'Norm,' 'Like' back to earth
Pair gets flat Nielsens
On Wednesday, ABC's new 9:30 sitcom "Norm" (10.1/16 in homes, 7.4/20 in adults 18-49) retained an OK 85% of its 18-49 lead-in from "Drew Carey" (11.6/19 in homes, 8.7/23 in adults 18-49), down from the 100% retention in its previous-week premiere.
"Norm's" 85% also trails the 89% average of slot predecessor "Whose Line Is It Anyway" for its last five episodes following a firstrun "Drew Carey."
At least some of "Norm's" falloff was to be expected -- the Norm Macdonald sitcom followed a stronger-than-usual "Drew Carey," which used an April Fool's contest to achieve its best regular-slot homes rating since March 11, 1998. So even though "Norm's" retention rate was down, its second-week homes rating was up 9% vs. week one results.
Similarly, the new 8:30 entry, "It's Like, You Know..." (9.6/16 in homes, 7.2/20 in adults 18-49) earned significant increases vs. week-ago results, but its retention rates were down. "It's Like" held 92% of its 18-49 lead-in from "Dharma & Greg" (10.5/18 in homes, 7.8/24 in adults 18-49), down from the 96% average of slot predecessor "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" for its last five airings after "Dharma" firstruns.
Last Wednesday's "Dharma," though, enjoyed a minor surge of its own, equaling its second-best rating in seven weeks.
Both "Norm" and "It's Like" won their half-hours by a solid 7 shares in adults 18-49.
At 8 p.m., there was no relief in sight for CBS' "Payne" (5.5/9 in homes, 2.1/6 in adults 18-49), which remained deep in fourth among adults 18-49 for its half-hour (though third in homes and adults 25-54). In households, "Payne" equaled the lowest firstrun rating ever for slot predecessor "The Nanny."
UPN enjoyed a strong Wednesday, finishing third from 8-10 p.m. among men 18-49 with a 2.2/6, good enough to top CBS, Fox and the WB.
According to preliminary nationals for Saturday, the debut of ABC's gamer "The Big Moment" earned a small 3.7/7 in homes and a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49, both of which landed the new series deep in fourth for its hour. The last time ABC did worse there in households was on Halloween night with a "Winnie the Pooh" rerun.
CBS won Saturday in homes, while Fox prevailed in adults 18-49. NBC dominated Thursday nationals in homes with a 12.0/21 and also came out on top in Friday overnights.
Each household rating point represents an estimated 994,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. Each adults 18-49 rating point reps 1.239 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the timeslot involved.
