Papi Chulo's BLOG

Ratings Report :: "America's Got Talent" Delivers!

The final game in the NBA Finals was the top program on network television ... Game Six saw the Boston Celtics clinch the title over the Los Angeles Lakers ... and 16.9 million viewers watched ...

NBC saw a strong second season opening for America's Got Talent (second place, 12.8 million) ...

CBS' Million Dollar Password (12th place, 8.2 million) may have fallen out of the Top 10 ... but the game show revival was picked up for an additional six episodes ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. NBA Finals Game Six (Boston vs. Los Angeles), ABC, 16.9 million viewers
2. America's Got Talent, NBC, 12.8 million viewers
3. 60 Minutes, 9.1 million viewers
4. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 8.9 million viewers
5. So You Think You Can Dance (Thursday), Fox, 8.87 million viewers
6. So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesday), Fox, 8.86 million viewers
7. Deal or No Deal (Tuesday), NBC, 8.7 million viewers
8. House, Fox, 8.6 million viewers
9. Deal or No Deal (Wednesday), NBC, 8.3 million viewers
10. Hell's Kitchen, Fox, 8.25 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: Can't Beat the Celtics-Lakers Rivalry

ABC has been benefiting from the renewed Boston Celties-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry ... Viewership for the first five NBA Finals games are up 57% over last year ... Game six airs tonight ...

The most watched television program was a repeat of CBS' Two and a Half Men (fourth place, 10.7 million) ... CBS' Million Dollar Password (seventh place, 9.36 million) was the most watched summer series ...

CBS' controversial new summer series Swingtown continued to bring in viewers (21st place, 7 million) ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. NBA Finals Game Five (Boston vs. Los Angeles), ABC, 17.4 million viewers
2. NBA Finals Game Three (Boston vs. Los Angeles), ABC, 14.5 million viewers
3. NBA Finals Game Four (Boston vs. Los Angeles), ABC, 13.8 million viewers
4. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 10.7 million viewers
5. NCIS, CBS, 10.2 million viewers
6. CSI, CBS, 9.4 million viewers
7. Million Dollar Password, CBS, 9.36 million viewers
8. 48 Hours Mystery (Tuesday), CBS, 9.2 million viewers
9. CSI: NY, CBS, 9.18 million viewers
10. So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesday), Fox, 8.9 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: NBA Finals Dominate!

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers made for good TV viewing ... The first two games of the NBA finals (first place, 13.5 million for Game 2; second place, 13.4 million for Game 1) were up from last year ...

CBS' Million Dollar Password (fifth place, 9.62 million) became the week's most watched summer show ...

Thursday launched two new summer series on NBC and CBS ... NBC's new horror anthology series Fear Itself (41st place, 5.3 million) was outdone by the swinging swingers on CBS' Swingtown (14th place, 8.6 million) ...

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals (24th place, 6.8 million) was up 111% from hockey's last Game 6 in 2006 ...

Over on cable ... The second season premiere of Lifetime's Army Wives (4.5 million) was up 30% from last year's series premiere ... making it a second place finish for a scripted series on cable ... It landed behind an original episode of USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent (4.53 million) ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. NBA Finals Game 2 (Los Angeles vs. Boston), ABC, 13.5 million
2. NBA Finals Game 1 (Los Angeles vs. Boston), ABC, 13.4 million
3. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9.81 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 9.8 million viewers
5. Million Dollar Password, CBS, 9.62 million viewers
6. CSI, CBS, 9.6 million viewers
7. So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesday), Fox, 9.56 million viewers
8. House, Fox, 9.4 million viewers
9. Hell's Kitchen, Fox, 9.36 million viewers
10. So You Think You Can Dance (Thursday), Fox, 9.3 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: Regis Knocks Out Kimbo Slice

Million Dollar Password became the top new series of the week ... The Regis Philbin-hosted game show drew 10.6 million viewers for a third place finish ...

ABC aired the finale of LOST out of season ... and the mystery-laden two-hours landed in the top spot with 12.3 million ...

CBS' inaugural Saturday Night Fights ... a mixed martial arts event with headliner Kimbo Slice ... averaged 4.9 million viewers (49th place) ... peaking from 11:30-11:51pm with 6.5 million viewers for a fight between Slice and James "Colossus" Thompson ...

FOX's So You Think You Can Dance (eighth place, 9.56 million on Thursday; 10th place, 9.4 million on Wednesday) brought in its usual summer numbers ...

NBC's American Gladiators was up 25% (43rd place, 5.1 million) ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. LOST, ABC, 12.3 million viewers
2. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 10.8 million viewers
3. Million Dollar Password, CBS, 10.6 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 10.3 million viewers
5. NCIS, CBS, 9.8 million viewers
6. Criminal Minds, CBS, 9.7 million viewers
7. CSI: NY, CBS, 9.6 million viewers
8. So You Think You Can Dance (Thursday), Fox, 9.56 million viewers
9. Hell's Kitchen, Fox, 9.5 million viewers
10. So You Think You Can Dance (Wednesday), Fox, 9.4 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

"Simpsons" Get More D'oh

After negotiating new contracts ... the principle voice cast of The Simpsons is getting a pay raise ... The principle cast members will receive $400,000 per episode upon signing their new four-year deal ...

