Yes, the trailer did primarly focus on Chimmy.

There is also not a single Chloe/Clark scene in the official promo, & if I remember correctly, Abyss was opposite the World Series/sporting event?

Also Abyss didn't air in New York and Boston (other areas..) due to a pre-empted football game. Which probably put a damper on the ratings too.

Well the Trailer for Abyss had an image of Lois, so people would have thought Lois was in the episode.

But overall the Abyss trailer was one of the worst trailers and made it seem like a trip down memory lane for Chlimmy.

If they had tied to Chlark's first kiss, to Brianiac it would have been better rated.


The Trailer had Lois and Clark in the Phantom Zone with Lois crying out if they're going to die. In fact I'd watch an episode if I'd thought there is a chance of Lois getting hurt just for the fun of it. But then they showed Kara. LV was promoting the episode on her blog, to say Bloodline is purely for Lois's appearance is not accurate IMHO.



If Lois and Clark "sell" and means "High ratings" then why isn't Bride number 1? Considering it featured a Clois almost kiss.



It doesn't hurt when Lois is in the episode that people find interesting like Identity where Jimmy gets a picture of saving Clark, Lois wasn't really in that plot till the very end when she declares she'll get the interview after seeing Jimmy's fame from the picture. 3/4 had no Lois in it, 5 was the typical Premiere bounce , 6 was Clark's first day on the job

I just don't think it's fair to say Lois=Rating spikes.

I remember watching the trailer for Abyss and even knowing what the episode was about all that Chimmy made me go "Hell, I don't want to watch that."

Also, Lois was in the trailer. If she's that much of a draw it should have helped the episode.

Or Clark episodes. So, I guess he's a ratings killer too.

There have been a lot of trailers with Lois in them, where the episode itself had no Lois. And why is that? Because the CW knows that Lois brings in viewers. It is the same reason why the new promo shot has Lois and Clark in the center.

"Abyss" never aired against the World Series. And yes, it was preempted for a football game, but only in New York. It aired during the middle of November sweeps, a week after the highest rated episode of the Season. To lose a million viewers from that episode to this one is a lot.

I don't get Chimmy from the trailer - I get Chloe forgetting Jimmy and choosing to trust Davis - but to each his own.

One day, its Lana for the ratings.

Then its Chloe who does bring the ratings

Now Lois is the one who brings the ratings.

So I take all this with a big grain of salt.

The only thing that can be said is that Clois didn't completely turn off viewers but Lois isn't bring anymore. By this point, all the viewers watching this show are those that have been with the show for years. A show this late in the game isn't going to start attracting slews of viewship since most will be aware that the show is coming to a close and won't bother with it.

Nevermind.

I agree, Nois is not bringing in any new viewers, & the fact that all her episodes, the ratings are still down from the previous year, bears that out.
The Lana arc gave Smallville their best demos of the Season & an increased rating from the prior year. I think many are watching simply because they think this season was the End. It will be interesting to see what happens now, with the renewal news.

I blame that trailer (as well as the pre-empt). They hardly showed any of the effects that made the ep so cool. I don't blame Chloe. Jimmy in trailers equals death (see Noir, Sleeper).

Isn't New York "only" their largest market?

This promo shot doesn't...well, unless, you Chlois.

Neither does this one.

QFT. SV lost four characters between season seven and season eight. When a show can drop half its cast and still retain 90% of its total viewers it says to me individual characters don't make for much of a difference (excluding Clark, of course). YMMV.

I've deleted some posts.

As I've said before, some kinds of discussion of fans/viewership aren't going to be off-topic for this thread. Things like, "Lana fans tuning out after she left might account for some ratings loss" or "Episodes with DC characters bring in more Superman fans" are still about the ratings and OK.

But once it's more about the fans than the ratings, then you're in boards-on-boards territory. Analyze the ratings, not the fans.

