House did great but Lie to Me is worrying considering it was getting 8-9m on Wednesdays, CBS had a solid night and the decision to put The Big Bang Theory at 9.30 paid off and CSI: Miami is dominating at 10pm.

Heroes is a goner and Trauma disapointed too, NBC needs to revamp itself and fast. I think the Acciendently on Purpose ratings is 8m not 9m.

Flash Forward is looking safe for now. It has started high enough that it can afford to lose a very big chunk of its audience and still make the end of the season.

The Beautiful Life was rating exceptionally poorly even by the low standards of The CW. They have typically stuck it out more than other networks, but this was just so bad they felt they had to pull it.

It is surprising that with a strong lead-in, Lie To Me seems to have fallen. Compared to Bones/Glee/Fringe/SYTYCD it is decent. But they don't get House as a lead-in.


The thing is, Heroes is doing as well as any drama on NBC just now! Law and Order: SVU debuted with a 2.5 last week, Mercy and Trauma both got 2.3's, Community is down to a 2.8 and Parks and Recreation is now under 2.0. Last week, only The Biggest Loser, The Office and NFL did better.

Definitely doesn't look good for Trauma.


Thanks, I put in last weeks figure so it is down a bit in total viewers but compared to what new shows usually do in their second week, it held up remarkably well.

However, it's still not great and losing some of its lead-in so I don't think it's helping TAAHM. Should be interesting to see how Rules of Engagement does midseason. 8.30pm doesn't seem like the best slot for it and I'm not sure how it will pair up with HIMYM.

Disappointing for both Trauma and Lie To Me really, although Lie To Me still did OK. Heroes is dead. I've never understood its appeal tbh, I've always found it rather pathetic, but it does (or did) have its fans.

Also, ITV have just shown a trailer for Piers Morgan's Life Stories, so I'd take it as almost confirmed that it'll be back on October 11th.

It's disappointing but it had heavy competition from DWTS and TAAHM/TBBT. I suspect it will be moved to Fridays to make way for 24.

I think Heroes only has a 20 episode order before being replaced by Chuck after the Olympics but I think it would be wise to wrap the show and end it this year. Trauma being replaced by Day One in March too.

Doc Martin might not return for another possible series until 2011. This is because Martin Clunes is busy filming Reggie Perrin next year from March.

The article does suggest that a fifth series of the show is very close to being greenlit, even before the fourth series even started airing. Could be another 2 year break for DM fans!

http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.c...ur_martin.html

C14E: Do you have any recent Letterman/Conan ratings? Thanks.

One reason I don't watch too much US network stuff. The cable stuff isn't so bad - 13 weeks or so isn't as daunting.


BTW, good ratings for Hollyoaks Later last night - 810,000 at 9pm. Thought it might struggle in the earlier slot, especially as ratings for the main show have dipped since the late night shows last year, but that's rather respectable IMO. I wasn't expecting more than 500-600,000.

It's become a regular thing but I can't see how Reggie Perrin could take a long time to film as it shot mostly in a studio but I guess that it allows Martin Clunes to have every other summer off for holidays and the documentaries. I think a Christmas Special would be a good bridge between series.

CBS put out a press release for last Tuesday but as yet, neither they nor NBC have released anything for last week overall but they should do on Thursday. 2 weeks ago, Letterman was in repeats so the figures aren't worth much.

Last Tuesday;


http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/23...ate-show/28204

Last Monday, Letterman had his best numbers in 4 years when he had Obama as a guest.

3rd quarter ratings via ABC:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/24...-viewers/28273

ITV should do what the BBC are doing with 'New Tricks' and 'My Family': order 2 series which are all filmed back to back.

The ratings are so good for DM compared to ITV's other drama output, that I think it would be worth doing that (as long as the writers and crew are up for it).

At least then, there'll definitely be new episodes in 2011 and 2012 - a long way off I know!

I am glad Primeval is coming back if only not to be left on a cliffanger which was a stupid way to treat the audience. Not all that sure why ITV seem to be getting all the praise though. They did cancel it after all and its only being brought back because other companies can see something that ITV could not.

You would have thought ITV would do that sort of thing giving that the reason BBC1 give for filming 2 series of My Family back to back is to cut costs (however that works).

Of course ITV are sort of doing that with Primeval (not quite the same with Watch getting first shot of series 5 - and suddenly a possibility of the channel living up to its name.)


Though that is 13 more episodes than we were expected - and 13 more than Robin Hood is going to get.

When I first saw the DS headline "Primeval commissioned for 2 more series", I thought it was referring to the US version. Yes, yes, I know that's not even up and running yet, but come on... I wasn't expecting this!! and when I read the article.

Of course, what helped Primeval was that it was actually a decent player in the ratings with around 5m in the officials in early Summer. ITV said they commissioned another series if it held up in the ratings and with a little bit of arm-twisting from Impossible Pictures (living up to their name in getting the decision to axe the programme reversed), they kept their word.

I wonder if any of the tabloids will turn this news into a Strictly Come Dancing story, with Laila Rouass a link between the two shows.

