Funny how syndication is nearly a dead medium for first run scripted programming yet Legend of the Seeker managed to outperform everything on the CW (except for Smallville) in the Live+SD for the week. Hopefully it can maintain near this number week to week.
Legend of the Seeker is the first, first-run scripted series in syndication since we started this blog, and since 2002’s She Spies. The third episode of LoTS averaged 4.31 million when it aired Saturday and Sunday 11/8 & 11/9. The number is the cumulative average of the premiere airing, regardless of when and where it aired across the country. The premiere on 11/2 & 11/2 averaged 5.88 million.
Chris is absolutely right, that # eclipses everything on the CW for the week of November 3-9 other than Smallville. But then again, those numbers are better than recent performance of even SciFi’s Battlestar Galactica too, so we’re not picking on Gossip Girl.
Can LOTS keep it up? That is the question. Please note: some people seem to think LOTS is a CW show because it airs on the CW affiliate in their local markets. It’s not a CW show, it’s syndicated by Disney/ABC and in many markets does not air on the CW.
Update: Sorry LoTS fans, it looks like I cheated you out of the 5.88 million the two hour premiere really got during the week ending November 2 — and that certainly beat everything on the CW. Nielsen labeled the show weirdly (it didn’t label the show, by, you know, it’s name!) in the spreadsheet, so I deferred to others in the media who had made the same mistake I was making anyway. Still, even the third episode beat almost everything on the CW.
Thanks Sword-of-truth.com for the heads up.
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MV Commentary by Erika Blake
Here’s showing you that Dawn Ostroff doesn’t know up from down. So far the rising demographic that I can tell who is tuning in by droves to watch this series (beyond Terry Goodkind and Xena/Hercules fans) is young women in the 18-35 age-range….the exact same crowd that the CW spent millions of promotional dollars to try to court to bring people to watch their network w/their new female programming (90210 and Privileged) - to only be rewarded w/ numbers that are less than 1/2 of what this show is bringing in…in syndication. LEGEND OF THE SEEKER offers fresh talent, gorgeous leading actors, sweeping vistas, beautiful music, great FX, and at the heart of it all is an epic LOVE STORY that is unlike anything that is on TV today.
Why Dawn didn’t pound on the Mouse’s door to get full rights to this show to have it air on her network is beyond me, instead she opted for 2 tired and boring programs that no one is interested in watching to put on her Sunday nights. They could’ve paired LOTS with SMALLVILLE and had REAPER/SUPERNATURAL together as 2 blockbuster nights of not necessarily-girly-centric programming. Instead, the local affiliates who picked up LEGEND are reaping the monetary rewards of their wise decision to pick it up and air it on their lineup. As it is, we get far better advertising during LEGEND in our market then either VALENTINE or EASY MONEY ever got. Not surprisingly - both of those shows just got axed today. TVBytheNumbers is reporting the changes to their Sunday night schedules that will include repeats of comedies and of JERICHO. Why in the HELL CBS didn’t just hand that over to the CW in the first place is beyond me it’s ratings would’ve been considered stellar on the CW - those along w/ MOONLIGHT. I personally don’t much like this 8-10 movie thing that will take over on 11/30 - that interferes with when LEGEND is on in my market. If you’re in the same boat as me - goto LEGENDOFTHESEEKER.COM or use the widget below and see if they’re going to be changing the time in your area.
