Lower Decks

Weekly Ratings Roundup
Week 14 of the 2008-2009 Television Season
Monday, December 22nd, 2008 – Sunday, December 28th, 2008

Broadcast Networks

It was a holiday week filled with specials and repeats and thus this will be another abbreviated edition of the Weekly Ratings Roundup. Just the numbers and a minimum of analysis.  A pair of Ghost Whisperer repeats on CBS performed well for the day after Christmas.  On December 25th, a repeat of Supernatural actually beat a repeat of Smallville.  Impressive?  Or were all the Smallville fans who would regularly watch a repeat out enjoying the holiday?  And if the preliminary numbers hold up, the most recent repeat of Jericho on The CW will have seen its audience increase over the previous episode.

   Ghost Whisperer (8PM Repeat)     7,790,000
   Ghost Whisperer (9PM Repeat)     6,510,000
   Fringe (Repeat)                  4,220,000
   Supernatural (Repeat)            1,600,000
   Smallville (Repeat)              1,330,000
   Jericho (CW Repeat)                947,500 [Preliminary]

SCI FI Channel (Two-Week Delay, December 8th through December 14th)

It was the week before Christmas and, as usual, Ghost Hunters sat atop the SCI FI chart with a 1.9 coverage rating (meaning 1.6% of households with access to SCI FI).  Sanctuary came in second with a 1.4 rating, an improvement over its series-low the previous week, while Stargate: Atlantis held steady at a 1.2 rating, good enough for fourth.

   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
   "Warriors"                       1.4

   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
   "Identity"                       1.2

New reality shows Estate of Panic and CHA$E were both outside the Top Ten; ECW ranked fifth with a 1.2.  The rest of the Top Ten was filled with theatrical repeats and made-for-TV movies.

Syndication (Two-Week Delay, December 8th through December 15th)

After seven weeks and eight new episodes, Legend of the Seeker entered its first batch of repeats and did quite well.  A repeat of the first episode (“Prophecy (1)”) pulled a 1.9 Nielsen rating, down from a 2.1 rating for the previous week (when a new episode aired) but tied with the sixth episode (“Elixer”).  The fact that a repeat could do as well as a first-run episode is a good sign — and it indicates that perhaps new viewers are giving the show a chance.

   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
   "Prophecy (1)" (R)               Dec. 13th, 2008   1.9

And the latest episode of Lost in syndication sank to a new low — a 0.8 rating.  I’d like to take this time to point out that I don’t actually know what episode of Lost is being aired each week.  I’m just assuming a new episode is airing each week.

   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
   "Special"                        Dec.  8th, 2008   0.8

Conclusion

On the networks the key word these days is repeat.  Yawn.  SCI FI Channel will be entering a new phase in mid-January when new episodes of Battlestar Galactica (the final run) top of a Friday evening filled with repeats.  And in syndication, there’s still not enough information to discuss how well Legend of the Seeker is performing.  If it comes back from four weeks of repeats at the same level it went in with, that alone would be good news.

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