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Timeslot debut draws a weak 2.1 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jul 17, 2006
CBS moved “Big Brother” from little-watched Saturday to Sunday in part to attract a bigger audience for its marquee summer show. But as with so many of the network’s programming decisions this summer, this one didn’t work very well.
Last night’s Sunday premiere of “Big Brother: All-Stars” averaged a 2.1 adults 18-49 overnight rating, tying for third place amid a sea of reruns in the 8 p.m. timeslot.
What’s more, the show improved by just 11 percent on the Saturday premiere rating for last year’s sixth edition of “Brother,” which averaged a 1.9. It was the lowest-rated episode of the show, which also airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus far, half a point behind Thursday’s 2.6 average for the most recent episode.
“Brother” finished behind NBC’s “Dateline” at 2.8 and Fox’s two reruns of “The Simpsons” at 2.5. It tied for third with ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
And the show provided no leadoff punch for the newly rejiggered CBS Sunday lineup, which also made its debut last night. “Cold Case” moved back an hour, to 9 p.m., and averaged a 1.8, on par with its average the previous week.
Thursday’s “Without a Trace” took over the 10 p.m. timeslot and averaged a 1.8, just 0.1 ahead of NBC’s third-place “Crossing Jordan.” Of course summer repeats are not a good indicator of how a show will perform come fall, but CBS will undoubtedly be disappointed that “Brother” could not provide at least a bit more ratings punch.
The show’s average through four episodes is 2.6, down 13 percent from last summer’s 3.0 at this time.
It has been a disappointing summer in general for CBS, whose 18-49 average is down from last summer. The network has already yanked one show, “Tuesday Night Book Club,” off the air and has seen disappointing results from “Gameshow Marathon” and “Rock Star: Supernova.”
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_6024.asp
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Sunday bomb for CBS's 'Big Brother'
