Ratings for Nemesis

[xrayvision]

Post about the ratings for Nemesis here once they're available.

[MidgardDragon]

No pre-emptions tonight (as far as we know) woo-hoo!

[warriorrenegade]

Yeah the ratings should pick-up. If not ...Oh well. Better luck next year LOL.

[Lexgirl33]

There is a pre-emt in NY i think. *sigh* SV can't win huh?

[kalelnica]

Originally posted by Lexgirl33
There is a pre-emt in NY i think. *sigh* SV can't win huh?

WPIX??

i was watching it.

[Bosrudorfer]

Sweet so no pre-emptions then

[Best Episode - 321]

Smallville

Viewers: #5, 3.93 million

A18-49: #5, 1.5/ 4


__________________________________

Season 6 Episode Viewership

Zod......................4.96*
Sneeze.................4.52*
Wither..................4.88*
Arrow...................4.71*
Reunion...............4.79*
Fallout.................5.01*
Rage...................4.46*
Static...................4.70*
Subterranean........4.31*
Hydro..................4.68*
Justice.................5.26*
Labyrinth..............5.00*
Crimson.................4.91*
Trespass...............4.74*
Freak....................4.76*
Promise................4.69*
Combat................4.07*
Progeny...............3.98*
Nemesis..............3.93

* - Final Rating

[Kreukie]

What a shame, it was a really good episode wish more people were up to seeing it.

[JEWCY]

I just read an article in USA Today earlier this week. Smallville is not the only show suffering in ratings. Actually pretty much every big show is going in the same trend.

[Best Episode - 321]

Yeah, unfortunately people are tuning out. Maybe Promise had a bigger effect than I thought. Hopefully it will pick up next week.

____________________________

Anyway, here are the half hour breakdowns.

Smallville
8:00 p.m. V: 3.69 million, A18-49: 1.4/ 4
8:30 p.m. V: 4.18 million, A18-49: 1.6/ 4

Supernatural
9:00 p.m. V: 3.53 million, A18-49: 1.4/ 4
9:30 p.m. V: 3.16 million, A18-49: 1.3/ 3

[eas]

Originally posted by Kreukie
What a shame, it was a really good episode wish more people were up to seeing it.

Yeah, it was a great episode. And had a lot of good Superman moments and great Lex/Superman foreshadowing. Plus, it progressed the plot for the end of the season forward.

It's a shame that the ratings are so bad.

[Best Episode - 321]

Originally posted by JEWCY
I just read an article in USA Today earlier this week. Smallville is not the only show suffering in ratings. Actually pretty much every big show is going in the same trend.

Yeah all ratings are down over the last couple weeks. It really weird to lose so much of the audience with only three weeks left in the season. And as you said, its not just Smallville.

[kuang]

I thought this episode is best recently.
Why the rating is bad?
I cannot imagine.
Do you think it is worse than last episode?

[Kryptonian-Ronin]

There has been a steady decline, right after Justice.
Labyrinth went down and it kept going down from there...

[JEWCY]

Originally posted by kuang
I thought this episode is best recently.
Why the rating is bad?
I cannot imagine.
Do you think it is worse than last episode?

when the weather is nice, people do not want to waste their time in front of the tv

instead the problem could be DVR

DVR takes about 15% of the audience away and it does not count towards the ratings. so if Smallvill got 4 million viewers,in season 3 or so it would of gotten close to 5 around the same time because of this reason.

I also don't think the reason is because of Promise. IMO it was a great episode, but that is beside the point. The audience loves conflict and drama in love (no matter how long it can be drawn out) and why would they turn off now after they have been watching that long for Clark and Lana to be together?

It just depends on the season. The 3 week earlier day light savings time also effected episodes like Promise and Combat, but for the latter, Im not sure. Im going to hold there is a boatload of other shows to watch and people are DVR'ing Smallville

[BadToad]

How depressing. This was a great episode :(

[lillie_poo_pod]

WOW. :|

[Kryptonian-Ronin]

Originally posted by BadToad
How depressing. This was a great episode :(

It may be too soon to know why the ratings were so low.

[MidgardDragon]

Yep, let's wait and see if anything happened we are unaware of before assuming that Smallville is dying and/or it's because Promise supposedly sucked.

(BTW, if previous episodes effect ratings quite as much as people are implying Promise did, then Progeny sucked too, not that I think it did.)

[eas]

Originally posted by JEWCY
when the weather is nice, people do not want to waste their time in front of the tv

instead the problem could be DVR

DVR takes about 15% of the audience away and it does not count towards the ratings. so if Smallvill got 4 million viewers,in season 3 or so it would of gotten close

[....]

