Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:

Baseball Leads Fox to Victory; ABC and CBS Still Potent

TV Trivia Time:

Europe Here We Come

Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:

Baseball Leads Fox to Victory; ABC and CBS Still Potent

              HH
          Rtg/Shr

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, Nov. 3, 2008):

Fox: +262, ABC: +11, CBS: + 1, CW: -32, NBC: -61

Note: Fox aired original episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Prison Break on the year-ago evening). 

Baseball World Series, Game 5 (Fox), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Two and a Half Men (CBS), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), CSI: Miami (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):

Heroes (NBC), One Tree Hill (CW), Trauma (NBC), Gossip Girl (CW), The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Monday, November 2, 2009.   

Unfortunately, The Yankees lost last night, extending The Baseball World Series to at least six games. So Fox, no doubt, is pleased it has at least one more night of stellar baseball ratings. On that note, game five of The Yankees versus The Phillies averaged an approximate 12.3 rating/19 share in the overnights in primetime, with a first-place finish in every half-hour. Here is the half-hour breakdown: 

Baseball World Series – Game 5 (Fox)

Results for any live sporting event are, of course, approximate. 

Despite the added competition from baseball, ABC and CBS were still successfully on the Monday map. ABC’s Dancing With the Stars was totally on par with recent levels at a second-place 10.6/16 from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

As for tonight’s double eviction, my picks to bid adieu: Mark Dacascos and Michael Irvin. 

Dancing With the Stars led into full season-renewed Castle, which finished third out of the four occupants at 10 p.m. with an approximate 6.5/11 in the overnights. I stress estimated because a few minutes of Dancing With the Stars might have bled into the 10 p.m. half-hour. Retention for Castle out of the 10:30 p.m. portion of Dancing was a so-so 59 percent. 

CBS was also close to recent levels with its line-up of How I Met Your Mother (#3: 5.2/ 8), recently introduced Accidentally on Purpose (#3: 5.1/ 7), Two and a Half Men (#3: 8.4/14), laugh-out-loud The Big Bang Theory (#3: 7.6/11), which always outdelivers Two and a Half Men among adults 18-49, and veteran CSI: Miami (#2: 8.2/14). The positive news for Accidentally on Purpose was overnight retention out of How I Met Your Mother of 98 percent. It looks like Accidentally on Purpose is inching closer to a full season renewal. 

Elsewhere, fourth-place NBC is in desperate need of a total Monday makeover thanks (or no thanks) to its combination of Heroes (#4: 3.2/ 5), canceled Trauma (#4: 3.5/ 5) and floundering The Jay Leno Show, which dipped to what could be a series-low 3.0/ 5 in the overnights (#4). 

As you can see below in the Ratings Box section, several of The CW’s programs, including Gossip Girl, have more than 20 percent of their audience added from DVR usage. So, keep that in mind in the future. Based on the overnights, however, Monday CW duo One Tree Hill (#5: 1.6/ 2) and Gossip Girl (#5: 1.4/ 2) are down by an average of 32 percent from their year-ago metered market deliveries (Gossip Girl: 2.3/ 3, One Tree Hill: 2.1/ 3 on Nov. 3, 2008).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Ratings Box:

What's Hot/What's Not

-ABC Benefits Opposite Jay Leno:

CBS is certainly not struggling in the 10 p.m. hour this season with its combination of CSI: Miami, The Good Wife, CSI: NY, The Mentalist and Numb3rs (which is likely to conclude this spring). But over at ABC, and based on the first six weeks of the season, scripted alphabet net programming in the 10 p.m. hour (Monday: Castle, Tuesday: The Forgotten, Wednesday: Eastwick, Thursday: Private Practice) has increased, year-to-year, by an average of 16 percent among adults 18-49 (2.5/ 7 to 2.9/ 8). Excluding struggling Eastwick, the night is up in the demo by 13 percent on Monday, 10 percent on Tuesday and a whopping 47 percent on Thursday. 

