Ratings : Good News for BBT its Replacement Basically Bombs In The Ratings

[Superbowl]

Well, good news if you are a fan of The Big Bang Theory, and want it back in its time slot soon. Here are the ratings for its replacement, Welcome To The Captain, and comparative ratings for The Big Bang Theory premiere and last original episode rating.

WELCOME TO THE CAPTAIN 7.91M 2.6 (18-49 demo)


Here was The Big Bang Theory premiere and last original episode :

09/24/07 9.52 M 3.7 (18-49 demo)
11/12/07 9.32 M 3.8 (19-49 demo)

Big Bang Theory REPEATS were doing better than the Welcome To The Captain premiere number. It also was doing about 1.5 million more and absolutely killing Welcome To The Captain in the 18-49 demo.

Come on CBS, time to put The Big Bang Theory back on the air.

[JulieSomoski]

It had a crummy leadin - a repeat of HIMYM. THey should have aired a repeat of BBT at 8pm instead, where it would have done better.

I forgot all about this show. I haven't been hearing many good things about it - unfunny, bad writing. But, we'll basically have to wait to see how episode 2 does before we call it a disaster. I don't think CBS will yank this off anyways, because it's their only sitcom with original episodes. Do you know how Old Christine's premiere did? I was watching that, and it was decent.

[TVFactFan]

It had a crummy leadin - a repeat of HIMYM. THey should have aired a repeat of BBT at 8pm instead, where it would have done better.

I forgot all about this show. I haven't been hearing many good things about it - unfunny, bad writing. But, we'll basically have to wait to see how episode 2 does before we call it a disaster. I don't think CBS will yank this off anyways, because it's their only sitcom with original episodes. Do you know how Old Christine's premiere did? I was watching that, and it was decent.


i turned to Welcome to Captain after reading about it but I didn't like the first two characters as soon as it started and after 5 min I turned the channel. It couldn't compete with basketball-lol

[Superbowl]

Old Christine did okay. Not great but just okay. It got about 9.3 million viewers with a 3.2 demo. Not bad, but not as good as a first run episode of Rules Of Engagement would have done with the Two and Half Men lead in.

The real reason The Captain's ratings stunk was because of the 2.6 demo. That is terrible. The Big Bang Theory was averaging about a 3.6 demo, which is much, much higher. The networks are always looking for younger skewing shows. From what I have seen about 90% of the people who saw it hated it.

[TVFactFan]

Old Christine did okay. Not great but just okay. It got about 9.3 million viewers with a 3.2 demo. Not bad, but not as good as a first run episode of Rules Of Engagement would have done with the Two and Half Men lead in.

The real reason The Captain's ratings stunk was because of the 2.6 demo. That is terrible. The Big Bang Theory was averaging about a 3.6 demo, which is much, much higher. The networks are always looking for younger skewing shows. From what I have seen about 90% of the people who saw it hated it.


I prefer caveman over WTC-lol

[Pavan]

Obviously Captain and Christine didn't do as well as Big Bang and Rules because they had repeats as lead-ins. Add maybe 2-3 million to each if they were following all-new episodes of Mother and Men.

If new Big Bang and Rules were airing after repeats, I would expect around the same numbers as Captain and Christine did following repeats of Mother and Men, but the demos would probably be a tick higher.

Come on Super Bowl, calling for Big Bang to be back on the air after just one airing of Captain? That is a bit excessive. I'm sure CBS would like to bring Big Bang back to the slot, but it would be repeats anyway right now...

[Superbowl]

Pavan, no I am not calling for it to come back in repeats at all. I am calling for it to reclaim its spot after the strike is over. There are rumors the networks want to hold their new shows until next Fall to relaunch them. Big Bang Theory should be back after the strike ends. There is no way it should be held back for The Captain or Old Christine.