Im going to hold there is a boatload of other shows to watch and people are DVR'ing Smallville

I don't think that it can be blamed on the DVR. Ratings come from people who have Nielson boxes in their homes. If they are a Neilson family, the box records what they actually watch on live TV... and, from what I've understood, these families don't have DVRs. That would completely ruin the data figures. Plus, even they have a DVR in one room or something, it wouldn't only figure in when it comes to this episode. It would have skewed the results for every episode, so the figures are adjusted to make room for that margin of error.

I do think that the weather getting better might play a part. Plus, there is still daylight leading up to 8:00 pm (or 7:00 pm) in a lot of places, so people aren't watching TV as much. But... overall... I think it may just stem from the fact that "SV" has had a lot of sub-par episodes. I'm not pin-pointing one or the other. I'm just saying that there's been a bit a trend where the plot doesn't seem be advancing and most of the characters aren't evolving. And I can see a sporadic viewer of the show get bored and stop watching it. That happens to me with shows all the time. I get bored and think it's not going anywhere, so I stop watching.

[RedKRules]

:( ....hope it changes on the FINALE :rolleyes:

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by eas
But... overall... I think it may just stem from the fact that "SV" has had a lot of sub-par episodes.

That may have been true pre-Hydro but most seem to agree that post-Hydro the "sub-par" episodes have been few and far between, if any. Unless people tuned out pre-Hydro and didn't give the show a second look, then that argument doesn't really hold water.

We've had quality episodes and advancing plot for a long while now, I don't think you can blame sub-par episodes for the current decline in ratings. It seems people are saying ratings are down everywhere, which indicates a trend in people turning off the TV rather than a trend in bad episodes of their favorite shows.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
That may have been true pre-Hydro but most seem to agree that post-Hydro the "sub-par" episodes have been few and far between, if any. Unless people tuned out pre-Hydro and didn't give the show a second look, then that argument doesn't really hold water.

I don't happen to agree with you there. I think a lot of fans consider many of the episodes since "Hydro" (well, "Justice," which I loved) so-so.

[Dee]

People have to remember this is exam time. A lot of kids have to study, and when that's a major demographic, it's gonna cut into your ratings.

[eas]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
That may have been true pre-Hydro but most seem to agree that post-Hydro the "sub-par" episodes have been few and far between, if any. Unless people tuned out pre-Hydro and didn't give the show a second look, then that argument doesn't really hold water.

We've had quality episodes and advancing plot for a long while now, I don't think you can blame sub-par episodes for the current decline in ratings. It seems people are saying ratings are down everywhere, which indicates a trend in people turning off the TV rather than a trend in bad episodes of their favorite shows.

I disagree that "most seem to agree" that the episodes post-"Hydro" have been good. A lot of people on a lot boards seem to be frustrated with the direction of the show in a lot of ways. The "Chloe is a meteor-freak" plot has made a lot of Chloe fans unhappy. The "Lexana-pregnancy-wedding" has made a lot of Clana fans unhappy. The "Clark is not very smart and not progressing" plot has made Superman/comic fans unhappy. Lex fans are not thrilled by his obsession with Lana. Lois fans are not thrilled that she's not in every episode (plus Clois fans are not happy with the lack of Clois post-"Crimson" and the return of Clana). Chlark fans are unhappy with the complete lack of Chlark and the whole Chimmy arc.

So, add up all these plot points and what do you get? A lot of unhappy fans. However, I would say that biggest factor has been the lack of growth on Clark's part. They really did a "two steps forward, three steps back" number on him this year. The Fall season seemed to show him progressing and learning things through his relationship with Oliver. Once Oliver left, however, Clark reverted back to his typical ways. He's had moments of greatness here and there... but for the most part, he's been season 4 & 5 Clark Kent all over again. And, for the casual viewer, they don't have enough loyalty and love for the show to continue watching it when it's got a "been there, done that" feeling to it.

It's kind of like season 3-- the ratings dipped in season 3 quite a bit, because SV was in a competative time slot (it was up against "The OC" when that show as at it's highest point of popularity) and they couldn't hold on to an audience that felt that the show wasn't going anywhere and recycling old plots. In fact, I didn't watch that season, either, and preferred to wait until the summer to watch re-runs. (There are still episodes of season 3 I haven't fully seen & I'm a die-hard Superman fan.)


Originally posted by Dee
People have to remember this is exam time. A lot of kids have to study, and when that's a major demographic, it's gonna cut into your ratings.

