Watching networks step away from a lot of its regular programming as the holiday season approaches might mean less to watch, but more viewers for what's already on.
That certainly helped NBC's "Chuck" cruise to its best ratings of the season, earning a 4.5 rating/7 share, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
In more than half of the nine episodes aired so far this season, "Chuck" has earned a 4.0/6 proving its audience is small, but quite stable. Monday's rating, however, was 12.5 percent above that. Sadly, however, even that audience was smaller than those who preferred reruns on CBS and Christmas specials on ABC.
"Chuck" did, however, beat "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," which earned an estimated 3.6/5 for Fox. That's slightly above the 3.4 average household rating "Sarah Connor" is earning after 11 episodes, and was 24 percent better than the series low it recorded last week in the midst of holiday preparations.
"Heroes" tried to pick itself up a little bit with the second part of a two-parter that featured the world's longest (and apparently most universal) eclipse. It earned a 4.9/7, according to Zap2it, 6.5 percent better than the first part did the week before. It finished behind comedies on CBS, but led the hour in the key audience demographic of adults 18 to 49. It also handedly beat "Samantha Who?" on ABC, which has historically struggled without its "Dancing With the Stars" lead-in.
NBC finished the night in third place with a 4.0/6, followed by Fox's 3.6/5.
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
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About the Author:
Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha and the entire BlipNetwork. He owns Quantum Global Media Inc., the parent corporation of the BlipNetwork. He's a print journalist by day, and lives in Tampa, Fla.
