Letterman Getting in on Olympics Action

The entire U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team, who took home the first team all-around gold medal for the U.S since 1996 at the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London, will visit the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN Tuesday, Aug. 14 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on CBS.

The “Fierce Five” team of Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross and Alexandra Raisman have also had success on the individual medal front – Douglas scored a gold medal in the women’s individual gymnastics all-around, Maroney won silver in the women’s vault, and team captain Raisman took home gold in the floor exercise individual and bronze in the balance beam event.

Fall Preview: New Girl on FOX

Here's the first in a line of offerings from the networks which are now rolling out preview video for the fall.  This one, from FOX, is a sneak peak of New Girl, whose season premiere is Tuesday, September 25th.  There will be two new episodes, at 8 and 9 p.m.

Nielsen Ratings: NBC Sweeps with Olympics

By now it will surprise few to know that NBC is killing its competitors in the prime time ratings with its Olympics programming.  The network took the top seven slots in last week's rankings with viewerships topping 27.9 million on each night of prime time.  That's way more than any network gets, even during the regular season.

The only other original programming to make the top 15 has been Big Brother on CBS, which was on three nights last week.

On cable, The Closer, with only one episode left, was the top program, followed by Rizzoli & Isles.  The WWE continues to do well as do a few other cable dramas - Burn Notice, True Blood, Perception, Longmire and Suits.

BROADCAST:

RANK	PROGRAMS	ORIG	SHARE	VIEWERS
1	SUM OLYM TUE PRIME 1(S)	NBC	35	38.7 million
2	SUM OLYM THU PRIME 1(S)	NBC	36	36.8 million
3	SUM OLYM MON PRIME 1(S)	NBC	29	31.5 million
4	SUM OLYM WED PRIME 1(S)	NBC	30	30.8 million
5	SUM OLYM SUN PRIME 2(S)	NBC	29	31.2 million
6	SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 1(S)	NBC	29	28.5 million
7	SUM OLYM SAT PRIME 2(S)	NBC	29	27.9 million
8	NCIS	CBS	8	6.8 million
9	60 MINUTES	CBS	8	6.4 million
10	BIG BANG THEORY, THE	CBS	7	5.5 million
11	NCIS: LOS ANGELES	CBS	5	5.2 million
12	BIG BROTHER 14-SUN	CBS	6	5.7 million
12	BIG BROTHER 14-WED	CBS	6	5.3 million
14	BIG BROTHER 14-THU	CBS	5	5.4 million
15	TWO AND A HALF MEN - THU	CBS	5	4.7 million

CABLE:

RANK	PROGRAMS	NET	Share	Viewers
1	THE CLOSER	TNT	3.8	5.7 million
2	RIZZOLI & ISLES	TNT	2.9	4.4 million
3	NASCAR SPRINT CUP	ESPN	2.9	4.4 million
4	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	2.8	4.7 million
5	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	2.8	4. 7 million
6	BURN NOTICE	USA	2.7	4.3 million
7	TRUE BLOOD	HBOM	2.5	4.4 million
8	PERCEPTION	TNT	2.5	3.7 million
9	TOY STORY 3	DSNY	2.4	4.1 million
10	TOY STORY 3	DSNY	2.4	4.4 million
11	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	2.4	4.0 million
12	LONGMIRE	AEN	2.3	3.9 million
13	SUITS	USA	2.3	3.4 million
14	FAMILY GUY	ADSM	2.2	3.0 million
15	FAMILY GUY	ADSM	2.2	3.1 million

NBC Breaking its Own Olympic Records

Through the first eight nights, the London Olympics has set viewership records on NBC.

Each night of the 2012 London Olympics to-date has drawn 28.5 million viewers or more for the first time in the history of televised Summer Olympics (Rome 1960); 34.5 million average viewership through last night is the most for the first eight nights of any non-U.S. Summer Olympics in 36 years; the weekday daytime has posted the best viewership ever for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics (in Nielsen people meter history, 1987); and the late night show has posted the best viewership in 24 years, according to official national data provided by The Nielsen Company.

Beginning with the 40.7 million average viewership for the Opening Ceremony – the most-watched Opening Ceremony in televised Summer Olympics history – NBC has drawn at least 28.5 million viewers for each night in primetime. This marks the first time in the history of televised Summer Olympics that each of the first eight nights achieved such high viewership.

Additionally, six nights of the London Olympics have drawn more than 30 million viewers, more than the entire 2008 Beijing Olympics (5) or 2004 Athens Olympics (2).

ABC Daytime Ratings for Week of July 23rd

ABC continues to struggle in daytime almost a year after One Life to Live left the airwaves and more than that for All My Children, both cherished by many of our readers.

Replacements for those show have mediocre ratings that fall below their predecessors.

During the week of July 23rd, The Chew (1 p.m.) drew 2.12 viewers, 15% fewer than AMC and down from 2.17 the previous week. 

ABC announced, by the way, that it is giving The Chew a one-shot primetime airing at 7 pm on Sunday, September 2nd, which is Labor Day Weekend.  They're using it as an opportunity to preview the network's new fall series.  Participating will be Andre Braughher (Last Resort), Jami Gertz (The Neighbors), Hayden Panettiere (Nashville), Reba (Malibu Country), Vanessa Williams and Terry O'Quinn (both 666 Park Avenue).  The regulars from The Chew will be there as well: Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly and Daphne Oz.

