Posted on 01/17/2006 2:31:20 PM PST by LdSentinal
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Jack Bauers 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 NFLs 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, Sundays 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 Sundays season opener improved on last years "24" premiere episode (which also had a special Sunday kickoff) by 16% in adults 18-49 and 11% in total viewers. ABCs 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., ABCs "Greys 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 years 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 NBCs limited-run 10 p.m. drama "The Book of Daniel" (7 million, 2.2/6), which lost Nielsen ground from the previous weeks 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, NBCs 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 NBCs 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 networks 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 WBs 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).
Amen.
And so were the PREVIOUS White House occupants...
The terrorists in the current season are obviously Chechen Muslims. At least the ones at the airport were -- the guy(s) pulling the strings might be something else.
I've got a bad feeling about that guy...
So do I.
Yeah.
Anybody care to tell us what happened in the third hour?
Or the first half of the second day?
Thanks...
He's definitely a bad dude.
I always had a soft/hard spot for that "designen woman"?
So do I. But then I started to wonder, how does CTU-LA end up with so many traitors and moles? Then I remembered the current situation at State, FBI and CIA. I guess it's not unusual.
Edgar will sniff out what Chloe's guy is all about. I think he has a crush on Chloe, or at least cares about her enough not to want to see her hurt.
Hope we don't get surprised that Chloe's really out to rub Jack out.
Wonder how many of the cast of '24' are begging to be a good guy to be keep on the show?
When I saw them take over the airport (although I was already leaning toward Chechen's), I thought of Beslan.
Well, I suspect Donald Sutherland will be very pleased with your decision!
I don't know how close the father/son relationship is, but I do know this show is getting the message across to America just how deadly this War of Terror is to the USA. It seems, just as President Bush predicted, 9/11 is just a passing bad memory.
Drinking some wine? Eating some cheese? Catching some rays?
Probably.
Refer to post 250. We were talking about commander in chief and Donald Sutherland's nasty comments prior to it's premier; nothing bad about Keifer or 24... Keifer is smart and keeps his politics to himself and 24 is, hands' down the best or one of the best shows on television.
I see the ratings for Commander in Chief "another show that I don't watch" are falling too.
I have all 4 seasons.It so cool when there is nothing worth watching, you can put on 24 and you be in front of the TV for hours.Jack makes the show,the writers are so right on about what goes on behind the scene's in the fight against terror.I saw a show on Fox with a couple of the cast members talking to some CIA folks,They said (CIA)was surprised at the parity of reality to the show 24.I hope it runs for many many more years to come.
..I personally find it hard to believe more folks watched the stupid Globes. ....than 24.
I thought the numbers were going down for awards show of that nature????
Extremely disappointing.
I did read an interesting stat this morning -- movie 'stars' are taking cuts in pay due to how tough things have become lately (in hollywood). However, while they are taking smaller salaries up front, they are asking for larger percentages.
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