All that enigmatic hype paid off: ABC’s FlashForward premiered to an impressive 12.4 million viewers Thursday, portending a considerably bright future for the sci-fi drama. The net logged a good night overall, with 16.8 million showing up for George O’Malley’s funeral on the two-hour Grey’s Anatomy season premiere. ABC’s victories took a bit of a bite out of CBS’ strong lineup, particularly CSI, whose 15.7 million-viewer audience was down a whopping 33 percent from last season’s October premiere. Numbers for NBC’s Jay Leno-in-prime-time experiment were even more alarming now that fall programming is in full force: The talk show notched just 5 million viewers, a low point in its steady decline since debuting to 18.4 million viewers nearly two weeks ago.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | FlashForward (ABC) Survivor: Samoa (CBS) Bones (Fox) SNL Weekend Update Thursday (NBC) The Vampire Diaries (The CW) |
12.4 11.9 8.8 4.7 3.8 |
| 8:30 p.m. | Parks and Recreation (NBC) | 4.2 |
| 9 p.m. | Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) CSI (CBS) The Office (NBC) Fringe (Fox) Supernatural (The CW) |
16.8 15.7 7.3 5.9 2.6 |
| 9:30 p.m. | Community (NBC) | 5.4 |
| 10 p.m. | The Mentalist (CBS) The Jay Leno Show |
14.3 5.0 |
Read more:
Jennifer Armstrong recaps Grey’s Anatomy
Dalton Ross recaps Survivor: Samoa
Jeff Probst blogs Survivor: Samoa, episode #2
Ken Tucker on the series premiere of FlashForward
Ken Tucker on last night’s Fringe
Ken Tucker on the season 2 premiere of The Mentalist
John Young recaps Community
Darren Franich recaps The Office
Henning Fog recaps Parks and Recreation
Mandi Bierly recaps The Vampire Diaries
Mandi Bierly recaps Bones
Jeff Labrecque on SNL Weekend Update Thursday
Flashforward was awesome.
And it looks like Jay’s show is basically settling down to the ratings it got at 11:30. Shouldn’t be long before NBC cancels it and he ends up going to ABC after all.
I wonder if ABC still wants Leno. He’s not exactly a hot commodity right now…
I’m sure less people watche leno last night, including myself, because Rush Limbaugh was a guest. I wasn’t sitting through that windbag. I’m also certain if he went back to late night with ABC he would go back to being the #1 show again.
The thing is, his show is so much cheaper to produce than five hours of programming that it may be worth it to them to stick with him. Unfortunately.
no matter how bad his ratings get he’ll be around for AT LEAST a year, gotta love those contracts
Looks like scripted television had a pretty good week…
fast forward – good show, wrong time period (survivor fanatic).. pining away for Lost
Fringe needs to move timeslots, ASAP! This is the second week I’ve not watched the show. This has to end.
Agreed. I dvr’d it, but it just can’t hang with the big dogs in that timeslot. The Office can because it is a solid performer and has a huge audience who watch online, itunes, tivo, etc, but Fringe hasn’t built that following yet.
Completely agree- I would watch or DVR Fringe on any other night in any other time slot, but they lost me competing with Office and Supernatural. Really bad move on Fox’s part. Hope they wise up quick.
You’re right. And besides that, The Office has a much smaller budget than Fringe. These are really bad numbers for Fringe and I’m starting to get very worried. I knew this would happen the minute I heard Fox was moving it to Thursdays. Didn’t Fringe average about 9-10 mil viewers last season? Now it’s having trouble getting more than 6 mil? Fox needs to do something about this right ASAP.
Fringe is the best show on TV,last night’s episode was awesome.It really ticks me off that FOX went and moved it to Thursday night.Are they trying to set it up for failure in that time slot?Come on FOX,wise up.
I’m fairly certain that Fox was well aware this would happen. They have a ton of faith in the show and wouldn’t have moved it here if they didn’t have faith in it. Ad rates are higher on Thursdays and they could possibly actually be making more money this way.
