Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 52 of the 2007-2008 Television Season
Monday, September 15th, 2008 – Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Broadcast Networks

During the final week of the 2007-2008 television season, with the networks already premiering many of their new and returning shows, the big news was the performance of FOX’s Fringe during its second outing.  Airing after the season premiere of House, the new J.J. Abrahms drama soared to a strong 5.1/13 Nielsen rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and drew 13.27 million viewers.  By comparison, that was nearly two full points above its premiere (a 3.2/9 in the A18-49 demo on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008) and growth of over four million viewers (9.1 million).

That placed the episode in the Top Five for the week in terms of viewers.

5   Fringe                     13,270,000

It was a long drop to the next science fiction, fantasy or horror program, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, tied for 40th with an episode of “Crimetime Saturday,” an umbrella title for repeat episodes of CBS dramas.  FOX cannot be happy with the performance of Terminator: TSCC this season.  Not only was the second episode of the season down more the 750,000 from its already low-rated premiere, it was down considerably from the third episode of the first season (I am ignoring the special Sunday premiere, which was given a huge boost by football).  “The Turk” (originally broadcast Monday, January 21st, 2008) drew 8.6 million viewers and had a 3.6/8 in the A18-49 demographic.  “Automatic for the People” had a 2.1/6 in the demo and just barely beat a repeat of Ghost Whisperer in total viewers.

40   Terminator: TSCC              5,560,000
48   Ghost Whisperer (repeat)      5,310,000

On The CW, the eighth season premiere of Smallville drew 4.34 million viewers and a 1.8/6 in the A18-49 demo.  Although this was a huge drop from the seventh season premiere (“Bizarro,” originally broadcast Thursday, September 27th, 2007), which had 5.18 million viewers, it was close in the demographic (“Bizarro” had a 1.9/6).  It beat a repeat of Ugly Betty on ABC in the 8-9PM timeslot and an episode of Hole in the Wall on FOX from 8-8:30PM.  Supernatural, entering its fourth season, hit a high note with 3.96 million viewers, its best showing since it moved to The CW and best overall since the first season finale (3.99 million viewers on May 4th, 2006).  Its 1.7/5 rating in the A18-49 demographic was also its best showing since the first season.

65   Smallville                    4,340,000
73   Supernatural                  3,960,000

The drop for Smallville is disappointing, although if this is its final season the ratings are not as important as they have been in the past.  The increase in Supernatural, on the other hand, is impressive.

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, September 1st through September 7th)

The second half of Ghost Hunters debuted on Wednesday, September 3rd and topped the SCI FI Channel charts with a 1.9 coverage rating (meaning 1.9% of households with access to SCI FI).  ECW was second with a 1.4, Destination Truth third with a 1.3 and Stargate: Atlantis fifth with a 1.1 (fourth was a movie called “Death Tunnel” with a 1.2 rating).  Star Trek: The Next Generation was sixth, also with a 1.1.

Eureka had the week off.

Stargate: Atlantis Season Five
"Search and Rescue (1)"          1.3
"The Seed"                       1.1
"Broken Ties"                    1.2
"The Daedalus Variations"        1.3
"Ghost in the Machine"           1.2
"The Shrine"                     1.2
"Whispers"                       1.1

Although “Whispers” tied with “The Seed” as the lowest-rated episode of the season thus far, it held steady with the seventh episode of the fourth season (“Missing,” originally broadcast November 9th, 2007).  So far the fifth season is averaging a 1.2 rating, compared to a 1.0 rating for the first seven episodes of the fourth season.

Conclusion

As the 2007-2008 television season came to a close, FOX and The CW both had good and bad news.  FOX has much to be concerned about with regard to the continued deterioration of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Smallville, although the most-watched program on The CW, has lost a lot of its audience.  The coming weeks may see additional drops as competition increases.  SCI FI Channel, for all the negative press over the cancellation of Stargate: Atlantis, is doing well with its reality programs.

During the current week, the third episode of Fringe dropped a lot on Tuesday, September 23rd, while Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles saw a slight increase.

Sources

Program rankings from ABC Medianet
Household Nielsen ratings and adults 18-49 demographic from the Sitcoms Online message boards
SCI FI Channel ratings from SCI FI Wire

All Nielsen Ratings Copyright Nielsen Media Research