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Fri 14 Nov, 2003 10:21 am
The Most Savagely Depressing Commentary On America You Have Seen Today
Mark Morford
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks for the week
of Nov. 3-9. Each ratings point represents 1,067,000 households:
1. NFL Football: (Sunday), ESPN, 6.5, 7.08 million homes.
2. Auto Racing: Winston Cup/Rockingham (Sunday), TNT, 3.4, 3.7 million.
3. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 3.3, 3.54 million.
4. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.43 million.
5. "NFL Primetime" (Sunday) ESPN, 3.1, 3.4 million.
6. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 3.1, 3.37 million.
7. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.18 million.
8. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.13 million.
9. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 2.6, 2.84 million.
10. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.95 million.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.87 million.
12. "WWE Raw" (Monday), Spike, 2.6, 2.84 million.
13. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.81 million.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday), Nickelodeon, 2.5, 2.66 million.
15. "Sportscenter" (Sunday), ESPN, 2.4, 2.55 million.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2003/11/13/entertainment1408EST0646.DTL
What does this tell us?
Now we know who is President Bush's target intellectual audience.
BBB, I was telling Dys about your new thread and he said, almost word for word, what you said in your second post.
Honey, you hit it right on the head and made me almost terminally deprssesed at the same time.
People who can't figure out the Neilsen Ratings????
Jesus, that's depressing. . .
Gotta hand it to that SpongeBob, though. . . the kid is funny. . .
Holy mother of god, this is sad.
Before you all run off and slit your wrists - Read what the ratings are actually of.
"Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks for the week of Nov. 3-9."
How many channels are there that are basic cable only? 7? 8? These ratings don't include any programs that air on broadcast networks (which rules out ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc..) or any cable channels that aren't a part of the higher packages.
So you end up with ESPN and Nickelodeon topping the charts. That shouldn't be to hard to do when your competition is The Weather Channel, C-SPAN, and the local access channels.
Gee, fish, I feel better already.
Is this better? I dunno, I can truthfully say I didn't see a single one from any of these three lists.
These are two other cuts of TV viewership: Top 20 and Top 20 Primetime:
Nielsen Media Research Top 20 Week of Nov. 3-9, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rank
Program Name Network Day Time Rating Share Households
1 -- CSI----------CBS--9:00PM-Thu--18.10--27.0-19,579,000
2 E.R. NBC 9:59PM Thu 13.6 22.0 14,708,000
3 FRIENDS NBC 8:00PM Thu 13.4 21.0 14,477,000
4 CSI: MIAMI CBS 10:00PM Mon 13.2 21.0 14,258,000
5 CMA AWARDS(S) CBS 8:00PM Wed 12.8 20.0 13,926,000
6 8 SIMPLE RULES ABC 8:00PM Tue 12.7 19.0 13,754,000
7 SURVIVOR: PEARL ISLANDS CBS 8:00PM Thu 12.3 19.0 13,287,000
8 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND CBS 8:58PM Mon 12.2 18.0 13,180,000
9 FRIENDS 11/6(S) NBC 8:33PM Thu 12.0 18.0 13,026,000
10 WITHOUT A TRACE CBS 10:01PM Thu 12.0 20.0 12,987,000
11 NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ABC 9:07PM Mon 11.6 20.0 12,604,000
12 60 MINUTES CBS 7:37PM Sun 11.3 18.0 12,296,000
13 LAW AND ORDER NBC 10:00PM Wed 11.3 18.0 12,214,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN CBS 9:30PM Mon 10.7 16.0 11,607,000
15 CBS SUNDAY MOVIE CBS 9:37PM Sun 10.0 17.0 10,872,000 (The Elizabeth Smart Story)
16 NFL MONDAY SHOWCASE ABC 9:00PM Mon 9.9 15.0 10,770,000
17 WILL & GRACE NBC 9:00PM Thu 9.9 15.0 10,740,000
18 20/20-FRI ABC 10:00PM Fri 9.7 17.0 10,568,000
19 JUDGING AMY CBS 10:00PM Tue 9.6 16.0 10,378,000
20 NBC MOVIE OF THE WEEK-SU.(S) NBC 9:00PM Sun 9.5 15.0 10,280,000 (Saving Jessica Lynch)
____________
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 3-9. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 29.6 million viewers.
