Television Ratings for Progeny

[Best Episode - 321]

Freak was the last episode in a run of 6 straight new episodes.

Hydro - 1/11/07
Justice - 1/18/07
Labyrinth - 1/25/07
Crimson - 2/1/07
Trespass - 2/8/07
Freak - 2/15/07

Meaning it had viewers used to watching Smallville.

Promise getting lower ratings then Freak doesn't mean much. It did get lower ratings, but the circumstances surrounding the episodes were different.
One Promise was the first new episode in a month (which makes Hydro the more appropriate episode rating to compare it with) and aired against the NCAA tournament. If you remember correctly, Promise received the highest female demo rating in Smallville history.

In regards to the preemptions, Freak was preempted in Indianapolis (#25 market) and Lexington (#63).

Combined total households = 1,544,070

In preemptions of Combat and Progeny, both were preempted in Chicago (#3 market)

Total Households = 3,455,020

This is a significantly higher number of households preempted than Freak had preempted. Does this explain the entire drop in ratings, NO, but any individual with common sense can see that Promise is not solely to blame for the ratings decrease in Combat and Progeny.

As far as I know, there are no preemptions this week so we should be able to get a better grasp of what the ratings will be for the last three episodes.

As Kryptonian-Ronin stated earlier, it is better to look at the bigger season picture compared to individual episodes. The individual ratings just help provide the background information we need to grasp the big picture.

Season 6 Average - 4.69 million viewers an episode.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by Best Episode - 321
This is a significantly higher number of households preempted than Freak had preempted. Does this explain the entire drop in ratings, NO, but any individual with common sense can see that Promise is not solely to blame for the ratings decrease in Combat and Progeny.

One, I think I have a fair amount of common sense. And I never said the drop in ratings was all due to "Promise." In fact, in the ratings thread for "Combat," I listed several factors I thought played a part.

But do I think dissatisfaction over "Promise" played a significant part. Yes, I do. You can't look at the reactions to that episode, online and off, and not think it would have some kind of impact on the ratings. That, too, is just plain old common sense.

[98chase]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
I could write a long list of episodes that supposedly drove fans away if we're going to assume that the previous episode *always* effects the ratings, and much of that list would be filled with fan favorites.

Actually, I'm just bored enough to do it, so here goes:



By the logic that if the ratings dropped it was because the previous episode(s) were bad we have these episodes "sucking":

Zod
Wither
Fallout
Static
Justice
Labyrinth
Crimson
Freak
Promise
Combat

And these episodes being good since the ratings rose for the following episodes:

Sneeze
Arrow
Rage
Subterranean
Hydro
Trespass

Now in the list of those that "sucked" we only have a few that are widely regarded as "bad" episodes:

Wither
Static
(Promise) - Promise is in quotes because quite frankly it isn't widely regarded as sucking, it is an episode that is very split down the middle and once again falls into the spell of "those that don't like it speak loudest of all."

And in the list of episodes that were supposedly "good" because the episodes following them rose in ratings, we have a most noteworthy one:

Subterranean

Now I liked Subterranean, but it's most certainly not widely regarded as a "good" episode.

And you'll notice that the episodes have truly been declining since Justice since we only had a slight increase with Freak. The only two incredibly low numbers share two things in common - hiatus and pre-emptions. pre-emptions are the two major factors that don't count towards the other low-rated episodes so it stands to reason the pre-emptions *are* a major reason for those episodes being lower-than-average.

With your reasoning of the ratings decreasing because of a specific episode, then it stands to reason based on that list that Justice was the episode that drove viewers away, Justice the fan favorite. One episode effects ratings from week-to-week, it does not effect the overall ratings for the rest of the season. The vendetta against Promise is both weak and boring. But at least it's not as bad as the vendetta against Reckoning, as you all have yet to come up with a "clever" name that will be overused for years to come.

I love you, in a completely heterosexual manner j/k j/k

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by Routh
Promise was not pre-empted.

I nor anyone else claimed Promise was pre-empted. We're talking about the ratings dip after Promise.

I'm not ignoring the pre-emptions, just stating the facts. And I'd find it very hard to believe that all of the more than 600,000 viewers SV lost between "Promise" and "Combat" live in the Chicago area.

Oh, here's an interesting tidbit. "Freak," which was pre-empted in a major market, got higher ratings than "Promise," which wasn't.

It would be interesting to be able to see what "Freak'" numbers would've been without the pre-emption.

