Peacock takes pride in demos
There could be trouble brewing for the Peacock, though --- its Wednesday and Sunday sitcom teams are looking like duds so far, and the Monday lineup has softened somewhat on the first night of the current week.
The opening stanza of the Nielsen season also shows CBS, like NBC, roughly matching year-ago levels in key demos, but needing some exceptional programming of its own --- Wednesday's "Country Music Assn. Awards" --- to do it.
ABC enjoyed a few strong boosts, itself, but continues to show significant losses vs. year-ago results. Fox alone among the Big Four is accomplishing overall gains that don't appear to rely on exceptional programming.
NBC says last week's 43% advantage over second-placer ABC in the key adults 18-49 demographic is the largest margin during a premiere week in TV history. Still, the Peacock merely broke even in adults 18-49 vs. the year-ago premiere week, and that was with a live telecast of "ER," the baby-comes-home episode of "Mad About You," a cliffhanger marriage on "Caroline in the City" and an hourlong "3rd Rock From the Sun" guest-starring Roseanne.
On Monday of this week, without a cliffhanger boost for "Caroline," NBC's 8-10 p.m. comedies slipped by 15% in adults 18-49, helping the rival CBS sked grow by 24% in that demo.
If NBC's other comedy lineups suffer comparable post-premiere letdowns, the net could be headed for increasing erosion this season.
It's still highly unlikely that NBC's first-place standing, particularly in key demos, will be challenged.
The two premiering series that most look like hits so far are NBC's "Veronica's Closet" on Thursday and ABC's "Dharma and Greg" on Wednesday. The biggest misses come from the same nets: NBC's "Built to Last" (which apparently won't) on Wednesday and ABC's "Timecop" on Monday and "Nothing Sacred" and "Cracker" on Thursday.
Last week's averages in the important adults 18-49 demographic were: NBC, a 7.7 rating, 21 share (equaling its rating for last year's premiere week, which came a week earlier than this year's); ABC, 5.4/15 (down 11%); CBS, 4.7/13 (up 2%); Fox, 4.6/13 (up 10%); UPN, 1.8/5 (up 6%); WB, 1.5/4 (up 36%).
CBS has begun reporting a "boomer" demo, adults 35-54, which was led last week by NBC (8.0/20, down 4% vs. averages for the first two weeks of last season); followed by CBS, 6.4/16 (up 2%); ABC, 6.2/15 (up 1%) and Fox, 3.8/10 (up 9%).
Monday
Declines for both NBC's sitcoms and CBS' "Brooklyn South" highlight Sept. 29 results.
NBC's Monday cornerstone, "Caroline in the City" (10.0 rating, 15 share in homes), cooled by 22% in adults 18-49 vs. its powerful season premiere. With that decline, NBC saw its 8-10 p.m. edge over CBS in adults 18-49 shrink from last week's 7 shares to 3 this week.
Those CBS gains did not extend to the 10-11 p.m. hour, where "Brooklyn South" (9.8/17) quieted by 22% in adults 18-49 in its second try. "South" also fell 14% behind the year-ago "Chicago Hope" 18-49 rating that hour, which is not especially alarming, since CBS' 8-10 p.m. comedies were down by 28%.
CBS won the two-hour comedy battle among total viewers.
ABC's San Francisco-Carolina football (14.2/24) won the night, despite a lopsided game. At 8 p.m., the ailing "Timecop" (5.7/10) topped just one of 17 adults 18-49 ratings in that slot last year from "Dangerous Minds."
Sunday
Fox continues to win the night in adults 18-49, even before the return of firstrun "X-Files."
NBC's pivotal 8-9 p.m. sitcom tandem, "Men Behaving Badly" and "Jenny," didn't exactly hit it off. The pair fell to fourth that hour in adults 18-49, down 45% from the year-ago slot performance by "3rd Rock From the Sun" (but "Rock" faced much weaker competition).
"Jenny" didn't look bad, though, improving by 7% on its 18-49 lead-in from "Men."
"Toy Story" fell short of blockbuster numbers as it launched ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney," but still won its two hours in adults 18-49, galloping 27% beyond the year-ago slot average. "Toy Story" attracted a 37 share with kids and a 25 among teens. The true test comes in later weeks, when ABC tries to continue that momentum with decidedly lesser titles.
CBS dominated the night in households and was a close second in adults 25-54, but slipped to fourth in adults 18-49. "Touched by an Angel" is a growing success by any measure, building, for example, by 16% in adults 18-49 vs. the same Sunday last year.
Saturday
With NBC delaying its premieres until after the World Series, CBS had no problem with the Saturday competition in homes or most key demos (Daily Variety, Sept. 29). Still, CBS slipped by 7% in adults 25-54 vs. its year-ago premiere Saturday, and that was against lesser competition this year.
ABC's lineup is off to a fair start, averaging a 3.3/11 in adults 18-49, roughly in line with last season's Saturday average of a 3.4/10.
Friday
As expected, the family-aimed sitcoms on ABC and CBS cannibalized each other's audience, allowing Fox and NBC to sneak by both those nets in adults 18-49 (Daily Variety, Sept. 29).
