TV Audiences Turn to Lighter Fare

[question everything]

NOVEMBER 26, 2008

TV Audiences Turn to Lighter Fare
By SAM SCHECHNER
WSJ

After a marathon political season that saw cable-news networks' viewership nearly double from four years ago, many TV viewers appear to be turning back to crime dramas, sitcoms and other less weighty fare. The shift could turn what some feared would be a catastrophic broadcast TV season into a merely poor one. During the fog of the campaign, nobody could tell if the double-digit declines in broadcast viewership suggested a watershed or simply an audience distracted by an unusually gripping election, captured on cable. But for the past two weeks, the five major English-language broadcast networks have been pacing 4.7% behind their primetime viewership last season, more in line with the yearly bleed of broadcast viewers to cable's original programs and sports offerings.

(snip)

A suite of procedural crime dramas like "CSI: NY" and sitcoms like "How I Met Your Mother" have helped CBS, where the average number of prime-time viewers was up 2.7% in the past two weeks from the same period last fall. Fox had some help last week from Jack Bauer, the counterterrorist agent in its series "24," who appeared in a special that attracted 12.1 million viewers on Sunday. (News Corp., Fox's owner, also owns The Wall Street Journal.)

Meantime, on cable, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC have each seen prime-time viewership decline more than a quarter from the month before the election, according to Nielsen Media Research, a greater drop-off than the corresponding one in 2004.. Viewers aren't abandoning news, however. Despite the big drop from the election itself, all the cable-news networks are close to flat or up from their average viewership in January through September -- a period that included the closely watched primaries, both party conventions and one presidential debate. In addition, CNN and MSNBC have doubled and tripled their post-election viewership among 25- to 54-year-olds compared to the period following the 2004 election, indicating that some of the ratings gains both saw in 2008 may be sticking. Fox News is down 16.5% from that period.

TV comedy on cable is also holding some of its audience. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, who attracted 3.1 million viewers for his live telecast on election night, has seen the number of viewers for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" drop 12.2% from its pre-election average to about two million viewers per show last week. But that's still 32% better than his average in the weeks following the election in 2004.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122765987955458501.html (subscription)

[Joanne98]

1. How depressing is that!

[hlthe2b]

4. Oh, I think a little balance is in order...

I watch little tv, having cut the cable 3+ years ago, but even I need to tune away from political news a day or so a week...I still try to watch TDS online when I can.

Ironically, the shows I've seen once or twice that I thought might be occasional "lookers" are already on the cancellation list (Eli Stone, Life on Mars and one or two others). I used to like LOST but it is so often on extended hiatus--what's the point.

But, I can't blame some folks from tuning a bit to the boob box. The news lately is damned hard to take 24/7.

[question everything]

5. I wondered about Life on Mars, since Private Practice is moving

to its time slot.

On the other hand, as with Lost, at some point the mystery has to be resolved.

I have been thinking that, once, "Sam Tyler" figures out why he was there, that that would be the end of the series. I hope that they will resolve it.

I was watching ABC last Wednesday - glad for the return of Pushing Daisies (for a while, at least) - and watching Private Practice and Baba Wawa interviewing the Obamas, They were running promos for new programs coming January and they all appeared trashy, or aimed at adolescent adults.

[eleny]

2. Daily Show was repeats last week, so no surprise in a drop in viewers

Unless they meant the week before.

[question everything]

6. They meant the week before

Tell you the truth, I did not care for Dennis Leary and for the editor of Newsweek, turned it off mid interview.

[eleny]

8. I thought that week was kind of flat, too

[glowing]

3. The news media knew that with the election ending, they would have to

report news again. They could have captured audiences by doing reporting around the world with news that would actually be of interest... at least to me... Why not report on the events of the areas we are at war? Why not report on some of our policies in action and reaction to those policies by the rest of the world.. Instead, after Obama won, they had a non-stop marathon of Sara Palin.. the woman most people in America rejected.. and didn't want to see anymore.

[morningglory]

7. Been watching TVLand, Lucy, Sheriff of Mayberry, TCM, Elvis Mitchell...

Watched Sergeant York last night. It was a great movie. Watched Anna Magnani and Anthony Quinn in Wind is Wild (?) on TCM today. It was a very fine movie.

[MichellesBFF]

9. Pushing Daisies

Is going to be pushing some daisies of it's own soon.

Sniff...