The CW were in repeats so those numbers aren't as bad as they look. However all signs are pointing toward a rough season for The CW this year although perhaps not as rough as things will be at NBC.

I really enjoy The Sing-Off but clearly it can't hold an audience against competition and The Playboy Club is DOA even with all the controversy surrounding its subject matter. Although I suppose things can only get better this week for NBC... right?

2 Broke Girls got off to a great start thanks to a fantastic lead-in. The real test will be how much of its audience it holds when it moves to 8:30 next week. I think we're likely to see a 50% drop for it next week which will still leave it in great territory. Two and a Half Men is in for a big drop next week as well I would have thought.

Plus of course next week everyone has to contend with Terra Nova's 2 hour debut on Fox which could turn these numbers upside down (assuming that performs as expected).

Also I'm waiting to get it confirmed but I'm pretty sure that's a series high for How I Met Your Mother at 8:30 in both the demo and total audience. And I suspect 2 Broke Girls is the biggest scripted debut for a good 3 years at least. It also looks to me as if that might be the lowest demo average Dancing with the Stars has had for a season premier in a while but don't quote me on that.

Thanks a lot. That's going to be very useful! Cheers

Don't like to keep pointing it out every time, but of course you are absolutely right. The Ratings Thread was born out of that Christmas Ratings Thread from 2006 which I started as at the time, there would be very little ratings info available except for MediaGuardian, which went on holiday for the festive season. So we're heading up to the fifth anniversary soon.

That original thread has got some interesting stuff in it too, good to see Robbie was the first to reply, not many other existing contributors there though. Andy23, cylon6, mossy2103, Chris1964 and GeorgeS all contributed on the first couple of pages and still contribute today however.

Amazing number for Two and a Half Men. It's actually higher than American Idol in January in total viewers and adults 18-49 (26.2m/9.7).

Two Broke Girls must be the best rated premiere in years on both measures. IIRC, NCIS:LA just missed 19m for its premiere a couple of years ago. Can't think of anything which has premiered at that level since Desperate Housewives (21.6m/8.9 in 2004) - Brothers & Sisters in 2006 was a 6.2, I think.

That's not awful for The Sing Off - I'd imagine that in future weeks it will build over the 2 hours. But no surprise that The Playboy Club struggled.

Great for How I Met Your Mother as well. Although H50 not doing much considering the lead-in. Solid for ABC and FOX.

Yeah I'm fairly sure that Desperate Housewives is the last time a show debuted better than 2 Broke Girls but I'm not currently 100% on that and I can't think what the last show on CBS to debut this well would have been (I'm excluding Undercover Boss which had the Superbowl lead-in). It'll be interesting to see if it can hold at that level in finals though.

Meanwhile series highs in both the demo and total viewers for Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother last night now confirmed.


Its pretty awful for The Sing-Off although I agree it should grow over the coming weeks as the numbers settle down everywhere else. I do however wonder if NBC are now having second thoughts about putting The Voice in this Monday night slot.

And its even worse news for Hawaii Five-0 when you look at the half hour breakdowns.

10PM
Hawaii Five-0 - 3.7 [12.57]
Castle - 3.4 [14.35]
The Playboy Club - 1.7 [5.28]

10:30PM
Hawaii Five-0 - 3.1 [11.42]
Castle - 3.1 [12.86]
The Playboy Club - 1.6 [5.01]

ok fair enough I didnt spot the "R" at first, but still its seems early to be in repeats.

The CW is an odd network

They're only in repeats on Monday right now. Tuesday-Friday this week will be all originals. Monday will be originals from next week with the return of Gossip Girl and the debut of Hart of Dixie. Apparently they didn't want to start those shows (or the Friday night shows) a week early like they did the Tuesday-Thursday and thought that avoiding the returns/debuts on every other network on Monday was a good idea. Although that was.

Of course now Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie will have the debut of Terra Nova to contend with so that plan didn't entirely work out for them.

Also now confirmed that, that was the lowest season premiere ever for Dancing with the Stars. I suspect the jumbo sized audience for CBS can be blamed for deflating the second hour of the show which is usually noticeably bigger than it was last night.

that seems odd, an untold amount of publicity around Chaz,and yet ratings are not good.

I think it is probably entirely down to the huge CBS audience. Two and a Half Men posted a more than 100% improvement vs. last year and 2 Broke Girls was up nearly 80% on Mike & Molly’s debut in the same slot last year. Plus How I Met Your Mother was up more than 30% vs. last year in the 8PM slot. I don’t think any network can post that kind of massive improvement and not dent everyone else.

For what it’s worth Dancing with the Stars was down about 25% vs. last fall so it’s not as big a drop as it could have been when you consider the CBS improvements. A better judge of interest levels might be how the second show does tonight. If that’s down a similar amount vs. last year ABC should probably start to worry.

Hawaii Five-0 isn't in danger of cancellation but I can see it moving to another night next season,

Another good night for ITV. Corrie particularly strong last night and what more can be said about Doc Martin.