As to the ratings, you have totally lost it. I looked it up, repeats of The Big Bang Theory beat the HIMYM repeats by 650,000 to 940,000 its last weeks in repeats, and had demos of 2.8-3.2. Remember that was a repeat of BBT. A NEW episode of The Captain beat HIMYM by 350,000 viewers, and had a demo of 2.6. I would bet every dollar I have that if the BBT was new next week after a repeat of HIMYM it would get higher than 7.9 million viewers and a 2.6 demo. All of a sudden now you think HIMYM is this great lead in, and matters when it suits your convenience. Everyone knows HIMYM is irrelevant as a lead, and BBT was a self starter so if The Captain is as good as you think then lets see it self start.

In short, a sampling premiere episode on a CBS sitcom getting 7.91 million viewers and a 2.6 demo is an absolute disasterous rating. Remember, this week it got a sampling as all new shows do. Also, I would say 90% of the people that have commented on The Captain on the internet hated it.

Why should we expect otherwise from a guy who loved Caveman and Carpoolers. The two biggest sitcom bombs of the year. Those even make Welcome To The Captain look good. What a joke.

Here are the numbers to back it up. Here is the last two BBT REPEATS compared to the Captain NEW Episode all airing after HIMYM repeats :

1/21/07 8:30PM BIG BANG THEORY, THE-REPEAT 4.9/7, 7.72, 2.9/7, 3.7/8
1/14/07 8:30PM BIG BANG THEORY, THE-REPEAT 5.1/8, 8.07, 3.2/8, 3.8/9
2/04/07 8:30PM WELCOME TO THE CAPTAIN 5.1/8, 7.91, 2.6/7, 3.4/8 NEW EPISODE

The total viewers are close, but look at the demos. AND BEAR IN MIND THIS IS A REPEAT OF BBT VS. A NEW THE CAPTAIN.

So Pavan, what do you think Welcome To The Captain would have got if it was a repeat ? Remember we are comparing a new Captain to a BBT repeat, hardly an equal test.

[Pavan]

The Big Bang Theory would most likely come back with new episodes THIS season if the strike were to end. It is an easy promo item, since it is a half-hour multicamera sitcom.

I have lost it? I think you have...give Captain some time to air for crying out loud. I love Big Bang too, but calling for it to come back is insane. Of course it will return to its slot or another timeslot.

YOU obviously have lost it. Big Bang premiered in the fall with months worth of promotion in the fall and with no writers' strike. Captain premiered in February, a not so good month to premiere with, and with not even a month's worth of promotion. Not to mention there is a writers' strike going where people probably didn't even know it was on. So all things considered, little under 8 million is not too bad at all. Will it do that next week? We shall see...but give it a chance.

I never said Captain was this ratings hit. For crying out lout it premiered after a repeat, and you are calling on Big Bang to return. You seem very insecure about something taking the place of Big Bang. Relax, because Big Bang isn't going anywhere. And I never said HIMYM is a great lead-in. Captain built on that at least. Big Bang did that as well mostly every week, but you always seemed to mention that whenever that happened. So why did you keep saying it?

And when did I say I loved Cavemen? Again with the assumptions. I do like Carpoolers, but what does its ratings have to do with me liking the show? I never said it was a ratings juggernaut. All I'm saying is, you are very quick to be negative on everything but Big Bang.

As long as Captain keeps building on HIMYM, CBS will be happy, as it is new programming in a writers' strike. How many more times can you repeat Big Bang's episodes? It has less than 10.

Bottom line: Don't be insecure. Big Bang will come back no matter how good or bad Captain does.

So what is my bias this time? I don't see ABC in this.

[Superbowl]

Never mentioned any ABC bias, because there clearly is not here. I was not criticizing The Captain, either. Personally, I cannot comment on the show, because I did not see it. I do know that about 90% of the comments I read from people that did see it hated the show. What I can comments on is the ratings. That is in black and white : THEY STINK.

I want the BBT getting its spot back after the strike, not now. Although the BBT repeats got higher ratings in the demos, anyway. I guess you are not up on things except your ABC stuff. People in the industry are saying the networks may hold back their new shows with full season orders until next Fall to relaunch them. That clearly would be a mistake with a show with good ratings like BBT. I want it back when the strike ends, not now.

