HOLLYWOOD -- In yet another nod to the ratings strength of unscripted series, the networks' new reality skeins fared much better in their second tries last week than their scripted counterparts.
Both of Friday's new dramas, NBC's "Mister Sterling" and CBS' "Queens Supreme," dropped 20% or more in their second outings, according to Nielsen, while reality fare like "Joe Millionaire," "The Bachelorette," "Celebrity Mole Hawaii" and "Star Search" saw either modest drops or week-to-week gains.
On Friday, "Mister Sterling" fell to third for its 8 o'clock hour in adults 18-49 (prelim 2.8/9), a dropoff of 20% from its first-place premiere of a week earlier (3.5/11). It lagged both ABC's repeat of "America's Funniest Home Videos" (3.3/10) and Fox's rookie drama "Fastlane" (2.9/9), which was up 32% week-to-week.
"Sterling," which did win its hour in adults 25-54 and total viewers (10.7 million), fell below the 18-49 season average of the canceled "Providence."
And at 10, CBS courtroom drama "Queens Supreme" fell to third in its hour with a 2.0/6 in adults 18-49 and 6.9 million viewers overall -- a 23% dropoff from its modest preem (2.6/8). This puts it a tick behind what "Robbery Homicide Division" averaged in the hour before being canceled.
Opposite "Queens," NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" surged to a series high (prelim 6.3/17 in A18-49).
News was much better for the week's reality shows, starting with Fox's "Joe Millionaire," which again dominated its Monday hour (9.4/21 in adults 18-49) and was off just 7% from its boffo preem (
Daily Variety, Jan. 15).
On Wednesday, week two of ABC's dating series "The Bachelorette" (8.5/20 in adults 18-49, 17.37m) was up slightly in key demos vs. its preem. In 18-34, "Bachelorette" (9.5/25) beat the combined CBS-NBC-Fox competish (8.6/24).
And at 10, "Celebrity Mole" (5.6/14 in A18-49, 11.04m), up 8% week-to-week in 18-49, was a strong second to NBC's "Law & Order" (7.1/18 in A18-49, 19.03m). "Mole" moved ahead for the hour in 18-34 (5.9/17), up 18% from its preem.
Also in its second week, CBS' revival of "Star Search" (4.3/12 in A18-49, 12.56m) led the 8 o'clock hour Wednesday despite a 16% dropoff from its premiere in 18-49. Achievement marks the first time since at least 1987 (when records were first kept) that CBS has won two consecutive in-season Wednesdays in the 8 p.m. hour with regular programming.
"Star Search" was up week-to-week with its Thursday episode (4.7/12 in adults 18-49) and drew its largest overall aud for any episode yet (15.09 million), placing a solid second to NBC's comedies.
Only reality skein that saw a sharp dropoff was the WB's "Surreal Life" on Thursday, but even it is providing a nice spark for the Frog on the night. A half-hour seg averaged a 2.0/4 in adults 18-49 and a 2.5/6 in adults 18-34 -- declines of 29% and 31% vs. its big week-earlier one-hour bow.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com