Sunday, December 29, 2013

Schedules Plus, CW Sunday


Schedules Plus is another innovative application of the historical ratings statistic A18-49+. I hope this will be the ultimate resource for comparing the evolution of shows, networks and timeslots over time, complete with ratings numbers that make a fair adjustment for the collective decline. Right now this only includes programs aired in the fall. Much more about the process that went into this at the bottom.

The WB/CW Sunday post chronicles the death of a night of primetime programming. While UPN never actually programmed Sunday night, the WB did so pretty successfully with genre drama Charmed. So the powers that be tried to keep the night alive after the CW merger. Unfortunately, nothing the CW put there in its first year had anywhere near the power of Charmed. And things got exponentially more embarrassing in the next two seasons. First, they had megaflop family drama Life is Wild, then they sold the night to Media Rights Capital, whose two dramas were as weak as anything we've ever seen on a big-five network. Starting in 2009-10, the CW gave up on trying to nationally program the night and gave it back to the affiliates.

WB/CW Sunday


8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 Avg
2001-02 The Steve Harvey Show Men, Women and Dogs Nikki Off Centre 26
30 26 25 24
28 24
2002-03 Charmed Angel 49
52 46
2003-04 Charmed Tarzan 46
54 37
2004-05 Charmed Jack and Bobby 38
44 31
2005-06 Charmed Blue Collar TV 33
42 25
2006-07 7th Heaven Runaway 25
32 19
2007-08 Life is Wild America's Next Top Model Fall (R) 15
11 19
2008-09 Valentine Easy Money 10
11 9

Avg 34 26 30

Notes:

The CW's inaugural 2006-07 lineup actually began with a four-comedy Sunday lineup imported from UPN (Everybody Hates Chris/All of Us/Girlfriends/new The Game), but after just two weeks they swapped it with the family dramas on Monday. I put the family dramas in the table since 7th Heaven stayed here all season, but Runaway only aired one Monday episode before getting the axe.

The comedy block briefly returned to Sunday after the writers' strike in March 2008 with truly terrible ratings (barely half of what they'd done on Monday earlier in the season). That was the network's last regular two-hour comedy block, with only Everybody Hates Chris and The Game surviving into 2008-09.

Media Rights Capital shows Valentine and Easy Money were each cancelled after four episodes (but returned for burn-offs in summer 2009). The CW ended its deal with MRC shortly thereafter, taking back the night and filling it with repeats and movies.

See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.

6 comments:

Spot said...

Wow at Charmed, it's the Vampire Diaries of the WB

Spot said...

Amazing to see Charmed on here, and it did so well! It was the last successful show to air on Sundays on The WB/The CW.

Spot said...

Wow at Charmed!

Spot said...

Does anyone know what was the ratings and demo for the series finale of Charmed? I've been looking everywhere on-line...

Spot said...

4.5 million viewers, 2.0/5 A18-49 on 5/21/06

Spot said...

Thanks for replying back so soon. Wasn't expecting anyone to know because the finale was years ago.


I was also hoping to find the ratings and demo for the series finale of JAG (sorry, I know the show has nothing to do with this website) and I'm not expecting anyone to answer it...sorry that's me rambling.


Thank you again for the Charmed info.

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