Wednesday ratings seesaw: ABC down, CBS up

UPDATED: ABC's drama lineup sank further during its second week on the air, leaving the network in fourth place Wednesday night.

Though "Pushing Daisies" (5.5 million viewers, 2.0  adults 18-49 rating and a 6 share) held steady in the nationals, "Private Practice" (7.4 million 2.6/6) and "Dirty Sexy Money" (5.9 million, 2.0/6) slumped when they needed to rise after last week's disappointing second-season premieres. "Private" fell 21%, and "Money" dropped 17%.

CBS was apparently the primary beneficiary of ABC's drop -- its entire lineup enjoyed gains from last week to help the network once again win the night.

"Old Christine" (7.5 million, 2.2/7) and "Gary Unmarried" (7.4 million, 2.4/6) each climbed two tenths. "Criminal Minds" (16.2 million, 4.3/11) recovered somewhat after last week's steep drop, up about 10%. "CSI: NY" (15.9 million, 4.3/12) gained a couple notches and ranked as the highest-rated show of the night.

In second place, Fox's "Bones" (10.6 million, 3.4/10) climbed 6% to win the 8 p.m. hour, though both episodes of " 'Til Death" (4.6 million, 1.7/5 and 3.8 million, 1.4/4) slipped a peg from last week. "Bones" is an under-the-radar procedural that lacks the heavy promotion of sexier dramas such as "House," "Fringe" and "Terminator." Its time-period-winning, self-starting performance has been a low-maintenance bright spot for Fox this season.

In third, NBC's "Knight Rider" (6.9 million, 2.3/7) slipped a notch after holding steady last week. "Biggest Loser: Families" (6.6 million, 2.7/7) took over for "America's Got Talent" in the slot. At 10 p.m., "Lipstick Jungle" (4.8 million, 1.9/5) dropped a tenth to come in third place.

The CW's "America's Next Top Model" (3.9 million, 1.8/5) fell slightly, though was flat among adults 18-34, and was followed by a repeat.

Comments

[Chris]

Do you have those ABC viewer numbers right? How can PP possible have the lowest viewership of the three?

-- Fixed, thanks,

[filmgirl]

For the first time in years, ABC had some interesting shows to premiere last season. Then along came the writers strike and all the networks took advantage of the situation by "cutting the dead weight." Well... ABC cut the wrong dead weight and they will pay for it this season. Yep indeedy, the American people simply didn't agree with your choices. The funny thing is, I remember reading a crap load of blogs from American audiences who cared enough to voice their opinions about what they would like to see. Perhaps advertisers should pay more attention to what's floating around on the internet. It may help them to spend their advertising budgets a little more wisely.

Ironically enough, one the great debates in Hollywood is how to profit for the internet. I suggest they start by listening to some of the comments that people post as it may help studios and networks alike to make better business decisions.

If ABC had any sense whatsoever, they would fire their Head of Programming, run to the graveyard where canceled shows RIP and resurrect CASHMERE MAFIA and BIG SHOTS. Then they should make a deal with those idiots at FOX's FX network and pick up DIRT. Take the 3 shows and replace the rating's challenged DAISIES, PRIVATE PRACTICE & DSM. Because I guarantee it's not going to get any sunnier on that side of the street.

But instead, ABC network will assume like much of its competition, that it knows what the American public wants to see. ABC like their brothering will continue to develop tired, recycled material that trust me, no one wants to see and during these hard economic times when production cost have skyrocketed, can you really afford not to pay attention to audiences you serve.

[DS9Sisko]

"For the first time in years, ABC had some interesting shows to premiere last season. Then along came the writers strike and all the networks took advantage of the situation by "cutting the dead weight.""

Apparently, you don't seem to know what the writer's strike was or that it affected all scripted shows, especially newer shows than older ones. TV shows do not write or produce themselves spontaneously out of the ether. People — writers, actors, producers, stars, crew — are needed. You seem to suggest that ABC's shows could have produced themselves without being written.

As for your programming choices, apparently not enough people liked Cashmere Mafia, Big Shots, or Dirt either. They ranged from mediocre to bad and deserved a faster end than they were given. But to each their own.

If you want to criticize ABC's programming choices, fine. But it's probably not a good idea to use already long canceled critical and ratings failures to bolster your arguments. Perhaps you can take comfort tat ABC is brining back Cupid. You also can always lobby for the return Firefly and Wonderfalls while you're at it.

[filmgirl]

First of all, not only do I appreciate what the writers were striking for, I also agreed with their complaints 100%. Writers have long been overlooked in this industry for their contributions and without them I wouldn't have a job as a Emmy winning television producer.

I also know that the aforementioned shows were canceled having aired barely a third of their seasons before the strike hit. Along with the cancellation of so many shows, a lot of development deals that writers & producers had with various studios and networks were also canceled. Collateral damage perhaps, but my point was, it's ashame that networks in general are so quick to cancel shows without giving those shows a decent chance to develop a true following.

With audiences today having so many choices thanks to cable, we can not reasonably expect to claim massive market shares anymore. And when those shows are canceled, it puts all those "People — writers, actors, producers, stars, crew," that you so passionately championed, out of work.

To further address one additional comment, I loved the FIREFLY series and I was stunned when it was canceled. So if I could have "lobbied for it's return" I certainly would have. But at least I'll always have Serenity!