-Yesterday’s Winners:
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
-Down But Far From Out:
Survivor: Gabon (CBS), Ugly Betty (ABC)
-Honorable Mention:
The Office (NBC)
-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
My Name is Earl (NBC), Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), ER (NBC)
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-Ratings Breakdown:
ABC won this first Thursday of the 2008-09 season with ease, beating second-place CBS by a hefty 32 percent in the overnights. Keep in mind, however, that CBS aired a repeat of CSI at 10 p.m. last night. In the distant number three spot was NBC, followed by Fox and the CW.
The two-hour season-opening edition of CBS’ Survivor: Gabon kicked-off at a depressed 7.5 rating/12 share from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:
Survivor: Gabon (CBS) – season premiere
8:00 p.m. 7.6/12 (#1)
8:30 p.m. 7.8/12 (#1)
9:00 p.m. 7.4/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m. 7.3/11 (#2)
One year earlier, Survivor: China opened with an 8.7/14 in the overnights on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. And the year before that was Survivor: Cook Islands at a 10.2/16 on Sept. 21, 2006. So, yes, Survivor is down…but not out by any means. Keep in mind that Survivor will easily win the 8 p.m. hour among adults 18-49.
Survivor: Gabon led into a repeat of CSI at a second-place 6.8/11 at 10 p.m. -- 15 percent ahead of the season-premiere of NBC’s veteran ER (5.9/10). Comparably, ER declined by a considerable 20 percent from it’s year-ago season-opener on Sept. 27, 2007 (7.4/12). While ER is, of course, ending this season, it probably should have concluded three or four years ago.
Earlier in the evening on NBC was the one-hour season premieres of My Name is Earl (#3: 4.3/ 7 from 8-9 p-.m.), which was down by 23 percent year-to-year, and The Office (#3: 5.8/ 9 from 9-10 p.m.), which actually increased by four percent. Worth noting for The Office was growth of 29 percent from the second half of My Name is Earl. And keep in mind, of course, that The Office always manages to generate solid interest among the key young adult demographics. As for My Name is Earl, I just don’t get it. Do you?
The third season-premiere of ABC’s Ugly Betty finished second in the 8 p.m. hour, with a 6.7/11 in the overnights. Comparably, that was down by 18 percent from it’s year-ago season-opener (8.2/13 on Sept. 27, 2007). Ugly Betty led into the two-hour season-premiere of Grey’s Anatomy, which won the 9-11 p.m. block with an 11.0/17 in the overnights -- the highest rated show of the evening. As good as that still it, Grey’s was down by 13 percent from the 12.6/19 it opened in the overnights with one year earlier. And that was opposite an original installment of CSI. Here is the half-hour breakdown:
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
9:00 p.m. 10.8/16 (#1)
9:30 p.m. 11.1/17 (#1)
10:00 p.m. 11.0/17 (#1)
10:30 p.m. 11.0/17 (#1)
Two episodes of Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares could not compete, with an average 3.2/ 5 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. And original episodes of the CW’s Smallville (#5: 2.8/ 4) and Supernatural (#5: 2.5/ 4) were close to week-ago levels. Considering the severity of the competition this week, that is not a bad thing.
As a reminder, Smallville is not ending in midseason as I reported on my Fall TV Preview webcast earlier this week. It could, in fact, return for a ninth season if the audience stays with the show. Are you game, folks?
As a reminder, there is a LIVE chat today at 12 p.m. ET at PIFeedback on everything TV! Click
www.PIFeedback.com, then Go (top left), Chat Rooms and TV Talk
Source: Nielsen Media Research data
It seems like all the shows that Dawn wanted to succeed(90210, GG, Privaleged) didn't do to hot, but the ones she didn't care about(Smallville, Supernatural, Smackdown)all did great. All of them just happen to start with an S to. 
