Weekly Nielsen Ratings Report for Week Ending 7/15/07:
As has been the case all summer, last week was mostly about ratings going down as temperatures outside went up. But also interesting was the fact that, believe it or not, it took Fox until this past week to finally get a ratings week win in the overall viewers demo even though it had been unusually dominant in the all-important 18-49 demo. And it's top-rated show wasn't reality at all-it was baseball. Tuesday's coverage of the MLB All-Star Game led the way for The Fox with 12.5 million viewers over 3+ hours (Nielsen doesn't track numbers after 11 PM), the 2nd-best ratings number last week but also the 2nd-worst ever for an All-Star Game (12.3 million in '05). Pity those who tuned away late, they missed a great finish. The top program was NBC's premiere of "The Singing Bee", which despite airing opposite baseball still managed 13.3 million viewers Tuesday at 9:30 compared to 13.4 million for baseball. It was a mixed bag for reality last week, especially at CBS, although it's perhaps time for "Pirate Master" to walk the plank-in it's new 10 PM Tuesday time slot it hit a new low with 4.6 million viewers. In it's old time slot, "Big Brother 8" provided a lead-in of about 6.8 million, meaning Pirate Master's in that "take the plunge" zone and will be lucky to see it's ending intact. No CBS shows reached 10 million viewers last week, thich is kinda rare for The Eye, even in rerun season. As for the other new signing show that debuted this week, Fox's premiere of "Don't Forget The Lyrics" managed 8.3 million viewers Wednesday at 9:30, holding on to about all of it's "So You Think You Can dance" lead-in crowd, which was about 8.6 million at start time but a little lower than that overall. In the all-important follow-up 2nd show Thursday night, it's crowd went up slightly to about 8.4 million. And it might be time to call a double fault on NBC's "Age Of Love", as it hit a new low with 4.7 million this past week. Irony of it all: Love actually means zero in the sport of the show's star-tennis. Doesn't help that the star of the show (Mark Phillipoussis) isn't American. If NBC wanted real ratings they'd have cast Andy Roddick, but he's reportedly hitched to...let's move on. And for those curious about a rather interesting Monday a couple days ago, the fast overnights indicate that NBC's long-awaited special "Victoria Beckham: Coming To America" (the long-untitled project starring the former Victoria Adams, now Mrs. David Beckham aka Posh Spice of the Spice Girls) drew about 6.5 million viewers, and the series finale of "Extreme Makeover" went off with about the same number.

On cable, Lifetime once again claimed the Sunday night crown with strong debuts for new series "Side Order Of Life" and "State Of Mind"-respective numbers of 2.4 & 2.3 million, followed by the big bump up for "Army Wives"-3.7 million. "The Closer" was once again the show to beat, as a 70-minute episode Monday drew in just over 7.4 million. The next 2 top draws were sports, those being ESPN's coverage of the MLB Home Run Derby with about 6.7 million and TNT's NASCAR Nextel Cup coverage about 6.3 million (excluding the 11 minute post-race show, which managed just under 5.3 million). USA's Friday night detective comedy block returned to it's usual good numbers as well-the return of "Monk" managed just over 4.8 million viewers, which was followed by the 2nd season premiere of "Psych" with 4.3 million at 10. It's worth noting that Monk actually was the most watched show Friday from 9-10 PM on all of TV, no broadcast show managed more than about 4.2 million (that being WWE Smackdown on The CW). And for those who missed it, I don't have premiere numbers for ABC Family's new series "Greek" (it was less than 4.2 million though), but a repeat airing on ABC (a la Kyle XY last year) managed just over 2.7 million Friday at 9, 5th out of 5.

The Week's Top 10 Most Watched Shows, in order: Tuesday's "The Singing Bee", The 2007 MLB All-Star Game, Tuesday's "America's Got Talent", Thursday's "So You Think You Can Dance", "NCIS", "CSI", "CSI: NY", The 2007 MLB All-Star Game pregame show, "Two And A Half Men", "Law & Order: SVU".

There may not be a report next week, your faithful reporter has to do a different kind of reporting next week...to court. No, not The People's Court. I have been summoned for jury duty next week and if I have to report next Wednesday, I probably won't be able to get a report done especially if I'm stuck sitting around all day with little more than my own reading materials and watching People's Court on TV. Should that be the case, I'll be back in 2 weeks.

