Special Note for Today; Week 23 First Four Day Ratings; How The Sitcoms Did; Andy Griffith Remembers Don Knotts

Today is a special day here at SitcomsOnline.com. Yes, it is our founder and owner's birthday! I hope Todd has a great day and many more birthdays to come. Thanks for everything and thanks for this wonderful website that just gets better and better each day! You can wish him a happy birthday and give thanks here.

Week 23 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: NBC: 13.5/20.1; FOX 13.2/19.1; CBS: 7.0/10.4; ABC: 6.3/9.3; The WB: 1.8/2.6; UPN 1.5/2.1.
Total Viewers: FOX: 22.87 million; NBC: 22.17 million; CBS: 10.66 million; ABC: 9.57 million; The WB: 2.62 million; UPN: 2.11 million.
Adults 18-49: FOX 9.7/22.2; NBC: 6.6/15.7; CBS: 3.5/8.3; ABC: 3.5/8.2; The WB: 1.0/2.4; UPN: 0.9/2.0.

Analysis: American Idol aired three times this week and killed The Olympics each time. Idol was two-hours long on Tuesday and Wednesday and a special hour episode on a Thursday. That Thursday 8 p.m. slot this week was very competitive. More on that later. The WB aired movies Mon-Thurs, so their numbers are way down from usual numbers. Monday saw The Olympics winning the night as the competition wasn't that good, but Fox had a strong showing for an all-new episode on a special night and time episode of House, with 14.18 million. Tuesday it was all Fox with American Idol with 30.16 million viewers, but the Olympics on NBC did very well too with 25.08 million, easily its best night in 2006, but still way down from previous Olympics. Wednesday again Fox's Idol ruled with 31.69 million, The Olympics suffered a ton, only 16.01 million, after getting two straight 20+ million nights. ABC was out of the picture tonight as Lost was a rerun. Thursday NBC, Fox, ABC and even CBS had something to write home about. American Idol won the 8 p.m. hour with 23.38 million, followed by the Olympics, Survivor and the first hour Dancing with the Stars. It was the most competitive hour in recent history In normal weeks CBS would rule 9-11pm, but not tonight. CSI and Without a Trace were in repeats AGAIN, so The Olympics and Dancing with the Stars ruled. The Olympics finally did above 30 million for the 10 p.m. hour, but overall the night for The Olympics came out to 25.72 million--its best yet. Friday had the Winter Olympics winning on NBC, but it was not above 20 million. Saturday was all NBC with the Olympics, but like Friday night it was weak. ABC's Dancing with the Stars Finale will battle with NBC's closing ceremonies for The Olympics for Sunday night--and Grey's Anatomy will do an open heart surgery on the ratings for The Olympics at 10 p.m. If only CBS had aired original episodes of CSI, Without a Trace, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami and some others, then The Olympics would have been even worse, but still it beats whatever NBC does in the ratings normally.


Monday Sitcoms

• The King of Queens (CBS) - 8.91 million for a repeat--yes, CBS was scared of the anemic Olympics on NBC.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Only 7.41 million for a repeat.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A jump from lead-in, to 12.17 million, but was a repeat .
• Courting Alex (CBS) - First repeat of the series did a decent 8.37 million.
• One on One (UPN), All of Us (UPN), Girlfriends (UPN), Half and Half (UPN) - Steady! Between 3-4 million, like usual for all-new episodes. They did normal numbers, so the Olympics did not effect its ratings.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - 8 p.m. episode against Idol suffered, only 5.86 million, it was a repeat anyway...the 9 p.m. all-new episode did 6.61 million.
• Rodney (ABC) - Much better than last week's terrible 4.61 million, this week it was 6.07 million.
  
• George Lopez (ABC) - A repeat on a special night and time did OK, 6.34 million.
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• George Lopez (ABC) - Not too good for a new episode--5.9 million
  
• Freddie (ABC) - 5.05 million for an all-new episode, ouch.
• Still Standing (CBS) - Two all-new episodes barely beat ABC's comedies, 5.91 million and 5.98 million.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) - Why did UPN air a repeat? 2.95 million.
  
• Love, Inc. (UPN), Everybody Hates Chris (UPN), Eve (UPN) - Cuts was replaced this week. Eve moved to its slot. Chris aired in Eve's old slot. All were repeats, but Chris jumped up at 9 p.m. to 2.15 million after Love, Inc only did 1.75 million.

Friday Sitcoms

The WB Friday had What I Like About You and Living with Fran in dead last place in the 8 p.m. hour. The 9 p.m. hour was slightly better with Reba and Twins as it beat Fox's repeat of 24.

Summing it up. REPEATS of The King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Courting Alex were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as According to Jim 9 p.m., UPN Monday) or just plain old terrible (such as Freddie, What I Like About You, Living with Fran).


Finally, we leave you today with more on Don Knotts' passing. We don't have a date and time yet for the TV Land marathon tribute, but NBC's Today Show will have actor Andy Griffith on tomorrow morning's show in the 8:30 a.m. ET half hour. So tune in!
Andy Griffith will recall fond memories from his 50 year friendship with Don Knotts.