These are not pleasant times for Jeff Zucker and his leadership team at NBC Television. Having vowed to turn around the dreadful ratings of the past couple of seasons--and with some
seemingly strong shows going into the current one--Zucker, head of the network's entertainment group, appeared positioned to perform a miracle. But there's been none. Worse, NBC's Thursday
prime-time lineup is fading. This is of particular concern because NBC has long prided itself on the strength of its Thursday ratings. This year's new Thursday shows—“My Name
Is Earl” and “The Office”--began the season with great buzz and good numbers, but the trend has been in the wrong direction. “Earl” faded to an all-time low
last Thursday, with a 4.0 rating/11 share in adults aged 18-49 (8.7 million total viewers), according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. And the “The Office” has slipped more
than one full demo rating point in recent weeks; Thursday it did a 3.6 rating/9 share in the demo (7.5 million total). Not good. (Of note: This item appears on a blog written by one
of the Los Angeles Times' staff writers.)
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