Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 7 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, November 3rd, 2008 – Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Broadcast Networks

As has been the case lately, there were some pre-emptions this week.  On Monday, in lieu of Heroes, NBC broadcast its “SNL Presidential Bash 2008 which drastically outperformed rapidly declining Heroes.  Due to the election on Tuesday, Fringe was also pre-empted.  Otherwise, it was business as normal.  On Friday, Ghost Whisperer rebounded from its season low in the adults 18-49 demographic (a 2.2/8 on October 31st) and grew to a season high 2.8/9 while also hitting a season high in total viewers.

As was the case with the previous season high in both categories (“Save Our Souls,” originally broadcast October 24th, 2008), this was the most-viewed and highest-rated episode of Ghost Whisperer since the February 16th, 2007 episode during the show’s second season.  Through the first six episodes of the season, Ghost Whisperer is out-performing its third season by roughly 650,000 viewers.

   23   Ghost Whisperer            10,890,000

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles returned after a one-week absence and actually showed slight growth from its previous outing (5.02 million viewers on October 20th, 2008).  It stayed stable in the A18-49 demographic (a 2.0/5 rating).  NBC’s Knight Rider, however, also returning after a one-week absence, fell to a season low, down over two million viewers from the previous episode (7.23 million viewers on October 22nd, 2008).  The episode drew a lowly 1.6/4 A18-49 rating, compared to a 2.2/6 rating for the previous episode.

   70   Terminator: TSS             5,170,000
   71   Knight Rider                5,120,999

On Thursday, The CW’s Smallville climbed to a season high in both total viewers and the A18-49 demographic, while Supernatural fell slightly from the previous week but still performed well.  And on Saturday, a repeat of Knight Rider drew 2.7 million viewers.  The first-run episode only managed to draw twice that many viewers.

   77   Smallville                  4,460,000
   83   Supernatural                3,240,000
   87   Knight Rider (Repeat)       2,700,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, October 20th through October 26th).

Ghost Hunters may have hit a series high, drawing a 2.3 rating (meaning 2.3% of households with access to SCI FI) to top the SCI FI Channel chart.  After two weeks holding stable with a 1.6 rating, the fourth episode of Sanctuary fell to a 1.4 and ranked second.  According to a cable ratings report from Magna, available here from TV by the Numbers, Sanctuary has fallen steadily ever episode, including a drastic drop in the A25-54 demographic (from a 1.16 national rating for the premiere to a .73 rating for the fourth episode).

   Sanctuary Season One
   "Sanctuary for All"              2.2
   "Fata Morgana"                   1.6
   "Folding Man"                    1.6
   "Kush"                           1.4

ECW was fourth with a 1.3 rating while Stargate: Atlantis held steady with a 1.2 rating, ranking 6th.  Made-for-TV movies rounded out the rest of the Top Ten.

   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
   "Inquisition"                    1.2

Syndication (Two-Week Delay, October 20th through October 26th)

There has been no additional news on the performance of new fantasy action/adventure series Legend of the Seeker past what was included in last week’s roundup.  Meanwhile, in its seventh episode in weekend syndication, Lost fell to a 1.0 Nielsen rating, its lowest performance to date.

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 the Rising Sun"        Oct. 13th, 2008   1.1
"The Moth"                       Oct. 20th, 2008   1.0

Still, given that these syndicated airings are probably not costing the distributor much, aside from distribution and perhaps some promotion to local affiliates, even a 1.0 rating in syndication could mean a lot of advertising money.

Conclusion

As always, Ghost Whisperer on CBS and Smallville and Supernatural on The CW are performing strongly.  Not much else is.  Knight Rider has already been picked up for a full season by NBC and is being rebooted with several cast members being written out.  So, despite disastrous ratings last week, NBC seems intent on sticking with the show through the end of the season.  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is being shifted to Fridays in February of 2009, where the network hopes it will have a better chance at attracting an audience.  I doubt it.

On SCI FI, Sanctuary‘s continuing downward spiral is unfortunate news, given the channel’s dirth of solid scripted programming once Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica.  SCI FI already has far too much non-scripted/reality shows on its schedule.  If Sanctuary fails, it will be the fourth failed drama series for the channel (after The Dresden Files, Painkller Jane and Flash Gordon).

And, in syndication, there is little to say.  Until more information about Legend of the Seeker is released, there is nothing to discuss.

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