Wednesday, 05.21.14 (Posted 05.22.14)
In one of the most interesting nights of the season, there were the battle of the realities, introduction to new programs and the season enders of others. On this final Wednesday of the May Sweeps, everyone threw out their best to capture the audience interest. For some it worked exceptionally well.
FOX
FOX came out the big winner on Wednesday as ‘American Idol’ took over the network’s entire prime time schedule and gave the nation a huge concert of celebration rather than a contrived countdown. With the performance of both the finalists and the touring Idols, along with the panelists and JayLo’s introduction of her new hit single, along came KISS which brought down the house, this was the Animal Network of Broadcast’s answer to all the other network’s musical specials wrapped into one at the Nokia at ‘LA LIVE’ in downtown Los Angeles. It was a powerhouse for the program that once dominated the airwaves and brought back ‘Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour’. From 8P to a little past 10P, ‘American Idol’ drew 10.14 million viewers and a . It was a sensational end to a great creative season. After all, this is the program that brought the world Fantasia, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Phillip Phillips. How good is this program? Name one winner of ‘The Voice’! It’s Caleb Johnson time.
CBS
The Tiffany Network allowed the original reality show to have the evening all to itself. ‘Survivor’ came in and gave it the very best it could, including leading in the first half hour of the evening, but it could not keep up with the wave of ‘Idol’ as it drew 9.5 million viewers from 8-1013P. At 1013-11P it lead everything as ‘Survivor-Reunion’ drew 7.65 million viewers. For the Granddaddy of Reality, it was a good night even after all of these years.
ABC
The Alphabet Network ended its May Sweeps with and hour long ‘The Middle’ at 8P and drew 7.53 million viewers. And at 9P, the biggest program of the evening was ‘Modern Family’ which drew 10.23 million viewers. It finished 231,000 viewers ahead of what its season finale brought in a year ago on this date. At 930P, the definition of failure takes over on the Broadcast Disney Channel as ‘Mixology’ dropped over 6 million viewers and finished with 4.01 million viewers. At 10P, the season premiere of ‘Motive’ drew 4.06 million from a horrible base just a half hour before. Once ‘Mixology’ is out, then we can judge how popular ‘Motive’ really is. This episode of ‘Motive’ was interesting as we immediately knew who the killer was as well as the victim. How the detectives figured it out was unique in television story telling. But it did finished 2.0 million viewers less than ‘Nashville’ did last season on this comparable date.
NBC
The Peacock Network began this important evening with the series finale of ‘Revolution’ at 8P. From what once was an imaginative series, the end drew only 4.21 million viewers, 1.975 million less than the program in this time slot accomplished a year ago on this date. At 9P, the always strong ‘Law & Order: SVU’ drew 30 Rock’s biggest numbers of the evening with 6.72 million viewers. Although not good enough to finished higher than #4 in its time period, it still pulled the network up 2.4 million viewers above its intro and allowed the following program to do well. That is the mark of a strong program and deserving of coming back season after season. It finished 405,000 viewers below last year on this comparable date. At 10P, the terrific ‘Chicago PD’ finished the season with a very strong program where the bad guys were caught, the slimy got slimier and the City of Chicago continues to be the “City That Works”. It drew 6.22 million viewers, which was up 55,000 viewers above last year’s programming on this comparable date.
The CW
The Little Network That Could gave the evening to ‘The 100’ beginning at 8P with a rerun that drew 800,000 viewers. But at 9P, in the season finale, ‘The 100’ drew 1.42 million viewers. The network finished just 7,000 viewers less than it did on this date a year ago. But, at 9P, it finished 304,000 viewers ahead of last year on this date.
Late Night
‘The Tonight Show’ with guest stars Hugh Jackman and Barry Gibbs had a 2.8/7. For a look at the hilarious Coller Scooter Race, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yAw0bh3tsg. ‘David Letterman’ drew a 2.0/5. ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ with guest star Adam Sandler had a 2.1/5. At 1235, ‘Nightline’ had a 1.3/4. ‘Seth Meyers’ finished with a 1.4/5. ‘Craig Ferguson’ drew a 1.0/3. At 135, ‘Carson Daly’ finished the evening with a 0.8/4.
