Monty Brinton/CBS
And now, the not-so-good news.
Below is the performance of the rest of the broadcast shows so far this season. We start out with some still-healthy titles, then descend into the shows that just aren’t performing so well. Some have excuses (but-but-but our time period is bad!) and others, well, don’t (hello, Detroit 187).
Here’s the bottom 50, based on season-to-date adults 18-49 ratings of non-canceled primetime shows, Sun-Fri (you, don’t really care about COPS, right?):
American Dad (Fox, 2.8 rating, 7 share)
60 Minutes (CBS, 2.7/7)
Castle (ABC, 2.7/7)
Outsourced (NBC, 2.6/7)
The Good Wife (CBS, 2.6/7)
The Middle (ABC, 2.6/8)
30 Rock (NBC, 2.5/7)
Law & Order: LA (NBC, 2.5/7)
Fringe (Fox, 2.5/7)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC, 2.4/6)
Chicago Code (Fox, 2.4/6)
Harry’s Law (NBC, 2.3/6)
Defenders (CBS, 2.3/7)
Off the Map (ABC, 2.3/6)
V (ABC, 2.3/6)
Blue Bloods (CBS, 2.2/7)
Better With You (ABC, 2.2/6)
Lie to Me (Fox, 2.2/5)
Chuck (NBC, 2.1/5)
Community (NBC, 2.1/6)
CSI: NY (CBS, 2.1/7)
No Ordinary Family (ABC, 2.1/5)
Human Target (Fox, 2.1/6)
The Cape (NBC, 2.0/5)
Football Night in America 2 (NBC, 2.0/6)
Chase (NBC, 1.9/5)
Minute to Win It (Wed, NBC, 1.9/5)
Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, 1.9/6)
Million Dollar Money Drop (Fox, 1.9/5)
Traffic Light (Fox, 1.9/5)
Perfect Couples (NBC, 1.8/5)
The Apprentice 10 (NBC, 1.7/5)
America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC, 1.7/5)
Detroit 187 (ABC, 1.7/5)
America’s Next Top Model (The CW, 1.7/5)
20/20 (ABC, 1.6/5)
Primetime: What Would You Do (ABC, 1.6/5)
Dateline (Friday, NBC, 1.5/5)
Who Do You Think You Are (NBC, 1.4/5)
Vampire Diaries (CW, 1.4/4)
48 Hours Mystery (CBS, 1.4/4)
Live to Dance (CBS, 1.3/3)
Smallville (CW, 1.3/4)
Minute to Win It (Friday, NBC, 1.2/4)
Supernanny (ABC, 1.2/4)
Supernatural (The CW, 1.2/4)
Gossip Girl (CW, 1.0/2)
90210 (CW, 0.9/2)
Nikita (CW, 0.9/2)
One Tree Hill (CW, 0.9/2)
See previous: The top 50 shows so far.
Disclaimer: These numbers count reruns and they are the Live+7 numbers for the most part (include a week’s worth of DVR viewing).
The best comedy on tv is not american but on the BBC, its called Outnumbered and it is truly hilarious, the best are the two youngest kids Ben and Karen
It Always Sunny In Philadelphia has been the funniest show on tv for years. But most people are shrewd PC police and would rather settle for garbage like chuck
It’s Always Sunny WAS one of the funniest shows. Now it’s pretty stupid.
Modern Family is the best comedy on tv by far!
COMMUNITY is the funniest show on television, plain and simple.
Modern Family is stupid.
“Community?” Uh, not. I DVR ALL NBC comedies on Thursday night EXCEPT “Community”…so not a good show and should be cancelled. However, the three funniest shows on TV are easily “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town” and “Big Bang Theory.”
That you Bill or Rob?! lol
Right, and the best drama on TV just started on BBC, its called Being Human. And that ISN’T the remake on SyFy that I’m referring to.
Thanks Bill or Rob
It pains me to see Fringe and The Good Wife on this list. Those are excellent shows.
Well she did say that the first several are still healthy so I wouldn’t worry too much.
I’m surprised that the Vampire Diaries isn’t doing well, or any of the CW shows for that matter!
