The 2006-07 Nielsen ratings are in

Laurie Thu, May 31, 2007 at 01:50 PM EST

Its been months and I am still pissed about Smith... what is worng with me?

GT Tue, May 29, 2007 at 01:35 PM EST

EP Santo, I think part of the reason the Winner did better then 30 Rock is because I think those numbers are season averages. I think the winner only had like 5 episodes so I strong first episode would totally skew the average. 30 Rock had 21 episodes so even though it had a higher rating for the first episode it dropped off after a few episodes (something The Winner has not had a chance to do yet).

AmberJ Tue, May 29, 2007 at 01:23 PM EST

I hope CBS fires the guy that decided to pull 'Smith' - are you serious?!?! That show came in at #44!! It was well-written with an amazing cast - if they could squeeze out room for crap like 'Big Day' and squeezed a full season out of 'Jericho', there's no reason 'Smith' couldn't stay on the schedule longer. Boo hoo to you, CBS!

Ep Sato Tue, May 29, 2007 at 12:26 PM EST

Yeah, I'm a little shocked at how many of my favorite shows rank so poorly. The office (less popular than Old Christine? Really?), FNL (not a shocker, but still), Earl.

How does 30 Rock get less viewers than sad sack "Get a Life" clone the Winner? Just odd.

Shocking is that the War at Home's still on, given the poor reviews and low numbers. But it's more shocking that Armed and Famous did better than Andy Richter, Knights of Prosperity and In case of Emergency.

And who is watching Grey's Anatomy? I'd rather watch paint dry (and this is coming from a self proclaimed mega fan of Sandra Oh) and can't understand the appeal of the show.

jo Tue, May 29, 2007 at 11:56 AM EST

i love the cw only b/c smallville is there-- this show has a PLOT. and ACTING. I LOVE IT!

jo Tue, May 29, 2007 at 11:56 AM EST

i love the cw only b/c smallville is there-- this show has a PLOT. and ACTING.

Hamburger Royal Tue, May 29, 2007 at 10:19 AM EST

Things learned from these ratings:
- With the Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, the CW managed to cancel 10% of its entire reach (maybe there is some tax reason for this).
- American Idol and American Idol (Results) have more reach than the entire CW *including* their cancelled shows.
- I want one of them Nielsen boxes (

melissa Tue, May 29, 2007 at 09:25 AM EST

Daryl - So you still haven't heard that "Friday Night Lights" isn't just a show about football?

Chris Tue, May 29, 2007 at 12:34 AM EST

Glad to see "The King of Queens" high up on the list. One of my all-time fave shows and such an underrated comedy. Sad to see it go.

daisyj Mon, May 28, 2007 at 11:05 PM EST

I wonder if the surprisingly high ratings for some short-lived shows might be a bit misleading; if they debuted well and then had a steep drop-off, that initial spike may have skewed the numbers. For my part, I was surprised at how low "Bones" ranked, for a show I was thinking was a hit.

Jill Mon, May 28, 2007 at 08:32 PM EST

I liked "The Nine" and wish I could have seen what remaining episodes they didn't air. I agree with Daryl who posted earlier that MOMENTUM is lost when we have to wait for the networks to show new episodes during sweeps. If I can't follow my show from week to week and am forced to watch reruns ad nauseum, I am out of interest and time. That's why reality shows are doing so well right now. New stuff each week.

vdp Mon, May 28, 2007 at 07:22 PM EST

I really wish CBS had stuck with the Ray Liotta drama "Smith" a longer. I think it had one of the better casts of the new dramas and I enjoyed the few episodes that were shown. If the writers had more time and a chance to flesh out the characters more I think the ratings would have improved. Just anothter example of the wrong shows getting canceled and crappy ones being renewed over and over again!

ash Mon, May 28, 2007 at 03:46 PM EST

I am surprised and thrilled to see that Grease did so well ( I know the winner, so I'm glad she had so many viewers). I seriously thought only a million people watched it--tops. And I'm so shocked that the Office did so poorly. how has that show not gotten more viewers? it's hands down the best thing on tv

Roland Mon, May 28, 2007 at 10:25 AM EST

Are those numbers including DVR? My favorite show is Lost, but I think that 14.6 million is way too high for the ratings, I think it was averaging 11 to 12 million after the hiatus. And conversely I thought Heroes did much better than that.

Daryl Mon, May 28, 2007 at 09:32 AM EST

I was surprised at the cancellation of Jericho on CBS. It was a good show but another example of the networks and their stupid ideas. The idea of a fall finale and then a spring season is stupid. You lose the momentum---Lost suffered the same fate but thankfully ended with several GREAT episodes. Networks pay attention----play the shows straight through with NO BREAKS. It was a shame CBS cancelled Close to Home as well, it was a pretty decent show. As for Friday Night Lights, with all the sports shows on all day, every day on a gazillion channels, must we have a drama about sports? If Jericho and Close to Home go, why waste time on Friday Night Lights? 24's fall was due to a MISERABLE season---I love the show, its my favorite, but they dropped the ball this time around. American Idol needs to totally revamp itself and return to a simpler show with less guest star singers and try and focus on the one star or stars they are trying to create. Best shows--Lost, Heroes, Ugly Betty

Valerie Mon, May 28, 2007 at 09:24 AM EST

What ? Two and a half men higher than Heroes ?? And there are really 7.5 million people still watching "The Donald" on The Apprentice ? I thought I was alone with Whitney, watching this trainwreck !!

