Week 18 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did; 16th Annual SAG Awards Winners

Week 18 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):
(We don't have final network averages for Thursday, so we won't give you the network averages for the first four nights, but please find the final program final ratings in the analysis below.)

Households: N/A
Total Viewers: N/A
Adults 18-49: N/A

Week 18 (Jan. 18-24) Analysis: For week 18, American Idol is helping Fox with the lead and the NFC Championship Game will seal their weekly win after tonight. So far through the first four days of the week I can project (since network averages are not available above), Fox is obviously in the lead in HH/viewers and 18-49. CBS follows in a solid second in those categories, with ABC in third in every category, and NBC fourth in every category as usual. Last week, week 17, CBS won the week in all categories thanks to NFL playoff coverage, as American Idol fueled Fox had to settle for second in all categories. NBC and ABC battled for third with NBC getting the edge thanks to a good showing from The Golden Globes.
On Monday it was CBS in the lead new episodes of their regulars as ABC was close behind. CBS started with new episodes of its comedies and ended with a new CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 10.41 million, and did better than the 100th episode the previous week, while a new Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 9.56 million, up over a million from previous week. Two and a Half Men followed with a new showing doing 16.31 million, that is very strong but down a million week-to-week, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a new episode of its own doing 15.05 million, down from previous week's series best numbers. A new CSI: Miami did 13.22 million, down a half a million or so from previous week. ABC got good mileage again out of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 10.66 million, some from previous week, and a 3.8 18-49 rating for the two-hours, also up a bit from previous week. It keeps growing every week. A new episode of Castle was next and did a solid 9.48 million and a season high of 2.8 18-49 rating. Buzz is certainly growing for this very fun show! Fox was on the map but lower than normal with House being preempted as a two-hour episode of 24 did 11.11 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating. NBC started off with a new Chuck at a decent 6.65 million and 2.5 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. Next Heroes plummeted even more doing only 3.98 million and a 1.8 A18-49 rating, both series lows AGAIN. This is the fastest decline of a hit show in the history of television. The Jay Leno Show followed with only 4.6 million, but it built a bit from the lead-in in total viewers at least once again, that should be even more proof Heroes needs to be canned. The CW aired the return of an all-new One Tree Hill doing a decent but could be better 2.18 million, followed by the series premiere of Life UneXpected at 2.83 million, better than anything Gossip Girl has done here all season.
On Tuesday, Fox ruled big as CBS was still in the game with repeats. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 26.38 million, down three million or so from previous week's premiere, but that was two-hours. Next a repeat of the pilot episode of Human Target did an OK 8.83 million, losing a ton of the lead-in's audience. CBS started with a repeat of NCIS doing 14.19 million, how about that for good numbers. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a repeat of its own doing 12.34 million, not bad as it didn't face Idol this week. And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing a solid 9.41 million. NBC was next with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 9.95 million, up nearly 2 million from previous week, as the second hour got a huge bump when Idol finished. Then The Jay Leno Show tanked as usual to 5.99 million, but down only a bit from previous week. ABC started off with a repeat of Scrubs [Med School] doing only 2.43 million only on par really from previous week, followed by a repeat of Better off Ted doing only 1.78 million, not sure why a repeat was used. All-new episodes of each followed doing only 3.04 and 2.92 million, up some from previous week but still not good. At 10pm, the forgotten was a repeat and did only 3.35 million. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 820,000 and 610,000 viewers...this is getting sickening with all these repeats airing.
Wednesday it was Fox on top again. Fox started with American Idol doing 26.85 million and a 9.9 18-49 rating, both really on par with previous week when it was 90-minutes. A new episode of Human Target followed with 10.46 million, not bad but lost a lot of the lead-in and dropped every 15 minutes. Looks to be a dud for Fox, but they'll be patient. CBS started with new episodes of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried at below level numbers thanks to Idol, but better than previous week a bit doing 6.21 and 5.89 million. Next CBS aired a new Criminal Minds doing a solid 14.91 million, up a million from previous week as it didn't face the last half-hour of Idol like previous week. A new CSI: NY followed with a solid 13.54 million, but down from previous week. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing a decent 5.0 million, followed by a repeat of The Middle doing 4.66 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, nearly beating the competing CBS comedy which was new. Modern Family was next at 9pm and all-new doing 9.83 million, up two million from previous week as it didn't go head-to-head vs. Idol. Its 4.2 18-49 rating was its best number since the pilot. Cougar Town was also new and did a solid 7.54 million and a solid 3.4 18-49 rating, both up a bit from previous week. Ugly Betty was next at 10pm and did 4.53 million...up some from previous week. Still needs to do better, but it is steady at 1.6 18-49 rating at least. NBC was next with a new episode of Mercy doing 5.86 million, on par from previous week, followed by a repeat of Law & Order: SVU doing 5.45 million, down a lot from previous week's repeat. At 10pm NBC aired The Jay Leno Show of course at only 4.51 million, down from previous week. The CW aired more repeats as Life UneXpected did a solid 1.63 million, way better than the usual One Tree Hill repeat. And Gossip Girl followed and did only 760,000 viewers. Ouch, but up a tad from previous week thanks to a better lead-in.
Thursday it was a CBS and ABC battle, with CBS winning in viewers and ABC in 18-49. CBS opened with two repeats of The Big Bang Theory at 6.75 and 7.38 million, lower than the drama repeats recently, but better in 18-49 with 2.1 and 2.4 rating. A new CSI followed with a solid 14.29 million, but down a million from previous week. At 10pm The Mentalist was also new and did 14.56 million, down from previous week. ABC started off with the series premiere of The Deep End to just OK numbers with 7.11 million and a should be better 1.8 18-49 rating. A new Grey's Anatomy was next doing 12.7 million and 4.7 18-49, both on par really from previous week. A new Private Practice was next doing 9.64 million and a solid 3.6 18-49 rating for first in its slot. Fox had a new Bones doing a quiet and impressive 11.97 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating, wow! A new Fringe did 6.9 million, better than usual here again thanks to that great lead-in. NBC had new episodes of its comedies with Community doing 4.75 million, which was down from previous week, Parks & Recreation, was next and did only 4.36 million, also down from previous week, The Office was next with a clip-show type episode doing only 7.28 million and a 3.7 18-49 rating. 30 Rock was next doing 5.54 million, better than previous week's special two episodes which did bad. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 4.45 million. The CW returned Vampire Diaries at a solid 3.68 million and Supernatural returned to 2.85 million...their best night by far of the week as usual.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but ABC won Friday with 20/20 at 10. The Hope for Haiti Now telethon numbers from 8-10pm do not count in the ratings, but ABC lead the pack in that.
Saturday numbers saw Fox win a very quiet night with its usual reality crime series.
Tonight ABC has only new episodes of AFV & Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are preempted. NBC has Dateline and Figure Skating that should skew so old and not generate much. CBS has a 60 Minutes special at 7pm followed by crime repeats. Fox will easily win the night with NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints. Will Favre head to the Super Bowl? I think Fox will win the week in all categories thanks to NFL tonight. CBS will likely be second in everything, with ABC and NBC in third and fourth across the board. As for this coming week, look for President Obama's first State of the Union address this Wednesday at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