The show debuted with little competition (remember BBT debuted against Dancing With The Stars and Chuck). BBT's debut was against much tougher competition, so don't give me that February bad premiere time thing. For a show to get a sampling, premiere episode and get under 8 million viewers is awful. Also, it did not build on HIMYM. The demos were equal to HIMYM, and just remember HIMYM was a repeat. If HIMYM was a new episode it would have beaten The Captain easily.

Also, since you try to blame The Captain's bad ratings on the lead in, let's say BBT had a new episode next week following a HIMYM repeat. Do you think it would get under 8 million viewers and an 18-49 demo of under 2.6 ? It would easily have had 9-10 million with a demo in the mid to upper 3's. So basically you have no idea what you are talking about. The BBT repeats were getting better ratings than The Captain got for its sampling.

The ratings for this show stunk for the first week. Look at the comparative numbers I gave above. The ratings stunk.

And by the way CBS was not happy with the ratings. They did not put out a press release bragging about The Captain or Old Christine's numbers. The network always puts out a ratings spin press release when the numbers are good. They did this for BBT every week. They said absolutely nothing yesterday. So I guess they were not as pleased with the ratings as you were.

[Pavan]

Never mentioned any ABC bias, because there clearly is not here. I was not criticizing The Captain, either. Personally, I cannot comment on the show, because I did not see it. I do know that about 90% of the comments I read from people that did see it hated the show. What I can comments on is the ratings. That is in black and white : THEY STINK.

I want the BBT getting its spot back after the strike, not now. Although the BBT repeats got higher ratings in the demos, anyway. I guess you are not up on things except your ABC stuff. People in the industry are saying the networks may hold back their new shows with full season orders until next Fall to relaunch them. That clearly would be a mistake with a show with good ratings like BBT. I want it back when the strike ends, not now.

The show debuted with little competition (remember BBT debuted against Dancing With The Stars and Chuck). BBT's debut was against much tougher competition, so don't give me that February bad premiere time thing. For a show to get a sampling, premiere episode and get under 8 million viewers is awful. Also, it did not build on HIMYM. The demos were equal to HIMYM, and just remember HIMYM was a repeat. If HIMYM was a new episode it would have beaten The Captain easily.

Also, since you try to blame The Captain's bad ratings on the lead in, let's say BBT had a new episode next week following a HIMYM repeat. Do you think it would get under 8 million viewers and an 18-49 demo of under 2.6 ? It would easily have had 9-10 million with a demo in the mid to upper 3's. So basically you have no idea what you are talking about. The BBT repeats were getting better ratings than The Captain got for its sampling.

The ratings for this show stunk for the first week. Look at the comparative numbers I gave above. The ratings stunk.

And by the way CBS was not happy with the ratings. They did not put out a press release bragging about The Captain or Old Christine's numbers. The network always puts out a ratings spin press release when the numbers are good. They did this for BBT every week. They said absolutely nothing yesterday. So I guess they were not as pleased with the ratings as you were.


So you're telling me if Captain and Big Bang switched spots, such as if Captain premiered in the fall with so much more promotion and Big Bang premiered in a writers' strike following a repeat of HIMYM in February, that BBT would have not done the same thing? I would have expected the same type of ratings for BBT if it had premiered on Monday.

All things considered, 7.91 million is not that bad for a show that got not that much promotion time. This is only one week, it could stay around the same and CBS will take that for another 5 weeks until Big Bang is ready to come back with NEW episodes. Or if Captain starts losing from the numbers of HIMYM's repeats, then CBS will be concerned.

You don't know what is going on in the industry. You see one article probably saying that new shows would likely not come back until the fall, and get worried that it could be Big Bang, too. Insecure. I have been told from several people in the know that multicamera sitcoms such as HIMYM, Big Bang, Men and Back to You would come back first with new episodes...since it doesn't take that long for 4-camera sitcoms to get going in production, unlike single camera sitcoms and big time dramas. This is SitcomsOnline, so we can find out a lot of things. Shows like Moonlight, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Heroes, 24, would likely not be back until next season.