Yes, I think you're right. That probably is a factor as to why (overall) a lot of the shows are hurting for ratings. "Ugly Betty" went down this week, too, and it's probably because a younger demographic watches that show, as well.

[Balauru]

Where can you find these ratings?

[JEWCY]

Originally posted by Balauru
Where can you find these ratings?

i go to zap2it.com and click on tv, then ratings, scroll down a little and they have the days with the description on a seperate page

[Best Episode - 321]

Originally posted by Balauru
Where can you find these ratings?

Here is the link for you - program ratings (http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/57010384)

[Kryptonian-Ronin]

Ratings become and issue when they charge sponsors for the next seasons advertising and such, it effects the budget ( yes the budget, that dreaded excuse for all that is wrong on Smallville).

If the downward trend continues, it is not good.

But the overall average is what they will highlight, that and the sweeps period, so, if those come in good shape, things will be ok.

[curiosity]

There were tornado warnings interrupting more than half the show in a large portion of the U.S. last night. Don't know if that had any effect, though, sinse last week the ratings were low also.

I watched some of Supernatural last night, and noticed it was only interupted with warnings a couple of times whereas Smallivlle was constantly interrupted.

Supernatural is a really scarey,creepy show. I had creepy nightmares after watching it. :confused:

Noir with Clark as a reporter wearing glasses looks great. Unfortunately I doubt it will cause a ratings increase. I hope there's still a 7th season.

[Derrickray]

Having weeks between some of the recent episodes doesn't help either. You alienate the casual fan when they don't know if they're going to get a new eppy or a rerun one week to the next.

[joesmallville]

Look at the bright side, Smallville will still end up as the most or 2nd most watched show for the CW this week.

[Bosrudorfer]

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! :\ So I guess the preemptions didn't have such that big effect like everyone was claming. Thus I still personally feel that Promise (that Lana married Lex) and the two long breaks are responsible for the big dip effect of (620,000) viewers.

[Absolute Kingdom]

Wasn't this episode preempted in some areas like the previous two?

[jimmyolsenblues]

I have to assume at this point Ugly Betty is pulling viewers away.
What other show could be pulling our viewers? I doubt its "My name is earl".
Really a shame the more the ratings drop so will the production budget.

[redraven]

I think if Progeny created a little more buzz then we would've gotten some more viewers. It was a pretty boring episode, imo.

I do agree that it's a shame that the ratings were so low, this really was a great episode.

Maybe all of the 'a major character is dying' is actually turning people away? :confused:

[Ilovebeinglost]

Originally posted by Kryptonian-Ronin
There has been a steady decline, right after Justice.
Labyrinth went down and it kept going down from there...

I think people thought that was going to be a turning point with some new adventures and the green arrow bringing new life in a tired old story line but then it went all soapy again week after week.

People that don't watch Smallville have watched that episode with me and loved it. I make everyone I know watch that episode and I never tire of it. Whereas I wouldn't torture people with of the episodes of late.

So sad :\

[Best Episode - 321]

Final Ratings

Smallville
- 3.876 million viewers
- 2.5/4 HH
- 1.5/4 A18-49
- 1.7/6 A18-34

Supernatural
- 3.327 million viewers
- 2.1/3 HH
- 1.3/3 A18-49
- 1.3/3 A18-34

________________________________________

Season 6 Episode Viewership

Zod......................4.96*
Sneeze.................4.52*
Wither..................4.88*
Arrow...................4.71*
Reunion...............4.79*
Fallout.................5.01*
Rage...................4.46*
Static...................4.70*
Subterranean........4.31*
Hydro..................4.68*
Justice.................5.26*
Labyrinth..............5.00*
Crimson.................4.91*
Trespass...............4.74*
Freak....................4.76*
Promise................4.69*
Combat................4.07*
Progeny...............3.98*
Nemesis..............3.88*

