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).
Agree. someone said they make a feature-length movie. Is that a rumor or more?? I think it would play really well on the big screen..
Beyond a doubt.
If you are saying that Chloe is hot I agree
and, best of all, they don't trash our President with a lot of political inuendos.
Yes, they brief you on what happened in the episode before. Plus, no commericals!!!
Really? I didn't know they were married. Definitely a lot of chemistry with them, so it makes sense.
She shot up some dudes last year in season 4.
Chloe gonna bust a cap in yo' ass, holmes
And were those terrorist's Chechens?
Yeah I recall it was when she went to get that laptop
The daughter was a vehicle to make the show go and it was poorly done. Shame on the writers but I guess they were trying to lend drama to it.
Tell me you found the following boring:
1) Jack kills kiddie porn guy then cuts off his head
2) Jack tortures girlfriend's ex-husband for refusing to tell him what he needs to know
3) Jack actually dying then coming back to life then killing all the guys who tortured him
etc, etc
I don't think that's true. Carlos Bernard is married to someone else and has a daughter.
I think she looks like that comedian, what's his name? Bobcat Goldwythe or something like that.
The characters are moving on to new show. President Palmer is starting a new series on Fox for example. I'd heard something about Michelle as well.
I got a real life Chloe with a pony tail
Chloe has been written as a nerd, someone with zero social skills, so it was really weird to see her sleeping with someone from work.
They know who their audience is. It would be a stupid move for them to do that. All 4 hours had me on the edge of my seat. Very well written. Actually, this isn't a bad year for TV. Along with 24, Criminal Minds and House are also excellent shows worth watching.
I missed the last ten minutes because I got confused and didn't set it to catch the next program, what with the football overrun.
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