I wouldn’t say the CW shows aren’t doing well. The CW is still a relatively new network. They’re not going to get the ratings the other four are getting. It took the X-Files to finally put Fox on everyone’s radar.
its just surprising because I thought their strongest audience was in this category. (18-49). It makes me a bit nervous about Vampire Diaries and Nikita (which is getting better)
The CW is going into it’s 6th year and still doesn’t have a single show making stellar ratings. By this time FOX had Married With Children, 21 Jump Street, and had just started The Simpsons. The WB had 7th Heaven, Buffy, Charmed, Dawson’s Creek, and Felicity. I don’t think we should cut The CW any slack.
as much as they don’t admit, I think it’s their madam, Dawn Ostroff, that’s to blame. She did nobody a favour with merging those shedules. Some die hard fans of quality programming got the shaft while her creative hasn’t even stepped on it’s fit. And remakes and vampire book adaptations don’t count- those would even be on my moms “creative” list for juicing up ratings. of course there is hope just yet. she’s leaving in june
Direct TV doesn’t even offer the CW in my area unless you have a high enough package (ours is third from the top, so I hate to think what you have to have to get it). I would have to watch it over-air, which is a massive pain in the rear. CW is definitely hurt by all providers not showing their network.
CW has said it time and time again, they’re main focus is young women. If they wanted to compete with the other networks, they would. But right now, they’ll competitor is ABC Family.
Note that that are other FOX shows worse off than Fringe, and now that Fringe is doing respectable numbers for the least watched night of TV (Friday), I think it’ll be fine.
At least it BETTER be fine. If FOX were to actually put some effort into promoting the show, it could be doing far bigger numbers.
TVD isn’t going anywhere Heidi..no need to fret. This show has almost become a franchise show for them with a huge cult following. The CW — which is still NOT in all viewing markets — will never reach the success of Fox. They simply lack the money to get that big. They have been, and probably will be, content with their small take in the TV world.
agreed. TVD is totally safe. I think the problem is the stigma associated with the CW, that its a “teen channel”. No one really takes their shows seriously and thats a major mistake. I think CW has grown up a lot in the past few years.
Fringe and Good Wife are on this list because most of those 18-49 sadly are dumbed down and not capable of thought provoking programming.
Well I’m 22 and love Fringe!
I’m 33 and LOVE Fringe and Community! But thanks for that sweeping generalization jts.
I’m surprised about Good Wife, did it have a bad first half? The past few weeks on the EW magazine top TV charts it appears in the top 20.
Oh wait, didn’t realize this was only 18-49. Still kind of surprised though, didn’t realize it played “older” other than the fact that it’s on CBS.
Disclaimer: No human reading this is counted as a “rating”, which renders lists like this absolutely pointless to everyone in the world.
Disclaimer: people who post things on the internet like to do so as if they know what they’re talking about, when they are in fact wrong.
Matthew’s got a point. The Nielsen system is completely outdated.
Then WHY do they use it???
Yes the Nielsen rating system is antiquated but it’s what the TV industry uses to makes its call and I’ve seen little to suggest that anything new is coming for capturing who is viewing what and when. But Matthew is making a sweeping generalization. I’d like to know how he knows that all people who read this board isn’t a Nielsen Family. Statistically speaking…at least one or two readers are.
It looks like all of my shows are on this list … bring it on …
haha! Oh, One Tree Hill…
Look at how low ALL the CW shows are. I thought the 18-49 demo was where CW was supposed to shine. Amazing how weak they rank!
The only reason OTH has stayed on the air this long is because it is shameless with product placement!
Cat, I don’t mind if they have product placement ALL OVER Fringe if it means keeping it on the air. They’d be clever about it anyhow…
It does not surprise me at all that all the lowest shows are from the CW network. CW is a dumping ground for network television. Really, there is no reason One Tree Hill should still be on air. This network is going down, UPN-style.
There is 1 CW show that isn’t on this list…HELLCATS.
How is The Good Wife on this list?! It gets great ratings…
These ratings are for the 18-49 demographic. The Good Wife does get a lot of viewers, just not in that particular demo.
