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UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
The total viewers series high in Live+Same Day posted by The Big Bang Theory last week (16.68 million) was short-lived as the CBS comedy posted a new high last night. In the fact nationals, Big Bang‘s total audience was 17.39 million, which will climb further in the finals. Last week’s episode crossed the 20 million-viewer mark for the first time in the Live+3 window. Big Bang also posted a season high in adults 18-49 (5.5/17), up 10% from its fast national last week, when CBS’ Thursday comedies faced atypical competition from NBC’s The Voice. Two And A Half Men (4.1/12) was up a tenth from last Thursday for a new season high, eclipsing the two episodes featuring Miley Cyrus (4.0). The season-high trend continued at 9 PM with Person Of Interest (3.1/8, up 7%), which is tied with ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in the fast nationals. Elementary (2.3/7, up 5%) posted its best demo rating in a month. CBS finished No. 1 in 18-49 and total viewers in every hour of primetime to win the night.
After the ratings uptick last week, ABC’s Last Resort (1.3/4) didn’t help its back-order chances last night, down a tenth to tie its series low. Some sort of an abbreviated back order is still a possibility for the male-skewing drama, which was scheduled in a tough 8 PM slot against strong male-skewing CBS comedies and football on cable, leading into two female-friendly ABC dramas. Grey’s Anatomy (3.1/8) was down 6% from last week but Scandal (2.1/6) perked up was up 11% from last week.
Fox’s The X Factor results show (2.4/7) was up a tenth from last week when it aired against The Voice. In total viewers (7.3 million), the bump was 16%. Glee (2.1/5) was down 13% to a series low.
Save for Last Resort, all NBC series rated below every series on the other Big 4 networks last night. The only one to crack the 2 demo rating mark was The Office (2.0/5), whose airing behind The Voice last week didn’t have a lasting effect; the veteran comedy was down 17% and matched its last outing with a regular lead-in. There was no Joe Biden bump for Parks And Recreation (1.7/4), which was flat with last week with its episode featuring the Vice President. In the 8 PM hour, 30 Rock (1.2/4) matched its last airing on Thursday, while Up All Night (1.3/4) was down 7%. At 10 PM, Rock Center With Brian Williams (1.1/3) was up 10%.
On the CW, The Vampire Diaries (1.2/4) was down 20% from last week, and Beauty And The Beast (0.6/2) was down 14%.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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The BIG Bang Theory show is sooooo AWESOME ! and to Simon X Factor SUCKS !
Network ratings are increasingly irrelevant. Don’t believe me? Read Nick Kissell’s piece in yesterday’s VARIETY entitled Cable Shows Aren’t So Niche Anymore. And besides his points, there’s the DVR factor with a +7 factor looming there (now it’s +3). Ratings reporting needs to deal with all of this to be relevant at all.
Which idiot scheduled LAST RESORT at 8pm Thursday?? It was obviously going to struggle.
We’re seeing a serious, potentially long term, shift in viewership on Thursday nights towards CBS and away from once dominant NBC – ABC possibly as well.
CBS gambled last season when it moved Big Bang over to Thursday nights – that move has been 100% successful, and that’s helping power 2.5 Men as well, leading into PoI and Elementary, both fresh, new/newer series. Very impressive. Thursday nights are important to network/cable TV, and CBS has just taken it over.
Right on CBS & WBTV for growing ‘Big Bang’ into a monster hit. The group of likable characters, funny writing and the liveliness – make it such a fun and monster hit of a show. Its comfort food and you can watch freely. Take note NBC. There is a reason why Friends, Frasier, Will & Grace and Seinfeld were such hits and thats the exact reason why Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls and Mike & Molly are such hits. Multi-cams, when produced and written well, can be such big hits. Must See TV may no longer exist on NBC, it now is on CBS.
Following Modern Family and the single-camera formula is rare. YES – New Normal, Go On and even Parks & Rec are hilarious, but it takes more then just quirky stories and antics to get a hit.
Can someone please explain to me what makes “Big Bang Theory” such a colossal hit? I never find it funny. I never find that the show hits the cultural zeitgeist in the way that other super popular programs such as “Seinfeld”, “The Cosby Show”, “The Simpsons”, or “Friends” did.