* - Final Rating

______________________________

Other Shows

Ugly Betty
- 9.616 million viewers
- 6.8/11 HH
- 3.1/9 A18-49

Grey's Anatomy
- 20.078 million viewers
- 12.9/20 HH
- 8.4/21 A18-49

October Road (10:01)
- 8.997 million viewers
- 6.1/10 HH
- 4.1/12 A18-49

Survivor
- 13.832 million viewers
- 8.1/14 HH
- 4.6/14 A18-49

CSI
- 20.202 million viewers
- 12.3/19 HH
- 5.9/15 A18-49

Shark (10:01)
- 14.098 million viewers
- 9.2/16 HH
- 3.8/11 A18-49

My Name is Earl
- 7.490 million viewers
- 4.8/8 HH
- 3.2/10 A18-49

Office
- 7.556 million viewers
- 4.6/7 HH
- 3.9/11 A18-49

30 Rock
- 4.723 million viewers
- 3.0/5 HH
- 2.4/6 A18-49

Scrubs (9:31)
- 4.650 million viewers
- 3.0/5 HH
- 2.3/6 A18-49

ER (10:01)
- 9.521 million viewers
- 6.2/11 HH
- 3.7/10 A18-49

5th Grader
- 10.134 million viewers
- 6.1/10 HH
- 3.5/10 A18-49

Trading Spouses (9:01)
- 4.758 million viewers
- 3.2/5 HH
- 1.9/5 A18-49

[NotTodayPete]

they should be building up things with the zoners and the 33.1 army, but instead they are now going to a filler throwback episode, ratings will fall even more. Lousy timing.

[Bosrudorfer]

Whoa lol it even went lower

[warriorrenegade]

Originally posted by NotTodayPete
they should be building up things with the zoners and the 33.1 army, but instead they are now going to a filler throwback episode, ratings will fall even more. Lousy timing.

Ugh I know right? Geez you'd think they'd want to maintain what little momentum ( if any ) they have leading into the finale. Then they throw an episode like Noir into the mix and it'll bring everything to a hault... Atleast I believe it will. We'll see next week. Then again the ratings may go up slightly, just for the novelty of it all.

[curiosity]

People are watching Smarter than a Fifth Grader. It's new. I think it started during the long, long Smallville break.

[citizenlen]

You also have to remember with today's information highway, many tune out and just wait till someone upload it online.

I was actually thinking of not watching and just waited until someone posted it at youtube or something.

I don't blame the epi Promise, actually there are a lot of factors coming into play like what I've mentioned above. Secondly, the 2 long breaks threw people off, then we have the play-offs and not to mention the over saturated shows on tv. More viewers have more choices now. Plus you have to consider the fact that the average life of a show is 5 years and Smallville is going on their 7th. Smallville is not the fresh face anymore and it doesn't help that Smallville has poor marketing strategies. The advert are only on CW and online and occasionally selected publications.

Another factor is CW is a new network and when you move an old show to a new network, expect some fans to disappear. I remember USA Network was considering moving Monk to primetime, imagine the lost of viewership when a big move happens like that. Then we have SV reruns. There are some viewers who have just been exposed to SV and refused to watch any new eppie until they've watched everything from the beginning like my friend who doesn't want to watch any new Heroes until she seen everything from the beginning. Like I said we cannot blame Promise no matter how you may dislike the storyline because there are alot of factors involved. Didn't you ever consider that maybe the viewers were disappointed with Justice hence the decline right after watching it? Look at the peak on Justice after that everything went down.

Sorry for the long post.

[Jack-El49]

These are all good points but IMHO, the real villain is the scheduling of the episodes. Having 3 episodes and then a break is horrible for expanding and retaining a viewer base. Rabid fans of the show, such as ourselves, will always tune in to watch. But the casual viewer who might end up getting hooked on SV won't be hooked for long when events the following week don't jive with what they saw the week before. They get lost in the storyline and just tune out. That's my opinion. I also agree that weak episodes tend to make all but the rabid fans tune out as well. I think Progeny was a dull and poorly-acted episode and it influenced viewers this week. I too had the feeling that this would be filler material but I was soooooo wrong. This was one of the best SV episodes in years, I believe.

This season overall has been the best in 3 or so years, IMHO. The writing is good, the continuity is better than I've ever seen it in SV, and some of the old plotlines are being tied in to current episodes enough so that things make more sense. If there is a decline overall, a lot has to do with the original fan base (teen drama) moving on (growing up) and passing on SV for other shows that have more appeal to 20 somethings crowds. SV still basically holds sway over teens and Superman fans in this timeslot.

[kkjdt]

I loved this episode... I am curious as to why ratings are going down..
i know after promise I thought oh deer they are bring back clana...
I know that when the rumors of lana dying even my 65 year old father said good she is not needed on the show.. my kids thought the same thing..
I go into resturants and over hear people talking about smallville (which is cool) but I hear them saying same thing..
but I am curious as to what the real reason is and what the porducers think is the real reason...

[ClarkyBoy14]

I don't know if it hurt too much, but the Columbus, Ohio affiliate kept running weather warnings every few minutes and people may have gotten fed up and just turned it off. I know I did.