I think ratings are generally reflecting a trend versus a single episode. Certainly you expect premiers and finales to bump up. Stunt casting (i.e. Dean Cain in Cure) or uber-promoted episodes (i.e. Justice) also have the potential for a bump but I would says that it is promotion OUTSIDE of the CW that draws in as CW caters to a distinct demographic. But there are simply too many variables (competition, time of year, blackouts...basketball is coming!, etc.) which make week by week ratings comparison within the same year iffy IMO. I think that's why the "professionals" use year by year comparisons because it at least cuts out the seasonal variable to some extent. To say a run of the mill episode is better because of a specific actor's role in that episode is a stretch IMO --- the bulk of the audience does not know enough about the role in advance to "tune in" based on spoilers. I do think the promos at the end of an episode and the quality of the episode the week before may have an effect (some casual viewers may skip if they don't like the vibe in the program or if the episode before was crappy). On the other hand I would think ITUNES numbers (which I don't track) might have a better episode-by-episode indicator. For these, people are actually paying for the episode and doing so AFTER the fact so they know what is on the show. That may have a better fandom indication but only for the computer literate (which there are many who are not).

DVD sales are huge (reports from S3 of Prison Break said it was based primarily on DVD sales that Prison Break got a third year) but again, reflects a season (by definition), not an episode. Again, this is why ITUNES sales are more of an episode indicator IMO.

International success I suspect is more generic as well, especially since viewing time is so random.

Popularity/visibility of actors and media coverage is a function of the actor's decisions IMO vice their popularity on the show. TW is the lead, by far the "must be there" character, and the least publicized by his own choice. The individual publicists is also probably a significant factor.

In sum, I believe nothing is a perfect divining rod and people read far too much into ratings for a single episode --- I think the industry is trying to adapt with including DVR stats and ITUNES but I think ratings are at best a global trend indicator vice an episode by episode indicator.

I agree. It can be said that she doesn't turn people OFF, but viewership for 1-10 was still LESS than last year, except in episodes where she wasn't there. I don't see how that translates to Lois= Ratings, but YMMV.



Me too. I can see how stories that wrap up a particular character (Lana episodes and Bloodline) and are billed as such will probaby do better, because people who might have stopped watching will tune in. (See, Seventh Heaven's fake finale before it was raised from the dead.)



Agreed. I don't think individual characters make a difference at all, esp. considering that, IMO, with just two full-time players, the average viewer probably doesn't know who's in which episode, esp. when they show people in the trailers who are not in the episode. I think the same ~4 million people are tuning in (myself included), just to see how it ends.

On another note, SV is being pre-empted for basketball for me tonight. That, plus coming off a hiatus leads me to believe that the Return of Lois Lane might not be that spectacular...

It was on my CW station as well (Big 12 Conference Tournament, Austin market). I'm doubly annoyed because the CW listings didn't show Smallville as showing at all tonight, just Supernatural. So I didn't tune in until the last 5 minutes or so. ugh. Guess I'll download it on iTunes b/c I hate the CW's media player.

I agree that the central factor is there are around 4 million fans who are tuning in to see how it ends... I just wonder how ratings will be next year. I seriously thought they were getting really close to ending the story and was more keenly interested in watching for that reason. I'll certainly watch the rest of the season, but I do wonder about those who are less devoted than me.

Fast nationals for Infamous
Not great to begin with and finals will probably be even lower given some stations were airing Basketball.

Yeah. I hear there were quite a lot of preemptions last night. :( This is what happens when sweeps falls during March Madness, ugh. That plus The CW really hasn't done itself many favors by having 90% of its shows in repeats for over a month.

Yes...but I wonder if Basketball has a greater or lesser effect than Football? Abyss (at this point, prior to the adjustment for preemption started at 4.38 and dropped all the way to 3.55). With Infamous starting at 3.72, the question is whether or not basketball has the same impact. That would drop it to below 3.0! I'm guessing not, however. I'm guessing it'll loose less than .3 because hey, it's basketball (says a football fan). :)

It depends on the market(s). SV was preempted three times by football in the fall but it was the NYC market (during Abyss) that hurt them the most. If there were preemptions in several major markets it's going to hurt the finals quite a bit.

nevermind...

