TV Jots

8pm: The night’s highest-rated show, Dancing, achieved 21.8 million viewers and a 5.2 share/13 rating. CBS’ pairing of the sitcoms How I Met Your Mother (8.58m, 3.3/9) and The Big Bang Theory (9.39m, 3.8/9) was second, while NBC’s Chuck (7.56m, 3.0/7) was third, just ahead of Fox’s Prison Break (7.19m, 3.1/8). The CW’s own comedy combo of Everybody Hates Chris (2.72m, 1.1/3) and Aliens in America (2.24m, 0.9/2) pulled in last.

9pm: CBS’s Two and a Half Men (14.17m, 5.0/11) helped the network surge to a definitive second position behind the remaining half-hour of Dancing on ABC. The 9:30 follow-up Rules of Engagement (11.53m, 4.2/10) maintained that pace, with ABC’s Samantha Who? (14.34m, 4.4/10) just a few million viewers in front of it. NBC’s highest-profile series of the night, Heroes, managed only third place, with 11.07 million watching but a respectable proportion of them from the valued 18–49; demographic (5.1/12). Fox’s K-Ville (4.72m, 1.6/4) ranked a very distant fourth, and the CW sitcoms Girlfriends (2.2m, 1.0/2) and The Game (2.55m, 1.2/3) weren’t all that far behind it.

10pm: In the final hour, the tube returned to CBS’s control as soon as CSI: Miami (15.37m, 4.6/12) began. ABC’s reality romance competition The Bachelor (9.17m, 3.4/9) trailed with some six million fewer watchers, and NBC’s troubled newcomer Journeyman (6.22m, 2.5/6) continued its weekly last-place trend.

Overall: ABC led on both measures in question, luring 16.35 million viewers overall and earning a 4.4/11 for those aged 18–49. CBS was thisclose on the last count with a 4.3/10, but it’s total audience of 12.4 million was almost four million heads smaller. NBC placed third with 8.28 million viewers and a 3.5/9, followed by Fox at fourth (5.96m, 2.4/6), and The CW where else but last (2.43m, 1.1/3).

November 2007 Sweeps: Day 13 Events

• Fox
  • HOUSE—I’m not kidding when I say you have to see the central patient on this installment for yourself. Mere words do no justice. [9pm EST]
• FX
  • NIP/TUCK—Sean’s former significant other Julia is back, and so is her latest partner, Ellen DeGeneres’ real-life woman, talented Aussie actress Portia de Rossi. [10pm EST]
• NBC
  • LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT—The title of this episode is “Blinded,” and that’s exactly what happens to one of the signature partners, courtesy of a demented perp, of course. [10pm EST]
• Showtime
  • PAUL MOONEY: KNOW YOUR HISTORY—JESUS WAS BLACK…SO WAS CLEOPATRA—If the title doesn’t give you a clear idea of what’s in store, then my elaborating probably won’t help much either. I should say, though, that it will all be very, very funny in veteran comedian Paul Mooney’s experienced hands. [11pm EST]

DATA EXPLANATION: In the households figure 6.4/11, 6.4 is the household RATING that indicates what average percentage of U.S. households tuned into a particular show (6.4%), while 11 is the household SHARE that refers to what average percentage of televisions in use were tuned into a particular show (11%).

Tags: November Sweeps, ratings, television, tv