Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 6 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, October 27th, 2008 – Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Broadcast Networks

It was another atypical week for the broadcast networks, due to the World Series and Senator Obama’s political advertisement.  Both Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Knight Rider were pre-empted, while Fringe was a repeat.

After hitting a season-high last week, Ghost Whisperer saw its fifth episode of the season drop almost 750,000 viewers (down from 10,140,000 on Friday, October 31st, 2008) and for the first time this season performed below the comparable episode last season (“Weight of What Was,” the fifth episode of Season Three, drew 9.99 million viewers on Friday, October 26th, 2007).  More alarming was the drop in the adults 18-49 demographic, from a 2.6/9 Nielsen rating to a season-low 2.2/8 (that’s lower than all but two episodes of Season Three).  Ghost Whisperer may bounce back this week without Halloween in the mix and overall is stronger than last season.

37   Ghost Whisperer             9,400,000

The same cannot be said for NBC’s sinking Heroes, which hit another series-low with only 8.19 million viewers and tied its series-low in the A18-49 demographic (3.9/9, same as last week).  It also hit a new low in household ratings, falling to a 4.9/7, below a 5.0 for the very first time.  There is nothing positive to say about Heroes these days.  A fourth season is looking increasingly unlikely.  But if NBC continues to implode, it might need Heroes.

49   Heroes                      8,190,000
69   Fringe (Repeat)             5,660,000

As always, Smallville and Supernatural did well for The CW on Thursday, with both shows posting their best numbers since they premiered. And a Saturday repeat of Knight Rider could not even top 3 million viewers.

81   Smallville                  4,320,000  
87   Supernatural                3,550,000   
94   Knight Rider (Repeat)       2,730,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, October 13th through October 19th).

Ghost Hunters topped the SCI FI Channel chart with a 1.9 rating (meaning 1.9% of households with access to SCI FI) while the third episode of Sanctuary held steady at a 1.6 rating, ranking second.  That’s very good news for the new series, which premiered at a 2.2 rating.

Sanctuary Season One
"Sanctuary for All"              2.2
"Fata Morgana"                   1.6
"Folding Man"                    1.6

Destination Truth ranked fourth with a 1.3 rating (made-for-TV movie Fire and Ice was third with a 1.4), while Stargate: Atlantis fell back to Earth following its season-high outing the previous week, ranking fifth with a 1.2 rating.

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
"The Lost Tribe (2)"             1.5
"Outsiders"                      1.2

ECW ranked eighth with a 1.1 rating.  The rest of the Top Ten was filled with made-for-TV movies.  Eureka is currently on hiatus.

Syndication (One-Week Delay, October 13th through October 19th)

There isn’t all that much happening in the syndicated arena with regard to science fiction, fantasy and horror.  This past weekend (November 1st-2nd), however, Legend of the Seeker, the first fantasy action/adventure series to hit first-run syndication in many years, opened with a 1.5/3 Nielsen rating, according to Broadcasting & Cable.  That rating is for the 54 metered markets (making up 54 of the largest television markets in the United States) and while that might seem like a low number, B&C notes that the two-hour series premiere improved “its time periods by an average of 15% compared to the prior month.”  Additionally:

The show’s performance improved 21% from Saturday to Sunday, moving from a 1.4/3 on Saturday, Nov. 1, to a 1.7/3 on Sunday, Nov. 2

In key demographics, Legend of the Seeker improved Oct. 2008 time periods by as much as 40% among men 25-54, 25% among men 18-49 and 20% among women 18-49, among all airings of the show.

In other syndicated news, ABC’s hit drama series Lost entered off-network syndication in early September, distributed by ABC-Disney.  It seems to be airing mostly if not only on weekends and is averaging a 1.1 Nielsen rating through its first six airings:

Lost (Off-Network Syndication)
"Pilot (1)"                      Sep.  8th, 2008   1.1
"Pilot (2"                       Sep. 15th, 2008   1.1
"Tabula Rasa"                    Sep. 22nd, 2008   1.1
"Walkabout"                      Sep. 29th, 2008   1.1
"White Rabbit"                   Oct.  6th, 2008   1.2
"House of othe Rising Sun"       Oct. 13th, 2008   1.1

By comparison,Desperate Housewives, also an ABC drama, has been averaging roughly a 1.5 rating in off-network syndication.

Conclusion

If Legend of the Seeker can continue to deliver double-digit increases, it might be something of a syndicated hit.  And SCI FI Channel can be happy that Sanctuary appears to be holding steady at a 1.6 rating.  For the broadcast networks, only CBS and Ghost Whisperer should be crowing.  If there is anything NBC can do to stem or reverse the downward trend of Heroes, it needs to get on that.  FOX basically took the week off, repeating an episode of Fringe and pre-empting Knight Rider.

During the current week, Heroes was pre-empted for a Saturday Night Live special.  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles returned after a one-week break and improved slightly in total viewers while holding steady in the A18-49 demographic.

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
Syndicated ratings from SCI FI Wire/Zap2it/Broadcasting & Cable

All Nielsen Ratings Copyright Nielsen Media Research