WK 2-3 4 5 6 7 8 9 M: 5.7 4.3 4.9 4.7 4.6/1.3 4.3/1.3 4/1.2 T: 6.7 6.2 5.8 5.4 6.1/1.8 6.5/2.0 5.7/1.4 W: 6.2 5.7 6.2 5.2 5.0/1.5 4.7/1.3 4.6/1.4 Th: 4.9 4.9 5.2 5.0 4.4/1.6 4.7/1.7 4.6/1.6 F: 5.6 5.3 5.0 6.2 5.1/1.2 4.6/1.2 4.7/1.2 *AVE: 5.8 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.0/1.5 5.0/1.5 4.7/1.4*
WK 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 M: 4.6/1.2 4.5/1.4 4.7/1.3 4.7/1.3 4.8/1.5 5.8/1.6 3.2/.9 T: 6/1.8 4.9/1.9 DARK* 8.4/2.9 5.2/1.8 5.2/1.5 3.0/.9 W: 5.2/1.4 5.1/1.6 5.6/1.5 4.5/1.3 5.5/1.6 4.6/1.1 4.4/1.3 Th: 4.8/1.6 5.0/1.5 4.7/1.5 5.8/1.3 5.2/1.7 DARK DARK F: 5.1/1.5 3.5/1 4.8/1.4 5.8/1.9 5.6/1.4 3.7/1.1 3.4/1.0 *AVE: 5.0/1.5 4.6/1.5 5.2/1.5* 5.8/1.8 5.2/1.6 4.8/1.4* 3.5/1.0* * Not much to learn from this most atypical of weeks - Leno was in reruns for 4 nights (dark for NYE) and his competition was all RR except for ABC on Wed. I think one thing that is again clear (following last week's Leno RR on Christmas Night) is that Leno does very poorly when he is in RR. There was one bright spot (and again, the TV BY THE NUMBERS guys made a very big deal out of this) which is that the Leno RR on W beat the new Eastwick on ABC. I don't see that as too impressive however - Eastwick has done horribly this year - Leno often beat it when both are in 1st run. Another not bad sign I guess is that Leno tied the Numb3rs RR Friday night (in the demo, he got pounded in total viewers), but both were up against the Sugar Bowl on the East Coast - a very atypical Fox program on at 10:00. NBC had to give Leno and his writers a week off somewhere, and this low-viewership week made the most sense, however it also might have been a good week for live Leno to make some hay. I think I might have gone with new Lenos the last week in December and given him the next week off. But then I would never, ever go with Leno RR - they just do not do very well. Most nights this week Leno did no better than the lead-in from the Thur sitcom marathon block NBC was giving him - they might as well have gone with 2 sitcom RR at 10:00 each night next week. A growing problem that I see for NBC is that they are afraid to put on anything in Leno's slot other than Leno RR because they don't want anything to outperform Leno, yet Leno RR are dead weight. TVBTN linked to an article in businessweek 12/31 on NBC's plans for next year. (see portions below). In it NBC President Bromstad implied that Leno would be back next year, and the premise for this is interesting: NBC's schedule sucks so much in the 8-10 slots that they need Leno to use as caulk to keep themselves on the air at 10:00 while they fix their other problems. ************************** http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-31/nbc-adds-pilots-to-reverse-7-years-of-falling-ratings-update1-.html "NBC, last among U.S. television networks in prime-time viewers, plans to increase production of new shows to the most since 2003 to reverse seven straight seasons of declining ratings. The 18 pilots planned for the season starting in September 2010 compare with 11 that were made before the current season, Angela Bromstad, president of prime-time entertainment, said in a Dec. 21 interview. Pilots are test episodes that compete for slots on network schedules. More new shows increase the odds of developing hits, said Bromstad, who has overseen prime-time programming for one year. The network, part of the NBC Universal business that General Electric Co. is selling to Comcast Corp., reduced development when “Seinfeld” and “Friends” led ratings in the 1990s, and continued to cut further. That left the New York-based network without enough material, she said. “In success we became used to making fewer and fewer pilots,” Bromstad said. “We have to take more swings, take more shots creatively, and have more back-up.” NBC’s prime-time audience is headed for an eighth straight decline after it moved comedian Jay Leno to 10 p.m., replacing more-expensive scripted programs. Through Dec. 27, average viewership declined 1.2 percent from a year earlier. In the 18- 49 age group targeted by advertisers, the audience has dropped 8 percent, according to data from researcher Nielsen Co. “With rival broadcast networks riding a relatively high number of new hit shows premiering last fall, NBC appears to have the unenviable task of having to reprogram well over 20 percent of its prime-time schedule for next season,” Tuna Amobi, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s, said in an e-mail. Leno’s one-hour show takes up five hours of the weeknight schedule, allowing Bromstad to focus on the remaining 10 hours from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., she said. “We have so many holes that we have to essentially rebuild the schedule,” Bromstad said. “Not having the additional five hours has certainly relieved some of the pressure.” NBC will make 10 hour-long dramas and eight 30-minute comedies for the next TV season, Bromstad said. While production will rise, the network is spending less on each pilot and keeping costs steady, she said." -- TV or Not TV .... 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