“Heroes” Returns to Huge Ratings

What most new hit shows experience when they return for a second season, and after coming off a very successful first season, is a drop off in viewership. Especially in sci-fi and genre-related programming most networks actually expect to see a loss in the ratings to some degree. It has happened with such hits as “Lost,” and “Battlestar Galactica.” One of the only exceptions to that rule has been the SCI FI Channel’s “Eureka.” It actually showed a strong ratings improvement when it returned for its second season.

Now you can add one for sci-fi show to that list. This Monday when “Heroes” (14.1 million viewers) premiered its highly anticipated second season, this revolutionary program not only had an impressive showing in the ratings, it far surpassed the number of viewers it garnered in its first season showing. What makes this surprising is that the first season numbers were already record setting.

However, the rest of NBC’s new Sci-Fi Monday was mixed. “Chuck” did quite well with very solid numbers in that important 18-49 age group, but the Kevin McKidd series, “Journeyman,” while doing adequate numbers, still didn’t reach the network’s hoped-for projected rating with that same age group. But, “Journeyman” did draw in 9.5 million viewers, not a bad showing for a Monday night 10PM ET schedule. The problem, however, for “Journeyman” was the demographic. Most of the numbers for it represent those outside the 18-49 group, and generally the numbers of those outside that important group tend to drop off after one or two episodes. The other bad news for “Journeyman” was that this rating was below last year’s “Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip” in the same time slot, which had high hopes but quickly saw its audience decline over the next few episodes, even though the quality of writing and acting was one of the finest ever shown on television. “Studio 60” was soon cancelled with several failed attempts at rescucitation thoroughout the year.

Of course, the networks are still relying on the antiquated Nielsen’s method for determining viewership, not taking into account TiVo or DVR and other methods of acquiring an audience. It must also be remembered that the pilot episodes of “Chuck” and “Journeyman,” as well as “Bionic Woman, which will get its premiere tonight, were offered as free downloads from Amazon Unbox and on several cable company ON Demand channels at least a full two weeks before this week’s debuts. For an accurate assessment of how these programs performed, the network execs need to also determine the number of Internet downloads and On Demand views.

The real surprise came from CBS’s “Big Bang Theory” (9.6 million). The geek-comedy actually held its own and showed good numbers in that same important age group. While the numbers for “Chuck” (9.3 million viewers) are expected to hold or even grow, the jury is still out on whether or not “Big Bang” can continue to hold its audience.

So, how did the networks rank on Monday night with that all important 18-40 demographic? ABC, 4.7/12; NBC, 4.6/11; CBS, 4.2/10; Fox, 2.7/7: Univision, 1.7/4; CW, 0.7/2. In total viewers: ABC, 15.4 million; CBS, 12.2 million; NBC, 11.0 million; Fox, 6.7 million; Univision, 4.0 million; CW, 1.7 million. (Figures courtesy of Variety).