Week 18 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 17 -- Jan. 11-17)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - preempted.
• The Cleveland Show (Fox) - preempted.
• Family Guy (Fox) - preempted again.
• American Dad (Fox) - preempted again.
  

Monday Sitcoms

• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A new episode did a season best 10.41 million and a 4.0 18-49 rating, better than previous week's 100th episode. This is what I was expecting for episode 100.
• Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 9.56 million for a new episode, up over a million from previous week as the lead-in did better. The question is how will it do Wednesdays at 8:30pm when it moves there?
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.31 million for a new showing, but that is down a million or so from previous week. Weird since the two previous comedies leading in were up. Still the best though.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 15.05 million for a new episodes, lower than previous week's series high of 15.82 million and a 5.7 18-49 rating. The 18-49 for this week was a 5.3, holding steady from the lead-in, as lately it has been building from the lead-in.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• [scrubs] (ABC) 2 episodes - Two airings of the [Med School] edition did only 2.43 million for a repeat at 8pm and a new episode at 9pm only did 3.04 million, as that was up from previous week as it didn't face Idol head to head at 9. Still not good though.
• Better off Ted (ABC) 2 episodes - Only 1.78 million for a repeat at 8:30pm and 2.92 million for a hilarious all-new episode at 9:30pm. What a good one that was, but ratings still are lacking.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - All-new episode did 6.21 million for a new showing, up some from previous week.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 5.89 million for a new episode also up some from previous week. Only 1.8 18-49 rating, nearly losing to ABC's competing comedy repeat.
• The Middle (ABC) - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 4.66 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, nearly beating a NEW Gary on CBS.
• Modern Family (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8pm did 5.0 million. Not bad and it was an airing of the pilot. A new episode at 9pm did 9.83 million and a 4.2 18-49 rating, both up bit from previous week as it did NOT face Idol head-to-head this week. 4.2 18-49 rating is a best since the pilot. Growing hit continues to grow!
• Cougar Town (ABC) - A new episode did a solid 7.54 million, good showing. 3.4 18-49 rating is decent, too...both up from previous week.