True but the odd thing is the pre-emptions listed weren't accurate on the website. Like I know they were out in Birmingham as well as in Nebraska. However, the biggest markets in Boston, Chicago, L.A., and New York weren't affected unlike Abyss where the biggest market in the country---NYC---was airing Jets Football instead.

I find it interesting that even with pre-emptions, the fast nationals match up with Requiem. From the preliminary outlook, it doesn't appear to me that Tori Spelling nor the pimped Clois did much to boost the ratings over Lana's return or most of the season's average thus far.

I think I'm going to lay some blame at the feet of Requiem as well for any poor ratings. Ratings always dive for the next episode when they pull the contrived Clana breakup scenario. Same thing happened after Reckoning.

ETA: At least it wasn't a Chloe heavy episode. If that had been the case I'm sure I'd be reading about how terrible she is for ratings. I'll be slightly amused if the finals for this ep come in under Abyss.

Good thing I watched Bones during that timeslot last night.

Also when Abyss aired it was pre-empt in Boston and New York which brings huge numbers so I wouldn't solely rely on the fact that because it was a Chloe episode it didn't bring the numbers. I mean if you really want to put it that way then look at the numbers for Infamous which was a total Clois pimpage and it only brought in 3.57million compared to Chimmy Abyss 3.56million. And Lois was all over that promo. :D So a fully centered Clois brought in about the same numbers as an episode that was pimped as Chimmy.

And it did that with Boston and New York and Chicago all as normal.

Finals are out and the show only dropped 150,000(ish). Not too shabby.

Smallville
- 3.567 million viewers
- 2.2/3 HH
- 1.6/4 A18-49
- 1.5/5 A18-34

My take: Even fake previews of Clark finally flying can't beat Round 1 of March Madness. YMMV.

Well the show's been renewed, people know it's not real flying yet and, no matter what, it ended up basically with an eight year old renewed drama versus first round March Madness. Right.

True. But it was also pre-empt in some areas I think.

Can someone explain March Madness to me? I know it's the college basketball championship, right? But, how long does it go on? Are a lot of teams and games involved or is like the final four in a division or what? Is it aired in local markets only or on ESPN?

The NCAA championships are a series of games (64 teams playing down to 32 to 16 to 8 to 4 to finally 2 in a championship) over a period of about two weeks. Because there are so many teams (and brackets from all over the country), the games air on multiple stations. Sometimes they pre-empt local programming. The closer we get down to the championship rounds, the more likely they will be to air on the primetime basic cable networks. They are also aired on ESPN and ESPN2 during the preliminary rounds. it's a long lasting event and it's a big deal. People wait all year for it (President Obama even has a pool and prediction on it). It's always the sports event of March.

I went to college at Duke, a basketball powerhouse. Trust me, it's a big deal and the ratings for it are going to increase as we get closer to the championship game.

Wow. Not just a season low, a series low.
What pre-empted it, NIT? I thought CBS had NCAA exclusivity (in prime time).
March madness is a big deal... but this is just round one. ABC pulled more total viewers.

And CBS actually did better with their regular line up last week in both total viewers and the 18-49 demo.

Yes, but for a certain audience a sporting even trumps other normal choices. Seems like most Nielsen viewers who normally watch SV made their choice between Survivor and SV long ago, but it's possible some of those would choose basketball over SV. The pool isn't that large. Even a few people doing it would make a big impact on ratings. Likewise, some people who might have chosen Survivor might not be interested in Basketball.

I'm surprised more people didn't fall for the Clark flying tease. It wasn't sure even in the spoilers that it wouldn't actually happen. In fact, it sorta seemed like it did. I would have thought the fanboys would want to see it, if it actually finally happened.

Btw, did I read that right and will American Idol air opposite SV next week because of a presidential address on Tuesday? If so, yikes. Zatanna has her work cut out for her.

Yes, but it's the results part of AI, not the performances. A lot of people only tend to tune in to the end of AI results shows to see who got kicked off.

