'Sopranos' sees ratings dip on A&E
'Idol' takes over 9-o'clock time period
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The Jan. 10 debut of "Sopranos," a week in advance of "Idol," was historic: The episode chalked up 4.3 million viewers -- the best numbers of an off-network series kickoff in basic-cable history -- from 9 to 10:06 p.m. (There's runover because the average length of the episodes was more than 50 minutes when they played uncut on HBO.)
A week later, on Sept. 17, "Idol" took over the 9 o'clock time period and "Sopranos" fell back to earth, losing 49% in total viewers, 57% among adults 18-34 and 50% in adults 18-49. Even when "Idol" went away at 10 p.m., the second episode of the back-to-back "Sopranos" dropped from its first week by 37% in total viewers, by 41% in 18-34 and by 30% in 18-49.
Despite the plunge, an A&E spokesman said the combination of "CSI: Miami" at 8 and the two "Sopranos" runs at 9 allowed the network to come in first for the night among all basic-cable nets in total viewers and in adults 25-54.
The industry will watch the future Nielsen ratings of "Sopranos" to see if a serialized drama with, for the first time, commercial breaks, and edited for nudity, violence and language, will hold up well enough to offset the record $2.5 million per episode A&E paid for the show. Serialized programs tend to underperform compared with self-contained dramas such as "Law & Order" and "CSI," which avoid loose ends and carryover plots.
A&E also plans to use "Sopranos" and "CSI: Miami" as lead-ins and promotional vehicles to cushion a scripted original series, which the net will choose from among a group of projects in development for 2008.