You seem to be ignoring lots of facts and lots of people stating the facts, actually. Chicago - larger market pre-emption, Combat - second episode after return from hiatus following a good episode that did not appeal to the anti-Clana crowd, Progeny - 1st episode on a return from hiatus *and* was pre-empted in the major market of Chicago.

You note I address the issue that Promise did not appeal to anti-Clana fans *as well as* acknowledging the pre-emption. The anti-Clana crowd not watching would have caused a slight ratings dip already, and you couple that with Progeny returning from hiatus and being pre-empted in Chicago, then you have an explanation of ratings. You can say "Promise sucked so the ratings dropped" all you want but it won't make Promise to blame for the ratings drop either way.

Season 6 Average - 4.69 million viewers an episode.

And considering The CW as a network is a pretty big flub, I'd say they're probably pretty ecstatic about Smallville's ratings. The thing to remember when talking about The CW's ratings is we don't really have any other networks like it to compare it to. They combined one marginally successful network (WB) with a failing network (UPN), put out very few new interesting shows, and didn't even retain all of the markets that they originally had as two separate networks. There's pretty much no denying that Season 7 will happen and they're even talking about Season 8. If the ratings were as bad as some seem to think they are in these threads, the show would be axed for new content in an attempt to gain more viewers.

[skully]

Being from Australia, the only TV viewing options we have are 3 commercial channels (7, 9 and 10 - the latter carries Smallville but is not currently showing it), 2 Govt channels (ABC and SBS), and Foxtel/Optus (which shows Smallville on Fox 8 - screening Exodus this Saturday).

I note on the K-site News page SV (Progeny) ranked #6. So 6th out of how many? Are there other networks like CW, cable etc?

[MidgardDragon]

I'm not sure if they include cable TV ratings in the rankings for that or not skully. It appears to just be the "network" TV which basically means everyone can get it without having to pay for it (assuming you live in a good area and/or have a good antenna.)

ABC, CBS, and NBC are the "big" networks that pretty much everyone everywhere gets. Fox is probably next down that list followed by The CW which is technically a new network formed by the merger of two old networks that were also not huge ratings grabbers. The CW is also not shown in every market available to ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. NBC also had two 30 minutes shows in that time slot so technically if that were counted as a one-hour slot Smallville would be number 5.

[Dannyblue1]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
You note I address the issue that Promise did not appeal to anti-Clana fans *as well as* acknowledging the pre-emption. The anti-Clana crowd not watching would have caused a slight ratings dip already, and you couple that with Progeny returning from hiatus and being pre-empted in Chicago, then you have an explanation of ratings. You can say "Promise sucked so the ratings dropped" all you want but it won't make Promise to blame for the ratings drop either way.

Actually, I do think the ratings drop can be partly blamed on "Promise" sucking...in some people's opinion. Notice I said partly to blame. As I mentioned in the post you seemed to have ignored, I think the ratings for "Combat" were affected by a lot of things. I even made a list in the "Combat" ratings thread. And here it is.

There are always many different factors that go into the ratings. But I happen to think that "Combat" had a lot of different factors taking chunks out of the ratings.

1. Basketball took a chunk.

2. The fact that some viewers outright disliked "Promise" enough not to want to see the next episode took a chunk.

3. The time of year took a chunk. (When the weather first starts to warm up, some people choose to go out rather than stay home and watch TV.)

4. General viewer dissatisfaction took a chunk.

5. Lack of promotion took a chunk.

And all of these chunks added up to a pretty big dip in the ratings.

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by Dannyblue1
Actually, I do think the ratings drop can be partly blamed on "Promise" sucking...in some people's opinion. Notice I said partly to blame. As I mentioned in the post you seemed to have ignored, I think the ratings for "Combat" were affected by a lot of things. I even made a list in the "Combat" ratings thread. And here it is.

There are always many different factors that go into the ratings. But I happen to think that "Combat" had a lot of different factors taking chunks out of the ratings.

1. Basketball took a chunk.

2. The fact that some viewers outright disliked "Promise" enough not to want to see the next episode took a chunk.

3. The time of year took a chunk. (When the weather first starts to warm up, some people choose to go out rather than stay home and watch TV.)

4. General viewer dissatisfaction took a chunk.

5. Lack of promotion took a chunk.

And all of these chunks added up to a pretty big dip in the ratings.

