Weak premiere for CW's 'Geek'

By James Hibberd

March 13, 2008, ET

The CW's ratings woes continued Tuesday night with reality series "Beauty and the Geek" premiering to about half its usual viewership.

"Geek" (1.9 million viewers, 0.9 preliminary adults 18 to 49 rating and a 2 share) was down 47% from its season debut last fall and down 59% from its January debut last year. The drop-off was similar among the CW's key adults 18-to-34 demographic. "Geek" led into an episode of "One Tree Hill" (2.5 million, 1.1/3) that was down 21% from last week.

The combination of a fall schedule that didn't catch ratings fire and the four-month writers strike has hit the CW especially hard, derailing the network's sophomore season and prompting staff downsizing at the network.

Overall, Fox and a two-hour "American Idol" (both averaging 29.3 million, 10.8/28) were the highest rated network and show, respectively. "Idol" was up slightly from last week's one-hour version.

NBC was second with a two-hour "Biggest Loser: Couples" (7.7 million, 2.9/8) and a "Law & Order: SVU" repeat (9.4 million, 3.0/8) ranking as the top-rated non-"Idol" shows for the night.

CBS (averaging 6.8 million, 1.8/5) and ABC (averaging 5.7 million, 1.8/5) tied for third place with a mix of repeats and originals.

Notable: ABC had the season finale of "According to Jim" (5.0 million, 1.5/4). CBS bubble-drama “Jericho” (5.9 million, 1.9/5) was up a couple notches from last week's low. 

Weak premiere for CW's 'Geek'

By James Hibberd

March 13, 2008, ET