Sunday, August 1, 2010

The War of 18-49, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition



EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION (ABC)

Scheduling history: With very few exceptions (the series premiere/preview on Wednesday in 2003, a special episode on Thursday in May 2004) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition aired its entire run until October 2011 on Sunday. In fall 2011, ABC moved the show to Friday and started double-pumping originals. Cancellation was announced fairly soon after, so the show left the schedule for good in January 2012.

See (who saw) how it all began: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition kicked off with a preview on 12/3/03 after a fairly high-rated special about the Bachelorette wedding. It held almost all of that special's demo, scoring 12.10 million total viewers and a 5.8/16 in the demo. It didn't make its Sunday premiere until over two months later, though, pulling a more modest 10.95 million viewers and a 4.0 demo on 2/15/04. It held almost all that demo with a 3.9 the next week, though, and it continued to build throughout that short first season, peaking at a 5.4 on 5/2/04.

The best of times: The best of times for EM: HE was season 2. The show had some nice momentum on Sundays in its own right during early 2004, and the behemoth Sunday night performance from Desperate Housewives the next season only helped matters. The show peaked in early 2005, including a whooping 9.0 demo on 1/16/05, and 10 of the show's 11 airings above a 7.0 demo occurred during the 2004-05 season. The 2005-06 season was actually not much worse, but its average was brought down by a ton of airings in the lower-HUT 7pm hour.

The worst of times: Since 2004-05, it's pretty much been downhill for Home Edition. ABC kept Sunday night completely intact since from fall 2006 through spring 2011, and they all dropped together. Though EM: HE had a bit of renaissance in the middle of the 2007-08 season when most scripted TV was gone due to the writer's strike, usually it's just dropped. Most of the season lows below are a bit misleading since they usually take place in the 7pm hour, but the ultimate low point for the show was what it did after its move to Friday in the final season. It got as low as a 0.7 demo on November 11.

Then vs. now: A Friday move for Home Edition seemed imminent for years, and it finally came to pass in the 2011-12 season. Unfortunately, by the time it actually did get moved, there was very little ratings juice left in the program, and it wasn't able to withstand that move in an acceptable way. I have to wonder if the move came a season too late. Perhaps if they'd made the move the previous fall and given No Ordinary Family the Sunday slot (where another fantasy show in Once Upon a Time went on to succeed in a big way the next season), the fates of those shows could've gone down differently. But ABC decided to squeeze all they could out of Home Edition on Sunday. By 2011-12, the show was weak enough that even its Friday numbers were easily replaceable, as the Shark Tank/Primetime: What Would You Do? duo instantly posted better numbers after Home Edition departed on Friday.

Season adults 18-49 lows/averages/highs:

Seas Year Timeslot Avg y2y Lo Hi Results Grade
12003-04Sunday 8:004.091.65.8detail
22004-056.35+55%3.49.0detail
32005-065.23-18%2.87.1detail
42006-074.77-9%2.56.4detail
52007-084.38-8%2.35.6detail
62008-093.29-25%1.94.1detail
72009-102.71-18%1.93.7detail
82010-112.26-17%1.52.7detailC-
92011-12Sun 8:00, Fri 8:001.41-37%0.72.3detailD+
102012-13Monday 9:001.11-21%0.91.3detail

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas Year A18-49+ Label Now15 y2y Lo Hi Premiere Finale
12003-04 101 solid1.70 39 143 143 131
22004-05 156 big hit2.62 +54% 83 221 169 174
32005-06 129 hit2.17 -17% 69 175 74 131
42006-07 127 hit2.13 -2% 66 170 93 119
52007-08 133 hit2.23 +5% 70 169 88 118
62008-09 109 solid1.84 -17% 63 136 73 103
72009-10 96 marginal1.62 -12% 68 131 75 103
82010-11 89 marginal1.49 -8% 59 106 59 87
92011-12 60 solid(Fri)1.01 -33% 30 97 55 72
102012-13 53 flop0.89 -12% 43 62 62 57
AVERAGE:105solid



For more on The War of 18-49, my look at the history of primetime TV's veteran shows, see the Index.

No comments:

Post a Comment

© SpottedRatings.com 2009-2022. All Rights Reserved.