Ratings: Debuts of 'Pushing Daisies,' 'Private Practice,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' take a hit
Oct 2, 2008, 02:48 PM | by Mandi Bierly
Categories: Television, TV Biz, TV Ratings
As we learned on Monday, when we saw low numbers for the returns of NBC's Chuck (down 26 percent compared to last season's premiere) and Life (down 30 percent), after long, strike-induced hiatuses, it's "out of sight, out of mind" for some TV viewers. ABC got a taste of that Wednesday night with the return of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money — all of which had been off the air since December 2007.
According to overnight ratings, Daisies (pictured: Lee Pace) grabbed 6.3 million viewers, down from its season 1 debut (13 million), its season 1 average (8.8 million), and its last original episode (6.8 million). It finished fourth in the 8 p.m. hour, behind Fox's solid Bones (9.8 million), a Wednesday night new comer that continues to out-perform its averages in last season's Monday and Tuesday time slots. Daisies also trailed NBC's Knight Rider (7.6 million), which actually grew its audience by about a million over the course of the hour and bested last week's season premiere by 3 percent, and CBS's comedy block of The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried. Christine's 6.9 million viewers is a 6 percent improvement from its season premiere, but a 31 percent drop from last season's average. Jay Mohr's Gary Unmarried (7 million) once again built on its lead-in, and was up 2 percent from its series debut. America's Next Top Model rounded out the hour with 4 million viewers.
Moving on to the 9 p.m. hour, Private Practice came in third with 8 million viewers. That's down from last year's debut (14.4 million), last season's average (9.9 million), and its last original episode (10.4 million) back in December '07. As ABC is quick to note, however, Practice was Wednesday night's top show among adults 18-34 and the key women demos (18-34 and 18-49). Still, it was CBS' Criminal Minds that won the hour with 14.5 million viewers, down 15 percent from last week's season premiere but still up 21 percent from last season's average. In second place was the season finale of NBC's America's Got Talent, which averaged 12.6 million viewers but naturally grew its audience in the second half hour (from 11.7 million to 13.4 million). Fox came in fourth with a block of two new 'Til Death episodes. The first was seen by 4.7 million viewers, the second by 3.9 million. (FYI: That latter number is still 276,000 more than what tuned in for the last episode of former 9:30 p.m. time slot holder Do Not Disturb.) The CW had 1.7 million sets of eyes for its encore of Tuesday's 90210.
As for the 10 p.m., Dirty Sexy Money returned to 7.1 million viewers to finish second. That's down from the season 1 premiere (10.4 million) and last season's average (7.4 million) but actually up 6 percent from its last original episode (6.7 million), which aired in December. CBS' CSI:NY dominated the hour with 14.7 million viewers, up about 80,000 viewers from last week's season debut and 33 percent from last season's average. NBC's Lipstick Jungle brought up the rear with 5.3 million viewers, down 15 percent from last week's season opener and 14 percent from its freshman average, when it aired Thursdays.
Daisies, Practice, and Money will likely see their numbers rise somewhat once DVR usage reports come in -- though probably no more than about 10 percent. "I wouldn't put those ABC shows in the strong category," a rival network exec said.
Related content:
Ausiello's Pushing Daisies scoop
Ausiello's Private Practice scoop
Dirty Sexy Money behind-the-scenes photos
America's Next Top Model recap
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