Ok, I looked and couldn't find a ratings thread for Survivor, but since Desperate Housewives beat last Sunday's finale of Survivor, the first time in nine editions of the reality series in which the finale wasn't the highest rated show in its timeslot, maybe one is needed.

Has the crappy casting and Rupert pimping finally caused the SS Survivor to take on water? Discuss.

I think season 7 was so damned good that the ones since have just suffered by comparison.
This is the first time that I've liked the show as much as I did then.

I'm hoping this is the ratings and scheduling topic: does anyone know what CBS is doing about the presidential press conference tonight? (Bush is speaking at 8:30 EST).

I just put in a call to WCBS in NYC. They are running regular programming tonight. Bush is on HD channel and CBS radio. Suck it Bush, sweeps are more important to network. She said she believed that's how all the affiliates were operating tonight.

CBS.com: Special East Coast Air Time: 9:00

And The O.C. isn't on. And now I have an Apprentice conflict.

Politics? Ew!

iMissEthan: I'm jealous! Here in Philly, Bush started talking at 8pm and Survivor is nowhere to be found

Thanks BigVipin2G. Except now I have an Apprentice and a CSI conflict! Plus my kids are upset because they aren't allowed to stay up that late.

How are the ratings for this season? I know the premiere was higher than people expected but haven't they gone down to Vanuatu levels since then?

I hope I didn't screw anyone over. I was out and set my DVR to record CBS for the 9:00 hour just in case. When I came home I was glad I did. It turns out Bush wanted to speak at 8:30, but only ABC was willing to carry it live at that time. This is when I spoke with WCBS. After 5:00 Bush agreed to speak at 8:00 and then the schedule shifting happened. I want to know what happened with Survivor and Apprentice on head-to-head. Who won the Battle of Burnett?

According to the overnights, CBS probably had the most viewers, but it's all screwed up because the President aired at different times relative to the primetime schedule in different time zones.



Good God, "The WB's 'Mobile Home Disasters'"?!?! How could I even be surprised?

Ratings are about the same level's as Vanuatu's right now, but Palau is also fighting Daylight Savings Time. The spring edition hot only gets hit by that, but also the two Wednesday airings which some viewers miss and don't come back.

It's averaging 21.1 million viewers right now (5th overall), up over Vanuatu (19.7mil- 6th), but down slight from ASS last year. It's basically been drawing the same amount of viewers since season 3.

From the Survivor media thread...


If this is the last season or next to last it wouldn't surprise me. This show is running out of steam and has not really significantly changed at all in 12 seasons. They toy with four teams, but as Miss Alli says...it lasted for one episode. What's noticably different in these seasons from earlier ones is any actual knowledge of who the players are. The first season, even the subsequent one, we really got to know who the players were. There was a lot more stuff about their lives and their dicussions at camp besides strategy stuff. I think that's why they don't even do the challenges anymore about knowing stuff about the other castmembers, because they haven't let the audience in on the information.

In both the reward and the immunity challenges from last week, not only did I not *care* who won I also had no real idea who was competing against who. A few more episodes like that I might actually stop watching.

Survivor's numbers are excellent, especially considering its current competition. It had more viewers than LOST.

It definitely isn't as good as it used to be though. As you mentioned, Catrina, editing has taken a real nosedive in the past few seasons.

Still, I don't see it going anywhere until Burnett decides he doesn't want to make it.

Probst has been signed up for two more years (four seasons), so at the very least, it will probably at least go that far. And it's Burnett's only hit show (it's probably too late to safe the Apprentice), so it's won't go any time soon.

And while the ratings aren't as high, it's still doing pretty good (It's still in the top 10, I believe.) And I'm not too surprised that DWTS is beating it. It's currently the rave right now, so it's defintley going to hurt it's competition. But I don't think Survivor has anything to worry about.

Only because people have had time to get invested in the dancers. If they had started at the same time, it would be a different story.