That particular tease is old and well known by now. People aren't falling for it anymore.

I'm too lazy to look it up, but I had the impression that all episodes of AI get thru the roof ratings. I know reality competition shows usually get a surge of viewership in the second half hour (especially the last 15 minutes) as people tune in for the results, but I was thinking that even the first half hour's lower ratings would still be the kind of ratings that a show like "Bones" could only dream about getting bc AI ratings are so much higher than everything else.



Really? I wasn't entirely sure it wouldn't happen. It's Season 8. I thought it was possible they'd have him do it and make it no big deal (like his entrance into the DP).

Maybe that's why people didn't get hooked. Nothing about Clark or the show is a big deal anymore. After eight seasons of this particular tease, I don't know why people wouldn't get tired of it, record or catch it on youtube. To me, the only way I'd consider a moment like Clark flying is unmissable, after everything, is if it involved Chloe. Even knowing it's going to herald the show's end, it's become a matter of just being flying to me with this Clark. Chloe makes the moment more. *shrugs*

...and Tess is after his thecrth? Oh noooooes. Keep that warmed over egg salad away from me.

Actually, SV does WORSE against Bones when it's new at 8 PM than it does against the AI results show. I think that news of renewal + basketball + a bad stretch of Clana fall out is all adding up to new series lows. No one is buying the "Is Clark gonna fly" bit and no one cares about the teases anymore either.

Comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges, according to pifeedback, "Prototype" is still the series low in demos (1.3/4 A18-49) which is the number that really matters.



http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/53110015

"Turbulence"


Of course, the season isn't over yet.

Exactly. I wondered how the renewal would effect ratings, with the theory that many were watching for The End/Last Season. Last weeks "Nois returns" had low ratings, & this week trended down further. It will be interesting to see next week's numbers.

When you also factor in "Chimmy" was featured - who are quite unpopular (and TPTB know this) & the NCAA tournament. I'm not surprised at these ratings at all. In fact, they are actually better than I expected.

I don't know. I see his first flight like a baby's first steps, something that once over won't seem so exciting anymore, but is important for the milestone factor alone. I am not even a Clark fan, and I was mildly interested if they really were going to have Clark fly like that. I couldn't rule it out.

I know that Requiem sort of announced for me that these writers have no interest in resolving any of their conflicts. Ever. I hope the ratings just slide and slide for the rest of the season.

I don't know about you guys but Im very glad that even if the Chloe storyline and new villain are interesting "the Nois and Clark" season is getting low ratings that might force them to stoping the kick the chloe show and Clark doing a stupid thing every week and of course the pining eyes of iconisity from Nois and try you know to actually write a show that makes sense and doesnt do 180 degrees turn every episode...Can we name the thread when the free falling is going to end again? Preaty pleassse!

The non closure of the Lana episodes sucked, but the writers did some real work for last night's episode. They invested time and energy into building up their villains, the tensions among several main characters and developing faults and challenges for them.

It was the kind of episode that would have required a lot more thought about character than a typical FOTW episode. I am very sorry their work wasn't justly rewarded with better ratings. It wasn't thrilling and it was very dark, but there was a lot of meat to it. "Sleeper" got higher ratings. That just ain't right.

I'm wondering if people saw Infamous, saw the reset and just went "Forget about it. This show is never going to move forward." as a factor for not bothering to watch anymore.

I could buy that but there was zero Chimmy in the preview and zero Chimmy in the episode description so I think only the internet fandom knew. And most of those folks heard the "Clark will fly!" hype as well.

IDK but I just think the best reason I've heard so far (beyond March Madness) is that with the renewal and the stretchout storylines, we're getting a "meh" reaction. It may be people will wait for the season finale to "catch up" and season opener to decide if they are going to watch next year. Just a thought.

I think it's nothing more than the fact that the show dips like this EVERY year. They just didn't have the larger viewership at the beginning of the year to make it seem less bad. Going from 6 million to 5 million like they used to doesn't look as bad as going from 4.2 to 3.2.

That's all it is, IMO.