Peta Wilson
Posted on 01/17/2006 2:31:20 PM PST by LdSentinal
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Jack Bauer‘s latest marathon workday got off to a good start Sunday, ratings-wise.
The Fox drama "24" notched its most-watched episode ever with its fifth-season premiere as the first of two back-to-back episodes got a boost from a primetime overrun (in East Coast and Midwestern markets) of the NFL‘s NFC divisional playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.
Airing from about 8:13-9:11 p.m. EST, the first episode of "24" averaged 17 million viewers and a 7.3 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic (demographic share data for Sunday were not available Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday), according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. The second hour of "24," which ended at about 10:13 p.m. EST, held onto the majority of its lead-in to finish out with 15.5 million viewers and a 6.7 rating in adults 18-49.
According to Fox, Sunday‘s episodes marked the two most-watched installments of the Emmy-winning real-time drama series since the clock began ticking on "24" in fall 2001. Last year, Fox shifted the series to a January premiere date in part to allow the show to run original episodes in its regular Monday 9 p.m. slot through the end of the season without taking any weeks off for repeats.
The first hour of Sunday‘s season opener improved on last year‘s "24" premiere episode (which also had a special Sunday kickoff) by 16% in adults 18-49 and 11% in total viewers. ABC‘s 9 p.m. dynamo "Desperate Housewives" (22.5 million, 9.5/20) held onto its No. 1 ranking by a comfortable margin, though the presence of "24" probably helped drive the soap to its lowest marks of the season to date for an original episode. At 10 p.m., ABC‘s "Grey‘s Anatomy" (19.1 million, 8.6/20) hung tough and registered its best-ever retention of an original "Housewives" lead-in.
But the combination of the NFL overrun and double dose of "24" gave Fox the clear victory for the night (22 million viewers, 9.2 in adults 18-49) and its highest-rated Sunday since last year‘s Super Bowl telecast on February 6.
In other weekend ratings news, ABC had a good turnout Friday for the second week of its "Dancing With the Stars Results Show" (13.7 million, 3.4/11), which kept the network at No. 1 in both key measures in the 8 p.m. hour, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen. The news was not so good on Friday for NBC‘s limited-run 10 p.m. drama "The Book of Daniel" (7 million, 2.2/6), which lost Nielsen ground from the previous week‘s underwhelming two-hour premiere. CBS wound up taking Friday honors overall on the strength of the 10 p.m. drama "Numbers" (12.8 million, 3.8/11).
On Thursday, NBC‘s new comedy lineup, anchored by 9-10 p.m.‘s "My Name Is Earl" (12.5 million, 5.9/14) and "The Office" (10.3 million, 5.1/12), made hay in the adults 18-49 demo derby against a repeat of CBS‘ "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (17.8 million, 5.4/13). A good showing from NBC‘s 10 p.m. stalwart "ER" (15.4 million, 6.7/17) gave NBC the nightly win in adults 18-49 (5.6/14) and its highest-rated Thursday since May.
ABC was a player from 8-9:30 p.m. with the second week of its 90-minute performance edition of "Dancing With the Stars" (17.4 million, 4.6/12). The network‘s momentum ebbed at 9:30 p.m., however, with the debut of the sitcom "Crumbs" (11.8 million, 3.6/9).
WB Network also had some good news Thursday with the 9 p.m. second-season premiere of "Beauty and the Geek" (5 million, 2.3/6). On the heels of a solid showing from 8 p.m.‘s "Smallville" (5.5 million, 2.4/6), "Geek" delivered WB‘s best numbers of the season in the time period in all key measures, particularly women 18-34 (3.2/8), female teens (4.0/12) and male teens (3.1/10).
Excellent synopsis! I am a first time viewer of the series and now hooked!
Now I've gotta go rent the original series........
Jack isn't corrupt though...
Yes, he is. They are moving him to a new Fox show this year called The Unit.
Cop show
..........."And were those terrorist's Chechens?"
I think they are.
It also appears to me that the terrorists this season look more Caucasian than Arabic.
Non stop action, definitive good guys and bad guys and a sneeky sleeze who I am assuming is a lib. But it doesn't matter.......
Not being a major network watcher except for Surface, which is on Fox also, 24 is the best TV I have watched in years.........
Carlos is one lucky guy!
Fox has an excellent web site. Google 24.
Peta Wilson
Hands, hands.
Does that heavy set guy back at CTU central have a crush on her? He seems to be overly protective ........ sorry I dont know his name yet because I am a new viewer. I like him because he kinda ragged on that guy who spent the night with Chloe......
He seems to be the kind of guy that you would want to be in your corner when the chips fall.......
Surface is on NBC, and replayed on SciFi.
I did read through some of the 24 plot summaries, but couldn't figure out the Audrey/Jack connection. Thanks to all for your posts. Now I get it...
Nah...you want Jack and Curtis on your side in a dark alley
Chloe if you needed a 4th.
oh, me! pick me!
Edgar. He saved the US last season from multiple meltdowns.
We taped it last night so Mr. P could UConn basketball and we watched it tonight. Took the phone off the hook :-)
Jack is back!
Jack is sort of like a reluctant Dirty Harry character in that he gets all the sh1t jobs with little thanks from anyone else. They have introduced personal elements to his life that Harry Callahan never had to deal with and he gets his ass kicked far more than Dirty Harry ever had to.
One of the themes of the show is that we need people like Jack doing the job he does but many people cannot stomach the process. Audrey was a weakling. She quit on her marriage rather than be the woman that she needed to be in order to have it work out. Then, when Jack saves her and her father's bacon and her ex stands in the way of Jack doing what he needs to she turns on him. Jack is always about sacrifice and putting the bigger picture in front of everything else. Audrey couldn't deal with that.
Best bet - buy or rent the previous seasons. I have watched previous on DVD. This is the first seasin I gave watched on TV.
Or the disgusting Golden Globes...
What I can't figure out is why Jack went soft with the landlady's kid.
That was, most definitely, out of character.
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