Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 8 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, November 10th, 2008 – Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Broadcast Networks

Ghost Whisperer hit another season-high (and then some) last week, proving that even if fans are concerned over the latest plot twists, viewers are watching in droves. The 11.57 million viewers who watched “Threshold” (broadcast Friday, November 14th) was the highest-rated episode of Ghost Whisperer since March 3rd, 2006 (“Demon Child,” 12.4 million viewers) during the show’s first season.

22   Ghost Whisperer            11,570,000

On FOX, Fringe returned from a short hiatus down only a few hundred thousand viewers (the previous episode aired on Tuesday, October 21st).  NBC’s Heroes, returning from a one-week hiatus, slipped to a new series low in both total viewers and the adults 18-49 demographic (a 3.6/8 Nielsen rating).  Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

36   Fringe                      8,610,000
46   Heroes                      7,850,000

NBC’s Knight Rider improved slightly in total viewers from the previous week (5.12 million viewers on November 5th) but fell to a series low 1.5/4 rating in the A18-49 (the previous episode had a 1.6/4 rating).  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fell an almost minuscule amount (from 5.17 million viewers to 5.15 million viewers) and stayed stable in the A18-49 demographic (a 2.0/5 rating).

66   Knight Rider                5,340,000
68   Terminator: TSS             5,150,000

The CW’s Smallville and Supernatural, hit by pre-emptions in a major market, hit season lows.  It was the least-watched episode of Smallville since March 20th, 2008 and the least-watched episode of Supernatural since May 8th, 2008.  And on Saturday, a repeat of Knight Rider drew 3.1 million viewers.  At this rate, new episodes will soon be only slightly better off than the repeats.

82   Smallville                  3,560,000
85   Knight Rider (Repeat)       3,100,000
87   Supernatural                2,940,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, October 27th through November 2nd)

Not one but two episodes of Ghost Hunters topped the SCI FI Channel charts this week, with the regular Wednesday installment first with a 2.0 rating (meaning 2.0% of households with access to SCI FI) and the special “Ghost Hunters Live” telecast (aired Friday, October 31st) second with a 1.7 rating.  ECW was fourth with a 1.2 and Scare Tactics sixth with a 0.9 rating.  The rest of the Top Ten was filled with made-for-TV movies and feature film repeats.

Syndication (Two-Week Delay, October 27th through November 2nd)

According to Broadcasting & Cable, the first two hour-long episodes of Legend of the Seeker, broadcast over the November 1st/2nd weekend, averaged a 2.9 Nielsen rating (for live +same day viewing) and more than 4.1 million viewers.

Legend of the Seeker (First-Run Syndication)
"Prophecy (1)"                   Nov.  1st, 2008   2.9
"Destiny (2)"                    Nov.  1st, 2008   2.9

By comparison, the latest repeat of Lost, falling slightly for the third week in a row, could only manage a 0.9 rating:

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
"Confidence Man"                 Oct. 27th, 2008   0.9

Conclusion

Although fans may not agree with the direction the series is going these days, the only question for CBS and the producers is whether Ghost Whisperer can maintain its impressive ratings.  Next week’s episode will be a good indication.  Heroes just can’t stop shedding viewers while Knight Rider may be bottoming out.  Fringe is doing well but could use slightly better consistency and has yet to prove it can stand alone without the benefit if House.  I assume both Smallville and Supernatural will rebound this week without major market pre-emptions.

Legend of the Seeker is off to a fantastic start, I would say, but numbers for future episodes could plummet if viewers weren’t impressed with what they saw.  I can’t explain why Lost repeats continue to drop in syndication aside from the fact that they’re also available on DVD, on ABC.com (I believe) and have been airing on SCI FI Channel recently and viewers may only be tuning in when they have the chance.

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