Marshall47
Cadet
I Spy a Hit
Alias finally breaks out
Can Lost turn Alias into a real hit?
Sure, Alias started its fourth season on Wednesday, and has a big cult following. But it's never cracked the Top 30 in viewers over a season in the Nielsen ratings. When it aired after Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last season, it lost more than half of its lead-in of viewers aged 18 to 49, the demographic group advertisers favor.
This week the Alias season premiere only dropped 14 percent from Lost, which had its highest-rated episode ever. While the two-hour Alias declined in each half hour, it was still strong enough at 10 pm to win the hour against CBS' CSI: NY and NBC's Law & Order in total viewers and the 18-to-49 group.
The Alias premiere was given a ton of promotion, and having two shows from writer-producer J.J. Abrams air back-to-back couldn't have hurt. Still, the Alias ratings exceeded ABC's expectations. ABC won't really know for sure how strong Alias is until Feb. 9, when Fox moves American Idol into the Wednesday-at-9 pm slot for six weeks.
But before the season began, it looked like Alias was headed for its last season. Now all bets are off.
Another interesting aspect of Wednesday's ratings: Alias knocked CSI: NY and Law & Order to season lows for original episodes. CSI: Miami also took a hit against the premiere of NBC's Medium on Monday.
It could be that viewers are getting wise about procedural dramas. The CSI and Law & Order franchises are now on at least three times a week on the networks. Repeats from past seasons are staples of the cable networks.
"With the exception of CSI on Thursday, they are not appointment television," said one network executive. "You can watch them on Spike or USA. You know they are going to be repeated."
But the same executive told The Biz that viewers are in no way tiring of procedurals. It may be that CSI: NY in particular is the weakest link at the moment. Even when the show started out strong in the ratings this season, CBS executives asked for creative changes (which are detailed in this week's TV Guide magazine).
"It's still young and still delicate," said one CBS insider. "You have a show like Alias that has a good rating and carries over two hour, you're going to get hurt."
----------------------------------------------------------------
From http://www.tvguide.com/news/thebiz/
Alias finally breaks out
Can Lost turn Alias into a real hit?
Sure, Alias started its fourth season on Wednesday, and has a big cult following. But it's never cracked the Top 30 in viewers over a season in the Nielsen ratings. When it aired after Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last season, it lost more than half of its lead-in of viewers aged 18 to 49, the demographic group advertisers favor.
This week the Alias season premiere only dropped 14 percent from Lost, which had its highest-rated episode ever. While the two-hour Alias declined in each half hour, it was still strong enough at 10 pm to win the hour against CBS' CSI: NY and NBC's Law & Order in total viewers and the 18-to-49 group.
The Alias premiere was given a ton of promotion, and having two shows from writer-producer J.J. Abrams air back-to-back couldn't have hurt. Still, the Alias ratings exceeded ABC's expectations. ABC won't really know for sure how strong Alias is until Feb. 9, when Fox moves American Idol into the Wednesday-at-9 pm slot for six weeks.
But before the season began, it looked like Alias was headed for its last season. Now all bets are off.
Another interesting aspect of Wednesday's ratings: Alias knocked CSI: NY and Law & Order to season lows for original episodes. CSI: Miami also took a hit against the premiere of NBC's Medium on Monday.
It could be that viewers are getting wise about procedural dramas. The CSI and Law & Order franchises are now on at least three times a week on the networks. Repeats from past seasons are staples of the cable networks.
"With the exception of CSI on Thursday, they are not appointment television," said one network executive. "You can watch them on Spike or USA. You know they are going to be repeated."
But the same executive told The Biz that viewers are in no way tiring of procedurals. It may be that CSI: NY in particular is the weakest link at the moment. Even when the show started out strong in the ratings this season, CBS executives asked for creative changes (which are detailed in this week's TV Guide magazine).
"It's still young and still delicate," said one CBS insider. "You have a show like Alias that has a good rating and carries over two hour, you're going to get hurt."
----------------------------------------------------------------
From http://www.tvguide.com/news/thebiz/