The new pay will be effective with the series' 20th season ...

Because negotiations took some time to complete ... the upcoming season will contain just 20 episodes ... instead of the usual 22 ...

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: "CSI" Offed by "Housewives"

Desperate Housewives has dethroned CSI as the most-watched scripted show on television ...

Desperate Housewives ends its fourth season on top among scripted shows ... A first for the series ... It averaged 17.3 million viewers during the 2007-2008 television season ... Desperate Housewives was up 2% compared to last season ...

For the first time in five years ... CSI is not the most-watched scripted series ... the Vegas-set crime show averaged 16 million viewers this past season ...

Desperate Housewives finishes in sixth place ... behind various editions of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol ...

Grey's Anatomy is among a list of many scripted series that took huge plunges in viewers ...

-- Grey's Anatomy (down 23% to 14.4 million viewers)
-- CSI: Miami (down 21% to 13.1 million)
-- CSI (down 19% to 16 million)
-- LOST (down 15% to 11.7 million)
-- House (down 12% to 16.2 million)
-- Ugly Betty (down 21% to 8.7 million)

The writers' strike is why many hit series took massive plunges ...

Here are the 10 most watched broadcast network prime-time shows for the 2007-2008 season ...

1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 27.7 million viewers
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 26.8 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars (Monday, Fall Edition), ABC, 21.2 million viewers
4. Dancing With the Stars (Monday, Spring Edition), ABC, 19.17 million viewers
5. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday, Fall Edition), ABC, 19.16 million viewers
6. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday, Spring Edition), ABC, 17.8 million viewers
7. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 17.3 million viewers
8. House, Fox, 16.2 million viewers
9. CSI, CBS, 16 million viewers
10. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 15.9 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

"American Idol" Cooked!

FOX's American Idol crowned a new karaoke winner ... Last night David Cook won the singing competition ...

AI's finale was up about 1 million viewers from last year's finale ... The finale averaged 31.7 million viewers ...

Tuesday's final performance show saw 27.1 million viewers watch David Cook and David Archuleta battle it out ...

36.3 million viewers tuned into the last half-hour of Wednesday's finale ... where it was announced that Archuleta lost by 12 million votes ...

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: "CSI" Killed "Desperate Housewives"

In the battle of season finales ... CSI (4th place, 18.1 million) killed Desperate Housewives (6th place, 16.8 million) ...

American Idol Tuesday (2nd place, 24.9 million) was once again beaten by American Idol Wednesday (1st place, 24.9 million) ...

In the world of daytime television ... Snoop Dogg brought additional viewers to ABC's One Life to Live ... A cameo by the rapper helped the soap's young adult women demographic go up by 4% for the week of May 5 ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 24.9 million viewers
2. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 24.8 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 18.5 million viewers
4. CSI, CBS, 18.1 million viewers
5. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 17 million viewers
6. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 16.8 million viewers
7. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 15.5 million viewers
8. House, Fox, 15 million viewers
9. NCIS, CBS, 14.9 million viewers
10. Without a Trace, CBS, 14.5 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

UPFRONTS :: FOX Adds a Spinoff and "24" Prequel

FOX has released its 2008-2009 television schedule ...

Among this season's casualties are ... New Amsterdam, Unhitched, The Return of Jezebel James, K-Ville, Nashville, The Next Great American Band and Back to You ...

Returning for a second season is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ...

24 will launch its seventh season in January ... but a two-hour prequel will air in November ...

Here are details on the new series pickups ...

-- Fringe, a sci-fi-ish thriller from J.J. Abrams featuring the prime-time return of Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson -- Dollhouse, the Joss Whedon project starring Eliza Dushku as the leader of gang of personality swappers -- Do Not Disturb (working title): A fall comedy about the antics at a hotel, starring Carpoolers survivor Jerry O'Connell
-- Sit Down, Shut Up: A spring animated series about the antics at a high school, from Arrested Development's Mitchell Hurwitz
-- The Cleveland Show: The Family Guy spinoff, set for a spring launch, starring the Griffin family's neighbor, Cleveland Brown
-- Secret Millionaire: A new reality series in which millionaires are dispatched to rub elbows with the little people, and make their rich selves feel better

Here's a night-by-night look at FOX's fall lineup:

:: Sunday :: The OT (football postgame show), The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad

:: Monday :: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Prison Break

:: Tuesday :: House, Fringe

:: Wednesday :: Bones, 'Til Death, Do Not Disturb

:: Thursday :: The Moment of Truth, Kitchen Nightmares

:: Friday :: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Don't Forget the Lyrics

:: Saturday :: Cops, America's Most Wanted

And here's a night-by-night look at FOX's spring schedule:

