little luster to past sweeps.
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all but out of those businesses, but viewers at least can look forward to four successive first-run episodes of hit series when the month-long battle begins Thursday. Exceptions are ABC's duo of Lost and Dancing with the Stars, both of which will say bye-bye for a while in mid-November. Otherwise here's a look at how the Big Four are doing, with an emphasis on all those new series that poured forth earlier this fall.
NBC
Left to right: Friday Night Lights,
Heroes and Studio 60
Although still languishing in third place, NBC is the only network to show significant year-to-year gains across the board in Nielsen measurements ranging from total viewers to 18-to-34-year-olds. The Peacock has the hottest new series in Heroes, the only freshman to rank in the top 10 with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. It's the lone new serial to catch on in a big way.
NBC also has an out-of-the-blue performer in the dim bulb game show 1 vs 100, which is showing signs of being at least a cash calf in the ratings. And ER, in its 13th season, continues to show amazing resilience.
Otherwise it's not so good. The new series Kidnapped and 20 Good Years already have been written off. And a trio of critically acclaimed freshmen -- Friday Night Lights, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, 30 Rock -- are fighting for their lives. Studio 60, which probes the innards of a late night sketch comedy show, looks to be the least likely to last much longer. It's more "inside" than Fantastic Voyage, and millions of viewers have tuned out since the well-sampled premiere.
NBC is making a game effort to keep Lights on the field, giving it a test run last Monday in Studio's 9 p.m. slot. The series is more compatible with that night's preceding Heroes, but is NBC willing to let Lights slowly build an audience? Tina Fey's 30 Rock will be moving to Thursdays at the end of November, joining My Name Is Earl, The Office and the returning Scrubs. That's easily the smartest comedy bloc on the block, but Thursdays are fiercely competitive. Once upon a time they were owned by NBC. No more.
ABC
Left to right: Help Me Help You, Ugly
Betty and The Nine
Pre-American Idol, ABC again is the No. 1 network with two key advertiser targets, 18-to-49-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds. It dared to pit Grey's Anatomy against CSI: Crime Investigation, and that move has paid off far better than expected on super-competitive Thursdays.
Dancing with the Stars and Lost also are scoring big for ABC, but not for much longer. Lost will be supplanted by the new serial Day Break on Nov. 15. Jack, Sawyer, Kate and the others then won't be found again until February if ABC's questionable grand plan holds up.
Dancing is set to become a wallflower for a while after its Nov. 15th third edition finale. Its Wednesday night replacement is Show Me the Money, an outwardly preposterous game show hosted by William Shatner and adorned by dancing girls. "Shat" first will get a big 90-minute Tuesday night splash following the final "performance" edition of Dancing. That doesn't bode well for Ted Danson's new Help Me Help You sitcom, which also will be preempted on Tuesday, Nov. 21 by Dick Clark's annual American Music Awards.
ABC's freshman crop so far has yielded one clear hit, Ugly Betty, and a marginally decent performance by Brothers & Sisters on Sundays after the still potent Desperate Housewives. Both newcomers have been picked up for full seasons.
The Disney-owned network otherwise is seeing scant ratings returns from The Nine and Six Degrees despite their respective solid gold time slots following Lost and Grey's Anatomy. Both freshmen are falling off ratings cliffs, with Six Degrees the more egregious offender. Grey's has been averaging 22.1 million viewers through the first six weeks of the season, with Degrees retaining just 10 million of them.
The network's low-rated new Men In Trees likewise is out on a limb, leaving ABC with much to renovate in the coming months.
CBS
Left to right: The Class, Shark and
Jericho
Still steady after all these years, CBS has a comfortable ratings lead in total viewers and also is setting the pace with 25-to-54-year-olds, the Avis of audience demographics behind those much-sought after 18-to-49ers.
The network premiered just four series, with Shark and Jericho earning full-season pickups. Both are doing OK ratings-wise, but neither is going to be a big franchise show. Nor are they particularly hot with younger viewers, which is a federal offense only on Madison Avenue. CBS' overall ratings cupboard otherwise is still plenty full with the three CSI series, Survivor: Cook Islands, Two and a Half Men, Without A Trace and Criminal Minds. The latter series can't match the competing Lost with 18-to-49-year-olds, but is nearly its equal in total viewers this season.
