Idiot Box Update: January 29
New shows a-plenty on the way, digital cable switchover gets a delay.
Here's a list of the Top 20 Prime-Time Shows by viewership numbers, compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Jan. 19-25:
1. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 25.9 million viewers.
2. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 22.77 million viewers.
3. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.57 million viewers.
4. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16.09 million viewers.
5. "House," Fox, 15.03 million viewers.
6. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.58 million viewers.
7. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.43 million viewers.
8. "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.21 million viewers.
9. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.82 million viewers.
10. "Cold Case," CBS, 13.26 million viewers.
11. "Neighborhood Ball," ABC, 12.57 million viewers.
12. "Lie to Me," Fox, 12.37 million viewers.
13. "Eleventh Hour," CBS, 12.31 million viewers.
14. "24," Fox, 12.1 million viewers.
15. "Fringe," Fox, 11.96 million viewers.
16. "Hallmark Hall Of Fame: Loving Leah," CBS, 11.74 million viewers.
17. "NCIS," CBS, 11.73 million viewers.
18. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 11.59 million viewers.
19. "CSI: NY," CBS, 11.58 million viewers.
20. "Lost," ABC, 11.35 million viewers.
Here's a list of the Top 10 Cable Network Shows, compiled by Nielsen Media Research:
1. "President Obama's Inaugural Oath and Speech" (Tuesday, 12:05 p.m.), CNN, 5.7 million homes, 8.6 million viewers.
2. "Inauguration of Obama" (Tuesday, 12 p.m.), CNN, 5.15 million homes, 7.79 million viewers.
3. "Inauguration of Obama" (Tuesday, 11 a.m.), CNN, 4.69 million homes, 6.73 million viewers.
4. "Obama Inaugural Address" (Tuesday, 12:07 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.2 million homes, 5.57 million viewers.
5. "Inauguration 2009" (Tuesday, 12 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.09 million homes, 5.29 million viewers.
6. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 4.014 million homes, 6.16 million viewers.
7. "Inauguration of Obama" (Tuesday, 1 p.m.), CNN, 4.01 million homes, 6 million viewers.
8. "Situation Room" (Tuesday, 6 p.m.), CNN, 3.98 million homes, 5.67 million viewers.
9. "Situation Room" (Tuesday, 5 p.m.), CNN, 3.97 million homes, 5.72 million viewers.
10. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.828 million homes, 5.12 million viewers.
10. "Inauguration 2009" (Tuesday, 12:28 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.82 million homes, 4.95 million viewers.
12. "Anderson Cooper 360" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), CNN, 3.71 million homes, 5.09 million viewers.
13. "Inauguration of Obama" (Tuesday, 3 p.m.), CNN, 3.589 million homes, 5.27 million viewers.
14. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.587 million homes, 5.17 million viewers.
15. "Monk" (Friday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.584 million homes, 4.96 million viewers.
While thousands more Americans are losing their jobs with each passing day, NBC has sold all but two multi-million dollar ad spots for its Super Bowl broadcast, the network said on Wednesday.
All the advertisements for Sunday's game sold "at prices above $2.4 million, a large number of them as high as $3 million," said Dick Ebersol, chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. "Considering the state of the economy in the United States, we couldn't be any more thrilled with where we are," he told reporters in a conference call. Go figure.
Every year, the Super Bowl is the single most-watched television broadcast in the United States, with estimates as high as 100 million Americans tuning in for at least a portion of the program. As a result, NBC can charge for ads what most third-world countries spend on food in a month.
A month ago, Fox was ranked fourth in the battle for the 18-49-year-old demographic that advertisers see as their prime-time cash cow. Now, thanks to "American Idol," Fox has jumped ahead of the pack, taking first place after only a few weeks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In its third week, American Idol drew 25.2 million viewers and a 9.6 rating/24 share. Last week, even with Barack Obama's inauguration, the Tuesday edition scored 22.4 million viewers and an 8.9/22. Last Wednesday's show put up more indicative numbers, drawing 25.9 million and a 9.8/25.
CBS still holds the title as America's most-watched network, largely due to their pandering to the elderly, but Fox is headed for a fifth consecutive year as ratings leader among television networks across the board.