Good Afternoon America (2 p.m.), which has not done well at all, lost more viewers with 1.70 million during the week in question, down 1.79 from the previous week and down a whopping 39% from One Life to Live.

Don't these programming execs learn?

The View, ABC's daytime ratings champion lost viewers as well.  It had 3.14 million compared to 3.25 the previous week.

The Talk on CBS is the only daytime talker gaining a little speed.  It had 2.20 viewers, up from 2.02 the week before.  It is holding steady from a year ago.  That's not bad, considering how much the others are losing.

Here are the breakdowns for the various demographics, which are considered most important to advertisers, with comparisons from one year ago.

Women 25-54:
The View - 716,000 (-25)
The Talk - 594,000 (- 9)
The Chew - 471,000 (-32)
Good Afternoon America - 404,000 (-50)

Women 18-49:
The View - 556,000 (-23)
The Talk - 442,000 (-15)
The Chew - 356,000 (-32)
Good Afternoon America - 293,000 (-57)

Women 18-34:
The View - 200,000 (-12)
The Talk - 132,000 (-10)
The Chew - 129,000 (-17)
Good Afternoon America - 106,000 (-50)

NBC Olympic Ratings are Great, Despite Complaints

Americans may be burning up Twitter and Facebook complaining about NBC's Olympics coverage, especially the fact that winners are known to the world way before they show up on TV, but the network is drawing viewers nonetheless.

NBC's primetime coverage Monday night (8-11:23 p.m. ET/PT) drew 31.6 million viewers, the most for the first Monday of a non-U.S. Summer Games in 36 years (37.7 million for Montreal in 1976). 

Last night’s viewership was 1.4 million more than the first Monday night of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (30.2 million), and 4.5 million more than the first night of the 2004 Athens Olympics (27.1 million), the last European Summer Olympics.

Through the first Monday of the London Olympics, NBC averaged 34.8 million viewers, the most of any Summer Olympics in history (since the first televised Olympics in 1960). The 34.8 million topped the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (34.5 million), is 4.3 million more viewers than Beijing (30.5 million) and 10.1 million more than Athens (24.7 million).

Last night’s competition on NBC, which featured a gold medal for the U.S. in the 100m backstroke and the finals of the men’s gymnastics all-around, earned a 18.0/29 national rating/share, two percent higher than the first Sunday night of the Beijing Olympics (17.6/29), which featured live coverage of three swimming gold medals, including Michael Phelps’ third in three nights.

"Anderson" to Take on Co-Hosts and Broadcast Live

“Anderson,” the one-hour daily syndicated talk show hosted by Anderson Cooper, will begin its second season with a new title, “Anderson Live”, a new set, a new live format and rotating co-hosts.  Some have said the show will resemble Live! with Kelly, which Anderson Cooper has co-hosted with Kelly Ripa (quite successfully) on many occasions.  Why don't these two just combine shows?

The announcement was made today by “Anderson Live” Executive Producer Terence Noonan.

In a news release, Noonan said “Anderson Live” will tape in front of a live studio audience at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City where Cooper will be joined daily by co-hosts for the show’s sophomore season. “Anderson Live’s” new set with live capabilities will enable Cooper to cover breaking stories and to talk about issues as they happen.

Among the celebrities scheduled to visit the set are: Richard Gere and the cast of “Arbitrage;” Emma Watson and the cast of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”; TV stars from hit shows including “Modern Family’s” Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, ” The Mindy Project’s” Mindy Kaling and “Scandal’s” Kerry Washington; Comedian and Author Stephen Colbert as well as classic stars including Carol Burnett.

The show, by the way, has a new co-executive producer, Emmy-winning veteran talk show producer George Davilas, a seasoned daytime executive who brings 15+ years of experience, most recently as Senior Supervising Producer at “The Doctors.”

“Our biggest overall goal for ‘Anderson Live’ is to take the best elements of daytime and put it in a show that works in 2012. Being live plays to Anderson’s strengths, providing immediacy and topicality, which allows us to talk about what is going on in the world,” said Noonan. “ ‘Anderson Live’ is the show that makes you a little smarter, the one that you have fun watching, and at the end of each episode you can’t wait to tune in the next day to see what’s happening.”

“We’ve got a lot of fun, great things planned for the new season. I am really excited to be joined by daily co-hosts and look forward to switching to a live format, which allows us more freedom to cover topical issues as well as connect more with the viewer at home,” said Anderson Cooper.

Additionally, the show announced that AndersonCooper.com will launch several new initiatives including:

• Anderson’s Summer Instagram Photo-A-Day Challenge: A month-long photo sharing contest on Instagram where fans play for a chance to win prizes. Anderson will also snap and share his own personal photos from his summer. Contest starts August 6th.

• Talk with #AndersonLive: As the show tapes live, real-time feedback from fans will be incorporated into the show via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social networks as the show continues it’s on-air social media integration.

• Stump Anderson: Each week fans will be encouraged to send in fun trivia questions via social media to be answered by Anderson during a live webcast.

• Anderson Seat Tweets: Fans tweet to sit in Anderson’s Seat Tweets section, a reserved special section of that audience that allows for live tweeting through out the show taping.

“Anderson Live” is produced by StrongChild Productions in association with Telepictures Productions, an industry-leading and Emmy® Award-winning producer of syndicated programming. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, one of the leading distributors of first-run and off-network programming. Cooper and Terence Noonan serve as Executive Producers.