Ratings Race - 'The Forgotten' Finale More Remembered Than 'Three Rivers'

Fox (0.9/4, 3.13 million) owns Saturday night, and they have for more than two decades with the same lineup. If the other networks want to compete, they're going to have to get creative. But it looks like nobody cares about Saturdays anymore.

It's good news for fans of low-rated series, as the Saturday wasteland gives networks someplace to burn off the last episodes of failed shows. Tonight, two such shows ride off into the sunset as ABC (0.6/3, 2.78 million) bids farewell with back-to-back installments of 'the forgotten,' while CBS (0.5/2, 2.75 million) is probably thankful they're out of episodes of 'Three Rivers.'

Fox, meanwhile, just sticks with 'Cops' and 'America's Most Wanted,' and watches the viewers roll in. At this point, generations of fans know this lineup. Only NBC (0.7/3, 3.1 million) is competitive with the power of 'America's Got Talent' repeats and 'L&O:SVU,' though all are down on this holiday weekend.

Follow us after the jump for hourly breakdowns and further analysis.

8:00

An interesting trend that seems to exist on Saturday nights is this pattern of more viewers turning on their televisions as the night progresses. You'd think the opposite would be true, with people going out for the night, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Exhibit A: the 8:30 repeat installment of 'Cops' (0.9/4, 3.06 million) consistently draws in more viewers than its lead-in of a brand new 'Cops' (0.9/5, 2.9 million). That new installment did take the demo crown for the night, but only by using the share as a tiebreaker.

Unfortunately for CBS, the final episode of 'Three Rivers' (0.4/2, 2.545 million) was overshadowed by repeats of 'America's Funniest Home Videos' (0.6/3, 2.62 million) on ABC and the first hour of 'America's Got Talent' (0.5/3, 2.205 million) on NBC. At least it beat 'AGT' in the demo. Maybe it's because it's the Fourth of July holiday, and they've got 'America' in their title. Yeah, I'm not buying it either.

9:00

FOX had to settle for a tie in the 9 o'clock hour with their usually dominant new hour of 'America's Most Wanted' (0.9/4, 3.285 million). Exhibit B: The second hour of NBC's 'America's Got Talent' (0.9/4, 3.485 million) repeat was up considerably on the first, and the episode grew every half hour. Still, it was down 30 percent from last week, which we'll attribute to barbecues and other holiday festivities.

As a courtesy to their viewers, ABC took the hit and finished off 'the forgotten' (0.6/2, 2.675 million). The first of two back-to-back episodes was off 14 percent in viewers and 25 percent in the demo from last week's repeat of 'Castle.' CBS went with the James Bond movie 'Die Another Day' (0.5/2, 2.555 million), which came in 45 percent lower than last week's first hour of '48 Hours Mystery.' People clearly want their newsmagazines.

10:00

The strongest hour of the night for the remaining networks, once FOX went to bed, NBC took the hour with a repeat of 'Law & Order: SVU' (0.9/4, 3.595 million), which was only off a tenth of a point in the demo and 12 percent in total viewers from last week. Both CBS and ABC saw growth hour-to-hour with the conclusions of 'Die Another Day' (0.7/3, 3.13 million) and 'the forgotten' (0.7/3, 3.055 million). Exhibit C: 'the forgotten' grew 15 percent throughout the night, while 'Die Another Day' rose nearly 45 percent in the demo, and 25 percent overall, from its first half hour to its last.

Adults 18-49

Live + SD

A BIT ABOUT THE NUMBERS

Below is the format we use for showing the ratings data with a quick explanation of each part
Example: 'Show' (Demo/Share, Viewers+SD) [Network-Time]

Show - The name of the show. (R) indicates a repeat. (S) indicates a special presentation. (M) indicates a movie.
Demo - The percentage of adults aged 18-49 tuned to this show. This is the demographic advertisers desire.
Share - The percentage of adults 18-49 households with their televisions on who are turned to this show.
Viewers+SD - The total viewers including both live viewers and DVR viewers who watched the program the same day (generally by 3 AM). DVR penetration has reached about 24 percent of American households
Network - The network the show aired on.
Time - The show's scheduled start time (this can get skewed for sporting events or other live programming).

Nielsen compiles their ratings from randomly selected representative groups of households. Overnight ratings are tabulated by tracking the channels that are on during each time period in those houses. As such, if a live event interrupts or delays the start of a program in certain areas, this data will not reflect those changes. Also, if a local affiliate chooses not to run a network's program at the scheduled time for some reason, this change will also not be represented. Thus, these figures can be skewed and should only be used as a general guideline. We will do our best to alert you when situations that could affect the accuracy of these figures occurs.

Our thanks to TV by the Numbers for their figures and estimates. If you have any questions about the ratings or what it all means, feel free to hit me up in the comments. I'll be here every day for you.

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