Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 13 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, December 5th, 2008 – Sunday, December 21st, 2008

Broadcast Networks

This will be an abbreviated edition of the Weekly Ratings Roundup.  Just the numbers and a minimum of analysis.

Ghost Whisperer                 10,180,000
Heroes                           7,870,000
Terminator: TSCC                 5,070,000
Fringe (Repeat)                  4,820,000
Smallville (Repeat)              2,130,000
Supernatural (Repeat)            2,070,000
Jericho (CW Repeat)                910,000

Ghost Whisperer was able to top ten million again after slipping to 9.7 million for its last episode (“Pieces of You,” December 5th) while the midseason finale of Heroes managed to pull a 3.7/9 Nielsen rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, its highest since October 27th (“Eris Quod Sum”).  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, also in its midseason finale, stayed steady at roughly five million viewers and a 1.9/5 A18-49 rating.

A repeat of Fringe did as well as can be expected while The CW performed quite well with repeats of Smallville and Supernatural both topping two million viewers.  The latest repeat of Jericho on The CW improved a hair over last week’s episode (910,000 viewers versus 880,000).

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, December 1st through December 7th)

Ghost Hunters returned to the top of the SCI FI charts with a 1.8 coverage rating (meaning 1.6% of households with access to SCI FI).  ECW was second with a 1.3, the latest Saturday movie was third with a 1.2 and Stargate: Atlantis and Sanctuary came in fourth and fifth, also with 1.2 ratings.  That is the lowest rating for Sanctuary to date.

   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
   "Requiem"                        1.2

   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
   "Infection"                      1.2

New reality shows Estate of Panic and CHA$E were sixth and ninth, respectively, with 1.0 and 0.9 ratings.

Syndication (Two-Week Delay, December 1st through December 7th)

Legend of the Seeker jumped back up to a 2.1 rating with its seventh episode.

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
"Elixer"                         Nov. 29th, 2008   1.9
"Identity"                       Dec.  6th, 2008   2.1

The latest Lost repeat dropped slightly to a 1.0 rating, still very much in line with the show’s performance to date.

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
"Whatever the Case May Be"       Nov. 24th, 2008   1.1
"Hearts and Minds"               Dec.  1st, 2008   1.0

Conclusion

It was another good week for Ghost Whisperer and very little else.  Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles finished the first half of their seasons with middling ratings at best.  On SCI FI, although new reality shows appear to be doing well, Sanctuary dropped to its lowest rating of its first season.  In syndication, Legend of the Seeker rebounded from last week’s series-low and topped a 2.0 rating once again.

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