CBS' other two freshman series have been big disappointments. Smith, stocked with filmdom's Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen, was dropped after just three episodes. The Class is CBS' lowest-rated Monday night comedy, both with total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds, where the networks thought it could make some headway.
Taking Smith's Tuesday slot on Nov. 14 is the new drama 3 LBS, starring Stanley Tucci as a demanding New York city neurosurgeon. It very well could be another keeper on a night where CBS continues to please more "mature" audiences with two solid foods -- NCIS and The Unit.
Fox
Left to right: Justice, 'Til Death and
The Rich List
You win some, you lose some and a few are rained out. This time baseball rained on Fox's fall with a lackluster five-game World Series that ended up being the least-watched ever. It's left the reigning 18-to-49 champ largely hitless going into the November sweeps. But then comes a truly great beyond in January with the returns of American Idol and 24.
Fox currently ranks fourth across the ratings board, and in every instance is in worse shape than at this time last year. Its first effort to recuperate is the Wednesday (Nov. 1) debut of The Rich List, a game show hosted by unknown Britisher Eamonn Holmes. It replaces the new Justice, which previously went to Mondays behind Prison Break in an effort to keep it alive. So far, not great, even though Justice is an entertaining, well-executed show.
Fox also will return The O.C. on Thursday (Nov. 2), but that series long has been squeezed out of juice. The new, coarse Brad Garrett comedy 'Til Death already is languishing on Thursdays along with the dismal Happy Hour. This poses a big question. Fox is the only network without any ratings upsides on a pivotal and highly competitive night when movie studios spend big money promoting their following day's releases. Is it time for Fox to move Idol's results shows to Thursdays in an effort to both cash in and really shake up the night?
Any such move might depend on how well Rich List does. If it somehow hits big, Fox has the players to put Idol to its ultimate test. Mondays will have 24, Tuesdays already have House and Wednesdays could be in decent shape with Bones and Rich List. We'll see.
Meanwhile, Fox's other two freshman series, Vanished and Standoff, look like dead issues. And Prison Break will vanish for an undetermined period after its Nov. 27th "fall finale." So once again, there's much work to be done.
The November sweeps are upon us. Just don't expect any of the big movies, miniseries or specials that added a little luster to past sweeps.
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all but out of those businesses, but viewers at least can look forward to four successive first-run episodes of hit series when the month-long battle begins Thursday. Exceptions are ABC's duo of Lost and Dancing with the Stars, both of which will say bye-bye for a while in mid-November. Otherwise here's a look at how the Big Four are doing, with an emphasis on all those new series that poured forth earlier this fall.
NBC
Although still languishing in third place, NBC is the only network to show significant year-to-year gains across the board in Nielsen measurements ranging from total viewers to 18-to-34-year-olds. The Peacock has the hottest new series in Heroes, the only freshman to rank in the top 10 with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. It's the lone new serial to catch on in a big way.
NBC also has an out-of-the-blue performer in the dim bulb game show 1 vs 100, which is showing signs of being at least a cash calf in the ratings. And ER, in its 13th season, continues to show amazing resilience.
Otherwise it's not so good. The new series Kidnapped and 20 Good Years already have been written off. And a trio of critically acclaimed freshmen -- Friday Night Lights, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, 30 Rock -- are fighting for their lives. Studio 60, which probes the innards of a late night sketch comedy show, looks to be the least likely to last much longer. It's more "inside" than Fantastic Voyage, and millions of viewers have tuned out since the well-sampled premiere.
NBC is making a game effort to keep Lights on the field, giving it a test run last Monday in Studio's 9 p.m. slot. The series is more compatible with that night's preceding Heroes, but is NBC willing to let Lights slowly build an audience? Tina Fey's 30 Rock will be moving to Thursdays at the end of November, joining My Name Is Earl, The Office and the returning Scrubs. That's easily the smartest comedy bloc on the block, but Thursdays are fiercely competitive. Once upon a time they were owned by NBC. No more.
ABC
Pre-American Idol, ABC again is the No. 1 network with two key advertiser targets, 18-to-49-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds. It dared to pit Grey's Anatomy against CSI: Crime Investigation, and that move has paid off far better than expected on super-competitive Thursdays.
