or


[09/26/11 - 12:03 AM]
The Futon's Ratings Survival Guide: "Hart of Dixie" (The CW)
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

Please note: As a courtesy, please do not reproduce these comments to newsgroups, forums or other online places. Links only please.

Welcome to The Futon's Ratings Survival Guide, our annual feature which takes each new fall series on the broadcast networks and tells you the numbers it will need to survive for a second season. In general, a show's success isn't so much where it lands on the weekly ratings chart but rather how it performs in two key categories:

1. How much of its lead-in audience it retains. If a show averages 10 million viewers that's a good thing. But if the show that airs before it is averaging 30 million viewers, that's not a good thing. Why? Because 20 of those 30 million viewers decided to turn off that particular channel when the next show came on.

2. How it performs year-to-year in its time period. A new show is usually in its time period because the network thinks it can do better than it did in that slot last year. In other words, do worse than the show that was canceled after three weeks last fall then you too probably are not long for this world.

As you'll see, together these measurements paint a clear picture on how a particular show is doing. So without further ado, let's begin.

HART OF DIXIE (The CW)
(Mondays at 9:00/8:00c)

The CW's diminishing returns on Monday nights sparked the netlet to send "90210" to Tuesdays while "Gossip Girl" gets pushed up to the lead-off spot. Newcomer "Hart of Dixie" then is tasked with holding onto a significant portion of said audience as the Monday, 9:00/8:00c hour has maintained near perfection retention of its 8:00/7:00c lead-in the past two seasons.

Here's how The CW has fared on Monday nights the past two seasons:*

mondays in 2009-2011timeviewers
(retention)		adults 18-49
(retention)
One Tree Hill: Season 78:00 PM2.32
(N/A)		1.11
(N/A)
Gossip Girl: Season 39:00 PM2.03
(89.43%)		1.08
(100.93%)
Life Unexpected: Season 19:00 PM2.09
(102.45%)		0.96
(98.97%)
Life Unexpected: Season 18:00 PM1.96
(N/A)		0.90
(N/A)
Gossip Girl: Season 49:00 PM1.67
(93.30%)		0.88
(101.15%)
90210: Season 38:00 PM1.79
(N/A)		0.87
(N/A)

* Viewers are in millions, adults 18-49 is the percentage of said viewers in the demographic; all are based on fast national data, using only first-run episodes in its regular time period. A caveat here though: while ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC's target demographic is adults 18-49, The CW's is actually women 18-34. Since that data isn't readily available, we're left with adults 18-49 as the closet approximation.





  [september 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· FUTON'S RATINGS SURVIVAL GUIDES (TFC)
· HART OF DIXIE (CW)




most recent ratings | view all posts
[10/08/25 - 10:47 AM]
"The Girlfriend" Has Been Watched by Over 25 Million Viewers Worldwide
Amazon MGM Studios touted the news on social media this morning.
[10/07/25 - 03:52 PM]
FOX Sports' ALDS Coverage Up 14% Year-Over-Year Across FOX and FS1
3,187,000 viewers tuned in on average for the first four games of the 2025 ALDS across FOX and FS1.
[10/07/25 - 03:10 PM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Delivers Second Most-Watched Regular Season Episode Ever; ESPN & ABC Score Three of Week 6's Top Four Games
ABC's telecast of Vanderbilt at Alabama on Saturday averaged 6.4 million viewers.
[10/07/25 - 02:54 PM]
College Football on FOX Scores Big in Week Six
In Week 6, "Big Noon Saturday" scored 4,627,000 viewers for Michigan's 24-10 win over Wisconsin on FOX - the most-watched noon game on any network.
[10/07/25 - 02:54 PM]
ESPN Scores Most-Watched Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in 28 Years
Coverage averaged 1.9 million viewers, up 62% from last year.
[10/07/25 - 02:40 PM]
"America's Game of the Week" on FOX Roars in Week 5 as Most-Watched Telecast of the Week on Any Network
20,333,000 average viewers on average tuned into the network for Week 5.
[10/07/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of September 29: "French Lover" Swoons at No. 1, "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" Chills in Top 10 Debut
Plus: "Wayward" reached No. 1 on the TV list for a second consecutive week, with 14.1 million views.
[10/06/25 - 10:04 AM]
ESPN Sets Multiple MLB Wild Card Series Viewership Records
ESPN networks averaged 4,625,000 viewers across 11 games, making it the most-watched Wild Card Series ever under the current format.

[10/03/25 - 02:46 PM]
With Largest Viewership in 7 Years, "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Demos for Season Premiere
"Nightline" drew its largest overall audience in nearly 2 years and delivered its strongest Adult 25-54 performance in 20 months.
[10/03/25 - 02:45 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
"20/20" opened its new season with its strongest performance in Total Viewers (2.752 million) and Adults 25-54 (386,000) in over 3 months.
[10/03/25 - 02:17 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting '25 MLB Wild Card Series
Across eight games, the MLB Wild Card Series is averaging 4.4 million viewers, up 65% from last year.
[10/03/25 - 12:07 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues to Shatter Records - Growing Two Weeks in a Row Since Season Premiere for First Time Since 2005
Plus: "High Potential" hit a season high in Total Viewers (4.24 million), growing by double digits over the show's comparable third episode from last fall.
[10/02/25 - 04:09 PM]
ESPN Delivers the Most-Watched WNBA Semifinals Ever
Game 5 between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces averaged 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.1 million.
[10/02/25 - 02:51 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting Day One of MLB Wild Card Series
Coverage of Red Sox versus Yankees averaged 6.5 million viewers, peaking at 9.9 million.
[10/02/25 - 11:00 AM]
"Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" Season Premieres Hit Their Largest 3-Day Streaming Viewerships Ever
The "Survivor" season 49 premiere grew to 6.83 million viewers with three days of multiplatform viewership; while "The Amazing Race" season 38 premiere grew to 4.01 million viewers.