TV Jots

8pm: CBS rushed out of the gates early on with Survivor: China‘s 14.91 million viewers and 4.8/13 lead in the 18–49 demographic. The reality show was trailed by the nuptials on ABC’s dramedy Ugly Betty (10.89m, 3.5/10), the celebrity edition of Fox’s kid-happy game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader (8.77m, 2.6/7), My Name is Earl (7.66m, 3.3/9) and 30 Rock (6.61m, 3.1/8) in the first hour of NBC’s Comedy Done Right lineup, and a nice showing for The CW’s young-adult Superman saga Smallville (4.95m, 1.9/5).

9pm: The next hour introduced the first part of CBS’ winning procedural matchup. CSI brought in a typically impressive and entirely expected 21.92 million viewers (6.4/15). ABC’s medical drama Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t too far behind, however, with an equally outstanding 19.3 million viewers (7.9/19). Faraway in the distance, the final hour of NBC’s comedy group pulled in third due to The Office (8.29m, 4.3/10) and a much weaker Scrubs (6.36, 3.2/7). At fourth and fifth, respectively, were Fox’s music competition Don’t Forget the Lyrics (6.48m, 2.3/5) and The CW’s Supernatural (3.01, 1.2/3), which inexplicably lost almost two million of its lead-in’s audience. Seriously, folks, the show is good times all around.

10pm: Closing out the night still the one to beat, CBS and its FBI drama Without A Trace convinced almost all of CSI‘s audience to stick around for the conclusion of the two-parter, helping the show post a nice high of 21.39 million viewers (6.3/17). ABC’s poorly received newbie man-drama Big Shots scored much less than half of that, with 8.62 million viewers (3.6/9), while NBC’s aging hospital drama ER was a hair’s length away in third place with 8.42 million people watching (3.4/9).

Overall: CBS delivered a definitive smackdown to its brethren, amassing 19.41 million viewers overall and a winning 5.8/15 in the 18–49 demographic. ABC was a respectable second on both measures (12.94m, 5.0/13), NBC a two-way third (7.63m, 3.5/p), Fox fourth and so close in overall viewers the difference is almost irrelevant (7.62m, 2.4/6), and The CW right where anticipated at fifth (3.8m, 1.5/4).

November 2007 Sweeps: Day 9 Events

• ABC
  • MEN IN TREES—Both Annie Potts (she of Designing Women, Any Day Now, and—Who can forget?—Ghostbusters fame) and Nicholas Lea (that’s The X-Files‘ duplicitous Alex Krycek and Kyle XY‘s secretive Tom Foss for any non-sci-fi fans reading) brave the Alaskan boonies again. [8pm EST]
• CBS
  • GHOST WHISPERER—Orlando Jones, who’ll always be the 7Up dude in my heart, guest stars as yet another in a long, long, long line of nemeses for title spiritual crossover artist Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt). [8pm EST]
• CMT
  • KEITH URBAN: INVITATION ONLY—Nicole Kidman’s equally Aussie hubby gives an acoustic performance at Tennessee’s The Factory. [10pm EST]
• Discovery Channel
  • MAN VS. WILD—Yuck! I received some clips for this show, and I’m still trying not to upchuck. If nature survivalism floats your boat, though, I suppose this is about as “raw” as it gets on the small screen (or at least I hope). The second season opens with believable promises of even more disgusting tips and tricks in remaining episodes, all courtesy of adventurer host Bear Grylls. [9pm EST]
  • BEAR’S MISSION EVEREST—In this one-hour, post-premiere special, Man vs. Wild‘s Grylls attempts to fly over the world’s highest mountain. That’s right, folks, I’m talking about Mount Everest. [10pm EST]
• HBO
  • REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER—The fifth season closes with a sixth already assured. There’s no better way to go out on the tube. [11pm EST]
• History Channel
  • BAND OF BLOGGERS—I couldn’t possibly miss pointing out this documentary, which focuses on how blogging technology has allowed U.S. military personnel stationed in Iraq to provide otherwise unattainable firsthand accounts of the combat in progress. [8pm EST]
• Lifetime
  • BLOOD TIES—There’s a new vamp in town out to get the main vamp about town, and it looks like she’s his sire. If you know anything at all about vamp lore, then you understand just how tragic this situation cannot help but turn out for the unlucky weaker bloodsucker. Vampfight! [11pm EST]
• NBC
  • FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS—Things heat up a tad too much when mounting evidence forces a murderous revelation. Fans know exactly what I mean. [9pm 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