Dancing with the Stars and Lost also are scoring big for ABC, but not for much longer. Lost will be supplanted by the new serial Day Break on Nov. 15. Jack, Sawyer, Kate and the others then won't be found again until February if ABC's questionable grand plan holds up.
Dancing is set to become a wallflower for a while after its Nov. 15th third edition finale. Its Wednesday night replacement is Show Me the Money, an outwardly preposterous game show hosted by William Shatner and adorned by dancing girls. "Shat" first will get a big 90-minute Tuesday night splash following the final "performance" edition of Dancing. That doesn't bode well for Ted Danson's new Help Me Help You sitcom, which also will be preempted on Tuesday, Nov. 21 by Dick Clark's annual American Music Awards.
ABC's freshman crop so far has yielded one clear hit, Ugly Betty, and a marginally decent performance by Brothers & Sisters on Sundays after the still potent Desperate Housewives. Both newcomers have been picked up for full seasons.
The Disney-owned network otherwise is seeing scant ratings returns from The Nine and Six Degrees despite their respective solid gold time slots following Lost and Grey's Anatomy. Both freshmen are falling off ratings cliffs, with Six Degrees the more egregious offender. Grey's has been averaging 22.1 million viewers through the first six weeks of the season, with Degrees retaining just 10 million of them.
The network's low-rated new Men In Trees likewise is out on a limb, leaving ABC with much to renovate in the coming months.
CBS
Still steady after all these years, CBS has a comfortable ratings lead in total viewers and also is setting the pace with 25-to-54-year-olds, the Avis of audience demographics behind those much-sought after 18-to-49ers.
The network premiered just four series, with Shark and Jericho earning full-season pickups. Both are doing OK ratings-wise, but neither is going to be a big franchise show. Nor are they particularly hot with younger viewers, which is a federal offense only on Madison Avenue. CBS' overall ratings cupboard otherwise is still plenty full with the three CSI series, Survivor: Cook Islands, Two and a Half Men, Without A Trace and Criminal Minds. The latter series can't match the competing Lost with 18-to-49-year-olds, but is nearly its equal in total viewers this season.
CBS' other two freshman series have been big disappointments. Smith, stocked with filmdom's Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen, was dropped after just three episodes. The Class is CBS' lowest-rated Monday night comedy, both with total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds, where the networks thought it could make some headway.
Taking Smith's Tuesday slot on Nov. 14 is the new drama 3 LBS, starring Stanley Tucci as a demanding New York city neurosurgeon. It very well could be another keeper on a night where CBS continues to please more "mature" audiences with two solid foods -- NCIS and The Unit.
Fox
You win some, you lose some and a few are rained out. This time baseball rained on Fox's fall with a lackluster five-game World Series that ended up being the least-watched ever. It's left the reigning 18-to-49 champ largely hitless going into the November sweeps. But then comes a truly great beyond in January with the returns of American Idol and 24.
Fox currently ranks fourth across the ratings board, and in every instance is in worse shape than at this time last year. Its first effort to recuperate is the Wednesday (Nov. 1) debut of The Rich List, a game show hosted by unknown Britisher Eamonn Holmes. It replaces the new Justice, which previously went to Mondays behind Prison Break in an effort to keep it alive. So far, not great, even though Justice is an entertaining, well-executed show.
Fox also will return The O.C. on Thursday (Nov. 2), but that series long has been squeezed out of juice. The new, coarse Brad Garrett comedy 'Til Death already is languishing on Thursdays along with the dismal Happy Hour. This poses a big question. Fox is the only network without any ratings upsides on a pivotal and highly competitive night when movie studios spend big money promoting their following day's releases. Is it time for Fox to move Idol's results shows to Thursdays in an effort to both cash in and really shake up the night?
Any such move might depend on how well Rich List does. If it somehow hits big, Fox has the players to put Idol to its ultimate test. Mondays will have 24, Tuesdays already have House and Wednesdays could be in decent shape with Bones and Rich List. We'll see.
Meanwhile, Fox's other two freshman series, Vanished and Standoff, look like dead issues. And Prison Break will vanish for an undetermined period after its Nov. 27th "fall finale." So once again, there's much work to be done.
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