Considering the large number of aging Baby Boomers, and their value as spending consumers, the 18 – 49 demo has somewhat lost its clout over the years. But not with the ratings system. Antiquated – but considering the age group creating the advertising…false assumptions are rampant.
Good point, Pookie. Also, Census studies show the 18-49 demographic is stagnant– virtually no population growth at all from 2006 to 2016.
As with many of CBS’s shows, TGW skews older which means that of the 10 mil or so that watch the show, more are above the age of 49. And since advertisers seem to have a myopic view that only people between 18 and 49 count you get these type of ratings.
I agree. My mom and I watch TGW together on Tuesday nights and she is over 60.
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It’s sad that these are the shows I love including:Nikita, Vampire Diaries, Community, 30 Rock, 90210, Gossip Girl, Good Wife, Fringe
I know. I’m terrified that Community is on the list.
Quantity does not equal quality. Sadly, a lot of great shows are not that popular…
Community is the best show on television . . . good on you, Rich!
@Richard. I agree with you on Good Wife. I also hope Off The Map comes back.
Too true, I watch a lot of the shows on that list.
It really pains me to see The Good Wife on this list! That’s one of the best shows on television!!! How can it possibly be on this list? I check it’s ratings every Wednesday and it’s usually one of the higher rated shows so I don’t see how it can be on this list.
It gets a good amount of total viewers, usually around 12 million viewers, but this list is for the 18-49 demographic, where it doesn’t do quite as well.
Correct! And no need to worry, Good Wife does good enough…
why do they still use the group 18-49, that’s a HUGE range. I’m 22 and I enjoy some of the CW shows (esp the Vampire Diaries) but my 2 favorite shows on TV right now are Blue Bloods and The Good Wife. I feel like they should split up this demo.
i dont get it, how can the good wife be in the bottom 50 when its consistantly in the top 15 every week when ew posts the ratings?
Because mostly older people are watching it (over 49).
Why has no one asked why The Good Wife is on this list, people over 49 need to know why it is on this list!
I feel sad that I won’t count anymore when I’m 49.
Before clicking on this story I knew Chuck and Community were part of it and that eternally sucks. Here’s hoping both shows get enough of an uptick in the ratings to get renewed.
I’m not too worried about Community. I think it will be renewed. Chuck, on the other hand, could go either way. An hour-long action show is obviously more expensive to produce than a half hour sitcom. Chuck always has been and always will be on the bubble. But there’s certainly a good deal of hope for it to be renewed.
Ratings make ZERO sense these days.
- Does anyone know ANYBODY with a Nielsen box? I’ve never known a single person who has one my entire life.
- My parents and older family members are the only people I know who watch a show “live”. Most everyone I know watches TV via DVR, Hulu, Itunes, Amazon on demand, Netflix (cough…ahem…illegally downloads of course…cough) and I still know people who record their shows on VCR/DVD recorders.
Long story short, the ratings system these days is antiquated and needs to be severely overhauled.
agreed!
indeed!
Amen, Troy.
Yes but ratings count because of advertisers. People who are illegally downloading and DVRing shows aren’t watching ads which renders their viewership useless.
Their viewership would be useless anyway because they probably don’t have a Nielsen box in their house. I don’t have one, so I can pretty much watch TV shows in any format possible and it will have no effect on the ratings.
You’ve missed the point, Dave. If you don’t buy the Kit-Kats, they will stop paying to make the show.
Who cares if people download it illegially or DVR it we are all skipping the commericals anyway.
Yeah but again Hulu has commercials. So why does that not count?
Me, actually. But it is a pain in the neck. However, I do get paid so….(And most of my favs are on this bottom 50 list)
I had one for several years as well.
KatyMay, Any way you guys would be willing to have your tv on even if you aren’t home? As in, Fringe on Friday nights? Lie to me on Mondays when it returns?
And, we all want to know, how did you get one? And why thin do you not have one any longer?
I’m half kidding by the way
Agreed so much.
