CW's New Show

Tuesday, March 6
Wednesday, March 7
Tuesday, March 13
Wednesday, March 14

CW's new show The Pussycat Dolls Present: Search for the Next Pussycat Doll has had an interesting start. The schedule is currently to air an original episode of the reality show on Tuesday at 9, following Gilmore Girls, and then air an encore episode on Wednesday at 9, following America's Next Top Model. In its first week, Pussycat reached an audience of about 3.9 million on Tuesday, and 3.7 on Wednesday. The fact that it retained nearly 100% of its audience for a repeat was a surprise, but this week was an even bigger surprise. The Tuesday episode brought in a mere 2.5 million viewers, down 1.4 million from its premiere. But the Wednesday episode, a repeat, was viewed by 3.5 million. The repeat episode reached a million more viewers!

The reasons behind this seem obvious. This is simply a show that is very lead-in dependent. This week's Tuesday episode aired out of an audience of 2.2 million watching a repeat of Gilmore Girls. The Wednesday episode had a lead-in of 5.2 million from America's Next Top Model. So that was a big boost, even though it was a repeat. But it still had a big drop from its first week, since its lead-in for week one was 4.4 million both Tuesday and Wednesday. That means its retention this week dropped from 84% to 67%. For a show that on the surface seems so lead-in dependent, it doesn't seem consistent in its retention.

But whatever the case, it definitely looks like CW should make some changes with Pussycats. The current plan is to air the originals on Tuesdays until it finishes its run after eight weeks, and air repeats on Wednesdays only for a couple more weeks until One Tree Hill comes back. It seems like a better choice would be to move the originals to Wednesday, where it could possibly do even better, and let it finish its run there, with repeats on Tuesdays until original episodes of Gilmore Girls return. At that point, they could bring back Veronica Mars, and wait to bring back One Tree Hill until May.

24 Losing Steam

Monday, March 12

This week was the first week that 24 aired without Heroes. This season started off pretty big for 24, but it has been dipping below 13 million viewers in recent weeks. Heroes, on the other hand, was up in its last couple of weeks before its current Spring hiatus. But this week, it was expected that 24 would benefit from the lack of competition. Instead of airing against a show that has a very similar target audience, its competition on NBC was Deal or No Deal.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Instead of benefitting, it dropped by several hundred more viewers. While I am not a fan of the show, and have not watched enough of it to comment on the quality, I think the only explanation for this is the poor reception this season has received amongst the fans. This used to be a big winner in the 18-49 demo, if nothing else, but that has dropped by even more than the total audience. The show has obviously passed its prime, quality wise, and would probably appreciate being put out to pasture before it gets too horrible, as many shows tend to do. But this will not happen. 24 is Fox's second highest rated scripted show. Fox cannot afford to let it go until they absolutely have to.

Grey's and Housewives Need Help, Too

Thursday, March 8
Sunday, March 11

ABC has a lot of problems, right now, but one would think that Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives should not be among them. One would be wrong.

While Grey's Anatomy is among the highest rated series on TV this season, and Desperate Housewives, though not the powerhouse it was in its first few seasons, still makes the top 10 for every new episode, they both repeat horribly. A new episode for Grey's will bring in over 20 million viewers, a repeat is lucky to get 10 million. For Desperate Housewives it's even worse.

This is not the most important issue for ABC to think about right now, but perhaps they would do better with airing only original episodes, and scheduling a few long hiatuses where they try out a replacement series in its place. They may even want to order longer seasons. For Grey's, at least, it would be well worth the money. Especially if they can charge a bit extra for the DVDs.

Fox May Not Be Completely Stupid

Wednesday, March 7

It seems my previous remarks about Fox may not have been completely correct. They aired another new show, The Wedding Bells after American Idol which did not have neither as good ratings. Out of an audience of 28.5 million viewers, it only retained 12.5 million. While this is not nearly as good as Are You As Smart As A 5th Grader? I still believe that it does not nullify my opinion that Fox needs some major changes with the way it schedules shows.

23 million is, without question, better than 12.5 million, but let's just wait and see what Fox gets for its repeats of Family Guy and American Dad on Thursdays, and see how that compares to 12.5 million. If Fox could rearrange its schedule to have one more 10-12 million range show, it could definitely help with some holes.

Correction

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is regularly scheduled to air on Thursdays at 8, not 9. It will air at 9 for two weeks before moving to 8 for six weeks. (Fox just ordered an additional four episodes today, after seeing the ratings.)

Source

Is Fox Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Tuesday's Ratings
Wednesday's Ratings

Tuesday night, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? premiered to the largest audience any series premiere has seen in the past nine years. Wednesday night, its numbers held up for the most part. The game show hosted by Jeff Foxworthy was given the coveted post-American Idol spot for both nights. So far this season, the only other show to lead-out of American Idol is House. House and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader both have had retention levels out of American Idol of over 80% in total viewers.

While this must make Fox extremely happy, it also proves their failings in scheduling. Right now, Fox has two really great nights, ratings-wise. With the help of American Idol, Tuesdays and Wednesdays will continue to put Fox on top. But they aren't quite so successful the rest of the week. Sunday's animation brings in a very nice amount in the demo, though total viewers and households leaves something to be desired, particularly when compared to past seasons' ratings. Mondays are rather average, with Prison Break and 24. 24 may still have lots of hype, but its ratings seem to have been affected by airing against Heroes.

That leaves Thursdays and Fridays. Both these days are huge holes in Fox's schedule. Friday comes in fifth place more often than not, losing to CW, and Thursday just barely beats out CW for fourth place most weeks. Considering the fact that CW is hardly a real network, this is completely unacceptable for a network like Fox. The solution should have been obvious at the beginning of the season. House was one of the highest rated series in the first half of the season, even without the boost from American Idol. Fox should have moved House to Thursdays at 8, where it would likely have continued to do just fine, and beat out all the competition for the hour. This would have guaranteed Fox a respectable spot on Thursdays, most likely ahead of NBC, and left an opening on Tuesdays for Fox to launch a new series which could have received similar ratings as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

When Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? moves to its regular time spot, Thursdays at 9, Fox may begin handily beating CW, at least, but, considering the competition at that hour, and the lack of lead-in support, I doubt Thursdays will do much better than they have been so far.