Posted on 11/14/2005 1:25:18 PM PST by LdSentinal
Sweeps sequel scores well below original
Perhaps CBS waited too long to trot out the sequel to last year’s very successful November sweeps miniseries “Category 6.” By the time “Category 7,” about a natural disaster, aired this month, viewers had apparently forgotten about it.
Part two of “Category 7” averaged a 4.1 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 last night, down 26 percent versus a 5.5 for part two of “Category 6” last year.
Last night’s conclusion was also down 18 percent versus part one, which averaged a 5.0 overnight rating among 18-49s last Sunday. It was a disappointment for CBS, which is in a dead heat with ABC for the November sweeps lead among adults 18-49.
Last year part two of “Category 6” aired on Wednesday. CBS was no doubt hurt by airing the miniseries against ABC’s dynamic Sunday lineup two weeks in a row. The network’s top show, “Desperate Housewives,” showed its first week-to-week increase in over a month, and “Category 7” aired opposite it at 9 p.m.
But the other problem for CBS was that it waited too long to run the sequel. A year may not be much for a motion picture, but on television it’s an eternity. Also, the movie faced tougher competition from Fox this year than last, when “Family Guy” had not yet returned to the schedule at 9 p.m.
Too, the miniseries may have hit too close to real life, with this year's devastating hurricanes still fresh in viewers' minds.
ABC finished first for the night among 18-49s with a 7.5 average rating and an 18 share. Fox was second at 5.0/12, CBS third at 3.8/9, NBC fourth at 2.8/7 and the WB fifth at 1.2/3.
Fox started the night in the lead with a 5.8 average rating during the 7 p.m. hour for NFL football runover and its postgame coverage. ABC was second that hour with a 3.1 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and CBS third with a 2.9 for “60 Minutes.”
ABC jumped into the lead during the 8 p.m. hour with a 6.8 average rating for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Fox was second with a 4.8 average for ‘The Simpsons” (5.5) and “The War at Home” (4.1) and CBS third with a 4.1 for “Cold Case.”
At 9 p.m. ABC led with its 11.1 for “Housewives,” the highest-rated show of the night among 18-49s and slightly above the 10.8 the last four original outings averaged. Fox was second with a 4.4 average for “Family Guy” (4.8) and “American Dad” (3.9) and CBS third with a 4.1 for the first hour of the conclusion of “Category 7.”
Part of last night’s “Housewives” kickup may have had something to do with the buzz surrounding actor Page Kennedy’s dismissal from the show last week.
ABC led again at 10 p.m. with a 9.1 average rating for “Grey’s Anatomy.” CBS was second with a 4.2 for the second hour of “Category 7” and NBC third with a 3.6 for the second half of the special “Saturday Night Live in the ‘80s: Lost and Found.”
ABC led the night among households with an 11.2 average rating and a 17 share. CBS was second at 9.5/14, Fox third at 6.7/10, NBC fourth at 4.6/7 and the WB fifth at 1.8/3.
Really? I thought this would be 16.7% better. Anyways, this whole thing was called by SUVs.
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
I've noticed this season that the major networks' lineups are so weak, they actually rerun some programs -- usually on Saturday night.
The only thing you can be sure of in these ratings wars is that a worthy network will never win, because really none of the three is worth a plugged nickle.
CBS may have had a bad year with Rathergate, but that's just because they were stupid and got caught.
I really think real life has provided more disaster coverage than we care to see.
How about a mini-series that offers escapism for a change.
I don't watch TV. How wretched was it?
I think enough people saw that crappy "Day After Tomorrow" flick to know that this was the same recycled garbage.
It was beyond wretched.
I don't watch it, but I noticed from previews that last week Commander in Chief was a White House rocked by scandal and this week the Prez gets a video that could destroy her enemy.
Maybe CiC is more like a Hilliary Clinton presidency than we realize.
lol.
ha ha, they're irrelevant
I live on the Gulf Coast. I don't need a show about my reality.........
From the commercials that aired during football, it looked like they were going to do a piece on Domestic Environmental Terrorists.
I skipped it. Anyone see it, though? Was it a canonization of them? "Valiant Freedom Fighters, standing up to evil corporations...." and so forth. Or would even CBS have the chutzpah to pull that one off?
......like ROOTS........
Last nights Rome featured a gladiator fight that should retire all other gladiator fight scenes.
And I thought the problem was that the show simply stunk. I watched little bits and pieces, it looked like something I might film in my back yard, if I was a lunatic.
"Hey, lets turn off the power in DC, that will lower the temperature and kill the storm. Yea, that's the ticket"
No, I rarely tune in to that show anymore. The Bucs-Redskins finale on Fox was too good to pass up. What a finish!
Yup, an Alstott 2-pt conversion to win the game beats an Andy Rooney Rant any day of the week. Great game, even if I was rooting for the Skins to win.
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