In Depth
Ratings: NBC’s ‘Biggest Loser’ Strong, ‘Momma’s Boys’ Not So Much
NBC touted the debut of Ryan Seacrest's new reality show "Momma's Boys" as "the most anticipated premiere" of the year, but viewers apparently disagreed.
Despite the benefit of a huge lead-in from the season finale of "The Biggest Loser: Families," "Momma's Boys" notched a mediocre 2.5 rating/7 share among adults 18-49. About 6 million viewers tuned in Tuesday night, according to preliminary Nielsen data. "Momma's Boys" finished a distant second behind an original episode of CBS' "Without a Trace" (3.2/9, 14.9 million).
Particularly disappointing for NBC: "Momma's Boys" performed well below normal 10 p.m. Tuesday time-slot occupant "Law & Order: SVU," which last week earned a 3.7/10, despite a less impressive (and less compatible) lead-in.
The good news for NBC, of course, was that "Biggest Loser" ended its latest season on a high note. The show's finale averaged a 4.5/12 and approximately 11.5 million viewers, about the same as last December's seasonal swan song but a tick above how the show wrapped up its last season in April.
Given the current ratings environment, and NBC's own tough fall, that's the sort of performance that will bring smiles to the folks in Universal City. "Loser" also essentially matched the numbers scored by CBS' Sunday "Survivor" finale, another positive for the NBC series, which hasn't always gotten the respect other big reality franchises garner.
"Loser" peaked during its final half-hour, averaging a 5.2/13 from 9:30-10 p.m.—numbers NBC these days usually sees only with football games.
Unfortunately, all those reality viewers who flocked to "Loser" didn't stick around for "Momma's Boys." The latter series earned a 2.7/7 from 10-10:30 p.m., then lost more viewers at 10:30, dipping to a 2.4/7.
Translation: "Momma's Boys" lost half of the audience "Loser" tried to deliver to it.
That's one reason why, at least in the preliminary numbers, NBC was only able to tie CBS for the nightly averages Tuesday. Both networks averaged a 3.8/10 from 8-11 p.m. The race wasn't even close in total viewers, however, with CBS (17.9 million) trouncing second-place NBC (9.8 million). ABC and Fox finished third and fourth, respectively. Fox was in repeats for the night.
CBS was paced by more strong performances for "NCIS" (3.9/11, 19.86 million), "The Mentalist" (4.2, 19.32 million) and "Without a Trace" (3.1/9, 14.49 million). Despite increased competition from NBC, the CBS series were all well above their season averages. Indeed, hot freshman "Mentalist" earned its highest ratings yet in viewers and key demographic groups, while CBS' overall Tuesday performance was its best with regular programming since 1995.
(Editor: Baumann)
(10:25 a.m.: Updated final paragraph about CBS)
Leave a comment
Comments 6
REALITY CREATOR
WHAT A SHOCK NBC FLOPS AGAIN WITH ANOTHER GARBAGE REALITY SHOW AS PREDICTED WITH SEACREST NONSENSE DESPITE HUGE LEAD IN WITH LOSER FINALE AND HYPED PROMOTING JUST CLASSIC. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK CANCELLATION CLOCK IS WAITING. NBC MORE NEW REALITY SHOWS AFTER NEW YEARS SUCH A JOKE.
What A JOKE!?!?
Amen to the "...another garbage reality show..." That's the last time my wife traps me into watching that crap. The best part was when the HOT black women went old school on the racist mom who was FROM IRAQ but wanted her son to not be part of an INTERRACIAL relationship...uh hello? The comment about..."My skin's darker than yours, b!t*h!" just goes to show how stupid that show and its characters really are. That is a show that should be used for PUNISHMENT on felons and anyone ACCUSED of a crime! That would definitely deter them from wanting to committ a crime if they knew that was the punishment! AHAHAHAAAAAHHHHHHHH....shot me and put me out of my misery!
Bring Las Vegas Back
Lets stop all this other crap NBC and please bring back Las Vegas which was a good and entertaining show to watch. PLEASE!
Loyal viewer
Enough with shoving Seacrest and his overexposure down our throats! He's good on Idol... that's where he should stay. Hooray that viewers are saying "no" to one more stupid show that talks down to Americans and dumbs down what entertainment can be. Must NBC always strive to claim the lowest common denominator as "reality"???
T Dog
Momma's Boys: "It's just bad television."
AllRealityTVisFAKE
LOL You people are funny, as if anything on television is "reality". Mommas boy was an elaborate setup from the very beginning whose purpose was to f**ck with people.
Only idiots want reality shows, I want producers to think of the most f**cked up situation they can and then get the most stupid idiotic people who are going to be the most controversial to appear in it, and then let it ride, which is exactly what they did with mommas boy.
Commercial creative producing at it's finest.
But I'm sure most people would prefer muscleheads bashing their skulls together.