Also, SV has become much more serialized w/ the second half of the season, and serialization isn't very popular because it's hard for casual viewers to get into it.

Another factor could be FOX. At the start of the season they were getting around 5 million viewers at 8. Now it's nearly doubled.

And is that a series low?

[wolverine316]

The only good thing I can think of from these horrible ratings is that it may stop the producers and CW from extending the show to an 8th season. Stop after season 7 and end it on a high note. It is still a good show but not good enough to continue for 8 seasons.

[LoisL]

Wow, I'm sad the ratings were so bad. This was a strong episode, better than last week's (not that Progeny was awful). However, part of its joy is that it's an ep for the series' fans with alot of continuity, buildup and subtle relationship changes. This second half has certainly been more inbred than the first half which some diehard fans were calling non-SV. Green Arrow, Lois, and colorful Zoners are pretty easy on new/casual viewers.

But what do I know? It could just be exams time, the nice weather, longer daylight hours etc all as named by above posts. :)

I'm just hoping it doesn't mean S8 is completely impossible. I like toying with the idea of a S8; it's another chance to explore deeper comic lore and imagine further progression than I ever before expected from a preSuperman show. :D I'm not saying S8 is the marketable, winning thing; just that I'd like it. :D

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by Bosrudorfer
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! :\ So I guess the preemptions didn't have such that big effect like everyone was claming. Thus I still personally feel that Promise (that Lana married Lex) and the two long breaks are responsible for the big dip effect of (620,000) viewers.

...

Again I have to point out that it has been weeks since Promise. Promise would not be pulling away viewers still even if it originally did. If we're going to look to previous episodes for ratings declines then I supposed you'd have to look at Progeny for this week's decline, despite it being a good episode.

You are probably quite right, however, with the hiatuses being responsible for much of the ratings dips. I also believe that one could easily have tuned in at 8 PM in one of the pre-empted markets during Progeny, saw that Smallville wasn't on, and assume it was on hiatus again and/or just given up considering how impossible it has been to find the show on if you don't look it up online.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
...

Again I have to point out that it has been weeks since Promise. Promise would not be pulling away viewers still even if it originally did.

Of course "Promise" could still be affecting ratings. If many of the people who were turned off by that episode (and there were a lot) just outright decided to stop watching SV all together, then they would account for some of the viewers who haven't tuned in to see "Combat," or "Progeny," or "Nemesis."

[monel49]

Just read through all the comments and one thing stands out most clearly: scheduling. As a die-hard SV fan, I am really disappointed with the mini-breaks. I'll find the show again, but what about those who are not so committed. I think they'll give up and wait for the DVD's. Second, not enough has been said about the CW network. It's new; it's not seen everywhere--my cable company lost the channel for several months before it picked up a new feed.

The problem is not the writing--which has been great this season. Promotion, a new network, and scheduling all have combined to bring down ratings. But like someone said above, it's the best show CW has so don't worry. It will be back, fortunately for all of us. In all seriousness, isn't this the best take on the Superman mythos ever? I'm grateful it's lasted this long. Hope it has a few more years.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by monel49
The problem is not the writing--which has been great this season.

I have to disagree. Season 6 has been marginally better than seasons 4 and 5, but that isn't saying a whole lot. There have been some episodes I really enjoyed ("Hydro," "Justice," etc.). But most of the eps, in my opinion, have been so-so, enjoyable but nothing special. And some have just been downright bad.


But like someone said above, it's the best show CW has so don't worry.

SV is not the highest rated show on the CW. It's also not the best in terms of quality. (In my opinion, of course.)

I have no doubt SV will have a season 7. But I'd hope fans would want more from the show than "It will be back, no matter what."

Also, as someone above pointed out, there's more at stake than whether or not SV will be renewed. We're all pretty confident it will be. But the ratings will determine the show's budget. Lower ratings means less money, which means fewer effects. A lower budget will also limit the PTB's ability to get "name" guest stars.

[LegendaryU2K]

What do you mean you highly doubt it will be a season 7?

I'm pretty sure thats already planned, if not, i think the season finale episode would of been completely different. I think the makers of smallville know what they are doing.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by LegendaryU2K
What do you mean you highly doubt it will be a season 7?

I'm pretty sure thats already planned, if not, i think the season finale episode would of been completely different. I think the makers of smallville know what they are doing.

Actually, I said I have no doubt there will be a season 7. But while the show doesn't have to worry about ratings when it comes to being renewed for a season 7, they do have to worry about ratings when it comes to what their budget in season 7 will be.