You have much more faith in Fox than I ever will … there are just too many premature cancellations in their history for me not to worry.
Any chance of a TV Watch for Flashforward? It looks like one of those serialized kinds of shows that could handle some post-show “discussion”.
have you seen what they pass off as tv watches?? why even bother. i think i like the concept for flashforward more than i’ll like the execution. have to wait and see
I agree, their TV Watches are hit and miss. It usually depends on the reviewer. I just find little use for TV Watches that aren’t for reality shows (which are fun to bash) and serialized shows (which help to have people pointing out extra nuggets of info). Watches for stand-alone shows don’t do anything for me, other than recap what I just saw.
I agree AA…was looking for a blog and/or discussion on here and nothing. This show has alot going for it. Impressive first episode that has me hooked in. Was looking for a good show at 8pm since I stopped watching Survivor years ago.
FlashForwardAddicts dot com
Thanks Mike. I was hoping someone would be talking about it somewhere.
I was expecting something on it as well, given all the publicity it’s had. At least something more than a mention in this article.
The Office needs to move networks! NBC saddles that show with so much garbage.
CSI may have dropped off in ratings but it was still the second highest of the night and it has been on for, what, 9 or 10 years now? It’s understandable that it would start to decline somewhat after losing so many original cast members last season.
NBC shows really got drilled last night. Fringe also had a poor showing ratings wise, but the show is really coming into its own. Thursday nights are simply jam packed.
I’m afraid Fringe is going to pay the price of being up against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI. I’m thinking Thursday night wasn’t a good move for them. I love that show, please Fox don’t give up on it!
Soo happy for Vampire Diaries that its held on strong now that the full schedule is back. NBC should be scared VD 3.8 million and Parks and Recreation 4.2 million, youch…
Yeah, if NBC doesn’t watch it it might actually slip into 5th place for the time slot – has that even happened before?
I loved FlashForward!!! It was fantastic. I’m glad to see that it got good numbers. I think it’s the best new show bar none!!! Looking forward to a great season!
Flashforward has a decent premise but the writing is lacking. It will lose viewers next week.
i watched last night, and i will continue to keep watching.. i am hooked after just one episode.. love the actors
I know what you mean…I’m hoping the writing will improve now that they’ve set up the story. Even if it doesn’t, the cast makes up for it for me.
Leno must have five million relatives. Like I have said, 10pm is for dramas and intellectual programs on cable channels like Animal Planet and Discovery.
I honestly don’t get why those NBC comedies aren’t more popular. The Office, Community and 30 Rock are freakin hilarious. And even Parks is at least worth DVR’ing for later.
I guess they’re just way too quirky for people or something.
I haven’t enjoyed an American comedy since “Friends” went off the air. It seems to me that all the comedies are either trying to copy “Seinfield” (pitifully) or a live action version of “King of the Hill.” Same old stale jokes; same old “looney neighbors”; and same old toilet humor. There is much better comedy to be found in the *Dramadies* like “Bones” and “Fringe.” There are more genuine laughs to be found in John Noble in a single episode than in ten seasons of what passes for comedies these days.
Modern Family is the best comedy I have seen in YEARS
Loony neighbors? All 4 of NBC’s Thursday night comedies (Office, Parks, Community and 30 Rock) are workplace comedies (ok, one is a school) and hardly cater to the stupid. Unless you’re only watching Two and Half Men, you’re clearly not watching TV comedies enough to complain.
Yeah, all those loony neighbors always popping up on 30 Rock and The Office in between the bouts of toilet humor. (Eye roll alert!)
Maybe it’s my mood, but “FlashForward” didn’t blow me away. I did catch the Oceanic billboard (and kangaroo=polar bear lite), but it wasn’t nearly as mind-blowing as the pilot for “Lost” was. Still, I’ll give it another try because it still has the potential to be intriguing. And Joseph Fiennes is cute.