Mark Sun, May 27, 2007 at 05:51 PM EST

There is no way The Office can be # 68. I know more people that watch The Office than any other show. It's also consistently rated # 1 in Itunes video downloads as well as high volume of DVR recordings.

Garry Sun, May 27, 2007 at 07:35 AM EST

In the UK, there is a measure taken of TV viewers for each show called "Audience Appreciation", which records how enthusiastic a program's viewers are, even if the show itself has a relatively small audience and gets low ratings. This enables shows to take the time to find their audience and work out its kinks--many very successful British shows (especially sitcoms)were saved from their early struggles due to their high "Audience Appreciation" ratings. Too bad that sort of thing can't be used here in conjuction with the Nielsen ratings. Then we'd have some quality shows like "Veronica Mars" still on the air, even if their ratings aren't as high as they deserve to be.

BrandonK Sun, May 27, 2007 at 07:12 AM EST

I can't believe more people watch the AI results shows than the singing night. What's up with that?!

Nicole Sat, May 26, 2007 at 11:22 PM EST

poor poor CW

Brainiac Sat, May 26, 2007 at 03:27 PM EST

CW was wrong to get rid of Reba and keep some lower-rated shows.

I can't believe The Simpsons doesn't even crack 10 million viewers! Weird. It's one of the most well-known shows, yet it only ranked 60......

Carli Sat, May 26, 2007 at 01:09 PM EST

The Office is fairly low, but look how high it is in the key demo. I think once they start implementing this new way of keeping track of viewers (using Tivo, iTunes, etc numbers), shows like The Office will show to have more viewers.

CBS sucks for canceling Jericho and Smith.

The CW sucks for canceling Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls and I will no longer be watching that craptastic channel. One has to laugh at all their shows in a row at the bottom LOL

ABC sucks for canceling Help Me Help You.

NBC picked up Friday Night Lights, so I don't have a problem with it...yet. Actually, they did cancel The Black Donnelly's and I wasn't too happy about that. Gotta give them credit though for keeping their Thursday Night Lineup in tact.

FOX...I don't really care too much about that channel.

Karen Sat, May 26, 2007 at 11:17 AM EST

What really surprised me was how high Jericho was on the list and how many "renewed shows" came after it! CBS blew it big time. I'm still calling for a boycott of CBS and all its sponsors. What a way to treat a great show!

Jim Sat, May 26, 2007 at 11:05 AM EST

the class beats the office?!

and people say there's nothing wrong with this country...

Karen Sat, May 26, 2007 at 09:14 AM EST

What really surprised me was how high Jericho was on the list and how many "renewed shows" came after it! CBS blew it big time. I'm still calling for a boycott of CBS and all its sponsors. What a way to treat a great show!

Sat, May 26, 2007 at 06:21 AM EST

Seeing the CW clear house at the bottom of the list was surprising. It was also suprising to see how far back 30 Rock was (especially since they are renewing it).

Jess Fri, May 25, 2007 at 09:27 PM EST

CW cancel all shows? I don't want to even think about for one second what my thursdays would be like without those Winchester brother's on Supernatural. Though..move the show. Putting one of the few decent shows left on the network up against Grey's and CSI is the kiss of death...Bad planning is that network's problem. It's like they just pick a random time slot/show and game plan and go with it without any thought.

Phil Fri, May 25, 2007 at 09:17 PM EST

For some reason, that list seems a tad bit unbelievable but where do studios stop and say that a show still has good ratings? No. 120....! All the CW shows fall after 100!!!!

Mary Alice Fri, May 25, 2007 at 09:15 PM EST

As far as I am concerned since they cancelled VM and Gillmore Girls, there is no CW channel on my tv set.

mike Fri, May 25, 2007 at 07:37 PM EST

Most of my tv schedule from the fall lies broken on the bottom half of the list. Veronica Mars was second to last. You blew it America!!

t3hdow Fri, May 25, 2007 at 07:13 PM EST

I don't know about 3 Lbs (the commercial made it look terrible, btw) but Smith cost a reported $3 mil an episode. Apparently, that's way too high for a show with such a small audience.

Frank Fri, May 25, 2007 at 06:06 PM EST

"3 LBs" did surprising well for a show cancelled after two epidoses...

...as did "Smith". Were these so ridiculously expensive to make or what?

Jer Fri, May 25, 2007 at 05:45 PM EST

Studio 60 beat The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock and finished only a bit behind My Name Is Earl. It's good they already tore down the set. Wouldn't want that blight sticking around... I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so angry. It's just that since I lost my VMars, I wear my bitterness on my sleeve...

Ellipsian Fri, May 25, 2007 at 05:26 PM EST

Now, that "Veronica Mars" is gone, Annie, yes, everyone is wondering why we can't just cancel the whole of The CW.