To the original post, even if you do know someone who has one, it is unlikely that you would know it. The identities of Nielsen families are kept private to prevent third parties from influencing them, and the families themselves are instructed to avoid discussing it. When I had mine, my family and a couple of close friends were the only people who knew about it.
How do the Nielson people select who gets a box? Is it a random process, and then they ask the household to keep one? And how does the box work, anyway?
(Just saying, I wouldn’t mind getting paid for watching TV…)
My parents were asked to be a “Nielson family”. All they had to do was WRITE DOWN what they watched and at what times. There was no box involved at all.
When was this? That doesn’t make sense!
That’s part of the SWEEPS demographic breakdown. The box is part of the overnight ratings and doesn’t include demographics. Diaries are for the sweeps.
This is true that a portion of Nielsen families write down what they watch during sweeps months, February and November. That is why networks put out the best episodes for those months. However, another percentage of Nielsen families are monitored electronically.
My parents were asked to do that years ago. Neilsen sent them this little booklet and we wrote down what we watched during the day for a week or two and then sent it back. I think they were just randomly selected for it. Then again, I was probably only 12 or 13 at the oldest at the time so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. I do know there wasn’t a box involved though.
Like a TV Diary, right ?
i was asked years ago.
You don’t get a box; you merely record your choices.
I opted it when I found out they weren’t going to pay me. It’s a lot of work they ask of people who are not being paid.
Sorry, I meant to say, “I opted out when I found out I was not going to get paid.”
You are so right Tony…
I completely agree. I watch far too many shows to watch them all live. 75% of my television watching happens through a stream of some kind.
Well said. Completely agree!
NBC, you can kill Chuck if you let Community live.
I fought for Chuck the past three seasons, but the show just isn’t worth saving anymore. Community needs to live!
NO! I’m not ready to say goodbye to Chuck Bartowski!
Unfortunately, I agree with you. We loved Chuck so much in my house, and we signed and posted and emailed to try and save it. However, the geeky charm that made me love it so much is gone now, and TBH, I am about 4 episodes behind on my DVR, and I’m just really not in any hurry to catch up.
Agreed. It’s unbearable to watch these days.
Agreed. I was a faithful viewer from day one, but stopped watching it early this season and have not looked back. The show just lost my attention.
Sheli, you have to watch the episode about 3 or 4 weeks back. It was one of the best of the series. There are many people who agree with me on that.
at this point, i’d sacrifice ANY of my other favs for Community. this show is just flat out brilliant and, in a perfect world, doesn’t belong on this list!
Chuck was disappointing last season, but it really is incredibly bad this season. It’s not fun nor romantic — it’s a BORING slog.
If the first season of Chuck was of this lousy quality, NOBODY would have fought to save it.
American Dad is funnier than Family Guy
I totally agree with you. In fact that and Modern Family are the funniest shows right now. Wish it would get more love.
This. Family Guy is dreadful now. American Dad is SO much better.
Love American Dad! Roger is one of my all time favorite animated characters. Who ate all the pecan sandies? lol
Castle? Really? That one surprises me.
Me too.
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this shows you the bad taste of audience viewers, the bottom 50 shows have alot of good shows compared to the reality ,cop procedural filled top 50
It pains me to see Chuck on this list. Why don’t people love Chuck?! I ask you!!! I will be so devastated if it gets canned.
Seriously, though, it is doing worse than “Outsourced?!” I watch both shows, but if I had to pick one…..”Outsourced” could leave….
I adore Chuck and every person I know who’s given it a try loves Chuck. I honestly do not understand it’s issues with ratings.
Chuck USED to be good. It’s terrible now. Unfunny, the missions are boring. I wouldn’t mind seeing it canceled before it gets any worse – and it’s already really bad.
I don’t understand it either!
Chuck’s such a quality show that delivers week to week. It’s light but has enough drama, action, romance–the recipe for highly entertaining television. It impressively hasn’t lost its creativity since the first season.
It’s evolving and the direction they’re going is always dependably satisfying. Sure, it’s changed, but for the better
I actually get invested in these characters as opposed to other shows I watch where I don’t really mind where the story line goes as long as it doesn’t jump the shark. Chuck, though, I’ll care if it gets canceled.