CW's 'Life' Builds Audience, CBS Sitcoms Up

Life Unexpected

Both CBS Corp. broadcast networks had a strong Monday. CBS had another strong night thanks to its sitcoms, and CW scored with a new teen-angst drama "Life Unexpected."

The heavily promoted CW show took in a healthy Nielsen preliminary 2.4 rating/6 share among its key 18-34 female viewers, as well as 2.74 million viewers overall. It also did well among all 18-34 viewers with a 1.7/4, and even older 18-49 viewers, with a 1.2/3.

"Life" matched the 18-34 highs in January 2009 of CW's strong show, "Gossip Girl," when it debuted a year ago.

Always a key indicator among programming analysts is the viewing trend during the show. Good news there for the CW: "Life" built viewership in its second half-hour. "Life" also built ratings among almost all viewing groups, versus its "One Tree Hill" lead-in.

advertisement

advertisement

For its part, CBS didn't do so badly, either. Two of its sitcoms -- "How I Met Your Mother" and "Accidentally on Purpose" -- reached series highs with adults 18-49: at 4.0/10 and a 3.5/9, respectively. "Two and a Half Men" and "Big Bang Theory" also did well -- "Men" took top show ratings honors for the night with a 5.3/12 and "Bang" pulled an almost equally strong 5.2/12.

CBS earned a 4.2/10 for the night overall. ABC was next-best, at a 3.5/9.

The second week of ABC's "The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love," a two-hour edition, improved over a week ago to a 3.8/9. The network's 10 p.m. drama "Castle" -- ABC's lone procedure crime drama -- rose to a 2.8/8, a season high.

Fox was just one-tenth of a rating point behind ABC. The second night of "24" -- a two-hour episode -- scored a 3.5/8, down 10% from its Sunday season debut.

NBC's "Heroes" continues to slip, hitting new lows for an original episode, at a 2.0/4. On a positive note, it is one of the most time-shifted shows, and one with a valuable young audience.

NBC earned a 1.9/5 for the night. Univision was next at a 1.5/4, followed by CW at a 1.1/3. The CW tied NBC and Univision among 18-34 viewers with a 1.6/4.

Next story loading loading..