Obviously the weaker competition is the reason why it is around as high as Downton Abbey. The BBC have succeeded in keeping Downtown under control by running a major drama against it.

Not sure what points people were making with all that 'is Downton hyped' business today, it seemed to get very confused. Whatever was said can of course be dug out again in a few weeks so as to dismiss the Strictly ratings as a flop!

Its hard to predict anything right now because we've only seen one night. Its possible (and my fingers are crossed) that Person of Interest will bomb on Thursday night and if that happens Hawaii Five-0 will be the last thing on CBS' mind. Personally I was amazed it kept the Monday 10PM slot this season (in my mind its much better suited to Tuesday 10PM following the NCIS block) but I guess CBS felt they were already making enough changes this season.

Saturday 1st October
Merlin (7:50pm, BBC One)
Movie Premiere: Frost/Nixon (9:45pm, BBC Two)

Sunday 2nd October
Movie Premiere: Star Trek (6:30pm, Channel 4)
Movie Premiere: Nowhere Boy (10pm, Channel 4)

Monday 3rd October
Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two (6:30pm, BBC Two)
Celebrity Wish List (7:30pm, Channel 5)
Motorway Cops (9pm, BBC One)
The Hotel Inspector (9pm, Channel 5)

Tuesday 4th October
Mary Queen of Frocks (9pm, Channel 4)

Wednesday 5th October
Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards 2011 (8pm, ITV1)
Impossible? Celebrity Specials (11pm, Channel 5)

Thursday 6th October
How to Build... A Volcano (8pm, Channel 5)
Hidden (9pm, BBC One)
Extraordinary People: The 8-Limbed Boy (9pm, Channel 5)

Friday 7th October
Autumnwatch 2011 (8:30pm, BBC Two)

I've been looking through that thread and some familiar things made me smile: the Ratings Thread stopwatches were busy for BBC One's Christmas night.

The BBC/ITV soaps thing was going, too:


And I wonder if Robbie ever got round to watching these...

Is that officially confirmed now? If so that's a potentially huge night for BBC1.

6PM: Strictly Come Dancing
7PM: Doctor Who [Series Finale]
7:50PM: Merlin

Fall premiere ratings facts:

Two and a Half Men posted the best ratings for a scripted premiere since the second season premiere of Desperate Housewives in 2005.

2 Broke Girls recorded the best series premiere ratings for a fall comedy in 10 years (when Inside Schwartz got a Friends lead-in on NBC).

The Playboy Club tied Crusoe as NBC's lowest ever rated fall drama premiere.

The Sing-Off was down 32% from its second season premiere (which aired in December).

Castle was up 22% from last fall.

How I Met Your Mother was up 31%.

Deadline TV - Full Article

Looking at the Radio times Site it looks like Doctor who is going to clash with The X Factor. I Hope that doesn't happen or Doctor Who could be Below 5m

Glad someone at BBC seen sense.

Here's the line-ups for Saturday 1st October:

BBC One
14:55 - Don't Scare the Hare
16:00 - Celebrity MasterChef
16:30 - Final Score
17:10 - BBC News
17:30 - Celebrity MasterChef
18:00 - Strictly Come Dancing
19:05 - Doctor Who
19:50 - Merlin
20:35 - Secret Fortune
21:25 - Casualty
22:15 - BBC News
22:30 - MOTD

ITV1
18:00 - You've Been Framed
18:30 - All Star Family Fortunes
19:30 - The X Factor
21:25 - The Jonathan Ross Show
22:25 - ITV News
22:40 - FILM: Shaun of The Dead

Thanks to Doc12 on Gallifrey Base

One has to assume one of the following will happen:

a) BBC1's lineup will move 30 minutes back with Strictly starting at 17:30(!)
b) ITV1's lineup will move 30 minutes forward
c) Nothing happens and X Factor/Doctor Who clash

Or option d, the BBC move their schedule back a little and ITV move their schedule forward a little.

Personally I'd lean toward option c though. ITV don't have any reason to be worried about the Doctor Who clash and the BBC knows that if Doctor Who loses viewers live it'll more than make it up via timeshift. Of course they might be concerned about the knock on effect that could have on Merlin.

I expect X Factor will start at 7pm or 7.05pm, in order to swallow up Doctor Who, and allow Jonathan Ross's show to get a start on Casualty.

It's going to be an interesting US season; Fox, NBC and ABC all seem to be running into troubles, NBC's are most noticeable, but Fox has had some dreadful luck with fledgling scripted series' recently and ABC are running low on popular scripted shows.

Delighted for How I Met Your Mother's ratings, it just goes to show if you give a show enough opportunities it can become a big hit.

Well, something was going to clash, and it was unlikely to be SCD given the furore the last time that it clashed. But not to worry, DW will always lead the way in timeshifts, and many people will already know why they bought a PVR (even if the likes of The Sun can't seem to grasp the concept)

cant see any sign of the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures on BBC 1 or CBBC