For The Record
FOX finished on top on Wednesday with 10.14 million viewers and a 6.1/10. CBS came in #2 with 8.89 and a 5.3/9. ABC finished #3 with 6.24 million viewers and a 4.0/7. NBC had 5.57 million viewers and a 3.7/6. Univision drew million viewers and a 1.4/2. The CW had 1.11 million viewers and a 0.8/1. Telemundo finished with 0.7/1.
Today In TV History
This was a day history was made. On this date in 1955, Jack Benny did his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. He then devoted his time fully to TV. When he did this, basically, live network radio broadcasting of regularly scheduled prime time programming was dead. Television was now officially king. For a listen to the broadcast, go to: http://bit.ly/1pgrSvc. It really brings you another era of communication.
Cable TV News
NBA Basketball Western Conference Finals on TBS #1 on Cable on Wednesday.
The Top Ten Cable Programs on Wednesday
#1 NBA PLAYOFFS- Conference Finals TNT 5.711 million viewers @ 9P
#2 American Pickers HIST 2.931 million viewers @ 9P
#3 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2.792 million viewers @ 10P
#4 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2.606 million viewers @ 9P
#5 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2.238 million viewers @ 830P
#6 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2.361 million viewers @ 9P
#7 NCIS USA 2.188 million viewers @ 8P
#8 American Dad ADSM 2.123 million viewers @ 1030P
#9 NCIS USA 2.115 million viewers @ 9P
#10 Down East Dickering HIST 2.005 million viewers @ 10P
New update on The Millennium Report can be found at http://bit.ly/1ljkQXc.
Welcome
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Across The Pond
BBC One #1 in the UK on Wednesday.
BBC One was once again the highest rated network outside of soaps. At 8P, ‘Watchdog’ brought in 3.8 million viewers (19.8%). At 9P, the new documentary series ‘Del Boys & Dealers’ topped the night overall outside soaps with 3.9 million viewers (18.8%).
BBC Two at 8P presented the ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ coverage as it continued with 2.5 million viewers (13.1%). It was followed by ‘Coast Australia’ which surprisingly kept most of the audience at 9P and drew 2.0 million viewers (9.8%). At 10P, ‘Episodes’ brought in 840,000 viewers (5.0%).
ITV at 730P presented ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1’ and it brought in 2.4 million Potter fanatics (12.5%).
Channel 4 at 8P had ‘Supervet’ and it was seen by 1.4 million viewers (7.4%). It was followed at 9P by ’24 Hours in A&E’ with 2.1 million viewers (9.9%). At 10P, ‘Derek’ had 892,000 viewers (5.4%).
Channel 5 at 8P presented ‘King’s Cross: Inferno on the Tube’ and it pulled in 616,000 viewers (3.3%). At 9P, the latest ‘NCIS’ continued to grow with 979,000 viewers (4.7%). Watch out for this program. It becomes addictive and the numbers will grow.
Sky1 at 9P presented ’24: Live Another Day’ and its latest episode on Wednesday brought in 553,000 viewers (2.7%).
BBC Three at 10P had ‘Orphan Black’ and it drew 147,000 viewers (0.9%).
ITV2 at 9P had ‘Fearne and… McBusted’ and it brought in 373,000 viewers (1.9%).
Down Under
Seven came roaring back to the top in Australia on Wednesday as it pulled in 31.2% share of the available audience. It had the top program in the nation, ‘Seven News’ which pulled in 1,377,000 viewers. It also had the #2 program, ‘House Rules’ which drew 1,272,000 viewers. And, it pulled of the triple crown on the night, with the #3 program ‘Seven News/Today Tonight’ which drew 1,203,000 viewers. The network also had the #7 program on the evening, ‘Home and Away’ which had 951,000 viewers and the #10 program in the Top Ten with ‘Million Dollar Minute’ with 791,000 viewers.
Nine came in a solid second with 26.1% share of the available audience in the nation Wednesday. #4 program was ‘Nine News’ which drew 1,149,000 viewers. #5 was ‘Nine News 6:30’ with 1,103,000 viewers. It also had #6, ‘A Current Affair’ which pulled in 1,070,000 viewers.
Ten came in strong with a very big (for them) 21.2% share of the available audience with #8 program, ‘MasterChef Australia’ with 928,000 viewers and the #9 program ‘Offspring’ with 817,000 viewers.
ABC1 finished in an unusual fourth place on an evening with 15.8% share of the available audience.
SBS came in #5 with 5.7% share.
As you can see, no matter where in the world you were watching television, people were…
Switching Channels!
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