CBS' fall premiere dates have been announced.

Wednesday, September 19
8:00 PM - Kid Nation

Thursday, September 20
8:00 PM - Survivor: China

Sunday, September 23
7:00 PM - 60 Minutes
9:00 PM - Cold Case
10:00 PM - Shark

Monday, September 24
8:00 PM - How I Met Your Mother
8:30 PM - The Big Bang Theory
9:00 PM - Two and a Half Men
9:30 PM - Rules of Engagement
10:00 PM - CSI: Miami

Tuesday, September 25
8:00 PM - NCIS
9:00 PM - The Unit
10:00 PM - Cane

Wednesday, September 26
9:00 PM - Criminal Minds
10:00 PM - CSI: NY

Thursday, September 27
9:00 PM - CSI
10:00 PM - Without a Trace

Friday, September 28
8:00 PM - Ghost Whisperer
9:00 PM - Moonlight
10:00 PM - Numb3rs

Saturday, September 29
8:00 PM - Crimetime Saturday
9:00 PM - Crimetime Saturday
10:00 PM - 48 Hours Mystery

Thursday, October 18
100:00 PM - Viva Laughlin (special preview)

Sunday, October 21
8:00 PM - Viva Laughlin

Fox also announced some schedule changes yesterday:
The second season premiere of "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" has been pushed back one week from August 30 to September 6.

"Don't Forget The Lyrics" has been extended, as Fox has ordered 13 additional episodes to extend the show's initial run to a total of 19 hours. 2 repeats of the show will air August 30, which in addition to the change above means 2 unaired episodes of "Nanny 911" now will not air.

"On The Lot", "Hell's Kitchen", and "So You Think You can Dance" all wrap up the week of August 13, with the gaps in schedules being filled as follows:
Mondays: "TV's Funniest Moments" (8/20), "Prison Break" & "Bones" repeats (8/27, 9/3, more Prison break on 9/10)
Tuesdays: "Anchorwoman" premiere (8/21), "'Til Death" & "House" repeats (8/28-9/11), "Cops 20th Anniversary Special" & a "K-Ville" repeat (9/18)
A Fox Fall Preview Special is also scheduled for 9/2 at 7 PM, with the following other previously announced specials: The 2007 Teen Choice Awards on 8/26, NFL Preseason games on 8/9, 8/17, & 8/23, Various movies on Fridays from 8/3-9/7, and The Primetime Emmy Awards on 9/16.

As always, schedules are subject to change.

The Primetime Emmy Awards nominees are to be announced this morning, with Fox airing a nominations special today at 8:35 AM ET.

Edit: ABC announced new Monday & tuesday lineups for the rest of the summer, starting August 6:
Mondays:
8 PM-Wife Swap
9 PM-Fat March
10 PM-Supernanny
Tuesdays:
8 PM-Just For Laughs
9 PM-Primetime: Crime
10 PM-i-Caught
ABC also wasted little time in extending Just For Laughs, waiting just one day to order 13 more episodes to boost the first season to 19 total episodes. The fast overnights for Tuesday's premiere indicate an estimated audience of around 10 million viewers for the first 2 episodes.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Jul 20 2007.

The CW has just announced their primetime schedule for the upcoming season (premiere dates in [brackets]):
Mondays (starting October 1):
8:00-8:30 PM Everybody Hates Chris
8:30-9:00 PM Aliens In America (New Series)
9:00-9:30 PM Girlfriends
9:30-10:00 PM The Game

Tuesdays:
8:00-9:00 PM Beauty And The Geek [September 18]
9:00-10:00 PM Reaper (New Series) [September 25]

Wednesdays:
8:00-9:00 PM America's Next Top Model [September 19]
9:00-10:00 PM Gossip Girl (New Series) [September 26]

Thursdays:
8:00-9:00 PM Smallville [September 27]
9:00-10:00 PM Supernatural [October 4]

Fridays:
8:00-10:00 PM WWE Friday Night Smackdown

Sundays:
7:00-7:30 PM CW Now (New Series) [September 23]
7:30-8:00 PM Online Nation (New Series) [September 23]
8:00-9:00 PM Life Is Wild (New Series) [October 7]
9:00-10:00 PM America's Next Top Model (Encore Presentation)
(The CW does not broadcast any programs on Saturdays, those nights are filled with local programs-usually repeats of CW programs, movies, or live sports coverage)

The long-running game show "The Price Is Right" has found their replacement for the retired Bob Barker, and the one to take over starting next season is...

