(for Friday, September 3, 2010) All in all, it was a dismal showing for the broadcast networks on this Friday before the Labor Day holiday weekend. We can attribute some of that to holiday distractions and travel, but it’s also a sign that Fridays are still in trouble.
ABC (1.2/4, 4.25 million) pulled out a narrow victory of NBC (1.1/4, 4.66 million) in the advertiser’s Adults 18-49 demographic, despite being down in two of its three programs on the night. The Peacock was up to make it a tight race.
‘Flashpoint’ dropped quite a bit in the demo, though not as much in total viewers, bringing CBS (0.8/3, 4.64 million) down to third in the demo, and even more surprisingly, second to NBC in total viewers.
The arrival of ‘Human Target’ and ‘The Good Guys’ on FOX (0.6/2, 2.37 million) was a demo disaster, as they only beat The CW (0.5/2, 1.26 million) by a tenth of a point. While neither show performed spectacularly, it’s worth noting ‘The Good Guys’ failed worse, which was expected. FOX is going to need to show some patience on Fridays to see if they can pull anything off here.
8:00
Oh, ABC why did you cancel ‘Wife Swap’ (1.2/5, 3.875 million) when it so easily vanquished the competition in its time slot… even with a repeat?! Of course, a 1.2 is a pretty lame victory so I guess I can see your point. Still, you were the only network to score above a 1.0 in the demo so that’s… well, a statement on how piss-poor this hour was. ‘Swap’ improved 17 percent in the demo and about 200,000 viewers to achieve this dubious victory.
A repeat of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ (0.9/4, 3.39 million) was flat for NBC, while FOX settled in with repeats of their upcoming Friday night shows and immediately saw significant week-to-week drops from their Friday movie broadcasts. First up was ‘Human Target’ (0.7/3, 2.755 million) which hasn’t been seen since its April 14, 2010 season finale. The whole night lost about half the demo audience FOX scored with ‘Bruce Almighty’ last week, and came in around a million viewers lower.
CBS scored more viewers than FOX with a repeat of ‘Medium’ (0.6/3, 3.295 million) which immediately lost all the viewers it gained last week to match its summer performances, lending credence to the theory that some local NFL coverage skewed last week’s numbers upward. ‘Smallville’ (0.5/2, 1.26 millino) was even for The CW in repeats.
9:00
ABC was on top of the 9 o’clock hour in the demo, but both CBS and NBC scored more total viewers than the Alphabet’s repeat of ‘Primetime: What Would You Do?’ (1.3/5, 4.39 million). The first hour of a ‘Dateline NBC’ (1.1/4, 4.74 million) repeat was competitive in the demo with ABC, and came in only 20,000 viewers behind CBS’s repeat of ‘CSI: NY’ (0.9/3, 4.76 million).
In its second week of repeats on Friday, ‘Dateline’s 1.2 demo average marked a 17 percent improvement, while the two-hour program gained 420,000 viewers. CBS’s third ‘NY’ airing on Fridays this summer matched its last outing two weeks ago in the demo, while dropping 425,000 viewers.
Well out of the battle for superiority in the hour was FOX’s repeat of summer disappointment ‘The Good Guys’ (0.5/2, 1.99 million). It last appeared here, and in repeats, two months ago where it scored an identical demo rating, but had half a million fewer viewers. I’d be more concerned about the 29 percent drop in the demo and loss of 765,000 viewers from an already low ‘Human Target’ at 8.
Conversely, the latest repeat of ‘Supernatural’ (0.5/2, 1.28 million) regained its losses last week, rebounding back to its recent averages across the board.
10:00
NBC’s gains with ‘Dateline NBC’ (1.3/5, 5.86 million) made this half of it the most watched hour of the night, thanks in no small part to CBS. Seemingly out of nowhere, ‘Flashpoint’ (1.0/3, 5.855 million) dropped half a million viewers and an even worse 23 percent in the demo. The total viewers was toward the low-end of its usual range, but that demo score is the drama’s lowest of this summer season.
The demo decline allowed even ABC and ’20/20′ (1.1/4, 4.49 million) to slip ahead of it for the hour, despite dropping a tenth in the demo itself.
For more on the numbers and what it all means, check out the “About the Numbers” section on the predecessor to this column, my “Ratings Race” reports for TV Squad.
FRIDAYS THIS FALL
For some perspective on where the networks are going in the coming season, here’s the planned fall schedule for Mondays. For my analysis of the fall season in excruciating day-by-day and hour-by-hour detail, check out the “Fall Face-Off” every day until September 5, 2010. Start at the beginning with Mondays @ 8 PM ET.
New shows are in bold, while relocated shows are in italics.
8:00
ABC – ‘Secret Millionaire’ (formerly on FOX)
CBS – ‘Medium’
CW – ’Smallville′
FOX – ‘Human Target’
NBC – ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ | ’School Pride’
9:00
ABC – ‘Body of Proof’
CBS – ‘CSI: NY’
CW – ‘Supernatural’
FOX – ‘The Good Guys’
NBC – ‘Dateline NBC’
10:00
ABC – ‘20/20’
CBS – ‘Blue Bloods’
NBC – ‘Outlaw’