:: Sunday :: Various reruns, The Simpsons, King of the Hill/Sit Down, Shut Up, Family Guy, American Dad/The Cleveland Show

:: Monday :: Dollhouse, 24

:: Tuesday :: American Idol, Fringe

:: Wednesday :: Bones, American Idol (30 minutes), TBA comedy

:: Thursday :: Hell's Kitchen, Secret Millionaire

:: Friday :: Bones, 'Til Death, Do Not Disturb

:: Saturday :: Cops, America's Most Wanted

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: "AI" Wednesday Beats "AI" Tuesday

For the first time this season ... Wednesday's American Idol elimination show (first place, 22.9 million viewers) beat Tuesday's American Idol performance show (second place, 21.8 million) ...

The shows of course beat everything else ... but the karaoke show recorded an all-time low for a performance episode featuring the Top 4 finalists ... the show's first summer season excluded ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 22.9 million viewers
2. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 21.8 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 18.4 million viewers
4. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 18.1 million viewers
5. CSI, CBS, 18.07 million viewers
6. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 16 million viewers
7. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 15.4 million viewers
8. Without a Trace, CBS, 14.7 million viewers
9. CSI: Miami, CBS, 14.1 million viewers
10. NCIS, CBS, 14 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

Paula's Confusing Comments

American Idol turned a little eerie this week ...

Halfway through the program ... the five remaining contestants returned to the stage after performing their first of two Neil Diamond songs ... the judges offered their feedback ...

Paula Abdul: "Jason [Castro], first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear. Um, the second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn't—it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty. The two songs made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four."

Randy Jackson then chimed in and reminded her that Jason ... like everyone else ... only sang one song so far that evening ...

Paula Abdul: "Oh my god, I thought you sang twice! You know, this is hard!"

Ryan Seacrest: "You're seeing the future, baby."

The following day Paula called into Ryan's radio show to discuss her odd comments ...

It turns out the judges were blindsided when the show's executive producer changed things at the last minute by having the judges give a quick recap halfway through the show instead of at the end ...

Paula Abdul: "It was so confusing. The whole thing is like, 'Hello?' It was crazy for us. In seven years, we've never had to do that. So, the kids are coming out, and I'm like 'Oh my God, what do we do?' I just started looking at what I had written down and we've never had to do this before. I was reading the critique of what I had written for Jason Castro, and on the same page, I also wrote David. I got lost on my notes. And that's as simple as it was."

Ryan Seacrest: "So, you were talking about two different people, but accidentally, you said second song."

Guess Ryan just saved Paula's heinie ...

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: "Housewives" Trump "Grey's"

FOX's American Idol is down 5% on Tuesdays (1st place, 25.1 million viewers) and 10% on Wednesdays (2nd place, 22.8 million viewers) this season (compared to last season) ...

But CBS' CSI (4th place, 18 million) is down 19% ... while Grey's Anatomy (7th place, 15.3 million) and CSI: Miami (10th place, 13.9 million) are both down 20% ...

In a reverse of fortunes ... ABC's Dancing With the Stars' results show (5th place, 17.1 million) and Desperate Housewives (6th place, 16.8 million) are up percentage-wise over last season ...

FOX's Hell's Kitchen (16th place, 11.9 million) is doing very well after Idol ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 25.1 million viewers
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 22.8 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 18.2 million viewers
4. CSI, CBS, 18 million viewers
5. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 17.1 million viewers
6. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 16.8 million viewers
7. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 15.3 million viewers
8. NCIS, CBS, 14.8 million viewers
9. House, Fox, 14.6 million viewer
10. CSI: Miami, CBS, 13.9 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

"Family Guy" Comes Back For More

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has inked a $100 million contract with 20th Century FOX TV ...

The new contract has him creating new episodes of Family Guy through at least 2012 ...

The deal also includes American Dad, The Cleveland Show and a live-action comedy ...

Seth MacFarlane: "I get a lot of pleasure out of making shows. It's a bonus to be getting paid well for it, and it's a double bonus to be getting paid exorbitantly for it."

~Papi Chulo~

Ratings Report :: "CSI" Outshines Return of "Grey's"

CBS killed on Thursday! CBS continues to dominate the most competitive night on television ... Survivor: Micronesia (12th place, 12.9 million viewers), CSI (5th place, 17 million) and Without a Trace (10th place, 13.5 million) ...

But ABC continues to be highly competitive on that night ... Ugly Betty (32nd place, 8.5 million), Grey's Anatomy (6th place, 16.4 million) and LOST (14th place, 12.1 million) ...

Here are the top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday ...

1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 24.7 million viewers
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 23.2 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 18 million viewers
4. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 17.97 million viewers
5. CSI, CBS, 17 million viewers
6. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 16.4 million viewers
7. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 16.4 million viewers
8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 14.4 million viewers
9. NCIS, CBS, 14.2 million viewers
10. Without a Trace, CBS, 13.5 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~