2. (6) "Survivor: Pearl Islands," CBS, 21.4 million viewers.
3. (X) "Country Music Association Awards," CBS, 20.7 million viewers.
4. (9) "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," ABC, 20.5 million viewers.
5. (2) "Friends," NBC, 20.4 million viewers.
6. (3) "ER," NBC, 20 million viewers.
7. (5) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 19.5 million viewers.
8. (4) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 18.6 million viewers.
9. (10) "Without a Trace," CBS, 18.5 million viewers.
10. (X) "Friends," NBC, 18.2 million viewers.
11. (14) "60 Minutes," CBS, 17.6 million viewers.
12. (8) "NFL Monday Night Football: New England vs. Denver," ABC, 16.6 million viewers.
13. (7) "Law & Order," NBC, 16.4 million viewers.
14. (26) "CBS Sunday Movie: The Elizabeth Smart Story," CBS, 16 million viewers.
15. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16 million viewers.
16. (X) "NBC Movie of the Week: Saving Jessica Lynch," NBC, 14.9 million viewers.
17. (38) "According to Jim," ABC, 14.8 million viewers.
18. (16) "NFL Monday Showcase," ABC, 14.7 million viewers.
19. (12) "Will & Grace," NBC, 14.7 million viewers.
20. (18) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.4 million viewers.
What the hell's wrong with the Weather Channel?!
;-)
Well I'm feeling pretty good - I only watch about 3 or 4 in total of all the above shows.
What BBB watched
BBB's WATCHING ON LIST:
CSI Crime Scene Investigation
Without A Trace
60 Minutes
Law And Order
Judging Amy
Cold Case
NOT ON LIST:
C-SPAN Book TV
C-SPAN Washington Journal
CNN news
MSNBC News
BBC News
Public Broadcasting News
Albuquerque News
NOVA
West Wing
Navy CSI
Third Watch
Hack
The District
The Advocate
Trading Spaces
While You Were Out
Surprise by Design
History Channel
Discovery Channel
HGTV
QVC
I'm a sucker for those forensic shows. . . CSI, Cold Case, and Without a Trace (not forensic, but captivating) are definitely on my list. . .
SURVIVOR is only one I see with any regularity
20/20 = pieces
60 minutes = pieces
Hack = pieces
not listed
I try and not miss 24
I used to try and watch Alais but I lost time.
Okay, we're the ones responsible for those statistics. When you live with a 9 year old, you watch a lot of SpongeBob.
(I'm actually relieved he isn't interested in forensic shows, crime shows, and bad sitcoms!)
Hmm. . . should we be offended? ;-)
I only watch 'Hinterland's Who's Who.'
Honestly, I think every TV rating list is a depressing comentary of the country/community.
I once was (for about a year) the Programming Director for a Mexican TV network. Fun job, but always amazing. We had a mythical character, "Nela": if the show had high ratings, it meant Nela liked it.
We knew Nela was downright stupid, had horrible taste, and was blatanly ignorant. Yet, she was in command; our job was to somehow please her.
I said it was always amazing, because Nela's stupidity would often go farther than we imagined.
If you want big numbers, you have to dig lower and lower. Everywhere.
It's not the US, it's humankind.
(And my daughter loves SpongeBob"
That reminds me of a horrible show we have over here (The Reality of Reality) that dissects reality tv. . . one of the guys they interviewed said he wouldn't be surprised to see a live killing-type reality show, because that's just how far we've sunk. . .
Scary?
Well, in all honesty, here is what we really watch:
All the Law and Orders
CSI, the original, no spinoffs for us
The Simpsons, endlessly
Coronation St.
MI5 is a recent fascination
Cracker, the original, not the crappy American version
Mrs. cav likes WWE
The Daily Show
Rebus
The Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Dead Like Me
Star Trek, all series
Lots of movies (digital cable)
Stumble It!
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