Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 1 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 – Sunday, September 28th, 2008

Broadcast Network

Here it is, the start of the 2008-2009 television season, complete with brand new shows and lots of returning favorites.  Of course, some new and returning shows had their premieres earlier this month.  But this was the real “premiere week.”  Perhaps most anticipated was the third season premiere of NBC’s Heroes on Monday.  After an hour-long countdown special, two episodes were shown back-to-back from 9:00PM to 11:00PM.  Those two new episodes averaged a 5.9/9 Nielsen household rating, a 5.0/12 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, and a hair over ten million viewers:

24   Heroes                     10,0900,000

By comparison, the Season Two premiere (“Four Months Later” on Monday, September 24th, 2007) was seen by 16.9 million viewers (combined viewing for the Monday broadcast and a Saturday repeat due to a Nielsen policy; the Monday broadcast averaged 14.1 million viewers according to preliminary Nielsen ratings). Excluding the premiere, Season Two averaged just over eleven million viewers, so Season Three is not off to a good start.  Competition from Dancing with the Stars on ABC and the CBS line-up of Two and a Half Men, Worst Week and CSI: Miami kept NBC in third for the night in viewers and the A18-49 demographic.  I would not count Heroes out yet, though, it still packs a strong following and NBC has very little else to be happy about these days.

The third episode of Fringe dropped considerably, with a lower-rated House lead-in and competition from the debut of The Mentalist on CBS.  It drew 9.4 million viewers and a 4.1/10 A18-49 demographic.  While the number of viewers was close to the premiere (9.1 million on September 9th), the A18-49 demographic was up almost a full point (4.1/10 compared to 3.2/9) so FOX has that to be happy about.  I still think Fringe would be hard pressed to stand on its own without House (which itself is down from last season).

32   Fringe                      9,420,000

The premiere of Knight Rider on NBC was disappointing, to say the least, with a 2.5/7 in the A18-49 demographic, compared to a strong 5.0/12 for the two-hour pilot telefilm (aired February 17th, 2008).  And Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles continues to struggle on Mondays for FOX. A small increase in total viewers (up from 5.5 million last week) and a slightly larger jump in the A18-49 demographic (2.3/6 compared to 2.1/6) is nothing to celebrate.

43   Knight Rider                7,350,000
58   Heroes (Countdown Special)  6,000,000
59   Terminator: TSCC            5,890,000

On The CW, Smallville was down only about 160,000 viewers from its Season Eight premiere, while Supernatural fell steeply (the Season Four premiere drew 3.96 million viewers).  Compared to last season, however, Supernatural was up a tiny bit in total viewers (3.164 million on Thursday, October 11th) and in the A18-49 demographic (1.3/3 compared to a 1.1/3).  Still, the drop is concerning and if viewers continue to flee the series, Season Four may be the last for the Winchester brothers.

71   Smallville                  4,180,000
80   Supernatural                3,180,000
84   Heroes (Saturday Repeat)    2,210,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, September 8th through September 14th)

Ghost Hunters again topped the SCI FI Channel charts with a 1.9 coverage rating (meaning 1.9% of households with access to SCI FI).  Eureka was second with a 1.5, down quite a bit from the previous episode, aired two weeks ago, while Stargate: Atlantis was seventh with a 1.3, up slightly from the previous week. ECW and Destination Truth were 5th and 6th, also with 1.3 ratings, while theatrical National Treasure came in second with a 1.5 and telefilm Baal: The Storm God fourth with a 1.4 rating.

Eureka Season Three
"Bad to the Drone"               2.1
"What About Bob?"                1.9
"Best in Faux"                   1.9
"I Do Over"                      1.8
"Show Me the Mummy"              2.0
"Phased and Confused"            1.5

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
"The Queen"                      1.3

Season to date, Stargate: Atlantis is averaging a 1.2 rating, while the first eight episodes of Season Four averaged a 1.1 rating.  Season Three of Eureka is averaging a 1.9 rating, compared to a 1.7 rating for the first six episodes of Season Two.

Conclusion

Fans of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles might want to start preparing for the cancellation of the series.  During the current week (September 29th through October 5th), the fourth episode of the season fell to a new low, with 5.374 million viewers and a 2.0/5 A18-49 rating. The fourth episode of Fringe, meanwhile, drew 9.9 million viewers, up a bit.  The third episode of Heroes fell to 9.5 million viewers, a series low, and a 4.5/11 A18-49 rating, also a series low.

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