'American Idol' Can't Stop CBS From Getting 15th Weekly Win
Schedule shifts really didn't do any shows any favor (see: 'Fringe')
CBS won its 15th week of the 20-week-old season with a solid win over Fox, despite the return of "American Idol."
The popular reality show returned with strong ratings to introduce new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez. As expected, the show took three of the top four spots of the week, broken up only by "NCIS," which continues to dominate scripted programs.
"American Idol" averaged a 13.6 rating/21 share in Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. on Wednesday and Thursday. That's down 12 percent from last year where its debut week averaged a 15.4/23.
Does that mean that "American Idol" is beginning its slide into oblivion? Probably not quite yet. Although Fox does have to be concerned that ratings could dip a little bit more during the audition episodes now that many fans had a chance to see the new judges at work.
Of course, last year, many thought the same thing with Ellen DeGeneres becoming a judge. However, "American Idol" only lost 6 percent of its audience in the second week. This season is expected to have similar results in the second week.
Whether it's sliding or not, "American Idol" is still the king of television. Its schedule shift didn't seem to hurt it much. However, networks moved around a bunch of other shows beginning this week -- especially with NBC's comedy block on Thursdays -- which had disastrous results.
"Outsource" probably got the worst of it. That show lost more than 26 percent of the average audience it was getting in its original timeslot, taking over 10:30 (yes, we said 10:30). It's also finishing about the same distance behind the audience NBC generated for the 10 p.m. timeslot last year, back in the days when "The Jay Leno Show" was considered a disaster.
"30 Rock" probably had the best staying power of Thursday. Its move to 10 p.m. gave it a 3.1/5 this week, down slightly from its most recent broadcast Dec. 2, and 6 percent off its average in its previous timeslot. Still, it couldn't keep up with how NBC fared in that timeslot last year.
Although audiences seemed to want to give the new Kathy Bates series "Harry's Law" a chance, the same wasn't true for "Perfect Couples." That show premiered in its regular timeslot this week with a 2.5/4, good for the second-worst finish of the week among the Big Four Networks.
It's probably safe to say "Perfect Couples" will be lucky to see springtime, let alone the fall.
Just one quick note: Six of the 10 worst performing shows on the Big Four were shows that were moved from their old timeslots. For some of them, it's the first time this season they've appeared on this particular list.
Joining the NBC shows on that list was "Fringe," which held on to most of its Fox Thursday audience, but is likely headed toward the big Massive Dynamic in the sky.
Top Networks, Week of Jan. 16 -- [Audience Loyalty Index rating]
| 1. (1) | CBS | 7.6/12 | [60.2] |
| 2. (4) | Fox | 5.9/9 | [39.8] |
| 3. (2) | ABC | 4.6/7 | [70.1] |
| 4. (3) | NBC | 3.8/6 | [54.3] |
| 5. (-) | The CW | 1.0/2 | [100.0] |
Top 10 Network Shows, Week of Jan. 16 -- [ALI]
| 1. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 14.7/23 | [NA] |
| 2. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 13.6/21 | [NA] |
| 3. (1) | NCIS (CBS) | 12.6/20 | [91.6] |
| 4. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 12.4/20 | [NA] |
| 5. (2) | NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) | 10.6/16 | [91.1] |
| 6. (-) | Two and a Half Men (CBS) | 9.4/14 | [91.0] |
| 7. (-) | The Mentalist (CBS) | 9.1/15 | [94.4] |
| 8. (-) | CSI (CBS) | 8.5/13 | [94.8] |
| 9. (-) | Big Bang Theory (CBS) | 8.1/13 | [94.4] |
| 10. (7) | Undercover Boss (CBS) | 8.0/12 | [84.7] |
Top 10 New Shows, Week of Jan. 16 -- [ALI]
| 1. (-) | Mike & Molly (CBS) | 7.9/12 | [91.0] |
| 2. (-) | Blue Bloods (CBS) | 7.6/13 | [NA] |
| 3. (-) | Harry's Law (NBC) | 7.0/12 | [NA] |
| 4. (-) | Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) | 6.7/11 | [81.6] |
| 5. (-) | $#*! My Dad Says (CBS) | 6.2/11 | [84.8] |
| 6. (-) | Better With You (ABC) | 4.1/6 | [91.2] |
| 7. (3/4) | The Cape (NBC) | 3.8/6 | [NA] |
| 8. (2) | Off the Map (ABC) | 3.7/6 | [87.0] |
| 9. (6) | Live To Dance (CBS) | 3.5/6 | [84.7] |
| 10. (9) | No Ordinary Family (ABC) | 3.5/5 | [72.2] |
Bottom 10 Big Four Network Shows, Week of Jan. 16 -- [ALI]
| 1. | American Dad (Fox) | 2.2/3 | [NA] |
| 2. | Perfect Couples (NBC) | 2.5/4 | [NA] |
| 2. | Outsourced (NBC) | 2.5/4 | [NA] |
| 2. | Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) | 2.5/4 | [NA] |
| 5. | Fringe (Fox) | 2.7/5 | [NA] |
| 6. | Minute To Win It (NBC) | 2.8/4 | [82.3] |
| 7. | Community (NBC) | 2.8/5 | [88.1] |
| 8. | Chase (NBC) | 2.9/5 | [NA] |
| 8. | Supernanny (ABC) | 2.9/5 | [92.0] |
| 10. | Bob's Burgers (Fox) | 3.0/5 | [78.8] |
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that include both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. GenreNexus tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.
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