The Top Ten Television Shows for the 2009-2009 Season
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 5:48PM So now that the television season is finished we thought it would be fun to list the most popular TV shows based on the all important 18-49 demo (which I am still part of for two more years) and based on total viewership. This is for the entire season:
18-49:
- American Idol (Wed)
- American Idol (Tue)
- NBC Sunday Night Football
- Desperate Housewives
- Grey's Anatomy
- House
- CSI
- Two and a Half Men
- Lost
- Dancing with the Stars
ABC - 4, FOX - 3, CBS - 2, NBC - 1, CW - 0
Total Viewership:
- American Idol (Wed)
- American Idol (Tue)
- Dancing with the Stars
- CSI
- NCIS
- The Mentalist
- Dancing with the Stars (Results)
- NBC Sunday Night Football
- Desperate Housewives
- Two and a Half Men
CBS - 4, ABC - 3, FOX - 2, NBC - 1, CW - 0
It's interesting that for ABC and FOX their biggest shows are unscripted and very profitable. Only one sitcom made it into the top ten. If it wasn't for football, NBC would be shut out from this list. What's going on with NBC anyway? They have some good shows. Are they just not promoting them enough? Its clear they are not connecting with younger viewers (or any viewers for that matter). Whereas the CW may have the opposite problem. Their viewership may be the younger than 18 crowd. In my house my two daughters love the CW shows. I can't sit through anything on the CW. Some of my favorites that did not make the list include Fringe, 24, 30 Rock, Chuck and Heroes. So what do you think NBC's problem is? What should they do to connect with viewers?
Reader Comments (1)
I'm convinced that the Nielsen Ratings system itself is to blame in that I believe it is totally inaccurate. What I watch has zero impact on the Nielsen Ratings because my viewing is not being monitored by Nielsen. There have been long-standing criticisms of the Nielsen Ratings system and I believe it to be folly to rely so heavily on a flawed system.
As for NBC (and television as a whole being on a decline in popularity) the problem is the same as it is for the American Auto industry: we simply do not trust them. They put change schedules constantly, shows are pulled or moved or go on a long hiatus without much, if any warning. Good shows get cancelled mid-season. A show that has been on at 8 o'clock every Wednesday for years suddenly gets moved to a different night and time. Crap after crap after crap gets put on the air, pre-empting favorite shows or inexplicably continuing for years while good shows get cut before they even complete a full season!
NBC wants to know why no one is watching their Network anymore? How about they create a consistent schedule, stick with it for an entire year and avoid airing two episodes, then going on break for three weeks, then coming back for 4 episodes, then going on break for 3 weeks, then switching the timeslot and then dumping the last 3 episodes in the summer?
People like consistency. They like knowing that if they sit down at a given time on a given day and tune to a given channel that they will know what show will be on. With NBC, it's a crap shoot. Will Heroes be on at 9 o'oclock on Monday this week? Or will it be some "special programme"? Or a sports broadcast? Or a re-run? Or maybe it's moved days? Or timeslot? Or maybe it's cancelled altogether? Who knows! So forget it! I'm just not going to watch at all in the first place! How can I get into a show if I never know from one week to the next whether or not it's still going to be there?