The CW's Sunday night slate of new programming produced by Media Rights Capital debuted last night but lost ground to the previous week's all-repeat lineup on the netlet.
The CW averaged a .4 rating/1 share in the Nielsen overnight ratings. The caveat is that there is 28% DVR penetration, so there could be some uncounted time-shifted viewing.
Reality series In Harm's Way, at 7-8, averaged a .3/1. It aired against a football overrun, but so did the One Tree Hill repeat at 7-8 on the network last week, when it averaged a .6/2.
Valentine's Inc., about an agency for the lovelorn, did a little better at 8-9 with a .4/1. But a repeat of Privileged averaged a .6/1 in the same slot the previous week.
Easy Money, about a family that runs a shady loan business, averaged a .4/1 at 9-10, compared to a .7/2 for a Top Model repeat the week before.
But the lineup did do better than some of the shows The CW put on Sunday last season, including various outings of CW Now and Aliens in America.
The new lineup had been scheduled to debut Sept. 21 but was pushed back to avoid running into the Emmys.
MRC CEO Modi Wiczyk said Monday that MRC had advanced its goal of expanding The CW's Sunday night demo target to 18-49-yaer-olds (from 18-34). "“We are pleased that the shows met our expectations,” said Wiczyk in response to the first-night numbers. “We are confident that new viewers will continue to come to The CW and find the shows over the next several weeks.”
MRC pointed out that the show had about the same 18-49 audience as the CW's shows on the same night last year, and took comfort from the fact that the show's ratings built somewhat over the night.
ABC and NBC were in a horserace for first on the night, with ABC winning the night in the overnights by a tenth of a rating point. ABC averaged a 4.1/10, led by the second outing of Desperate Housewives (5.8/13). ABC also got a strong showing from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
NBC was second with a 4/10, for its football lineup, though that number, and perhaps even the order of finish, could change after the national numbers come in.
CBS was third with a 3.8/9. Its top show was actually a football overrun at 7-7:30 with a 7.1/21. That helped boost 60 Minutes, which averaged a 4/11 for a show that included an effort to explain the financial meltdown.
Fox was fourth with a 3/8 in the demo, led by Family Guy with a 4.3/10.
