Still dominant, ‘American Idol’ with Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick, Jr. get FOX back on top.
Don’t look the other way. With a new judge, the multiple EMMY and Grammy Award winner Harry Connick Jr., the popular Jennifer Lopes back for a second turn and multiple Grammy and CMA Award winner Keith Urban back for another year, the jazz, pop and country formats are covered as ‘American Idol’ came back with a bang and topped the evening on FOX with 15.19 million viewers and a 9.4 ratings and a 15 share of audience. It reached its peak at 9P with 15.34 million. For FOX that’s big. For FOX that is also down about 20% from the pervious ‘American Idol’ opening. But before everyone gets on the bandwagon of suggesting that the show is getting old (The median age of the show’s viewers has steadily increased to more than 51 years in its 12th season, according to Nielsen, up from 31.9 years in its first season back in 2002.) and that the sky is falling, this year’s edition shows signs of getting back to basics. And it appears to be a good thing. There was an instant camaraderie on set and it transferred into an enjoyable two hours. This show is worth looking at this season with none of the hateful baggage of the past. Plus, there are a lot of superb new people with a lot of talent yet to be discovered. Who will ever forget James Earl mummering (‘sometimes I just do dat’) or Katelyn Jackson, a teen who penned ‘Another Angel’ after her grandfather suffered a heart attack as she performed onstage. From Boston to Austin, it was moments like these that makes ‘Idol’ so compelling. Congrats to FOX for remaking an old show and bringing joy back into the equation. If you missed it, get on demand now.
On additional thought on ‘American Idol’. Coca Cola had some of the best integrated commercials in the history of television on the show. Their music oriented spots fit perfectly into the structure of the show and drove their product, front and center, during the course of the evening. If they follow through with this theme via digital and mobile, it will be truly fully integrated marketing. Things really do go better when they are integrated.
CBS at 8P reran an episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and a drew 5.36 million viewers and a 3.5/6 while at 830P, a rerun of ‘The Millers’ pulled in 4.78 million and a 3.1/5. At 9P, ‘Criminal Minds’ pushed The Tiffany Network up to #2 for the evening with 10.35 million and a 6.8/11 while at 10P, ‘CSI’, the foundation of Black Rock, pulled in 10.3 million viewers and a 6.9/12 and pushed the network back to the top spot for the time period. This is something the affiliates love.
At ABC at 8P, ‘The Middle’ led off with 7.51 million viewers and a 5.49. At 8:30P, the season premier of ‘Suburgatory’ pulled in 5.30 million viewers and a 4.0/6. At 9P, ‘Modern Family’ was the network’s top draw with 9.14 million and a 6.5/10. At 930P, ‘Super Fun Night’ brought the network crashing back down with 4.44 million and a 3.2/5, losing some 51% of ‘Modern’s’ audience. It is time to cancel this show and fill in the time period with anything but ‘Super Fun’. At 10P, ‘Nashville’ had the Alphabet Network finish with 5.1 million viewers. Not good.
NBC was a mystery. At 8P, ‘Revolution’ just didn’t hold up to the competition and could only muster 4.78 million viewers and a 3.2/5. At 9P, the true and trusted ‘Law & Order:SVU’ saw one of the old cast members leave in an emotional episode and drew 5.44 million viewers and a 4.3/7. But it was at 10P that NBC continued to stun audiences. ‘Chicago PD’ is absolutely superb and it is a great addition to The Peacock Network. Wednesday’s episode was thrilling, exciting and suspenseful. It was emotionally raw. Yet it only drew 5.5 million viewers and a 3.8/6, tops for the network on Wednesday. Most important, it held its lead in. But it deserves better. Yes…it is brutal at times. Yes…it is edgy. But it is absolutely riveting. This deserves to be put on your on demand list now.
On Univision, at 8P, ‘Por Siempre Mi Amo’ drew a 1.1 while at 9P, ‘Lo Que La Vida Me Robo’ drew a 1.4. At 10P, ‘Que Pobres Tan Ricos’ finished with a 1.1.