In theory yes, but Doc Martin has more of a continuing narrative and the show is starting to run a bit thin. I'm not sure it has too many more series left in it TBH

ITV were probably made an offer they couldn't refuse. They're probably getting it for the price of an import with BBCWW picking up the bulk of the tab, to benefit from international sales.

A couple of minor things which might be old news - Chatty Man has been recommissioned according to Alan Carr's website. The next series starts in November and a third and fourth series have already been commissioned too. Channel 4 must have plenty of faith in it. He also confirms that Friday/Sunday Night Project won's be returning (with Alan and Justin, at least), but I think we all knew that already.

According to Boyd Hilton on Twitter, Hung and Curb Your Enthusiasm will air together on Thursdays on More4 from mid October.

Is that GeorgeS making a disparaging remark about an ITV programme? Has somebody hacked into his computer?

I don't see why Doc Martin can't run for a good few years yet. Martin Clunes seems to enjoy making it. And how long did Heartbeat run for, using the same 2 storylines over and over again (a visitor to the village turns out to be a wrong 'un; the village rogue - Bill Maynard then Geoffery Hughes then Gwen Taylor - cooks up another money-making scam that goes wrong) before its ratings dropped off? Well over ten years.

And I know it's a completely different type of drama but Silent Witness, which always gets a panning from the critics, was getting 6 or 7 million last year for its 12th series. (So <rasp> to you, critics.)

A few BBC One notes, HIGNFY returns on Friday 16th October at 9pm, with Armstrong and Miller taking the 9:30pm slot.

Thank you. Letterman is doing sound business but you'd expect him to be with those guests. Pleased for Dave though!

Brilliant for Flash Forward - it was up against tough opposition, so it was never going to match the heights of The Mentalist. Blue Murder did alright but the loss of viewers is concerning. Waking the Dead as consistently good as ever. BBC2 did excellently in the 8pm hour, while the soaps performed well - what is it about Monday's???

Great that Primeval is back.

I think Flash Forward did well in a very tough slot. I can't see how Five would have been expecting more than that considering where it's been placed in the schedule.

Waking the Dead pulls the expected strong figures - its really hurt Blue Murder this series. Although BM could comfortably clear 5m with lesser competition, I do wonder whether ITV might decide to ditch it now to make way for the Monday Night Thrillers from the start of the year which seem stronger bets ratings-wise.

Good news about Primeval - co-production clearly the way forward for expensive series like this.

Not surprised to see Armstrong and Miller link up with HIGNFY on Fridays. I do hope this means we'll see Gavin and Stacey find another weekday 9pm slot. I think its strong enough to hold its own and it'd be nice to see comedy break out of the Friday night shackles for a change.

Everyone's too depressed to go out on a Monday. It's five days to the weekend!!!

TOP 10 ADULTS 18-49

1. Sunday Night Football (NBC) – 6.8
2. House (FOX) – 6.7
3. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 6.7
4. Family Guy (FOX) – 5.2
5. Cleveland (FOX) – 4.9
6. NFL Pre-Kickoff (NBC) – 4.9
7. NCIS (CBS) – 4.8
8. Desperate Housewives (ABC) – 4.7
9. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) – 4.7
10. Two and a Half Men (CBS) – 4.5

FOX – 3, CBS -3, ABC – 2, NBC – 2

TOP 10 TOTAL VIEWERS

1. NCIS (CBS) – 20.60m
2. NCIS: LA (CBS) – 18.73m
3. Dancing With The Stars (ABC) – 17.79m
4. Sunday Night Football (NBC) – 17.47m
5. House (FOX) – 17.16m
6. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 17.03m
7. CSI (CBS) – 16.00m
8. Criminal Minds (CBS) – 15.84m
9. Dancing With The Stars (ABC) – 15.37m
10. Dancing With The Stars Results (ABC) – 15.36m

CBS – 4, ABC – 4, NBC – 1, FOX – 1

Complete Top 25 Programmes

NETWORK ADULTS 18-49 (vs 2008):
1. ABC - 4.40m (down 13%)
2. CBS - 4.16m (up 2%)
3. FOX - 4.08m (up 3%)
4. NBC - 3.52m (down 20%)
5. CW - 1.35m (down 19%)

NETWORK TOTAL VIEWERS:
1. CBS - 11.69m (up 4%)
2. ABC - 10.96m (down 11%)
3. NBC - 7.51m (down 10%)
4. FOX - 7.31m (down 3%)
5. CW - 2.15m (down 26%)

NETWORK ADULTS 18-34:
1. FOX - 2.11m (up 7%)
2. ABC - 1.77m (down 16%)
3. NBC - 1.56m (down 26%)
4. CBS - 1.36m (up 5%)
5. CW - 0.88m (down 13%)

Network Ratings
2008 Comparison (including graphs)

I'd have thought that that would carry over to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday though, but seemingly not. Not for the soaps anyway.

I can't see Blue Murder returning on those ratings. Even for another slot it's ratings aren't great. But Monday at 9pm is the top slot for those shows and ITV have had several successes earlier this year. I wonder how Murderland will do? Apparently it will be shown in Scotland.