NBC TV Show Rankings for 2010-11 season [1/15/11 update]

NBC didn’t have a lot of original episodes last week so the rankings haven’t changed very much since last week’s list. Airing on Wednesday night, game show Minute to Win It took a big hit. The episode scored a 1.4 in the 18-49 demographic and 4.85 million viewers. That was a decrease of 33% from the previous week’s installment. That drop likely had a lot to do with the mixed up schedule caused by the President’s speech in Tucson.

The Cape debuted on Sunday night to a 2.6 rating in the demo and 8.45 million total viewers. That’s not ordinarily a great rating but, for the peacock network, it places in third place for scripted programming. It remains to be seen if this will hold up in the weeks to come. NBC certainly could use a success story.

For a complete list of NBC cancellations and renewals for the 2010-11 season, be sure to check out this post. It’ll be updated as the peacock network renews and cancels more shows.

Below is a list of the regular NBC TV shows and their 2010-11 season average ratings to date. It only incorporates the ratings for original episodes that have aired this season, not repeats. The data is sorted by the 18-49 demographic averages, the group that advertisers will pay the most to reach and, therefore, the audience most important to the network. The “compared to” column reflects whether the demo average has gone up, down, or stayed the same since last week.

Demo rank	Scripted TV Shows	Average viewership (in millions)	Average 18-49 demo rating	Compared to last week
1	The Office	7.42	3.8	---
2	Outsourced	5.68	2.7	---
3	The Cape	8.45	2.6	new
4	Law & Order: SVU	8.75	2.5	---
4	30 Rock (renewed)	5.37	2.5	---
6	Law & Order: LA	8.24	2.2	---
6	The Event	6.86	2.2	---
8	Parenthood	5.31	2.1	---
9	Community	4.64	2.0	---
10	Chuck	5.44	1.9	---
11	Chase	5.44	1.6	---
12	Undercovers (cancelled)	5.97	1.4	---
13	Perfect Couples	3.56	1.3	---
14	Outlaw (cancelled)	4.94	1.0	---
Demo rank	News or Reality TV Shows	Average viewership (in millions)	Average 18-49 demo rating	Compared to last week
1	The Biggest Loser (winter/spring)	9.29	3.3	---
2	The Sing Off	8.56	2.9	---
3	The Biggest Loser (fall)	7.44	2.7	---
4	Minute to Win It	6.64	2.0	down
5	The Apprentice	3.89	1.4	---
6	Dateline	5.72	1.3	---
7	School Pride	2.50	0.7	---

The closer a show is to the bottom of the list, the closer it is to being cancelled (if it hasn’t been cancelled already like Outlaw and Undercovers). If it’s closer to the top of the list, it’s more likely to be renewed. Shows that are in the middle (“on the bubble”) can be a little tougher to call. Their future typically comes down to other factors like overall costs, contracts, who produces the show, and what new shows are on the horizon.

The list has been separated into two sections. Of the two, scripted programming is the most expensive. News and reality TV shows are less expensive to produce but the networks can’t program just news/reality (though they might like to since they are less of a financial risk).

It should be noted that Friday and Saturday nights are the least watched evenings of television so ratings for shows on those nights are lower. The networks understand this and take it into account. However, regardless of when a show is aired, its production costs remain the same. Ultimately, it must still be profitable enough for the network to keep ordering more episodes.

Raw data: © The Nielsen Company via Media Week. Nielsen doesn’t release the final Friday and Saturday night ratings until a few days later. An average with a “*” may change slightly once the final numbers are released.

What do you think? Which shows do you think won’t survive to see a new season?