So why did you say, "Come on CBS, time to put The Big Bang Theory back on the air." I don't see anything saying indicating you meant after the strike.

And you said:
"Also, since you try to blame The Captain's bad ratings on the lead in, let's say BBT had a new episode next week following a HIMYM repeat. Do you think it would get under 8 million viewers and an 18-49 demo of under 2.6 ? It would easily have had 9-10 million with a demo in the mid to upper 3's."

Well DUH. The show has already premiered and has an audience. While poor Captain PREMIERED after a repeat. How would you have liked it if Big Bang premiered after a HIMYM repeat? You would have blasted CBS.

So why are you so scared? Big Bang is coming back regardless. I am glad you like the show, I like it, too, but don't be so single minded. From day one all you have done is blasted anything but BBT.

[Superbowl]

I hope you are right about BBT coming back. I do admit that what I said was misleading, but I did mean after the strike. I should have stated that.

Welcome To The Captain has been promoted by CBS for over 2 months now with on air promos and ads in magazine, etc. so I think the promotion was better than you think.

Let me ask you this. I know The Captain only has 6 shows. Old Christine has 8 episodes made and 13 ordered. Considering Christine is in the mix. How is CBS going to juggle 5 sitcoms in 4 spots. What do they do with the extra show. I don't think they can do another night, because they have Big Brother coming onto three nights a week.

By the way, I do like Samantha Who. I have criticized that it seems to only do well after DWTS, which is true, but I still like it. I also watch Back To You and like it. So I do not only like BBT. Cavemen and Carpoolers I hated and was right about.

[Pavan]

When did The Captain promos start? I don't think they started until early January. Even if it started in December, who is watching network TV during the holiday season (besides the Christmas specials)?

I don't know what they will do with 5 sitcoms. It all depends on when this strike will end. If it ends by the end of this week or early next week, I can see HIMYM, BBT, Men and Rules back in production at the end of the month or so with new episodes coming maybe March 17 or 24. They could always move Christine to Wednesdays at 8:30 or something to finish its 13 episode run, following repeats of Two and a Half Men (which oddly does very well at any slot and time) when Big Brother ends. Christine could air 6-7 weeks straight on Mondays until the regular sitcoms return in mid-late March.

[Superbowl]

They have been advertising The Captain for several months. They were running promos during NFL games and during prime time since early December. They also took out a full page ad in TV Guide and other magazines this week. Promotion isn't a problem for this show.

[JulieSomoski]

Honestly, we will have to wait and see how it does this Monday. I'm especting it to slip a lot, because from what I've heard, it isn't that great of a show. But, I doubt CBS would air BBT repeats instead of new Captain episodes, especially during a strike.

But, the last BBT repeat at 8:30 was averaging almost a million viewers higher than the premiere of WTTC. That isn't that promising, even in February WITH a writer's strike.

Christine is doing okay . . . good to hear, seeing how it hasn't exactly had the greatest run. 1 midseason, 1 full season, and another midseason isn't exactly the best way to grow an audience. When is Big Brother supposed to air for it's 3 nights (which I think is completely insane, seeing how it isn't even a good show)? I could see airing Mother, Big Bang, Men, and Engagement in it's normal Monday times, and maybe an hour of Old Christine and Captain on Wednesday or Friday nights.

[Superbowl]

Big Brother is scheduled to air on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays. The schedule will be very crowded if shows start coming back after the strike.

[TVFactFan]

They have been advertising The Captain for several months. They were running promos during NFL games and during prime time since early December. They also took out a full page ad in TV Guide and other magazines this week. Promotion isn't a problem for this show.


Well that's probably why I never saw the promos because in my area 95% of the NFL games are on FOX since this is NFC Country. Someone in Boston, or Cleveland may have seen the promos since 95% of their games are on CBS.