Originally Posted by Jesse321
The retrofitted remake averaged 11.1 million viewers (26th place), per the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings. That was a better showing than all but two new fall series, but it was a far worse showing than the nearly 14 million viewers Bionic Woman averaged for its debut.
Among the networks' prized 18- to 49-year-old viewers, Jaime Sommers didn't have any better luck. Her show, which ranked eighth in the demographic last week, fell to 19th, placing below such trendsetters as ABC's Brothers & Sisters and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Private Practice (17th place, 12.4 million), the Bionic Woman's Wednesday night rival, slipped, too, but not nearly as badly or as far as the NBC show. The Grey's Anatomy spinoff lost 2 million viewers, and two places in the 18-49 rankings, down to 11th place, from its premiere.
NBC and ABC's losses were CBS' gain, which saw Criminal Minds (10th place, 14.6 million) add nearly 2 million viewers who had trouble remembering when their favorite show was back with new episodes. (The CBS series had its own trouble remembering to tell youngsters to watch—the show continued to run third in the 9 p.m. Wednesday hour, behind Private Practice and Bionic Woman.)
Bionic Woman and Private Practice need not feel too bad about being smaller than they once were, back in the halcyon days, sorry, day of Sept. 26. Nearly every returning show is smaller than it was last season; the four big networks are smaller than they were last season. CBS has suffered the biggest nosedives, down 11 percent in total viewers, and (way) down 18 percent in 18- to 49-year-olds.
So, maybe it's not that Jaime Sommers is failing—maybe it's that she's trying to fit in.
Here are other ratings highlights of the TV week, which ended Sunday:
* Last season in week two, three shows—CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives—each scored an audience of more than 21 million viewers. This season in week two, no one did.
* CSI (first place, 21 million), Grey's Anatomy (third place, 18.5 million) and Desperate Housewives (fifth place, 17.8 million) are all still among TV's (and TiVo's) biggest shows. It's just that the definition of biggest has been downsized.
* ABC's Dancing with the Stars (second place, 20.2 million for Monday's show; eighth place, 15.9 million for Tuesday's results show) and Fox's House (sixth place, 17.4 million) are among the rare shows that aren't on viewer diets.
* ABC's Pushing Daisies (14th place, 13 million) was the week's most-watched new show; ABC's Cavemen (34th place, 9.2 million) was the week's most-watched new sitcom, a near-extinct distinction; and the CW's Online Nation (162nd place, 702,000) was the week's least powerful threat to YouTube.
* The miracle of Scranton continues: NBC's The Office (42nd place, 8.6 million) lost viewers and seven places in the weekly rankings, but moved up to eighth place in the 18-49 demo. Only Fox's The Simpsons, which ranked 55th in total viewers (7.9 million), but 24th in the demo, boasted a bigger split.
* A week after airing twice and pooling its numbers to score a top 10 finish, NBC's Heroes aired only once, and fell to 18th place (12 million). At least the series had its fun while it could. On Tuesday, Nielsen rescinded the rule that allowed NBC to double the strength of its superhero show.
* "Seinfeld Vision" boosted the second-season premiere of NBC's Emmy winner, 30 Rock (60th place, 7.3 million), to its best-ever numbers among 18- to 49-year-olds, which is not nearly the same as boosting it to Seinfeld numbers.
* If size matters, then ABC's Big Shots (50th place, 8.2 million) is in big trouble after losing about 10 million viewers from its Grey's Anatomy lead-in.
* On Friday, the second-season premiere of NBC's Friday Night Lights (68th place, 6.4 million) improved on the almost-canceled show's average from last season (5.8 million), but did no favors for Las Vegas (57th place, 7.5 million), which got bumped back to 10 p.m. to make way for the football show.
* If only The O.C. had been on the CW... On the CW, a 106th place finish (2.7 million) is cause for a season-long renewal for Gossip Girl, hailed as the fall's highest rated new show among teens and teen girls.
* In cable, TBS cleaned up with the baseball playoffs, and touched them all as the most-watched network in prime time (5.3 million). Sunday's matchup between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians led the way for TBS, averaging 8.5 million potential viewers for Frank TV. Overall, football remained king, with ESPN's Monday Night Football (11.8 million) scoring as cable's most-watched show.
* Well, at least Britney Spears' VMA appearance worked out for somebody. The second-season opener of The Sarah Silverman Program (2.1 million) was Comedy Central's most-watched show after South Park (3.3 million).
* Law & Order: Criminal Intent reruns air so often on cable, it's apparently no big deal when new episodes start airing there, too. The USA opener of the former NBC series averaged fewers viewers (3.8 million) than USA typically gets from homegrown series such as Monk and Psych.
* Bret Michaels' Rock of Love is the gift that keeps on giving to VH1. The reunion special averaged a solid 3.9 million viewers; the series has been renewed for a second season.
* Bravo's Top Chef 3: Miami (3.1 million) crowned Hung Huynh as its cooking champ, and crowed about more foodies watching this season over last (up 7 percent in viewers).
Overall, CBS lost more viewers than anybody, but still won honors as the most-watched network (11.4 million); NBC lost fewer 18- to 49-year-olds than anybody, and ended up in a first place tie with ABC for the demo crown.
ABC (10.8 million) ran second in viewers, followed by NBC (9.2 million) and Fox (7 million), which pulled a pair of fourth-place finishes.
A year after the WB and UPN fused into the CW, the network (2.9 million) remains smaller than the sum of its parts, and is shedding 18-34 viewers, its target crowd, like CBS is shedding 18-49 viewers.
Here's a look at the 10 most-watched broadcast network prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
1. CSI, CBS, 21 million viewers
2. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 20.2 million viewers
3. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 18.5 million viewers
4. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 18.3 million viewers
5. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 17.8 million viewers
6. House, Fox, 17.4 million viewers
7. NCIS, CBS, 16.4 million viewers
8. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 15.9 million viewers
9. CSI: Miami, CBS, 14.7 million viewers
10. Criminal Minds, CBS, 14.6 million viewers
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