Sure, it's possible to find out stuff about a show before it airs. But people who are invested enough in a TV series to hunt up online spoilers are probably going to watch the show regardless... I mean, who are we kidding? If only to log on and complain about it.

As of Season 4, "Devoted", a Chloe centric episode, was the highest rated episode of the season with 6.2 million viewers. "Blank" had 4.6 million viewers, which was higher than the previous episode, "Spirit" (4.4). In season five, "Thirst" had 5.8 million viewers, which was higher than the next episode, "Exposed" (5.4). "Tomb" had 5.4 million viewers, the same rating as the previous episode, "Vengeance". In season 6, "Freak" had 4.76 million viewers, higher than the previous episode, "Trespass" (4.74). "Progeny" had 3.98 million viewers which was higher than the following episode "Nemesis" (3.88).

Contrast that with Lois-centric episodes after her introduction: S4: "Lucy" had 4.5 million viewers, s5: "Exposed" had 5.4 million viewers and s6: "Prototype" had 3.43 million viewers, making it the lowest rate episode ever.

So I'm not really seeing how Chloe centric eps have a bad effect on the ratings.

Holy cow. That's amazing. Is "Lineage" the highest rated episode in SV history?

When Chloe is heavy in episodes, those episodes tend to suck. And I'm pretty sure the ratings back me up on this. Chloe should be in mostly C plots, and some B plots, but never in A plots.

Al/Miles are either too lazy or lack the vision to pursue this track.

If the writers were capable of writing a compelling arc of episodes that engage the viewers, it would do more to increase ratings than increasing screentime of particular characters.

Non mytho supportive characters do not bring in viewers or at least cannot sustain them.

Curious as to how folks think this week's ep will reflect on next week's ratings. It has Dean Cain. But I know he's not exactly the most gigantic draw, even if I like him. Also a Chloe-ep. But following up this, I just don't know what to expect.

Bit curious as to first half-hour v. second for "Fierce"

After Fierce? Next week's ratings are screwed like Clark and Lex playing Hide the Dillo. That episode made some of the season six clunkers look bad.

OCTOBER 12, 2007
The Programming Insider
Marc Berman

Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
CBS Wins; ABC Has Sprung a Leak at 10 p.m.

Thursday 10/11/07
Note: The following results are based on the metered market ratings.
Note: The fast national results for Thursday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m.

-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS dominated this third Thursday of the new season in the overnights, beating No. 2 ABC by a healthy 21 percent. But the strength of Grey’s Anatomy could still be enough to lift ABC to first among adults 18-49 once the fast affiliate results are posted at PIFeedback. Third was NBC, which is expected to exhibit some muscle in adults 18-49 thanks to The Office, followed by Fox and the CW. Keep in mind that the year-to-year decline for Fox is a result of game one of the National League Championship Series (New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals).

CBS’ still potent Survivor: China opened the evening with a first-place 8.4 rating/13 share at 8 p.m. While ABC’s Ugly Betty finished a not-so-distant No. 2 in the time period (7.4/12), year-to-year that was a loss of 33 percent (11.0/17 on 10/12/06). Comparably, Survivor: China was down by 12 percent from the Cook Islands edition (9.5/15 to 8.4/13).

Also in the 8 p.m. hour was Fox sleeper Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (#3, 5.7/ 9), which remains a vast improvement over anything the network has aired here in years, NBC duo My Name is Earl (#4: 5.1/ 8) and 30 Rock (#4: 4.3/ 7), and the CW’s Smallville (#5: 3.4/ 5). While I will reserve any judgment on the NBC comedies until I see the fast affiliate results, I have a confession to make: I am starting to really like 30 Rock. For more on those thoughts, listen to today’s PIPodcast at either Mediaweek.com or PIFeedback.

Prime-Time Ratings:
Thursday 10/11/07

The following results are based on the fast affiliate ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 15.75 million, ABC: 12.75, NBC: 8.17, Fox: 6.88, CW: 3.99

-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 5.0 rating/13 share, CBS: 4.7/12, NBC: 3.7/10, Fox: 2.1/ 5, CW: 1.5/ 4

----------

Note: Any prior rating results are based on the final nationals. Also, since the level of DVR penetration has increased from 9 percent in early 2006-07 to approximately 20 percent at present, the overall results may be negatively impacted.

----------

-Yesterday’s Winners:
Survivor: China (CBS), CSI (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Office (NBC), Without a Trace (CBS)

-Honorable Mention:
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)

-Yesterday’s Losers:
Big Shots (ABC), ER (NBC)

----------

-Ratings Breakdown:
ABC and CBS remained in the winner’s circle on this third Thursday of the 2007-08 season, with CBS the most-watched network and ABC No. 1 among adults 18-49. Third overall was NBC, followed by Fox and the CW.