America Ferrera bothers me. There's something about her that has always struck me as sinister - like the fact that her smile never quite reached her eyes. So I felt a strange sense of satisfaction upon hearing the news that ABC will shelf her show "Ugly Betty" on March 26 in order to bring back Christina Applegate's "Samantha Who?" and launch a new comedy (ready to bomb) called "In the Motherhood," starring Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines, in the Thursday 8 p.m. slot.
ABC is padding "Scrubs" with another new comedy, "Better Off Ted" (Portia de Rossi, Jay Harrington) which will take the hour-long block starting Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
"Betty" originally had an audience of about 8 million at the start of the current third season, but the show consistently lost about a million viewers a week, sinking as low as 3.6 million. This month, it bounced back up to 7.5 million, but that's still well shy of last year's audience of 9 million viewers.
The Senate passed a bill on Monday that will delay the nationwide switch to digital TV signals, giving broke blokes like you and I nearly four more months to prepare.
The transition date, which had been February 17, would move to June 12 under the bill. It was fueled by valid concerns that viewers are not technically ready for the congressionally-mandated switch to digital, which requires owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.
The bill would also allow consumers with expired coupons, available from the government to offset the cost of a $40 converter box, to request new ones. The government ran out of them early in January, and there's currently a waiting list of about 2.5 million Americans.
Broadcasters are moving from analog to digital signals to give public safety officials more spectrum, especially useful for emergencies, and to improve viewing quality.
Kim Manners, producer and director of The CW's "Supernatural" and "The X-Files," died Sunday, Jan. 25 in Los Angeles. She had been fighting lung cancer.
"Everyone at 'Supernatural' is walking around in a daze, shocked and absolutely devastated," says "Supernatural creator-executive producer Eric Kripke in a statement. "Kim was a brilliant director; more than that, he was a mentor and friend. He was one of the patriarchs of the family, and we miss him desperately. He gave so much to 'Supernatural,' and everything we do on the show, now and forever, is in memory of him."
NBC has ordered a pilot for "Day One," a futuristic drama from "Heroes" and "Lost" writer-producer Jesse Alexander. The project follows a small group of survivors of a worldwide apocalypse, who strive to rebuild society and unravel the mystery of why the event took place.
[Editors note: this sounds like Jericho meets The Day After]
Speaking of the peacock, NBC's new comedy pilot "Off Duty" has a female lead: "Cashmere Mafia" star Bonnie Somerville. The new show stars Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing," "Studio 60") as a once-legendary detective who's paired with a rookie (Romany Malco, "Weeds") and starts to affect the younger cop's life both on and off the job.
Why people are so hell-bent on an American version of "Absolutely Fabulous" is beyond me, but Fox is taking that decade-old torch and running with it, according to sources. The network has issued a pilot order for a remake of the "classic Britcom," which is about an utterly annoying female best-friends duo. Original series co-creator/star Jennifer Saunders is involved as an executive producer.
"Absolutely Fabulous," starring Saunders and Joanna Lumley, debuted on the BBC in 1992 and aired on and off through 2004. It gained something of a cult following in the U.S. through airings on Comedy Central, PBS and BBC America.
Its popularity led to several attempts at an across-the-pond versions of the show, most notably a mid-'90s project produced by Roseanne Barr that was to star Carrie Fisher. But neither that project, nor any other related one made it past the pilot stage. With any luck, it'll stay that way.
Fox has greenlit the new adventure drama series "Masterwork," from "Prison Break" creator Paul Scheuring.
The project is described as a globe-trotting adventure in the vein of National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code, featuring a race against time to recover the world's most hunted artifacts. Sounds like a little bit of Indy's in the mix too, no? The show is expected to be filmed in locations around the world, which means that unless it kicks mighty ass, it won't make it past week four. Budget, budget, budget.
According to "The Office" star Jenna Fischer, we should be expecting total chaos on the new on "Office" episode airing Sunday immediately after the big game.
"Pam gets some family news that she and Jim have to deal with," Fischer said on the SAG Awards red carpet last weekend. "The entire office goes berserk and there's complete mayhem," she said. "I can say that Jim and Andy do something insane with a copy machine, and Angela does something crazy with a cat."
