Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 11 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, December 1st, 2008 – Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Broadcast Networks

The first week of December was a slow one for the networks.  As usual, the most watched science fiction, fantasy or horror program was CBS’s Ghost Whisperer but the series was off considerably from its previous outings.  Due to the Thanksgiving holiday last week, CBS aired two repeats of Ghost Whisperer and that may have helped to kill the momentum the series had been gathering.  The ninth episode of the fourth season drew 9.7 million viewers, down 1.6 million from the last episode (“Heart & Soul,” 11.3 million viewers on November 21st).

28   Ghost Whisperer             9,710,000

That was actually down from the ninth episode of the third season (“All Ghosts Lead to Grandview,” 9.98 million viewers on November 23rd, 2007).  On FOX, the news was positive for Fringe, which saw an increase of 840,000 viewers from the previous episode (7.7 million on November 25th).  It also jumped to a 3.6/9 Nielsen rating in the A18-49 demographic compared to a 3.4/9 rating for the previous episode.

35   Fringe                      8,540,000

Heroes also gained viewers, crossing eight million viewers for the first time since October 27th (technically, there were only 7.995 million viewers).  And it grew slightly in the A18-49 demographic, from a 3.5/8 to a 3.6/9.  At this point, any growth is positive for the series.  Also on Mondays, and also gaining viewers, was FOX’sTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which added 1.25 million viewers from its series-low performance last week (4.57 million viewers).  And it saw a large increase in the A18-49 demographic, drawing a 2.2/6 — its best performance since October 6th.

43   Heroes                     8,000,000
64   Terminator: TSCC           5,820,000

Repeats of The CW’s Smallville and Supernatural did quite well on Thursday, with both shows crossing the two  million mark.  And on Sunday, a repeat of the second episode of Jericho on The CW fell slightly, from 1.22 million viewers to 1.13 million viewers, while holding steady in the A18-49 demographic with a 0.4/1 rating.  Although low, these numbers are still better than what The CW was drawing with its former Sunday line-up.

89   Smallville (Repeat)         2,290,000
91   Supernatural (Repeat)       2,000,000
98   Jericho (The CW Repeat)     1,130,000

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, November 17th through November 24th)

Ghost Hunters topped the SCI FI Channel charts, once again, with a 2.2 rating (meaning 2.2% of households with access to SCI FI).  That was a nice increase from the previous week (a 1.7 rating).  The latest SCI FI Saturday movie, Lost City Raiders, ranked second with a 1.7 rating.  By comparison, the last Saturday movie also drew a 1.7 rating (Yeti on November 8th).  Third was Sanctuary with a 1.4 rating, down from the previous week.

   Sanctuary Season One
   "Sanctuary for All"              2.2
   "Fata Morgana"                   1.6
   "Folding Man"                    1.6
   "Kush"                           1.4
   "Nubbins"                        1.5
   "The Five"                       1.5
   "Edward"                         1.4

Stargate: Atlantis was fifth with a 1.2, followed by new reality series Estate of Panic and ECW (also at 1.2 ratings).  Last week, the premiere of Estate of Panic drew a 1.0 rating.  The rest of the Top Ten was filled with made-for-TV movies.

   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
   "The Prodigal"                   1.2
   "Remnants"                       1.3
   "Brain Storm"                    1.2

Syndication (Two-Week Delay, November 17th through November 24th)

I’m revising my numbers for Legend of the Seeker.  Previously I was under the impression that the two-part premiere drew a 2.9 Nielsen rating but now I’m thinking it actually had a 4.0 rating.  That shifts all the numbers down a peg and makes the drop from the first two episodes to the third episode more severe.  However, the slight increase from the fourth to fifth episodes is a positive.

Legend of the Seeker (First-Run Syndication, Saturday Airdates)
"Prophecy (1)"                   Nov.  1st, 2008   4.0
"Destiny (2)"                    Nov.  1st, 2008   4.0
"Bounty"                         Nov.  8th, 2008   2.9
"Brennidon"                      Nov. 15th, 2008   2.0
"Listener"                       Nov. 22nd, 2008   2.1

Meanwhile, Lost repeats continues to hold steady at a 1.0 rating.

Lost (Off-Network Syndication, Week of Airdates)
"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
"Solitary"                       Nov.  3rd, 2008   0.9
"Raised by Another"              Nov. 10th, 2008   1.0
"All the Best Cowboys Have ..."  Nov. 17th, 2008   1.0

Conclusion

Three of the four network shows that aired new episodes this week — Heroes, Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles saw increases from last week.  For NBC, if Heroes has finally hit rock bottom or even rebounded, that’s good news.  After weeks of constant drops in the ratings, even the smallest increase could be seen as a sign things are changing.  However, this week’s episode dropped slightly in total viewers, so maybe things aren’t changing after all.

For Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the numbers for the last few episodes to air on Monday really aren’t important.  The future of the series already looks grim and if the Nielsen ratings for its Friday airings (which start in February of 2009) are disappointing, it’ll be game over for Sarah Connor & Co.  And Fringe is getting American Idol as a lead-in when new episodes return next year.  As for Ghost Whisperer, after three weeks in a row above ten million viewers (and two weeks above eleven million) a drop of over 1.5 million viewers is worrying.  Have viewers tired of the new direction the series is taken?

As for SCI FI Channel, an increase for the second episode of reality series Estate of Panic is positive, as is the large increase for the latest episode of Ghost Hunters.  On the scripted side, Sanctuary matched its previous series-low with a 1.4 rating while the numbers for Stargate: Atlantis truly don’t matter anymore.  And finally, it is still far too early to make any predictions about the future of Legend of the Seeker in syndication.

During the latest week, both Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles saw drops while Fringe went into repeats.