Fall 2007's Lowest-Rated Shows
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Introduction
We talk a lot around here about which shows are the highest-rated on television, the "American Idols" and "Grey's Anatomys" and "CSIs" of the TV world.
This list is not about them.
Instead, as the first part of the 2007-08 season draws to a close, we wanted to note the series at the other end of the spectrum: the least-watched shows of the season so far, network by network.
Here's how we did it: We looked only at the total viewers for shows airing on the five major broadcast networks, which eliminates a large portion of the weekly Nielsen charts, which also tracks Spanish-language programming, sort-of network MyNetwork TV and Ion, aka The Network Formerly Known as PAX. (Only top Spanish broadcaster Univision, whose top shows average about 6 million viewers, makes much of a dent.)
Next we eliminated repeats of shows that air outside their regular time periods -- Saturday repeats of "Chuck" or plug-ins of "House," for instance -- and sports pre- and post-game shows, which typically last only a few minutes each and are erratically scheduled. Regularly scheduled sports telecasts, a la ABC's Saturday prime-time college football, were left in. That left us with a total of 100 shows on the five nets.
Finally, we sought out the three least-watched shows on each of the five networks and arranged them in order of viewers, from worst to (relative) best. Enjoy.
This list is not about them.
Instead, as the first part of the 2007-08 season draws to a close, we wanted to note the series at the other end of the spectrum: the least-watched shows of the season so far, network by network.
Here's how we did it: We looked only at the total viewers for shows airing on the five major broadcast networks, which eliminates a large portion of the weekly Nielsen charts, which also tracks Spanish-language programming, sort-of network MyNetwork TV and Ion, aka The Network Formerly Known as PAX. (Only top Spanish broadcaster Univision, whose top shows average about 6 million viewers, makes much of a dent.)
Next we eliminated repeats of shows that air outside their regular time periods -- Saturday repeats of "Chuck" or plug-ins of "House," for instance -- and sports pre- and post-game shows, which typically last only a few minutes each and are erratically scheduled. Regularly scheduled sports telecasts, a la ABC's Saturday prime-time college football, were left in. That left us with a total of 100 shows on the five nets.
Finally, we sought out the three least-watched shows on each of the five networks and arranged them in order of viewers, from worst to (relative) best. Enjoy.
