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First Week, at a glance

New show, new hit.

Photo credit: abc

 

 

  Well, we've made it, gang.

  The first week. Or almost. There's still Friday, Sat., and Sunday.

  But, for your edification, I've posted a brief piece that'll run in the Newsday early next week - it covers the first week through last night.  And here we go...

  "NCIS" is up.
 "DWTS" is down.
  And Jay? He's still hanging around.
  And there, in quasi-Haiku-something, is your snap shot of the 2009 season thus far.  
  What follows are more details, stats and thoughts from the new season's first week. (Deadline pressures kept Sunday out of this analysis - sorry - though most of the season's new shows had already bowed by then.)
  Let's go to the bullets!

 * Jay Leno:
A great first week was followed by a somewhat sobering second. How so? On  Monday, Sept. 21, the first night of the new season, "The Jay Leno Show" was seen by 5.9 million people, or just about 12 million below his opener a week before. What happened? Original programming happened. "Leno" tracked well over around 6 million following Monday, though dropped below 5 million for the first time on Thursday. The drop was expected while NBC has said it'll be happy with a 1 rating among adults 1-49; last week, the show averaged around a 1.7. That's good, but still below scripted shows last season. Jay's strength? Women, between the ages of 25 and 54 (considered an older audience) and his weakness are teens and men; ratings for the former are sub-1.

* "NCIS," your new season champ: Always premature to call a winner after the first week, but "NCIS" launched with 21 million last Tuesday, and 18.7 million for spin-off "LA." "CSI," the former champ, was down to just 15.5 million on opening night - this, for a show that reliably scored over 20 million viewers a season or so ago. If "NCIS" holds this number, it will be the season's second top-rated show, after "American Idol."

 * "Dancing with the Stars:" A slow start. Since when is 17.4 million (the first hour last Monday) a "slow" start? Since 2008, when "DWTS" launched with 21.4 million. The show was relatively soft all week - due to massive kick-offs for "House" and "NCIS." Still, ABC has to be a little concerned.

* Blast-off for "FlashForward," "The Good Wife:" After "NCIS: LA," these were the winners among new dramas - 13.7 million viewers for the latter, and 12.4 million for "Forward."

* NBC comedies:
Soft. "Community"  has a reasonable launch (7.9 million) but fell by more than two million viewers last week. Of greater concern, "Parks & Rec," which has no traction. (4.2 m).

 * ABC comedies: Good beginning. Yes, the two newcomers did fine, but "Modern Family" (12.6 m) was the week's winner. (Courteney Cox's "Cougar Town," which followed, fell to 11.3 million.)

 

 

 
 
 
 

Tags: jay leno , the good wife , dancing with the stars , NCIS , NCIS:LA , cougar town , fastforward

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