Friday Night Lights returned to NBC and few noticed (of course most have already seen the episodes via DirecTV or the season five DVD set). Five of the network’s original episodes remained at the same level that they were at a week earlier. All but two of the others were losers, including The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Community, and The Office. The Paul Reiser Show had a terrible second week and, as expected, it’s already been cancelled.
Which NBC TV shows will be cancelled or renewed depend mostly on the series’s ratings, particularly the 18-49 demographic. Before we get to the season-to-date averages, here are the winners and losers from April 15th through April 21st — based on the coveted demo, as measured against the last original episode.
Week-to-Week Winners: Dateline 1.4/4 (Fri, +7.7%) and Parenthood 2.5/7 (+19.0%).
No change: Friday Night Lights 0.9/3 (new), Dateline 0.9/3, America’s Next Great Restaurant 1.2/3, Chuck 1.3/4, Parks and Recreation 2.4/6, and 30 Rock 2.2/6.
Week-to-Week Losers: Celebrity Apprentice 2.6/7 (-13.3%), The Event 1.1/3 (-15.4%), Law & Order: Los Angeles 1.1/3 (-26.7%), The Biggest Loser 2.3/6 (-14.8%), Minute to Win It 0.8/2 (-11.1%), Community 1.4/5 (-22.2%), The Paul Reiser Show 0.9/3 (-18.2%), and The Office 3.3/10 (-17.5%).
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 and not repeats. The data is sorted by the all-important 18-49 demographic averages. The closer a show is to the bottom, the more likely it is to be cancelled. Fridays and Saturdays are the least-watched nights of TV so those shows get lower numbers.
| Demo rank | Scripted TV Shows | Average viewership (in millions) |
Average 18-49 demo rating |
Compared to last week |
|
| 1 | The Office (renewed) | 7.32 | 3.7 | --- | |
| 2 | Law & Order: SVU | 8.47 | 2.5 | --- | |
| 2 | Parks and Recreation (renewed) | 5.00 | 2.5 | --- | |
| 4 | 30 Rock (renewed) | 5.01 | 2.4 | --- | |
| 5 | Outsourced | 4.62 | 2.1 | --- | |
| 5 | Parenthood | 5.34 | 2.1 | --- | |
| 7 | Law & Order: LA | 7.71 | 2.0 | down | |
| 8 | The Event | 5.92 | 1.9 | --- | |
| 8 | Community (renewed) | 4.41 | 1.9 | down | |
| 10 | Harry's Law | 9.39 | 1.8 | --- | |
| 10 | Chuck | 5.29 | 1.8 | --- | |
| 12 | The Cape (cancelled) | 5.34 | 1.6 | --- | |
| 13 | Chase | 5.26 | 1.5 | --- | |
| 14 | Undercovers (cancelled) | 5.97 | 1.4 | --- | |
| 14 | Perfect Couples | 3.07 | 1.4 | --- | |
| 16 | Outlaw (cancelled) | 4.94 | 1.0 | --- | |
| 16 | The Paul Reiser Show (cancelled) | 2.87 | 1.0 | down | |
| 18 | Friday Night Lights (ending) | 3.57 | 0.9 | (new) | |
| Demo rank | News or Reality TV Shows | Average viewership (in millions) |
Average 18-49 demo rating |
Compared to last week |
|
| 1 | The Sing Off | 8.56 | 2.9 | --- | |
| 1 | Celebrity Apprentice | 8.19 | 2.9 | --- | |
| 1 | The Biggest Loser (winter/spring) | 8.05 | 2.9 | --- | |
| 4 | The Biggest Loser (fall) | 7.44 | 2.7 | --- | |
| 5 | Dateline (Friday) | 6.08 | 1.4 | --- | |
| 5 | Minute to Win It | 4.87 | 1.4 | down | |
| 5 | The Apprentice (fall) | 3.89 | 1.4 | --- | |
| 8 | Who Do You Think You Are? | 6.31 | 1.3 | --- | |
| 9 | America's Next Great Restaurant | 3.92 | 1.3 | down | |
| 10 | Dateline (Sunday) | 5.34 | 1.1 | --- | |
| 11 | School Pride | 2.50 | 0.7 | --- | |
Raw data: © The Nielsen Company via Media Week.
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.
What do you think? Do any of the rankings surprise you? Which shows do you think won’t survive to see a new season?
Image courtesy NBC.
With everyone DVR’ing or T-Vo’ing shows, how is viewership calculated? I set my DVR to record The Event every week and would not miss it for the world. Do shows have to be watched during the original broadcast for it to be scored? If so, that would be insane with today’s technology.