And yet its ratings are out of this world. Critically speaking, shows such as “Scrubs” or early-run “Community” were more deftly written but not even close in terms of popularity. So, what makes “Big Bang” go kaboom? I find it hard to think 10 years from now people will talk about this show the way we now still highy regard “Seinfeld” or “Barney Miller” or “Taxi” — all sit com kings of their respective day.
I think that Seinfeld was a show that appealled to smart people as well as everybody else, hence its capturing of the “zeitgeist” whereas today no smart people watch network tv sitcoms. Over the last decade or so the only shows that have really captured the “zeitgeist” are probably the Sopranos, Mad Men, maybe Lost (although I never watched it), probably a few others but none of the highly rated network sit-coms make the list.
ha I write a post about what appeals to smart people and I misspell “appealing”
“I never find it funny.I never find that the show hits the cultural zeitgeist [...]So, what makes “Big Bang” go kaboom?”
It hits the cultural zeitgeist. You are just clearly older than dirt. End of.
Sincerely yours,
a 21 year old TBBT fan
I agree. I can’t figure out why BBT is pulling in the numbers it does… I mean, the actors are likable and really good, but the writing! Ugh.
Obviously, there are 20 some odd million people who disagree with you. It’s a FUNNY show.
There are three groups of people who don’t like this show.
1. The ultra-religious whackjobs that can’t get past the title.
2. People too dumb to understand the scientific terminology
3. People without a sense of humor!
That’s okay, there is plenty of reality show garbage to entertain their tiny minds!
It really is in the same league as the shows you listed. What makes it a hit? Well, chemistry between ALL actors/characters on the show sure as hell doesn’t hurt. Big Bang Theory has had amazing chemistry between it’s cast since practically day one. Why does this matter, you ask? Because, if you have a well written show with poor chemistry between the cast members, it’s bound to fail.
Of course, comedy is subjective. Not only do I laugh out loud at the show, I laugh out loud at reruns of the show. It just clicks for a LOT of people like me. Am I a computer nerd or a physicist? No. I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. But the writing is such that it doesn’t matter. The creators of the show don’t care if you know anything about physics, theoretical or otherwise. It’s the funny, and often inappropriate interactions between the main players that make BBT a huge – and likely long lasting – hit.
Not surprised Beauty & The Beast was down. Is it just me or does this show seem terribly boring? I like Kristin Kreuk,but,even that is not enough to keep me watching this. I also have trouble buying her as a cop/detective/whatever. The guy playing the beast isn’t that good an actor IMO. I have stopped watching this show & I’d be surprised if it came back for another season. Then again,this being the CW-you never know. Kristin deserves better than this.
Big Bang Theory is a paint by numbers ham fisted comedy without nuance and has VERY one dimensional predictable characters that make it a paint by numbers sitcom that kids and people who don’t like more complicated comedies like Parks & Rec.
It’s very much like those ABC T.G.I.F. comedies. Really basic, low level writing, geared for kids.
Exactly.
To me Parks and Rec is just as bad as Big Bang Theory; it’s a poor attempt at the mockumentary format from the British version of the Office, Spinal Tap, etc. It’s maybe not explicitly trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator like BBT but it’s still not very good!
Thanks all for the sincere replies to my question. I appreciate the insight and thoughtful replies to what makes the Big Bang Theory tick….
(As for the above poster named FFS, a self-described “21 year old TBBT fan” I am way closer to your age than “older than dirt”. But even at your tender think-I-know-it-all age I was never condescending to old(er) people. It seems as if every culture on the globe, save for here in America, holds elderly folk in high esteem. Here, we get 21-year-old snot-nosed kids calling people “Old as dirt”. How lame.
I will check back with you kid in, say, 20 years when you, too, in your words are “old as dirt.”
Exactly the type of comment one would expect from someone who is in fact “older than dirt”
Listen granpa, I hate to break it to you but the show is great and speaks to people of my generation and many who are not of my generation but are hip enough to enjoy clever writing and great characters. No need to soil your diaper over the whole thing, just go back to watching repeats and let the show (and the fans) enjoy its success. But thanks for playing!
Sincerely yours,
a 21 year old TBBT fan