Monday, September 26, 2005

Ratings surprises

A couple of notes from Thursday:

Everybody Hates Chris finished in second place for its timeslot, becoming the most-watched sitcom in UPN history (for what it's worth). It managed to beat both Joey and The O.C. in some key demos and in total viewers. This both underscores the trouble Joey is in and that The O.C. may not be the smash hit Fox keeps telling us it is.

Also of interest was that Criminal Minds beat the season premiere of ER, though by slimmer margins. This can't bode for the return of Without a Trace to the timeslot; I suppose we'll finally learn if ER is bulletproof or not.

2 comments:

James said...

UPN has to be dancing to the gills that it has a successful series that's not Star Trek, WWE or fashion models. Took them 10 years to find a "traditional" genre series that worked -- good for them.

*Joey* looks to be toast, although I think pairing it with *My Name Is Earl* may work, given the problems *The Office* is having retaining viewers after *Earl*.

*The OC* has a following, but I'm surprised Fox just doesn't put it on after *Idol* in the spring if they're so confident about it. If it gets the Idol boost, it's a hit (House), if it doesn't, it's a dud (Forever Eden).

Mark said...

I was thinking about how NBC could rejigger their sitcoms, and I'm having trouble thinking of a situation that works to Joey's benefit. Part of the problem is that they only have 4 sitcoms on the schedule.

Which also suggests that one of them will have to go to make room for Scrubs. I don't watch the show that much, but it strikes me that it would pair better with Earl or The Office.

There are other possibilities for new midseason comedies to pair with Joey on a new night (I'm looking at Wednesday; E-Ring or Martha is going to go), but given how NBC is falling apart I don't know if they can wait that long.