CBS’ still potent Survivor: China opened the evening first in both total viewers (14.00 million) and adults 18-49 (4.5 rating/13 share). ABC’s second-place Ugly Betty was also on the map, with 10.35 million viewers and a 3.5/10 among adults 18-49. But compared to one year earlier (Viewers: 13.95 million; A18-49: 4.3/12 on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006) that was a loss of a hefty 3.60 million viewers and 19 percent in the demo. Comparably, Survivor: China was down by 1.84 million viewers and 18 percent among adults 18-49 from the Cook Islands edition one year earlier (Viewers: 15.84 million; A18-49: 5.5/15).

Also in the 8 p.m. hour was Fox sleeper Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Viewers: #3, 8.16 million; A18-49: #4, 2.3/ 7), which remains a vast improvement over anything the network has aired here in years, NBC duo My Name is Earl (Viewers: #3, 7.74 million; A18-49: #3, 3.1/ 9) and 30 Rock (Viewers: #4, 6.61 million; A18-49: #3, 3.0/ 8), and the CW’s Smallville (Viewers: #5, 4.75 million; A18-49: #5, 1.9/ 5). While the NBC comedies are certainly not mass appeal hits, almost full adult 18-49 retention for 30 Rock out of My Name is Earl is a positive worth noting.

Leadership, as usual, was shared at 9 p.m. as follows:

Thursday 9 p.m.
CSI (CBS)
Viewers: 19.63 million (#1), A18-49: 6.0/14 (#2)

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Viewers: 18.65 million (#2), A18-49: 7.7/18 (#1)

A one-hour edition of NBC’s competing The Office (Viewers: #3, 8.91 million; A18-49: #3, 4.7/11) got plenty of leverage among adults 18-49 despite facing the top two rated shows on television.

Also airing at 9 p.m. was Fox game show Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Viewers: #4, 5.60 million; A18-49: #4, 1.8/ 4), and the CW’s Supernatural (Viewers: #5, 3.23 million; A18-49: #5, 1.2/ 3), which managed to stay somewhat alive in the toughest hour in prime-time.

CBS’ veteran Without a Trace was first in the 10 p.m. hour in total viewers, but second behind ABC’s Big Shots among adults 18-49. Third overall was NBC’s needs-to-retire ER. Take a look:

Thursday 10 p.m.
Without a Trace (CBS)
Viewers: 13.63 million (#1), A18-49: 3.6/10 (#2)

Big Shots (ABC)
Viewers: 9.26 million (#2), A18-49: 3.9/11 (#1)

ER (NBC)
Viewers: 8.41 million (#3), A18-49: 3.4/ 9 (#3)

Big Shots remains in the loser’s circle despite the first-place finish among adults 18-49 because of a) poor retention out of Grey’s Anatomy of 50 percent in total viewers and 51 percent among adults 18-49, and b) a loss of audience in the second half hour of 3.02 million viewers (10.77 to 7.75 million) and 30 percent among adults 18-49 (4.6/12 to 3.2/ 9). Since part of the 10 p.m. half-hour included the last few minutes of Grey’s Anatomy, it is obvious this drama is a miss.

NBC, meanwhile, should be announcing the retirement of ER any day now.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data


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Smallville
8:00 p.m. V: 4.50 million, A18-49: 1.7/ 5
8:30 p.m. V: 5.00 million, A18-49: 2.0/ 5

Supernatural
9:00 p.m. V: 3.32 million, A18-49: 1.2/ 3
9:30 p.m. V: 3.14 million, A18-49: 1.2/ 3

Half hour breakdowns..As usual, SMallville goes up and Supernatural goes down. It's very odd how people seem to lose interest in Supernatural as the show progresses and yet 500,000 more people tune into the last half hour of Smallville.

Smallville is an action show and the set up is normally slow so catching the last half of the culmination for the action early set up is natural,
Supernatural, OTH no matter the action level, is primarily a Suspense/Horror show and the most gripping part is the early discovery and fear, but in the end you know they'll prevail and you don't really need to know how.

That's because yes, some viewers do check out early for many reasons. And there's no one tuning in ten minutes early for the local news to make up for the dip. Every CW 9pm show tends to go down in it's second half hour.

Perhaps Dean Cain will be a draw next week?

The only mystery I walk away from this network is why it's still around and why Supernatural loses to Smallville.

I think he might. I know a few people who don't normally watch SV but are going to next week because they love DC. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on if you want a season 8) Cure isn't being shown during a sweeps month. I don't understand what goes on in the minds of TPTB. And I don't think I want to.

I guess my only question is: how high do the ratings need to be to justify such an expensive show coming back on the air next year?

Supernatural has a much worse timeslot (IMO, the worst timeslot of the week).

What I wonder about, like others, is if the CW itself will be around next year. Because they've shown a terrible inability to launch a new hit, or even a new semi-hit. I just don't see why the network's investors would be willing to give it another year at this point.

The CW’s most played back show was the season-premiere of Smallville, with 841,000 additional viewers (representing 15.0 percent of the total DVR contribution).

Does anyone have an idea of when the network will most likely confirm an 8th season.