You're basically saying the same thing I did. I acknowledged the crowd that didn't like Promise helping the ratings drop, as well as the other factors. You're saying what I've been saying all along, that more than just the previous episode goes into ratings, even though the previous episode does have some effect.

My point is that the larger-than-average ratings dip is not to blame on Promise, as we have clear indications that pre-emptions were the cause for the larger-than-average dip. Were Combat and Progeny to have aired un-preempted then we would have still had a drop based on the anti-Clana-Clexana-Lexana/anti-ship crowd's dislike of the episode, but nowhere near the same size.

[boywithbluehanger]

Wow. (and I'm REALLY late for in saying this) The ratings sucked majorly! Of course I for one thought Lynda Carter's acting was quite poor for the standard of the show. However I don't believe this is the reaosn for the episode being rated so poorly.

It's probably has a lot more to do with the fact that most of SV's viewers watch for Clark, then Lex. A Chloe-centered episode is not as exciting or fun as watching Clark in action or as dramatic as Lex being devious. I hope they're through with the Chloe episodes now.

[skully]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
I'm not sure if they include cable TV ratings in the rankings for that or not skully. It appears to just be the "network" TV which basically means everyone can get it without having to pay for it (assuming you live in a good area and/or have a good antenna.)

ABC, CBS, and NBC are the "big" networks that pretty much everyone everywhere gets. Fox is probably next down that list followed by The CW which is technically a new network formed by the merger of two old networks that were also not huge ratings grabbers. The CW is also not shown in every market available to ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. NBC also had two 30 minutes shows in that time slot so technically if that were counted as a one-hour slot Smallville would be number 5.

Thanks MD.

[HoHumOne]

It's interesting to me that the last two SV episodes, both pre-empted in Chicago, had almost identical numbers. None of the remaining episodes in this season will be pre-empted in Chicago. If the next episode, Nemesis, racks up a 4.5 or higher rating, the evidence will mount that the far & away #1 reason for the drop in both Combat and Progeny ratings was for these two Chicago pre-emptions; not because of dissatisfaction with Lana/Clana, not Chloe hate, not 'too much fighting w/ wrestling stars' hate, nor every other reason floated in the forum for their lower numbers.

The evidence will grow stronger should the remaining episodes of this season remain in the same 4.5 - 5 rating territory of (most) every episode up to and including Promise, none of which were pre-empted in Chicago. Then maybe we can finally put the issue to bed. yea, I know I know.. I'm dreaming before even getting tucked in to said bed.

[Bosrudorfer]

Originally posted by Best Episode - 321

In regards to the preemptions, Freak was preempted in Indianapolis (#25 market) and Lexington (#63).

Combined total households = 1,544,070

In preemptions of Combat and Progeny, both were preempted in Chicago (#3 market)

Total Households = 3,455,020

This is a significantly higher number of households preempted than Freak had preempted. Does this explain the entire drop in ratings, NO, but any individual with common sense can see that Promise is not solely to blame for the ratings decrease in Combat and Progeny.

People should list sources when giving out numbers.

https://www.nielsenmedia.com

RANK Designated Market Area (DMA) TV Homes % of US
1 New York 7,366,950 6.616
2 Los Angeles 5,611,110 5.039
3 Chicago 3,455,020 3.103
4 Philadelphia 2,941,450 2.642
5 San Francisco-Oak-San Jose 2,383,570 2.141
6 Dallas-Ft. Worth 2,378,660 2.136
7 Boston (Manchester) 2,372,030 2.130
8 Washington, DC (Hagrstwn) 2,272,120 2.041
9 Atlanta 2,205,510 1.981
10 Houston 1,982,120 1.780
11 Detroit 1,938,320 1.741
12 Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota) 1,755,750 1.577
13 Phoenix (Prescott) 1,725,000 1.549
14 Seattle-Tacoma 1,724,450 1.549
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul 1,678,430 1.507

[AngelaV]

Weird, I would've thought "Wonder Woman" would draw in a lot more viewers .
I watch the show no matter what. Too bad I can't be counted living in Canada.

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by AngelaV
Weird, I would've thought "Wonder Woman" would draw in a lot more viewers .
I watch the show no matter what. Too bad I can't be counted living in Canada.

Well, for one Wonder Woman is something of a nostalgic character, not exactly big with young audiences where Smallville draws many of it's viewers. I never expected her to be a big draw other than for drawing in female fans and older fans that wouldn't usually watch.

And don't forget about that pre-emption.