Drew Carey.

The deal was sealed today before Carey appeared on a Late Show taping. He was first contacted by CBS after appearing in the pilot episode of "Power Of 10", debuting next month (Carey hosts the show). Yes, Barker is cool with this choice. For those who want to start keeping score now, Carey is starting just a little later than Barker on his run-Carey is 49.

No. Price is Right will be over in three months. Guaranteed.

Hi Mimi, want to play Plinko? *You Lose Theme Music Plays*

Can't stand Carey. Personally, I wanted Todd Newton, I love the guy.

Schedule change today from CBS, "Pirate Master" is plank-bound...yep, it's been cancelled, mateys. It's off the lineup effective tonight, to be replaced by "48 Hours Mystery". The remaining 5 episodes of Pirate Master will be streamed online at cbs.com every Tuesday at 3 AM ET as of this morning. The show will also be made available to partners of the CBS Audience Network (whatever that is).

No ratings report tomorrow, jury duty has me on a trial that will go to a 2nd day. The reports hopefully will be back in August. Don't ask, I can't talk about it. Yet.

ABC has announced their Fall premiere dates:
Monday, September 24:
8:00-9:30 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" (special 90-minute premiere)
9:30-11:00 p.m. "The Bachelor" (special 90-minute premiere)

Tuesday, September 25:
8:00-9:30 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars" (performance show)

Wednesday, September 26:
8:00-9:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special" (special day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Private Practice"
10:00-11:00 p.m. "Dirty Sexy Money"

Thursday, September 27:
8:00-9:00 p.m. "Ugly Betty"
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Grey's Anatomy"
10:00-11:00 p.m. "Big Shots"

Sunday, September 30:
7:00-9:00 p.m. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Desperate Housewives"
10:00-11:00 p.m. "Brothers & Sisters"

Tuesday, October 2:
8:00-8:30 p.m. "Cavemen"
8:30-9:00 p.m. "Carpoolers"
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Dancing with the Stars Result Show" (regular day and time period premiere)

Wednesday, October 3:
8:00-9:00 p.m. "Pushing Daisies"

Sunday, October 7:
7:00-8:00 p.m. "America's Funniest Home Videos"

Friday, October 12:
8:00-9:00 p.m. "20/20" (new time period premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Women's Murder Club"
10:00-11:00 p.m. "Men In Trees"

Monday, October 15:
9:30-10:00 p.m. "Samantha Who?"

Tuesday, November 27:
10:00-11:00 p.m. "Cashmere Mafia" (special preview following the finale of "Dancing with the Stars")

Tuesday, December 4:
9:00-10:00 p.m. "Cashmere Mafia" (regular time period premiere)
The only date not announced was the premiere date for "Boston Legal", that will be announced at a later date.

i'm just wondering, has grounded for life been canceled?

Grounded for life has been over for two years now..

It was cancelled back in October 2004 and officially stopped airing in January 2005 after 89 episodes (2 more episodes never aired).

Edgefan if you would like to watch Grounded for Life, they air it on ABC family at 7pm eastern. I also believe they air the complete series with the two shows SS was referring to.

Weekly Nielsen Ratings Report for Week Ending 7/29/07:
It was a good week to be a movie star making a TV debut this past week, as cable premieres continued reaching record highs thanks to movie star power. TNT continued to set records as it has all summer, this time with the premiere of "Saving Grace", as 6.4 million tuned in to watch last Monday's premiere. That's the top cable premiere this year and 3rd-best all-time (only "The Closer" and "The 4400" started stronger). Over on FX, "Damages" premiered to a crowd of 3.7 million on Tuesday, the night's most-watched cable show but a figure that might have been hurt slightly by said episode being made available free on iTunes before it even aired (no, I didn't download it, not my thing). TNT also claimed cable's most watched show last week again with the latest episode of The Closer, 7.3 million tuned in Monday night. In fact, the series' 4 July episodes were cable's 4 top-rated shows that month. This is who those struggling baseball clubs should've traded for.
Not much on the broadcast networks last week, although despite winning the week overall for the 8th week of 9 this summer, CBS might regret making "Pirate Master" walk the plank (it's now airing online at something like 3 AM). I've just read a report that a contestant on the show has apparently committed suicide. She had already been eliminated though. Might've helped ratings as the 10 million mark went untouched this week, with the top show, "America's Got Talent" coming in at just over 9.8 million. It was enough to get back to #1 though, ending the run of fellow NBC show "The Singing Bee", which managed 9.5 million-good but not good considering it premiered with 13 million. That's about it except...breaking news: Another long national nightmare is finally over. "The Simple Life", that notorious reality series that served as face time for those party girls we all love to hate, Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie, is done. The cable network E! has cancelled it after 5 nightmarish seasons-it has just one episode left this coming Sunday and it's over after 55 episodes. Testify.