Tonight should be interesting. A fourth place finish isn't out of the question, going up against American Idol, Olympics (women's figure skating finals), and DWTS. In fact I think Survivor might get whipped pretty harshly.

Survivor has a very consistent audience. I think they will stay similar to previous episodes this season, maybe a small dip.

According to Zap2it.com, Survivor came in fourth place last night, with American Idol winning by a small margin over the Olympics (but dominating the 18-49 demo). Even so, while the numbers were certainly down, they seemed reasonably solid given the competition. I'm curious to know if others have seen a more in-depth analysis of the numbers.

ETA: More specific ratings breakdown from Mediaweek.

Yeah, it wasn't too bad, but DWTS, the Olympics, and American Idol defintley gave it a bit of a thrashing. Hopefully, it will recover next week.

Well, next week there's no Olympics, and the week after that, no DWTS. The week after *that*, Idol won't be on Thursday anymore. So, get through the next two weeks, everything should go be fine.

I hate seeing the show thrashed like this. And while I've been a fan (or indifferent) to American Idol in the past, it's becoming The Show that Ate Primetime, and it's annoying me.

And, correct me if I'm wrong, a 9.2 has to be the lowest ratings score a regularly scheduled episode has received, which frightens me.

Actually last week Survivor only grabbed an 8.4. I'm sure the ratings will be back up after the next ep. Nothing beats Idol, or even comes close.

You have to remember, though, that DWTS got a head start on Survivor, starting in January during Survivor's hiatus.
Once the NCAA basketball tournament ends later this month, Survivor no longer has to compete with AI (and you know CBS will be flogging the show during basketball telecasts). And if AI starts running a Thursday edition, well, they're risking overexposure That show is like crack to Fox.

Thankfully, when Survivor comes back from its three week hiatus (ahhhh!) it won't be up against American Idol anymore. I want to see Survivor in the double digits. All this reality ratings lag (between Survivor and TAR) is frightening me.

I know they've done it before, but putting the finale on Sunday really sucks this time around. What would be wrong with having it Thurs 5/25?

iMissEthan, putting it on 5/25 would be two weeks from this week's episode; did you mean 5/18? In any case, they probably do it on Sunday because they want to do a three-hour extravaganza, but they don't want to preempt the other shows on Thursday night (CSI and Without a Trace).

Yeah, I meant 5/18. I'm living in the future I guess. I know a Sunday finale makes sense for them, but it sucks for me.

Ratings may be lower for the Sunday 5/14 finale (it would have made more sense to go with the normal format and start with F4 last Sunda) because the Survivor finale will be up against the West Wing series finale. West Wing has slipped some, but the finale should draw a respectable crowd. And, it's Mothers' Day, one of the biggest dinner out days of the year.

I agree. I guess CBS figured that they wanted one additional show during Sweeps. I don't watch West Wing, so I didn't know that the series finale is scheduled for Sunday. That may hurt Survivor.

They probably don't think Mothers Day is a factor, they've done it before (the season Jenna M. won, maybe another season, too).

I remember reading that Survivor: Exile Island was consistently in the top ten most-watched shows ratings each week. That's pretty damn impressive for a show that's been on non-stop for almost a decade. That's why I have a hard time seeing MB's latest gimmick as "desperate." I think he wants to make sure the show is constantly talked about in the media like it used to be, and he's seeking further controversy and attention, but I have a hard time seeing desperation in a show that gets as high ratings as Survivor always does.

That may be, but "Exile Island" ratings were also down sharply from "Guatemala." The show really got hurt by "Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" and the Olympics -- all of which invaded its Thursday timeslot. It just never seemed to recover fully after that February.

But after seeing and hearing how much controversy this new season is generating...I would not want to be named "Earl" or "Betty" right about now.

In an absolutely startling development, initial ratings for the premiere of Cook Islands clocked in below the Exile Island opener. To be fair, "Survivor" still dominated the timeslot against mostly rerun competition.

