‘Commander in Chief’ shows strength
If the early polls are any indication, Mackenzie Allen has replaced Jed Bartlet as TV viewers’ favorite fictional president.
ABC’s “Commander in Chief,” in which Geena Davis portrays the first female chief executive, landed in Nielsen Media Research’s top 10 last week with just under 17 million viewers. It was the only new series to increase its audience between the first and second weeks this season.
Meanwhile, NBC’s “The West Wing,” where Martin Sheen’s Bartlet is winding down his term of office, is fading in its seventh season after shifting to a new Sunday time slot.
While it’s a strong start for “Commander,” last week’s pre-emption of time slot competitor “House” for major league baseball on Fox may have freed up more viewers than would usually be available.
More importantly, the unexpected departure of show creator Rod Lurie (see story below) speaks to behind-the-scenes turmoil that could affect what’s on the screen – and the show’s staying power.
In its first three episodes this season, “The West Wing” has seen viewership tumble by 37 percent from last year, even more among young viewers, Nielsen said.
The series is in the midst of a presidential campaign involving characters played by Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. The show will have a live episode Nov. 6 featuring them debating.
Without an improvement in the ratings, the campaign’s winner might not serve too long. “The West Wing” was seen by just under 8 million people last week; competitors “Cold Case” on CBS and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on ABC each drew nearly double the audience.
NBC said it anticipated a decline with the move and that “The West Wing” probably would have been hurt if it stayed on Wednesdays with competition from ABC’s “Lost” and Fox’s “American Idol.”
Results were the same for the third week of the TV season as they had been for the first two: CBS was the most popular network, and ABC won among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers that advertisers seek.
Among a handful of season or series premieres last week, ABC’s “George Lopez” fared best, with a one-hour special that beat CBS’ Wednesday comedies.
CBS averaged 12.8 million viewers for the week (8.4 rating, 13 share), ABC had 10.9 million (7.0, 11), NBC 9.7 million (6.5, 10), Fox 8.4 million (5.5, 9), the WB 3.8 million (2.5, 4) and UPN 3.3 million (2.3, 4).
A ratings point represents 1,102,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 110.2 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
The top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday: “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 28.8 million viewers; “Desperate Housewives,” ABC, 26.1 million; “Lost,” ABC, 22.4 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 21.2 million; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 18.7 million; “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 18.1 million; “Survivor: Guatemala,” CBS, 17.9 million; “Commander in Chief,” ABC, 16.9 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 16.9 million; “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 16.2 million.