Thursday Sitcoms

• Community (NBC) - A new episode did only 4.75 million...Jack Black effect over already?
• Parks & Recreation (NBC) - Only 4.36 million. A disappointment again.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 2 airings - Two repeats on a special night did a decent 6.75 and 7.38 million, lower than the usual crime repeats lately in this slot, but big improvement on 18-49 with a 2.1 and 2.4 rating. Beat the NBC comedies EASILY in both measures!
• The Office (NBC) - A clip show did a below normal 7.28 million, but what can you do? Now next week is a repeat. What was the point of the clip show this past week then?
• 30 Rock (NBC) - New showing did 5.54 million, better than previous week's special two all-new episodes, as The Office as a lead-in was the reason for the growth this week.

Friday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) are no sitcoms.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Cougar Town & Accidentally on Purpose were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, The Office) or just plain old terrible (such as Better off Ted, Scrubs).

The 16th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) were last night and the winners were announced. It seemed like everything was a repeat from last week's Golden Globes except for Tina Fey winning over Globe winner Toni Collette. So I think you know who won in every other category since they also won at the Globes.
Here are the main TV winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Simon Baker (The Mentalist, CBS)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Showtime)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men, HBO)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
WINNER: Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Patricia Arquette (Medium, CBS)
Glenn Close (Damages, FX)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
Holly Hunter (Saving Grace, TNT)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer, TNT)
WINNER: Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)
Steve Carrell (The Office, NBC)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk, USA)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Toni Collette (The United States of Tara, Showtime)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, Showtime)
Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS)
WINNER: Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Closer (TNT)
Dexter (Showtime)
The Good Wife (CBS)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
WINNER: Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
30 Rock (NBC)
WINNER: Glee (Fox)

View the complete TV portion winners and to discuss the winners!

ABC Midseason 2009 Sitcom News - Samantha Who Moves to Thursdays; 15th Annual SAG Awards Winners

ABC has announced its plans for the midseason sitcoms, and you'll see it here first! ABC will move Scrubs to Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT starting March 18, since Dancing with the Stars: The Results is launching Tuesdays at 9pm on March 17. American Idol Results on Fox will be moving to 9pm on Wednesday nights by then. Scrubs will lead-into the new midseason comedy Better Off Ted, starring Jay Harrington. The comedies will replace the Lost enhanced encore. The comedies will lead into new episodes of Lost at 9pm.
Next ABC will create a new Thursday night comedy hour, with new comedy In the Motherhood premiering March 26 at 8:00 pm ET/PT and will be paired with the return of Christina Applegate in Samantha Who? at 8:30 pm ET/PT. Since The Bachelor will continue on Monday nights from 8:00-10:00 pm ET/PT thru March 2, leading directly into True Beauty, Samantha Who? will be on the move. Both of these comedies on Thursdays will lead into episodes of Grey's Anatomy at 9pm.
Ugly Betty fans don't worry, the series will return to Thursday nights at 8:00 pm following the run of In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? It is not clear how many weeks that will be. If I were to guess it will be 6 weeks. Ugly Betty will air 18 or 19 episodes by March 19, so 5 or 6 will remain for that show. ABC has not announced what will air at 9:30pm on Monday nights starting March 30 when Dancing with the Stars will settle into its 90-minute format after three airings of two-hours. If I were to guess, we could see a second episode of In the Motherhood or Samantha Who? on this night as well, probably the latter since it has 11 episodes left to air this season. Stay tuned. Still no date for the animated comedy The Goode Family, but ABC is mulling a May launch for a few episodes. It is still early in the day, if we have any more updates on these sitcoms, we will edit it in, so come on back.
View complete details on In the Motherhood and Better of Ted, so you know what they are about.

The 15th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) winners were announced yesterday. Leading the pack were Mad Men and 30 Rock. 30 Rock took home all 3 of its nominations, sweeping comedy.
Here are the main TV portion winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane – Boston Legal (ABC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – Dexter (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – Mad Men (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – Boston Legal (ABC)
WINNER: HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – Saving Grace (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - Mad Men (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – The Closer (TNT)
WINNER: SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – The Office (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody – Californication (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – Entourage (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – Monk (USA)
WINNER: ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – Samantha Who? (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – Ugly Betty (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – Weeds (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters – Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (HBO)
WINNER: TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal, ABC
Dexter, Showtime
House, Fox
Mad Men, AMC
The Closer, TNT
WINNER: Mad Men, AMC

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock, NBC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Entourage, HBO
The Office, NBC
Weeds, Showtime
WINNER: 30 Rock, NBC

View the complete TV portion winners and to discuss the winners!

It is still early, so if we have any more news...come on back. NATPE 2009 starts tomorrow (runs Jan. 27-29), so we will have updates from NATPE.