Partisan wins for WB's new 'Jack'
Slow start for 'Jack'
SepT 14, 2004
Teens and young women voted for "Jack & Bobby," but otherwise the new WB Network drama pulled in underwhelming Nielsen numbers in its debut Sunday.
"Jack & Bobby," a coming-of-age drama about the boyhood of a future president, has earned some of the strongest critical appraisals of any new fall series, but it averaged only 4.7 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
"Jack & Bobby" was down in viewers from its lead-in, the season premiere of "Charmed" (5.3 million), and it came in under the opening-night numbers in the same time slot last fall for the WB's short-lived "Tarzan." The drama also slipped from "Charmed's" lead-in in adults 18-34 and other young demos.
The bright spot for "Bobby," however, was that it grew noticeably from its lead-in in two bellwether demos for the WB: female teens ("Bobby's" 5.5 rating/18 share vs. "Charmed's" 4.4/15) and teens ("Bobby's" 3.3/11 vs. "Charmed's" 2.9/10). According to the WB, "Bobby" hit record numbers for the network for a Sunday fall series premiere in women 12-34 (3.3) and women 18-34 (2.6).
It was a lackluster Sunday overall for the Big Four networks. Fox was poised to win the night in adults 18-49 on the back of a football overrun that spilled over into roughly the first 45 minutes of primetime. (Final national primetime ratings for Sunday won't be available until today.
ABC didn't do much business with its "Pepsi Play for a Billion" sweepstakes special, which drew 6 million viewers and a 2.0 rating/6 share in adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. against CBS' "Cold Case" rerun (10.4 million, 2.7/7) and the first hour of NBC's 2000 theatrical "The Perfect Storm."
CBS won the night in viewers (10 million) with help from a solid turnout from 9-11 p.m. for a repeat of the Hallmark Hall of Fame telefilm "John Grisham's A Painted House" (10.2 million, 2.3/6).
NBC's "Perfect Storm" posted the highest adults 18-49 score of the night (outside of Fox's football overrun), peaking in the 10 p.m. hour with 8.5 million viewers and a 3.5/9 in adults 18-49.
"Jack & Bobby," a coming-of-age drama about the boyhood of a future president, has earned some of the strongest critical appraisals of any new fall series, but it averaged only 4.7 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
"Jack & Bobby" was down in viewers from its lead-in, the season premiere of "Charmed" (5.3 million), and it came in under the opening-night numbers in the same time slot last fall for the WB's short-lived "Tarzan." The drama also slipped from "Charmed's" lead-in in adults 18-34 and other young demos.
The bright spot for "Bobby," however, was that it grew noticeably from its lead-in in two bellwether demos for the WB: female teens ("Bobby's" 5.5 rating/18 share vs. "Charmed's" 4.4/15) and teens ("Bobby's" 3.3/11 vs. "Charmed's" 2.9/10). According to the WB, "Bobby" hit record numbers for the network for a Sunday fall series premiere in women 12-34 (3.3) and women 18-34 (2.6).
It was a lackluster Sunday overall for the Big Four networks. Fox was poised to win the night in adults 18-49 on the back of a football overrun that spilled over into roughly the first 45 minutes of primetime. (Final national primetime ratings for Sunday won't be available until today.
ABC didn't do much business with its "Pepsi Play for a Billion" sweepstakes special, which drew 6 million viewers and a 2.0 rating/6 share in adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. against CBS' "Cold Case" rerun (10.4 million, 2.7/7) and the first hour of NBC's 2000 theatrical "The Perfect Storm."
CBS won the night in viewers (10 million) with help from a solid turnout from 9-11 p.m. for a repeat of the Hallmark Hall of Fame telefilm "John Grisham's A Painted House" (10.2 million, 2.3/6).
NBC's "Perfect Storm" posted the highest adults 18-49 score of the night (outside of Fox's football overrun), peaking in the 10 p.m. hour with 8.5 million viewers and a 3.5/9 in adults 18-49.
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