Tenth Hour a shadow of it's former self - Thursday 6 November 2008 (US)

Thursday night is no longer the must see TV stonghold of days past. Survivor is the undisputed 8pm champion with 12 million tuning in, 5 million of those being under 40s. Incredibly watch how the total viewers rise for CSI whilst the 18-49 segment decreases! The reverse happens for ABC and NBC in the 9pm hour with Grey's Anatomy posting the biggest share of young adults for the night, followed by The Office.

The 10pm hour is just pitiful with nothing breaking through - in days gone by all the hottest shows with the most viewers were at 10pm, ER, NYPD Blue, Northern Exposure, LA Law, Law & Order, in fact 10pm was the drama hour - with shows registering audiences of 15 million up and sometimes up to 30 million, now the hour has more scripted dramas than ever before but nothing is standing out, to the point where even the faded ER is reaching more 18-49s than any of it's competition.

Lifeless - Wednesday 5 November 2008 (US)

And I thought Life was doing badly in Australia! Man Alive, they just switched slots in the US from Fridays to Wednesdays but the news was all bad. The only thinkg Life has going for it right now is that NBC has nothing in the cupboard.

Just as in Australia it is pummelled by Criminal Minds which is the night's top 18-49 network show. The other notable performers of the night were Bones and CSI New York while CBS' comedy hour remains in the toilet, NBC's Knight Rider has already dissappeared up the S-Bend.

So much for viewers seeking out lighter fare in tougher times - looks like it's crime procedurals all round folks!

NBC's Presidential Heroes - Monday 3 November 2008

Last night's US ratings and NBC's Primetime Saturday Night Live special did huge business for the network cleaning up after the 9pm time period. CBS kept a steady ship with Two and a Half Men their best performer in both total viewers and demographics.

Best total viewer performance went to ABC's Dancing with the Stars which although helping Samantha Who? against Worst Week did nothing for the performance of Boston Legal vs CSI Miami, perhaps an indication as to why this is it's last season.

Sunday Night in America - 2 November 2008 (US)

Here's another look at the American Broadcast Network ratings, specifically looking at the viewer turnout in the 18-49 segment.

As you can see from the chart - the biggest turnout in younger viewers was for The Simpsons, for this year's Treehouse of Horror special. Also scoring well was NFL on both Fox & NBC and Desperate Housewives on ABC.

Typically (as we'll see with these charts) while CBS pulls the best overall figures it lingers behind with it's older skewing fare. It was always thus for the Tiffany Network, even back to the days when their Sunday Nights were 60 Minutes, Murder She Wrote and a Hallmark Movie, they go old and for it they are rewarded handsomely in total viewers, just not many of them under 50...

Friday Nights the address is CBS - Friday 31 October 2008 (US)

As you can see from the chart below - American programmers haven't given up on Fridays to the extent that Australian nets have but when a rerun of NCIS stomps on new programming everywhere else - you have to wonder how long before Fridays in America go the way of Saturdays.

The CW got viewing figures which would be decent for a cable channel, not a national network with a free to air affiliate in almost all markets.

Meanwhile what's with the performance of Wife Swap? If the US versions of Deal or No Deal and 5th Grader are half as crap as their Australian counterparts than I pity the fools tuning into these at the expense of what is one of the few genuinely funny reality programs on the dial.

Across the Pacific - Thursday 30 October 2008

Well here's something different - I've decided to take a look at US Ratings and how shows are doing in their home market, and because it's the most recently available data, we'll start with Thursday night.

It's obviously been more than a year since I looked at US ratings because last time I noticed Grey's Anatomy and CSI were neck and neck, and My Name is Earl was a lot more popular.

Grey's Anatomy seemed to take a big hit in 2007-08, this was the writers strike season but it's numbers dropped from 19 million to 16 million and it doesn't look to have recovered, buy contrast CSI held steady through the strike and still to this day.

Even more disturbing is My Name is Earl - the arse (ass) has well and truly fallen out of that show, it's not like the competition is that intense, but when The CW is chasing you down you know you've got problems.

The show has had a steady slide after a great first year in a 9pm timeslot, moving to 8pm certainly hasn't agreed with the show shedding over 30% of it's audience since the move.

The night's lowest rated show was Supernatural, which does however record good numbers of 18-49 year old viewers, similarly the younger set have ensured a full season pickup for Kath & Kim less than a fortnight after Seven unceremoniously dumped the show here in Australia