CBS ‘Blue Bloods’ Delivers The Top Viewership On Friday.
CBS had an all rerun evening, as this has been nearly an all rerun week. At 8P, a rerun of ‘Undercover Boss’ drew 6.39 million viewers. But it was at 9P, as a rerun of ‘Hawaii Five-O’ drew 8.05 million viewers, Five-O presented one of the best episodes of its run. In an emotional case which involved the kidnapping of children for money, the program did what it does best, develop a theme and run through it to a conclusion which brings empathy and conviction. The performance of Scott Caan as Dano was tremendous and this should be Must See On Demand. At 10P, one of television’s best programs, ‘Blue Bloods’ again proved its superior position within The Tiffany Network. Drawing an evening leading 9.68 million viewers with a rerun, Frank Reagan’s clan all performed a duty above and beyond the call as this episode used the simple growing up task of learning how to drive a car and finding solutions behind a disturbing emotional biting case for the brilliant Donnie Wahlberg (who gave an Emmy performance Master Class in this episode for Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Series) and the continual top shelf performance of Tom Selleck who battled the inner pain of ‘duty’ and doing what is right in solving a State Department case involving a young woman musician and her argument to gain an American Visa to remain in the U.S. This is why ‘Blue Bloods’ should be considered for the Best Drama in Television. Period. It is the most watched Friday program in the past 11 years.
ABC led off the evening at 8P with ‘Last Man Standing’ and drew 6.34 million viewers, good for #3 in its time slot. At 830P, ‘The Neighbors’ drew 3.87 million. Not often a network can drop 2 1/2 million viewers in a single half hour and then bounce back to the top run as at 9P, ‘Shark Tank’ in an original episode drew 8.1 million viewers. At 10P, ’20/20′ while increasing viewership to 8.3 million viewers could not beat a rerun of ‘Blue Bloods’ on CBS. The Alphabet Network gave it a shot in five of the six half hours in prime time on Friday but simply could not match the procedurals of Black Rock.
NBC started strong and finished in the toilet. At 8P, ‘Dateline’ began with a strong 7.277 million viewers but at 9P, things began to become a bit grim. ‘Grimm’ drew 5.86 million viewers but at 10P, there was a blessing and a curse. First for the blessing: ‘Dracula’ had its finale. Curse: It could only pull in 3.09 million. The suits at the Peacock Network must be counting their blessings as the disaster of ‘Dracula’ has had a stake put through its heart. It’s over. Fini. Gone. Bye Bye.
The CW at 8P had ‘The Carrie Diaries which drew 920,000 viewers while at 9P a rerun of ‘The Supernatural’ pulled in only 630,000. Sort of makes you wish for an iHeart special.
There are all kinds of ways to interpret ratings but one thing is for sure: television is a mass medium that counts in eyeballs. Thus, the bigger ratings in Total Persons 2+ is the true indicator of a programs power. Money follows eyeballs.
FOX had an eyeball Friday. At 8P brought everyone a clear view of one of the best female actors in television as Zooey’s sister Emily Deschanel, pulled off another Master Class in acting on ‘Bones’. It drew 7.41 million viewers, the top spot in its time slot. But its real strength is in watching Ms Deschanel present a character so true to form only she could pull this off. Amazing is the only way to classify her performance from her first scene to her very last (which is a classic in itself). In their second to last season, ‘Bones’ will become a classic because of her great work. She may never have another opportunity to develop and present such a character again in a way the viewer understands this extremely focused woman. But for now, Booth’s wife stands alone in the world of television. At 9P, ‘Enlisted’ just can’t cut it against the strong competition in this time period on Fridays. It lost over 4 million viewers and drew 3.23 million. At 930P, The Animal Network of Broadcast gave it all away by presenting ‘Raising Hope’ which it did not by drawing 2.38 million viewers. In looking back, ‘Bones’ has found a home on Friday evenings leading off the network schedule and it could, if the star performers want, last for many more years rather then the one they are committed to.
Jay Leno Leads NBC To Another Late Night Victory With Huge Audience On Friday.
Late night on Friday was all Leno. In Nielsen’s 56 metered markets, NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ scored a terrific 3.2 rating and a 7 share. CBS’s ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ had a 2.3/5 and ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ pulled a 2.3/5 with a rerun. From 12:35-1:05A, NBC’s ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ led with 1.9/6. ABC’s ‘Nightline’ averaged a 1.5/4. CBS’s ‘Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson’ (1.2/4). It simply cannot compete in late, late night. At 1:35A, ‘Last Call with Carson Daly’ with a rerun averaged a 0.8/3.
