TV Ratings: ABC Gets Hammered (11/21/07)

ABC may be regretting their decision to air first run originals the night before Thanksgiving. All 3 shows in ABC's Wednesday night line-up hit series lows: "Pushing Daisies" (7.51 million); "Private Practice" (8.45 million); and "Dirty Sexy Money" (6.52 million). Fortunately, all 3 shows have already been renewed for a full season.

Next Wednesday, ABC ratings may be impacted by a programming change - "Private Practice" will be preempted by a new episode of "Pushing Daisies" which moves from its 8pm timeslot to make way for a couple of cartoons including a Shrek special.

Although "Pushing Daisies" almost got beat by CBS' reality show "Kid Nation" (I can't believe I just wrote that) the fantasy hour still managed to come out on top in the 18-49 demo. "Private Practice" which regularly beats "Criminal Minds" in the demo was nowhere near the CBS procedural (2.5 vs. 3.9).

Still, given the holiday and all the traveling, I would assume DVR use was at record high for ABC shows. We'll find out if that was the case in a couple of weeks when the Nielsen DVR data come out.

ABC did very badly at Thanksgiving last year as well. Sweeps or no sweeps, you would think they would learn a valuable lesson in scheduling and save the precious first-run originals, especially given the writers' strike this year.

ABC:
Pushing Daisies (7.51 million)
Private Practice (8.45 million)
Dirty Sexy Money (6.52 million)

CBS:
Kid Nation (7.28 million)
Criminal Minds (15.81 million)
CSI: NY (14.36 million)

NBC:
Phenomenon (6.17 million)
Deal or No Deal (10.15 million)

FOX:
Back to You (R) (5.35 million)
Till Death (R) (4.67 million)
Kitchen Nightmares (5.34 million)

The CW:
America's Next Top Model (3.62 million)
Gossip Girl (R) (1.26 million)

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