-Live Plus 7 Day Ratings – Week of Oct. 12, 2009:

Week four of the Live Plus 7 Day Ratings, which include DVR usage, have been released. Mirroring weeks one through three, programming on Thursday dominated, with four of the top five, six of the top 10, and 8 of the top 15 Thursday occupants.   Grey’s Anatomy on ABC experienced the largest gain among DVR users, with 3.01 million additional viewers via the technology. Comparably, that was an increase of 21.8 percent. 

Fox’s Fringe, which held the number 12 spot in terms of growth (+1.77 million) actually had the highest percent increase at 30.6. Next in terms of percentage (which emphasizes many of the CW shows) was The CW’s Melrose Place (+27.4 percent), followed by NBC’s Heroes (+26.6 percent), NBC’s The Office (+24.7 percent), The CW’s 90210 (+24.5 percent), The CW”s Smallville (+24.4 percent), The CW”s Gossip Girl (+23.6 percent), America’s Next Top Model on The CW (+22.1 percent), Grey’s Anatomy on ABC (+21.8 percent), The CW’s Supernatural (+21.0 percent), ABC’s FlashForward and NBC’s 30 Rock (+20.6 percent each) and Fox’s Glee (+20.1 percent). The morale of the story: what may be struggling in Live + Seven Day usage can exhibit life via the DVR. 

Here are the top 30 programs in total viewers based on DVR usage:

1.      Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): 13.81 to 16.82 million (+3.01 million)

2.      The Mentalist (CBS): 15.07 to 17.85 million (+2.78 million),

3.      House (Fox): 13.55 to 15.98 million (+2.43 million)

4.      CSI (CBS): 15.43 to 17.52 million (+2.09 million)

5.      Criminal Minds (CBS): 13.94 to 15.93 million (+1.99 million)

6.      The Office (NBC): 8.05 to 10.04 million (+1.99 million)

7.       NCIS (CBS): 21.04 to 23.02 million (+1.98 million)

8.      The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 13.09 to 15.02 million (+1.93 million)

9.      Bones (Fox): 9.63 to 11.55 million (+1.92 million)

Private Practice (ABC): 10.39 to 12.30 million (+1.91 million)

FlashForward (ABC): 9.09 to 10.97 million (1.88 million)

CSI: Miami (CBS): 13.28 to 15.05 (+1.77 million)

Castle (ABC): 9.78 to 11.55 million (+1.77 million)

Fringe (Fox): 5.80 to 7.57 million (+1.77 million)

Desperate Housewives (ABC): 13.69 to 15.28 million (+1.59 million)

The Good Wife (CBS): 12.98 to 14.56 million (+1.58 million)

NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS): 15.39 to 16.96 million (+1.57 million)

Glee (Fox): 7.67 to 9.21 million (+1.54 million)

Heroes (NBC): 5.56 to 7.04 million (+1.48 million)

Lie To Me (Fox): 7.89 to 9.36 million (+1.47 million)

Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 9.74 to 11.14 million (+1.40 million)

Two and a Half Men (CBS): 14.19 to 15.56 million (+1.37 million)

CSI: NY (CBS): 13.41 to 14.75 million (+1.34 million)

Law & Order: SVU (NBC): 8.79 to 10.11 million (+1.32 million)

30 Rock (NBC): 6.40 to 7.72 million (+1.32 million)

Modern Family (ABC): 9.36 to 10.64 million (+1.28 million)

Medium (CBS): 8.12 to 9.37 million (+1.25 million)

Numb3rs (CBS): 8.02 to 9.24 million (+1.22 million)

Ghost Whisperer (CBS): 8.07 to 9.25 million (+1.18 million)

So You Think You Can Dance – Wednesday (Fox): 7.22 to 8.30 million (+1.08 million)

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

On the Air Tonight:
Prime-Time Programming Options

Night 6 of the Nov. 2009 Sweeps

10:00 p.m. The Forgotten

10:00 p.m. The Good Wife

10:00 p.m. The Jay Leno Show

 8:00 p.m. So You Think You Can Dance (two hours)

New Program Descriptions

The world’s first encounter with an alien race is the focus of this remake of the 1980s miniseries and TV series. Scott Wolf (Party of Five) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) star. For Mr. TV’s thoughts on V, click here.