Jay Leno will be moving somewhere in the future. It is clear he is bruised and battered by the treatment he has received from the suits at NBC and his future probably will not exist in the land of 30 Rock. But rumors in Hollywood suggest that CBS is courting Leno for a late night syndicated program which would be distributed via the powerful CBS distribution. Then there is the potential of FOX where they could use a late night boost. ABC does not seem like a place where he could land with Kimmel and Nightline already on hand, but what if ESPN (named Entertainment & Sports Network after all) tried to build up its late night. TBS has Conan but wouldn’t that be an interesting mix if he went there. But what about Netflix or Pay Channel like Showtime (CBS owned). Yet Leno, Hollywood based, is a true star plum to land. CBS has the clout and in LA it has KTLA where it would be a perfect fit if syndicated. Its going to be a ‘Tanaka Bidding War’ in entertainment. Where do you think he will land?
a. CBS owned property or distribution
b. FOX owned property
c. NBC owned property
d. ABC owned property
e. Netflix
f. Pay Channel
g. Ophra owned property
h. Other
Go the the comment tab and vote.
For the record, CBS with all reruns finished #1 with 8.041 million viewers on average (an increase of 600,000 viewers from last season). ABC finished #2 with 7.175 million, a resounding increase of nearly 2.5 million viewers from the comparable day last season. NBC finished with 5.408 million viewers up 400,000 viewers). Next was FOX with 5.106 thanks to ‘Bones’ a whopping 1.6 million more viewers than a year ago. Univision drew 2.888 viewers while The CW finished with 772,000 viewers on average for the evening, a loss of nearly 400,000+ viewers from the previous year at this time. Broadcast networks were up 4.7+ million viewers over the similar Friday a year ago.
We welcome new viewers in the U.S., Canada, England, The Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Czech Republic, Lebanon and Australia. Hope you enjoy.
Across The Pond:
‘Silent Witness’ Brings BBC One The Top Spot On Friday.
BBC One at 7P presented ‘The One Show’ and it drew 4.27 million (20.5%). At 830P, ‘Room 101’, featuring Labor peer Joan Bakewell, Pointless co-presenter Richard Osman and comedian Roisin Conaty, brought in 3.41 million viewers (14.7%). But it was at 9P last night that the top program of the evening was presented. ‘Silent Witness’ drew 5.20 million viewers (22.1%) to win not only its time slot but Friday for One. At 1045P, ‘The Graham Norton Show’ continued the high viewership evening on BBC One with 3.73 million viewers.
ITV had a relatively steady share of around 12.6% for its primetime programming on Friday. At 8P, ‘The Martin Lewis Money Show’ had 2.81 million viewers while at 9P, ‘Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’ drew 3.19 million (13.6%).
BBC Two at 8P presented ‘Mastermind’ and 2.21 million (9.9%) watched. At 830P, ‘An Island Parish’ drew 1.81 million viewers (7.8%). At 9P, the travel show ‘Italy Unpacked’ spilled in 1.56 million (6.7%). Ant at 10P, Two’s audience grew to 1.84 million (9.4%) for ‘QI’.
Channel 4 at 9P presented ‘Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast’ and drew 1.26 million (5.5%). At 9P, ‘8 Out of 10 Cats does Countdown’ grabbed the attention of 1.9 million. A rerun of ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Holiday’ could only draw 790,000 viewers.
Channel 5 pulled out ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ which brought in 2.59 million viewers (11.7%). At 1030P, the companion show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit On The Side’ added 959,300 viewers (6.8%).
BBC Three at 9P presented Bruce Willis sci-fi action movie ‘Surrogates’, which had 426,3000 viewers (1.9%).
E4 at 9P presented the Tom Cruise classic ‘Top Gun’ which drew 304,500 (1.5%) viewers. Result: Willis defeated Cruise as both were defeated by ‘Silent Witness’
So it goes.
Down Under:
Rafael Nadal Wins Semi-Final in the 2014 Australian Open on Friday.
Network 7 used the ‘Australian Open’ to score a major victory in Friday’s ratings as their 2014 Australian Night 12 – Late edition topped all with 1.369 million viewers. The earlier coverage finished a solid #2 with 1.295 million. ‘Seven News’ finished #5 with 942,000 viewers. ‘Today Tonight’ was #6 with 852,000 viewers.
Network 9 ‘Nine News’ finished #3 and had the top newscast of the night with 1.269 million viewers. Their coverage of ‘One Day Cricket-Australia V England Game 4 Session 2′ finished #4 with a strong 1.068 million viewers. Their coverage of One Day Cricket Match-Australia V England Game 4 Session 1’ drew 654,000 viewers to rank #8 on Friday.
ABC1’s ‘ABC News Evening’ ranked #7 for the evening with 740,000 viewers. A rerun of ‘Death In Paradise’ drew the top spot in a non-sport, non-news program for #9 with 595,000 viewers.
Network 10 had the #10 program on Friday with ‘Ten Eyewitness News’ which pulled in 583,000 viewers.
As you can see, no matter where people were watching television, they were…
Switching Channels!
For updates throughout the day, FOLLOW on Twitter @overtheshoulde2 and LIKE at http://www.facebook.com/overtheshouldermedia and on Google+ http://bit.ly/19JVk76
OVERTHESHOULDERMEDIA 