From Zap2it.com (fast national rating):

From Media Life Magazine:

That is surprising. I knew quite a few friends who were watching last night who don't normally watch. I figured that increased interest would be mirrored in the Neilsen's.

Yeah, I'm surprised, too. There has been some general drop-off for all these shows, but 10 percent less than Exile Island is a bigger letdown than I was expecting.

Damn! I'm also surprised by the low ratings. I wonder if some people boycotted this season, because of the racial twist. Or maybe viewers are just getting tired of reality tv (except American Idol, of course.)

I bet the race war twist added quite a bit to the ratings. It's impossible to judge because we can never know how much it would have dropped absent the twist. But MB and Co. probably have a better feel for that than we do, and the fact that they felt this particular twist was necessary indicates to me that they were probably expecting a huge tumble if they didn't mix things up somehow.

I'm not too surprised by the ratings coming in lower than usual.
It's really disappointing to find out that MB has cast this one with a majority of actors or actor wannabe's so I don't plan on watching it much, if at all. The fakest Survivor ever ... cooked up ethnic teams of actors in the Cook Islands.

If memory serves, Survivor's biggest numbers came in Season 2, with just more than 29 million viewers. Of course, the concept was still novel and there were practically no other reality programs on television, but Burnett has lost more than 40 percent of his audience since then.

Not to mention so many other shows to watch on Thursday. They've moved Grey's Anatomy (not sure what time) and I know my father watches My Name is Earl & The Office. Those shows are gaining popularity, while Survivor is in it's nth season. Could be they are losing steam.

The CBS press release says the second episode retained "nearly all" the ratings from last week.

Zap2it report. It looks like Earl and The Office weren't very strong competition for Survivor.

What is the regular show ABC plans to air in the Survivor timeslot? I know the Grey's Anatomy clip show was only for this week.

ABC will air Ugly Betty, which premiers next week. (IIRC)

I love that this stunt does not appear to be a ratings draw.

Thank you.

Does the second episode usually retain the ratings of the premiere? I thought in some recent seasons the show falls off after the premiere, then builds back up at the end. Maybe this means the show is going to have a better ratings performance this time around.

Here's ZapTV with the lastest rating news:



Interesting result. Survivor lost in the overall ratings, but had the most viewers in the important 18-49 demographic. And since "Ugly Betty" just premiered, it's possible the ratings might drop, and Survivor could very well reclaim the top spot next week. So overall, while Survivor won't be getting canceled anytime soon, it's defintley not the powerhouse it used to be.

Survivor was second in this timeslot for several years, due to the huge resurgence of "Friends". The ratings have dropped since then, but what matters most to CBS is if the show retains its numbers and demos. The show seems to be keeping their numbers every week, not significantly dropping. I'll be surprised if Ugly Betty doesn't drop next week. I was going to give the show a chance, but the previews were so terrible I changed my mind.

Not sure if this is the right thread to comment, but could I just note a drop in TWOP interest too... Seems to me that comments on Survivor are dropping off - from the 20+ pages of comments back in Season 8, to 14 the past couple of weeks, dropping off from 30 on the first episode. Tonight, the episode thread wasn't even opened until 8.30! Compare this to America's Next Top Model and Project Runway, who have 30+ pages only a couple of days after the episode... Is this indicative of a wider lack of interest?

Given the age of the show, my guess is that CBS is quite happy with the ratings. It's still a top performer, even without the buzz.

Last night's ratings are in.

Why isn't the show in HD?

Even though I don't have HD, I would agree that would be awesome. The cinematography is wonderful, and HD would make this show look great.

Mark Burnett has answered this a few times in interviews, and basically it's because of the cost and reliability of the equipment. He's even gone so far as to say it will NEVER be in HD, which I find hard to believe if it goes on more than a couple more years, but that's what he said. Reading between the lines, he doesn't seem to be a big fan of HD and doesn't want to sink any money into it.

According to Zap2It, ratings are down from last season's premier.

Last night's episode scored a 9.9/15 but still won its time slot.

edited because I can't distinguish between up and down. whoops.