The ratings numbers have been the hot topic of debate for the past 4 or 5 years. Show me 9 million people who watch Ghost Whisperer and I'll show you 7 million people who were on the phone and left their TVs on whatever. To be honest, I don't even believe 34 million people watched Obama's special.
(here he goes again) Now, show me how many people DOWNLOAD, STREAM, or RECORD episodes of Ghost Whisperer, and you'll have a pretty good estimate of audience size. This is why TV's dying. When I worked in the music industry, we used a standard of measurement called SoundScan. The way it worked was simple. When someone bought an album, it was scanned. All of those scan reports were tallied up, and boom, we knew who #1 was. Right? Wrong. Because if I send you 500 copies of "Whosaywhat and the Sound of a Tree Falling" for free, and ask you to scan it every time someone buys Mariah Carey, guess who #1 is gonna be that week? And that was MUSIC. Am I saying there is Neilsen fraud going on? Well, yes, but that's not even the main point. TV ratings are remarkably flawed, and the evidence of this is the quality of the shows that are coming back. On Nov 4, 2008, at 10:20 AM, Martin Baxter wrote: > One question. > > Are they watching the same shows I am, on the same kind of television? > > > > > > ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- > > Subject : [scifinoir2] SciFi Rates Returning Series Based on > Viewership > > Date : Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:42:33 -0800 > > From : "Tracey de Morsella" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To : <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> > > > We Rate Returning SF TV Series > http://www.scifi.com/sfw/news/sfw_news_20081103.html > Yikes! And you think the economy is bad. Imagine being a network > executive > these days. Much like the vanishing honeybees, television viewers > seems to > have evaporated, and shows across the spectrum are struggling. In > fact, the > networks are bleeding as they thrash about trying to figure out how > to bring > viewers back to their favorite shows. > > In this second of two stories, we take a look at how returning > SF&F series > are doing this fall, grading them from best to worst. > > Ghost Hunters (SCI FI) Premiered with > 2.7 million viewers. Last week, 3.2 million viewers. The future's > so bright, > these ghost hunters will have to wear shades. Last week our favorite > ghost-hunting plumbers reached a series high, which is great news > leading > into their big live Halloween investigation special > . And beyond > spawning a successful sequel in Ghost Hunters International, SCI FI > just > announced it has ordered a pilot for Ghost Hunters: College > Edition, in > which seasoned investigators lead a group of college students in > the hunt > for ghosts. Can you say "franchise"? Or, heck, let's just have the > Ghost > Hunting Channel. Grade: A > > This story continues below the image. > > ghost > > The Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes (left) and Grant Wilson. (Chris > Kontoes for > SCI FI ) > > Ghost Whisperer (CBS) Premiered with 9.31 million viewers. Last > week, 9.95 > million viewers. While the series hasn't been able to crack 10 million > viewers this year, it's come close enough that it is the highest-rated > series on Friday nights. And this is one of the few shows that has > actually > increased viewers since last year on the networks. Grade: B+ > > Supernatural (The CW) Premiered with 3.96 million viewers. Last > week, 3.25 > million viewers. Supernatural has also done well this season, > increasing in > total viewers from last season. This male-oriented show also has > seen a > dramatic increase among women 18-49, which is very good. And the > show did it > all in the toughest timeslot on television. Grade: B > > Smallville (The CW) Premiered with 4.38 million viewers. Last week, > 4.22 > million viewers. Down a bit from last season, Smallville is still > looking > like a champ, compared with The CW's other low-rated programming. > It may not > be as shiny as it once was, but what show would be as it delves > into its > eighth season? Ratings should be good enough for another year--if > The CW > doesn't collapse completely. It's unlikely the network will find > another > show that can be competitive on Thursday nights with viewers as > loyal as > those for Smallville. Grade: B- > > This story continues below the image. > > smallville > > Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville. (Michael Courtney for The CW) > > Heroes (NBC) Premiered with 9.89 million viewers. Last week, 8.46 > million > viewers. How the mighty have fallen. While Heroes premiered last > year with > 16.97 million viewers, the series has taken a significant hit. One > bright > spot is that the show does very well in DVR viewings later in the > week. The > bad news is that most of those people don't watch commercials. It's > doubtful > Heroes is in danger of cancellation at this point, but the show's > hit status > has vanished. Grade: C (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns > SCIFI.COM.) > > Chuck (NBC) Premiered with 6.48 million viewers. Last week, 6.7 > million > viewers. You've got to love a show about a sweet and adorable nerd > who ends > up accidentally becoming a spy, and NBC loved it enough in its > second season > to give it a full-season pickup before it even premiered. > Unfortunately, > viewers have not been flocking to the series, which is down > significantly > from last year, and if NBC didn't have other problems, Chuck would > be in big > trouble. Grade: C- > > Eli Stone (ABC) Premiered with 8.82 million viewers. Last week, > 8.51 million > viewers. Poor Eli Stone! So far it's having a great season > creatively, but > it's viewer-challenged. Viewers show up at the start of the show, most > likely thanks to the Dancing With the Stars Results Show, and then > leave by > 10:30 p.m. The drop of more than 2 million viewers within an > episode is not > a good sign. The only saving grace is that Eli's doing better than > Thursday's Life on Mars and many of ABC's other 10 p.m. shows. > Grade: D+ > > Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox) Premiered with 6.34 > million > viewers. Last week, 5.34 million viewers. Tough times for this > tough series. > Sarah premiered last year with more than 10 million viewers. The > earlier > timeslot hasn't been kind to the series, however, and viewer > erosion has > been significant. It might be time to give Sarah a tryout in a > different > timeslot before scrapping this promising series altogether. Grade: D > > This story continues below the image. > > deker > > Charley (Dean Winters, left) and Derek (Brian Austin Green, right) > help > Sarah (Lena Headey). (Michael Desmond for Fox) > > Pushing Daisies (ABC) Premiered with 6.32 million viewers. Last > week, 5.67 > million viewers. And then there's the sad case of Pushing Daisies. > Last > season the show premiered with more than 13 million viewers > delighting in > the colorful and creative series. Unfortunately, here we are: a > great series > filled with potential that probably won't last out the season. Too > bad. > Grade: D- > > But that's not all, folks! Headed our way, there are plenty of > returning > series to embrace, including Lost, Medium and Reaper, which are all > set to > premiere during midseason. --Kathie Huddleston >