TV Tidbits:

Notes of Interest

-Fox Announces Return Date for 24:

Emmy winning Fox drama 24, which has just resigned Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan, will return for season eight with a two-night, four-event premiere event on Sunday, Jan. 17 and Monday, Jan. 18, each evening from 8-10 p.m. ET.

-More Dance Your Ass Off:

Cable net Oxygen has renewed reality/competition Dance Your Ass Off for a second season, with an undisclosed number of new episodes scheduled to air in 2010.

-First-Run Syndication Contenders:

The upcoming NATPE 2010 conference in Las Vegas (Jan. 25-27 at the Mandalay Bay Resort) is still almost three months away. But here is a listing of the rumored first-run projects quietly being potentially pitched to stations. If anything is missing, please send me an email at mberman@mediaweek.com.

Mom Logic (Warner Bros.) – Based on the Mom Logic website, the hosts would consist of Paula Deen, comedian Judy Gold, former Early Show co-host Rene Syler, Lee Woodruff and…gulp…Kate Gosselin. 

Steve and Chris (Program Partners) – A combination of old episodes from the Canadian series and new installments, the hosts are Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman. 

COURT / LAW

America’s Court with Judge Ross (Entertainment Studios) – two half-hours cleared in an hour block

Judge Heck (Trifecta) – presided over by Missouri Federal Judge Anthony “Tony” Heckemeyer

The Lawyers (CBS Television Distribution) – similar in format to current The Doctors

Swift Justice (CBS Television Distribution) – Nancy Grace presides  

Tooned In (Trifecta) – focus on pop culture with animated hosts

Off-network sitcoms vying for clearances are American Dad (Twentieth), Curb Your Enthusiasm (Warner Bros.), Entourage (Warner Bros.), Futurama (Twentieth), How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth), Meet the Browns (Debmar Mercury), The New Adventures of Old Christine (Warner Bros.) and ‘Til Death (Sony Pictures Television). In the hour-long drama category are Brothers & Sisters (Disney-ABC), The Closer (Warner Bros.), Criminal Minds (CBS), Heroes (NBC Universal), Numb3rs (CBS), Ugly Betty (Disney-ABC) and The Unit (Twentieth). Additional off-network entries could include Cash Cab (MGM), Dog Whisperer (Twentieth), Real Housewives (NBC Universal) and True Hollywood Stories (Debmar-Mercury).  

TV Trivia Time:

Remember when the Ricardos and Mertzes traveled to Europe? What was their first destination after getting off the cruise ship?

The answer to yesterday’s question…

Which one of the following performers on classic Mission: Impossible won three Emmy Awards for his or her role on the series?

Is: a) Barbara Bain, who snagged the Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for the 1966-67, 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons. Had she not left Mission: Impossible with hubby Martin Landau in a contract dispute, there might have been more trophies.  For a blast from the past, click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k55NuWQCh78

-Current kudos goes to:
Don Abel, Barbara Berman, Gerry Bixenspan, Barbara Bloomfield, John Brooker, Larry Collins, Harold Cooper, Arleen Fong, Maureen Goldman, Geoffrey Gordon, Bob Ingersoll, David Jackino, Deb Kainer, Synda Kollman, Mark Krause, Kevin Lee, Patty Lynch, Rick Millikan, Debbie Mirr, Jim Moore, Michael Murphy, Brian Nyenhuis, Phil Oldham, Greg Phelan, Gordon Purcell, Bob Rall, Colleen Roth, Joe Rubi, Ron Salmon, Maxine Schulman, Andrew Stearn, Joe Swaney, Kelly Swindell, Ronnie Tallant, Abbott Wool, Jennifer Wyndra