The CW at 8P had ‘Arrow’ and it is one of the best shows on The Little Network That Could’s schedule. It drew 2.52 million viewers and a 2.0/3. But at 9P, ‘The Tomorrow People’ which moves to Mondays, just couldn’t help. It drew only 1.46 million viewers and a 1.2/2.
On cable, ‘Duck Dynasty’ drew 8.516 million viewers as it premiered its new season on A&E at 10P, good for #2 in all of television in that time period. For the evening, A&E finished for 4.858 million viewers in prime time.
Late night brought ‘Jay Leno’ on Wednesday evening pulled in a 2.8/7 while ‘David Letterman’ drew a 2.5/7 and ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ had a 2.1/7. An hour later, ABC’s ‘Nightline’ finished #2 with a 1.3/4 as ‘Jimmy Fallon’ featuring CC Sabathia in an ‘August: Osage County’ sendup pulled a 1.6/6 for #1 in its time slot. ‘Craig Ferguson’ as usual, finished last with a 1.2/4. An hour later than these programs at 135A, NBC’s ‘Carson Daly’ all alone with a raffle full of reruns on nearly every channel, had a 0.9/4.
For the record, FOX was back to #1 with 15.19 million viewers and a 9.4 rating and a 15 share of the available audience, both good marks for the Animal Network of Broadcast. CBS was second with 8.647 million viewers and a 5.6/9. ABC was next with 6.094 million viewers and a 4.4/7. NBC drew 5.301 million viewers and a 3.7/6. A&E drew 4.858 million viewers. Univision drew 2.9 million viewers and a 1.6/3. The CW drew 2.038 million viewers and pulled a 1.6/2. Telemundo finished Wednesday with 1.3 million viewers and a 0.8/1.
Telemundo “La Impostora” averaged 1,608,000 total viewers becoming Telemundo’s best 8P novela premiere among total viewers in nearly eight years.
MEDIA NOTE: Telemundo Media’s “La Impostora,” reached a cumulative audience of 2,386,000 total viewers and 1,168,000 adults 18-49 on premiere night earlier this week, according to Nielsen. Starring Lisette Morelos and for the first time together, mother and son, Christian Bach and Sebastian Zurita, the original production taped in Mexico averaged 1,608,000 total viewers and 753,000 adults 18-49, becoming Telemundo’s best 8P novela premiere among total viewers in nearly eight years. Locally, the new novela ranked #1 in Miami with adults 18-49, regardless of language and ranked #1 in New York, among Spanish-language networks.
Across The Pond:
Great Britain Bake Off Sport Relief Topped All In The UK on Wednesday.
BBC Two with ‘Great Britain’s Bake Off Sport Relief’ after news and soaps, was the UK”s top program as it drew 4.3 1million views and a 18.5% share of available audience. At 7P, ‘Nature’s Weirdest Events’ was seen by 1.49 million viewers (6.9%), while at 9P, ‘Wild Brazil’ brought in 2.03 million (9.1%).
On BBC One at 930P had ‘Live at the Apollo’ and pulled in 2.15 million (9.8%). At 1035P, ‘A Question of Sport’ kept 2.11 million viewers (16.1%) on BBC One.
ITV at 8P presented Manchester City’s ‘FA Cup’ win scored 3.27 million viewers (13.7%).
Channel 5’s at 8P ‘Bigger Big Body Squad’ brought in 721,000 (3.1%). At 9P, ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ drew 2.49 million viewers and an 11.8% share of available audience.
Channel 4 at t 8P, ‘Restoration Man’ brought in 1.66 million (7.1%). At 9P ’24 Hours in A&E’ drew an impressive 2.6 million viewers and an 11.6% share. At 10P, ‘Finding Mom & Dad’ drew 1.43 million viewers (8.7%).
And for those who were wondering, after a six-year absence, ‘The Kumars’ returned with a disappointing 370,000 (1.7%) on Sky1, a shadow of its former run on BBC One. Bye Bye Kumars.
E4 at 9P, had ‘The Tomorrow People’ and it drew 753,000 viewers (3.4%).
As you can see, no matter where you watched television on Monday, people were …
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