Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 3 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, October 6th, 2008 – Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Broadcast Network

The third week of the new season was, for the most part, a disappointing one for genre programming.  For Ghost Whisperer, however, it was a very good one.  The CBS drama drew 9.69 million viewers and a 2.7/10 Nielsen rating in the adults 18-49 demographic.  That was an increase of 780,000 viewers and 0.2 in the demo from the second episode of the show’s third season (8.91 million viewers/2.5/9 rating for “Don’t Try This at Home,” originally broadcast Friday, October 5th, 2007).  It easily won its 8-9PM timeslot.

24   Ghost Whisperer             9,690,000

On NBC, meanwhile, Heroes hit a new series low on Monday, drawing only 8.2 million viewers and a 4.0/9 A18-49 rating.  A year ago, the fourth episode of the second season drew a much stronger 11.41 million viewers and a 5.2/12 A18-49 rating (“The Kindness of Strangers,” originally broadcast Monday, October 15th, 2007).  Although still a force to be reckoned with in the A18-49 demographic, Heroes has lost a huge part of its audience and NBC has to be worried viewers will continue to defect.  Also disappointing for NBC was the third week performance of Knight Rider, which fell almost one million viewers from the previous week (7.8 million versus 6.86 million).

37   Heroes                      8,200,000
49   Knight Rider                6,860,000

On FOX, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles improved slightly on the series-low performance the previous week with 5.73 million viewers and a 2.3/6 A18-49 rating (versus 5.4 million viewers and a 2.0/5 rating for “Goodbye to All That,” originally broadcast Monday, October 6th, 2008).  The network has ordered two additional scripts for the series, despite its mediocre performance this season.

57   Terminator: TSCC            5,730,00

FOX’s Fringe was pre-empted last week due to the Presidential debate.  It has, however, been picked up for the remainder of the season.  On The CW, Thursday stalwarts continue to do well, with Smallville holding steady at just over four million viewers and Supernatural just over three million.  Supernatural did drop slightly from the previous week and for the first time this season did worse than its comparable Season Three episode (“Sin City” drew 3.178 million viewers on Thursday, October 25th, 2007, compared to 3.145 for “Metamorphosis”).

73   Smallville                  4,120,000
79   Supernatural                3,150,000
82   Knight Rider (Sat. Repeat)  2,710,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, September 22nd through September 29th)

Once again, unscripted Ghost Hunters topped the charts with a 1.8 rating (meaning 1.8% of households with access to SCI FI).  The mid-season finale of Eureka ranked second with a 1.5 rating, a drop from the previous week.  ECW was fourth with a 1.2 rating and Stargate: Atlantis rounded out the Top Five with a 1.1 rating, also down from the previous week.  Destination Truth ranked 7th, also with a 1.1 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
"Here Come the Suns"             1.7
"From Fear to Eternity"          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
"Tracker"                        1.2
"First Contact (1)"              1.1

For the first half of its third season, Eureka averaged a 1.8 rating; the first eight episodes of Season Two averaged a 1.7 rating.  As for Stargate: Atlantis, it is averaging a 1.2 rating; the first ten episodes of Season Four averaged a 1.1 rating.  In other SCI FI Channel news, GateWorld is reporting that “Lost Tribe (2)” recieved a 1.5 rating, making it the highest-rated episode of the series since the Season Four finale (“The Last Man (1),” originally broadcast Friday, March 7th, 2008, which itself was the highest-rated episode since the Season Three finale).

Conclusion

There has been no word of ratings for Sanctuary‘s second episode, but that does not necessarily mean it performed poorly.  When the delayed Top Ten for SCI FI are released, we shall see how well it did compared to the premiere.  Fans of Stargate: Atlantis were probably frustrated to learn that the latest episode of the series did so well, given that SCI FI Channel has cancelled the series.

As for broadcast, it seems FOX is willing to give Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a chance to improve and has high hopes for Fringe, which sunk to a series-low yesterday.  Heroes grew slightly this Monday but is still far off from its glory days.  Knight Rider may not survive the season if it continues to fall in the ratings.  But The CW must be happy with performances of Smallville and Supernatural, even if Smallville is down from the previous season.

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