ABC clearly won the sitcom showdown, though CBS finished the 8-10 p.m. block just 4 shares behind in adults 18-49, and helped drag the ABC comedies 16% below their year-ago 18-49 premiere average.
Still, ABC's "T.G.I.F." lineup beat CBS' "Friday Block Party" by 24 shares among kids (with a 33 vs. a 9) and by 33 shares among teens (44 vs. an 11).
Fox's "The Visitor" fell by 23% in adults 18-49 with its second try, but that was still enough to tie ABC's formidable "Sabrina." At 9 p.m., "Millennium" dominated the hour demographically, giving Fox the night in all key male demos and adults 18-49.
The biggest surprise of the night came when CBS' "Nash Bridges" took the 10-11 p.m. hour in adults 18-49, beating ABC's "20/20" for the first time.
Thursday
NBC enjoyed a monster Thursday, even by its standards, with "Veronica's Closet" getting as strong a start as NBC could have hoped for, "ER" hitting a series-record rating with its live telecast, and "Seinfeld" tying its best-ever rating (Daily Variety, Sept. 29).
"Veronica" held a scintillating 95% of its 18-49 lead-in, best by a regular series in that slot since Sept. 12, 1996. It was also the highest 18-49 score for any premiering series in the 10 years since "A Different World" debuted.
The 8:30 premiere of "Union Square" settled for a ho-hum 88% of its 18-49 lead-in (vs. "The Single Guy's" 94% last year).
"ER" set an all-time record for NBC dramas with an average of 42.7 million viewers (though that total viewers measure benefits from the inflation of population growth; some 1950s and '60s dramas earned much higher ratings).
For the night, NBC bagged the highest 18-49 rating with a regular schedule for any net on any night since Jan. 7, 1988 (a "Cosby"-led NBC Thursday).
ABC was hardest hit by the NBC charge. The Alphabet's "Nothing Sacred" and "Cracker" are already in serious trouble, down 31% from year-ago 18-49 levels and placing last for their two-hour block.
CBS most effectively counterprogrammed NBC, as the Eye's surprising "Promised Land" set a series record rating and took second that hour in adults 18-49 by 3 shares over Fox and by 6 shares over ABC.
Wednesday
ABC got the second-hottest rookie performance of the week with "Dharma & Greg," up 33% over its 18-49 lead-in from "Spin City" (Daily Variety, Sept. 26). It was ABC's best regular-series household rating in that slot since Dec. 6, 1995 ("Drew Carey").
Up against the big "Dharma" results, NBC's "Built to Last" collapsed to what's probably NBC's lowest-rated premiere ever. "The Tony Danza Show" fared a little better at 8 p.m., but was still down 22% in adults 18-49 from the year-ago "Wings" premiere in the slot.
That may present NBC with an uphill battle on Wednesdays, where another rookie, "Working," has yet to premiere. The lineup's one vet sitcom, "3rd Rock," finished 2 shares behind ABC's "Drew Carey," despite a guest appearance by Roseanne. At 10 p.m., though, the eighth-season premiere of "Law & Order" equaled that series' third-best Wednesday 18-49 rating ever.
CBS swept the night's half-hours in homes and adults 25-54 and also won in adults, men and women 18-49 with "The Country Music Association Awards." Facing premiere-week competition for the first time, "CMA" slipped to its second-lowest rating ever, but still topped CBS' year-ago premiere Wednesday 18-49 rating by 109%.
Compared with premiere Wednesday last year, UPN was up by 5% and WB by 17%.
Tuesday
NBC dominated Tuesday with the baby-comes-home episode of "Mad About You" (Daily Variety, Sept. 25). At 8:30, "NewsRadio" held a weak 73% of its 18-49 lead-in, but that was following an exceptional "Mad" and airing against "Home Improvement."
ABC's Tuesday trouble spot is 9:30, where premiering rookie "Hiller and Diller" held just 67% of its 18-49 lead-in from "Home Improvement," the worst retention in that slot since May 28, 1996.
NBC's competition, "Just Shoot Me," slipped ahead that half-hour, retaining 85% of its 18-49 "Frasier" lead-in (vs. "Caroline's" year-ago 96%).
Even with the big "Mad" numbers, NBC fell 1% short of its year-ago 18-49 rating for the night, while ABC plunged by 15%. It's the first time NBC has won a premiere Tuesday in that demo since 1985.
CBS' new Tuesday lineup managed a solid 12% increase vs. last year in adults 25-54, keyed by big leaps in male demos --- up 86% and 60% in men 25-54 and 18-49. CBS, however, remained a distant third by those and most other important demographic measures.
The premiere of "Clueless" gave UPN's Tuesday a modest boost, helping the net improve by 8% over the previous week, despite much tougher competition.
Monday
Pittsburgh-Jacksonville football kept ABC first on Sept. 22, (Daily Variety, Sept. 24).
Each rating point represents an estimated 980,000 households, or 1% of the country's TV homes. The share is the same sort of percentage, except that it's measured against only the households in which TV is being watched during the timeslot involved.
