Thursday 9th October: NBC springs a surprise

What a night of surprises! In the 8pm hour, long running Survivor won with 13.306M and 4.4/12 in the 18-49 demo. While NBC's comedies remain stable, My Name is Earl looks like its struggling but given NBC's failures this season, Earl is in no danger. The first surprise was Kath and Kim, after numerous negative reviews, Kath and Kim managed to pull nearly 7.5M with 3.2/9 - 18-49 and a timeslot winning 3.2/10 in the 18-34 demo. Whilst on ABC, Ugly Betty remains consistent for ABC.

9pm was the battle of the powerhouses, but The Office, which usually plays 3rd fiddle to both came out on top in the 18-34 demo. A Saturday Night Live special followed and it netted an impressive 10.6M and good demos. Meanwhile, CSI, won in total viewers with 23M and 7/17 in the 18-49 demo. Grey's on the other hand slumped from its performance two weeks ago, dropping nearly 4M and more than 2 points in the demo. It has been a very bad week for ABC, with all its big guns stumbling.

The CW's male-skewing night continues to outperform most nights with Smallville and Supernatural holding their own. Given these promising figures, I think The CW should stop targeting one specific audience (Women 18-34) and start targeting the entire 18-34 demo.

At 10pm, both CBS and ABC launched their new shows. Life on Mars US on the ABC was triumphant but both shows lost audience from their first half hour. Life on Mars lost nearly 11% in viewers, 14.6% in 18-49 and 17.2 in the 18-34, with Eleventh Hour losing 15.3% in total viewers, 18.9% in the 18-49 and 12.5 in 18-34. However, these two big premieres were overshadowed by the long running ER, which won the timeslot in both demos with 4.0/10 and 3.3/10 (18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively). A strong SNL leadin wouldve helped ER, nevertheless those numbers for a program in its 15th and final season are impressive.

TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

Meanwhile, South Park's fall premiere received 3.7M and 2.5 adults 18-49 rating. This helped its lead-out program The Sarah Silverman Program which scored a series high of 2.4M and 1.6 in the demo.

THRFEED