Variety is reporting that it was a good news/bad news week for NBC Universal’s geek-centric programming, as the SCI FI Channel’s miniseries “Tin Man” chalked up record highs but once-hot Peacock drama “Heroes” concluded its latest season with a ratings yawn.
As we reported earlier, “Tin Man” surpassed every viewing record ever made for the SCI FI Channel garnering an average 5.3 million viewers each night of the 3-day event. And, those viewers were in that very important demographic we are always talking about, as well as showing a 50% female audience for the miniseries.
While the early “Heroes” finale episode titled “Powerless” had no problem winning its timeslot on Monday night, overall viewership was still down compared to previous weeks and last season’s finale. NBC is blaming the lower numbers on the fact that this finale came earlier than usual because of the continued writer’s strike. However, the numbers for the once top-of-the-heap program have been showing a steady decline since season two began in September.
The good news for NBC is the performance coming from its other Monday night SF show “Chuck.” The ratings continue to slowly, but steadily climb, the story is improving significantly and the cast is starting to get their sea legs. “Journeyman” was preempted by a special 2-part episode of the highly successful cop drama “Life.” “Life,” normally a high rater also showed signs of weakness in that Monday 10PM slot, so NBC might want to consider that the problem with “Journeyman” isn’t the show, but the night and time period. Part 2 of the “Life” episode aired on Wednesday night, its regularly scheduled timeslot. “Journeyman” will return next week for the beginning of its mid-season finale, which will also be a two-parter. There is still no official word coming out of NBC if the Kevin McKidd time travel drama will get a reprieve and return for a full first season outing after the scheduled month long holiday break.
I have to wonder about these execs…they can’t figure out the most apparent trends. I’ve been pointing out the post-“Heroes” timeslot problem ever since the show became popular, but it’s the exact same problem that ABC experienced with the post-“Lost” timeslot. How many shows have to “fail” before they realize that?
I’ve noticed that cable networks like Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel often put interesting programing on in the 10pn time slot. I think they figure that the big networks do weak at that time, so that might be their chance to steal some viewers. I know that’s where I usually am at 10 o’clock.