Early Ratings: No Fall Breakouts
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/8/2007
With two weeks of the new season in the books, the rookie class won't likely produce a breakout hit, at least not now.
Though final C3 numbers (commercial ratings for live plus three days of DVR viewing, the metric for most advertising buys) for premiere week aren't here until Oct. 15, the initial figures show this year's freshman class to be the modestly-performing bunch many industry insiders expected.
After surprising even its own network with an opening-night 5.7 rating in the 18-49 demo, NBC's Bionic Woman came back to earth last Wednesday. The 4.1 rating is more in line with many people's initial expectations, and NBC will need the show to settle in there and build.
ABC's much-anticipated freshman drama Pushing Daisies finally premiered last Wednesday to a strong 4.3 rating. That number is very solid, especially for an 8 p.m. rookie.
As for under-performing rookies, CBS's Cane, Fox's K-Ville and ABC's Big Shots have disappointed, but just two weeks into the season the networks should still give them at least a bit more time.