The Week's Top 10 Most Watched Shows, in order: "America's Got Talent", "The Singing Bee", "CSI", Thursday's "So You Think You Can Dance", "Hell's Kitchen", Thursday's "Dont Forget The Lyrics", "Two And A Half Men", "60 Minutes", Monday's "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?", "Shark".

Late Edit: The case is not closed yet. The Closer's record-setting ratings run so far this summer has earned the hit TNT drama series a 4th season pickup today. The order is for 15 episodes, scheduled to air next summer.

8/2 Edit: ABC has announced the official season premiere date for "Boston Legal": September 25. The premiere will be 90 minutes from 9:30-11 PM, then the series moves to it's regular timeslot, 10-11 PM Tuesdays, the following week.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Aug 02 2007.

Fox announced a handful of schedule changes late yesterday:
New series "New Amsterdam", set originally for a Fall premiere, now won't premiere until midseason (2008). Look for it to maybe get one of the best spring timeslots on TV...that being right after a certain unstoppable ratings juggernaut that emerges every January.
"Bones" is being moved from Wednesdays at 8 to Tuesdays at 8.
The new series "Kitchen Nightmares" will assume the 8 PM Wednesday slot.
The updated Tuesday-Thursday fall schedule as a result (all other nights remain unchanged):
Tuesday, August 21
8 PM-On the Lot finale
9 PM- House

Tuesdays (August 28-September 11)
8 PM-Bones
9 PM-House

Tuesday, September 18
8 PM-Cops Special
9 PM-K-Ville Pilot Encore

Tuesdays (as of September 25)
8 PM-Bones (New Season)
9 PM-House (New Season)

Wednesday, August 22
8 PM-Anchorwoman (One-Hour Series Premiere)
9 PM-Bones repeat

Wednesdays (August 29-September 12)
8 PM-Anchorwoman
8:30 PM-'Til Death repeats
9 PM-Bones repeats

Wednesdays (as of September 19)
8 PM-Back to You
8:30 PM-'Til Death (New Season)
9 PM-Kitchen Nightmares

Thursdays (as of September 6)
8 PM-Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (New Season)
9 PM-Don't Forget the Lyrics (New Season)

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? also will air Fridays at 8 from September 14-October 5 (4 weeks), likely to give new series "Nashville" a ratings boost.

In other TV-related news, fans of The Dog are barking a happy tune today. A Mexican judge has ruled that the case against Duane Chapman, best known as TV star "Dog The Bounty Hunter", has been closed because the statute of limitations has expired. State prosecutors in Mexico have appealed, but with a ruling likely months away, at least until then Dog and his comrades are once again free. Chapman was arrested in September by U.S. authorities on a Mexican warrant stemming from his 2003 capture of fugitive convicted rapist and Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster in Puerto Vallarta. Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico. Luster is serving what amounts to a life sentence. Chapman is based in Hawaii but occasionally does bounty hunting in the lower 48, mainly in Denver, CO.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Aug 03 2007.

News just coming out from NBC:
Carson Daly has signed a 2-year extension to stay on as host of "Last Call With Carson Daly". He also will once again host NBC's New Year's Eve festivities.

The Peacock also has renewed "America's Got Talent" for a 3rd season and "Last Comic Standing" for a 6th season.

Edit: For those who absolutely, positively have to watch it, ABC has announced that the new sitcom "Cavemen" (based on those Geico caveman commercials) will premiere October 2 and air Tuesdays at 8. The Alphabet's ordered 13 episodes. Will it get that far? Time will tell.

This message was edited by SummonerSupreme on Aug 06 2007.