Fox (NWS-A) won the prime-time ratings race this week with an average of 10.3 million viewers, which equates to a 6.3/11 share.
Leading the charge was American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 28.93 million; "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 26.55 million; and "House," Fox, 22.41 million. They finished in the first, second and third positions for the week.
After the Fox powerhouse, ABC (DIS) followed with the next four top shows: "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 21.13 million; "Dancing With the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 18.87 million; "Dancing With the Stars Results" (Tuesday), 16.54 million and "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 15.91 million.
But even with these strong shows, ABC was only able to finish in third behind CBS, ending up with a 9.5 million average.
The last three shows of the top 10 for the week belonged to CBS (CBS-A): "CSI: Miami," CBS, 15.36 million; "Survivor: Fiji," CBS, 13.33 million and "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.03 million. The network finished second for the week with a 9.6 million average.
NBC (GE) wasn't even able to place a show in the top 16, and only had three in the top 30. As a result they finished with only a 6.2 millon average, even worse than the smallest weekly audience they had last week since 1987.
The problem is that they don't seem to have anything in the wings to turn this around. While we keep hearing the old story about the critically acclaimed shows like "The Office" and "30 Rock, the chances of them being breakout shows is slim. It's happened with other shows in the past, but very few.
How long will Jeff Immelt, GE's CEO put up with this? With NBC being so much in the public eye, don't think that this isn't starting to have an impact upon the company. While I don't think Immelt will make any sudden moves. If this doesn't turn around and go in the other direction, we may seen either another huge shakeup, or even the company put on the block.
Right now NBC is in big trouble with nothing in sight to change it.
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