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Grant Bowler Cast As Richard Burton Opposite Lindsay Lohan … 
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Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Posts … 
Ghost Of 2004 Hovers Over L.A. Screenings As Int’l … 
On The Road To Awards Season? Kerouac Book Finally Makes It … 
Michael Bay’s Name Pushed Paramount To Settle Injured … 
Several More New Series In Recasting Mode; Returning Ones … 
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Moving To March 2013 To … 
Directors Fortnight Says It Must “Police … 
‘Chronicle’ Helmer Josh Trank Takes On … 
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How Did Women Pilot Writers Fare For 2012? 
SECOND UPDATE PM: With the final Nielsen numbers in, the NFL kickoff game between the Saints and the Vikings averaged 27.5 million viewers to become the most-watched regular season primetime NFL game in 14 years.
UPDATED: Last night’s NFL season opener between Super Bowl champions New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings drew a 17.7 overnight rating/28 share – the best for any NFL regular season primetime game in 13 years and the best ever for an NFL kickoff game. The faceoff, a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship Game, was won by the Saints 14-9. It gave a very strong start to the season for the NFL, which faces the possibility of a lockout next year. NBC dominated primetime with a 15.9/26 average in the metered markets, beating the combined delivery of CBS, ABC, Fox and CW. The premiere of the CW’s new Thursday lineup was no doubt affected by the hugely-rated game, though it’s worth mentioning that last year the network also premiered its Thursday dramas The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural against the NFL kickoff game. The season 2 opener of Diaries drew 3.4 million viewers, down 30% from last year’s big debut. In CW’s target demo 18-34 (1.9/6), the decline was smaller, 13%, while in women 18-34 (2.8/9) the series posted its best number since Feb. 4.
At 9 PM, CW’s new drama Nikita (3.6 million) didn’t display the breakout potential Diaries showed in its premiere last year but did a good job holding onto its Diaries lead-in. It drew a bit more viewers than Diaries as well as last season’s premiere of Supernatural, which averaged 3.4 million viewers in the time slot last year.
Elsewhere, CBS’ Big Brother (2.5/8 in adults 18-49) was up 9% from last Thursday but was strongly affected by the game, dropping from 2.7/9 to 2.3/7 from the first to the second half-hour when the NFL game started. At ABC, summer drama Rookie Blue drew a 1.2/3 for its two-hour season finale, up 9% from last week’s low.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Suck on that, sports haters….hating and not watching sports doesn’t make you more enlightened, it just makes you a fun hater
jezus, so many dikks on the internet
Great for the NFL which knows how to do a lot of things right.
I’m not a big sports fan anymore. Did’nt even know the game was on last night. One things that’s always amazed me is how people can find the sport exciting when a play lasts only 5 seconds and then there’s a 45 second break before the next 5 second play. To each his own eye suppose. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All the best.
It’s too bad for NBC that Dick Ebersol is giving them these kinds of numbers in primetime and practically none of the shows will take advantage of the ad promos to get viewers to sample.
As much advertisement as I’ve seen for Nikita, it should’ve done better than that.
I think the problem with Nikita is we’ve seen the premise so many times – super hot chick is reluctant assassin. Has secret, just wants out, lather, rinse, repeat. They did advertise the hell out of it though.
The problem with Nikita is that the pilot sucked. I loved the move, tolerated the previous series, and I’d watch Maggie Q read the phonebook. But last night’s pilot was just plain bad.
I loved the pilot
I don’t know about ‘super hot chick’ I think that’s part of the problem.
Ha, they should have picked up BETWIXT! I have seen some promo pics of the cast and they look amazing! BETWIXT would have been a great fantasy show…
I think the CW should have done a lot more marketing on-line for both shows. I also think that Rookie Blue targets the exact same audience as both CW shows, and with it being the season finale, that also had to effect the numbers.
Yeah, I felt like I was watching Alias with a different lead.
agree – altho alias was better by miles.
CW has gotta be kicking themselves in the arse right now for ALL the money they spent on marketing. It was unreal how Nikita ads were EVERYWHERE! But they Failed!
Show was mediocre at best, I can’t believe how many positive reviews it got. Danny Cannon is a great director but this was NOT his best work. I felt like I was watching an hour long music video.
Question. Why can’t the CW pull in viewers like ABC Family can?
Is it a carrier issue? Or content?
CW argues that they have a young digital audience but the same could be said for ABC Family. Seems like Greek and Pretty Little Liars are similar type shows but their ratings are better.
Wow, i considered myself a big fan on Vampire Diaries and I didnt even know last night was the season premier. My dvr taped it, but I assumed it was a re-run.
That’s what I was thinking when I read the story about how the ratings have slipped. I did not see much advertising for VD either, but I kept up with the premieres. I hope that the ratings go up for it. The season premiere was EXCELLENT.
i agree totally. they did nothing to market the show. i’m not even the demo and (40 year old straight man) i love the show. it is fantastically written. best cw show ever made. it would be performing better with a better marketing team…
Absolutely! This is the one of the few CW shows I have watched since they overhauled their lineup (nixing Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, Reaper, and Aliens in America – and I was/am in the 18-30 demo). There’s nothing superficial about it and it is extremely well written, the directing is always consistent, and the overall execution of it is ridiculously impressive. At first, I was hesitant because of this pop culture vampire overload, but I gave it a shot, and I’ve been hooked since. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been a Paul Wesley fan since I saw him on L&O: SVU. His performance really stuck with me. Very happy for this guy, as he is quite talented.
Expect Vampire Diaries to get a boost when Live + 7 ratings are factored in. I had no clue the premiere was last night. I saw no print advertising for it at all. I ended up watching it this morning when I realized my DVR recorded it.
There have already been two movies and a TV series based on the exact same character. And then of course they’ve been countless numbers of spy shows in the last decade like Alias, 24, Chuck, Human Target, Burn Notice, Covert Affairs and soon Undercovers. There’s absolutely nothing new, fresh or exciting about this show that would draw people in.
Some fall for The Vampire Diaries… I’ve tried to watch i but gave up after 3 episode. I forced myself to watch it. I wanted to like it. But there was just the same whining again and again. Damon was making evil faces in every scene, Stefan was making miserable faces in every scene… I guess only 15-18 years teenagers can watch it.
Nikita needed some good star. That girl Maggie Q just looks cold and personality free in those trailers they show everywhere. I could not care less about her “sufferings”. No wonder it didn’t have audience. I saw that coming from the first trailer.
NOBODY KNEW NIKITA WAS ON!
Don’t even recall if all those posters even had a date.
In fact, don’t remember seeing anything on the Internet either? Facebook? Deadline? The usual geek sites? Just bus stops.
Chiming in with the love for Vampire Diaries. Such a well-written show, and so well-executed. Agree that there was almost no promotion for its return – I hope more people will start watching now that it’s back. Season premiere was awesome!
I’m a HUGE Vampire Diaires fan – I tuned in for every episode of Season One and was eagerly anticipating Season Two, but I also didn’t realize that the season premiere was last night. CW needs to do a better job of promoting its hit shows! Hell-o.
My problem with this “new” LaFemme is I was a raving fan of Peta Wilson’s Nikita and the entire cast therein. When I heard they were producing a redo, I could not even remotely imagine a success, or even a show worth watching. Now I’ve seen some still shots, I’m convinced they’ve cast it all wrong. I’d rather be watching Season 2 of Melrose Place 2.