"Desperate Housewives" Loses 17% Of Its Audience From Season Premiere

New York Times:

Season five of "Desperate Housewives" continued to see its ratings slide on Sunday, but the ABC drama remained the night's top rated program with 15.5 million viewers at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen's estimates.

One week ago, the show's premiere earned a much larger audience of 18.7 million. Although easily the night's most watched show, that tally fell a half million shy of last year's fourth season premiere, making it the series' lowest rated season debut.

ABC still eked out a ratings victory Sunday among adults 18 to 49 although the network trailed CBS in total viewers overall. CBS benefited from an overrun of afternoon football coverage into the 7 p.m. hour, which meant the network had more than 20 million viewers tuned in at the start of prime time. CBS's schedule was pushed back by roughly a half hour to accommodate with "60 Minutes" delivering 16.3 million viewers at 7:30 p.m. followed by "The Amazing Race" at 8:30 p.m. (10.8 million), "Cold Case" at 9:30 p.m. (11 million), and "The Unit" at 10:30 p.m. (9.2 million).

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Bulbul]

Since none can act, bad choice to put Eva in drab to hide her beauty, what they were thinking ?.

[Eric8869]

Felicity Huffman is a great actress (did you see her Oscar nomination?) and Marcia Cross is great. Ok Terri Hatcher you got a point - but don't paint them all with the same brush.

[dansup]

never watched it, never plan to

[Eric8869]

The first Season of DH was the best because they mixed the hilarious exploits of the housewives with the black humor/creepiness of the big "mystery" surrounding the suicide of their friend.

They tried to create further mysteries that did not work or fit in. (Who is locked in the Applewhite's basement etc)

This season our creepy mystery is "What is wrong with Nicolette Sheridan's new husband?" - not too interesting at all.

Add this to the skipping head 5 years which annoys viewers and you don't have a recipe for success.

[LibRS]

Anyone mad about the mortgage mess? If so, watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj3YezuNuQo

[Eric8869]

Quit spamming

[cosmo86]

I honestly didn't even know that the new season started, until after the first week.

[rzan1]

I have never seen this show in my life. It just doesn't sound all that interesting.

[allonfla]

That's too bad because I do like this season so far. Better than the last.

[Tommygun264]

I much prefer the BBC where every show is contracted by a single season at a time. It can be frustrating for Americans who are used to continuity, but it makes for much better story lines - they don't drag the story lines out from one season to the next because they aren't certain there will be a next season until the one they are working on has wrapped up. Think how much better DH would have been if it ended after one or two seasons. Just think how good Twin Peaks would have been if they had just walked away after they revealed who killed Laura Palmer.

[Eric8869]

I agree - we run TV shows into the ground.

Just look at PRISON BREAK - a very exciting first season - a story that truly needs needs an ending (a Prison break, clearing your brothers name) and it got so drawn out it became uninteresting and even more ludicrous. I was a huge fan to ZERO INTEREST.

or take shows like MURPHY BROWN or FRAZIER - they were very funny shows with great casts but the went on so long past their expiration date that they wore out their welcome and strained their popularity.

DEXTER is in Jeapardy of outliving it's uniqueness as well. It shouldn't last much longer.

I agree that the british television series are more daring and shorter. (its why we copy so many of them)

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_borrowers_16_plus_american/1

The EXCEPTION to the rule - DR.WHO - I hope it goes on forever.

[LiberalBuzz]

Actually I don't think the writing is that good this season plus there does seem to be the same tension between all those divas.

[TN]

One thing I found was, when it first came out, you'd see a current show one week, then it wouldn't be on the next week, then a rerun the next week. You couldn't get into a routine, like, Oh it's Sunday, DH is on. Too many times you would tune in to be disappointed. It was great though, but I don't care for the five years later version. I miss Carlos and Gabby, how mean they were to eachother.

[kayatarms]

I was an for real AVID fan, Hub too. I don't like this new outfit. I tried hard to watch it again to see perhaps I missed that excitement prematurely. Bad again, the idea to fast forward was awful. It just does not jive, what we loved about the characters is GONE. Gaby as the siren, the new Bree ,,this one nooooo, Felicity's teenage sons,,,terrible, the young kids made her hilarious! And Teri and her daughter made it funny relationship topsy turvy. Edie, not the same. It is terrible now, and what worked really did work. This was not like the Presidential election...in this instance we didn't need Change! I am hoping someone wakes up and this was a TERRIBLE dream, or hope it becomes a idea SOON!

[Marmann]

Aha! So it IS a "fast forward." I, too, was an avid fan (or thought I was), but I was completely confused when I watched Sunday. Who is this guy Edie married? What's up with Bree? When did Gaby get so drab?

I kept thinking throughout that maybe this was a "dream" kind of thing but nobody woke up at the end. Nobody, that is, except ME. I don't like this "fast forward" stuff.

[barelyhere]

Eveyrone is too busy watching the "Palin's desperate housewife show" to watch your show. Palin's show is much better: She has young children crawling everywhere, a teen that is knocked out and an old, ugly, angry, rich man after her, but also is about to become POTUS. Gaby, you cannot beat that!

[TN]

Ain't gonna happen.

[themodernleader]

There is a radical, emerging shift from reckless individualism to unified endeavor. The Reagan era individualism bred selfishness, self-centeredness, greed and avarice. The Obama era unity of purpose comes forth as a survival mechanism. Americans have shockeningly realized that we must begin to reach consensus, pull together and work together if we are to survive the wantonness and ostentatious living beyond our means of the past quarter century. Therefore, they will entertain such programming that clarifies and reenforces this new paradigm in American thought and action.

[Adrienne Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

I just think it's due to the elections. I'm just too focused on politics more, then my shows. I can also watch them online at any time. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Gale Harold. I don't watch this show, but for Gale I will! :-)

[allonfla]

SO TRUE! For the first time since I was 13 or 14, I have not been watching my soaps. I catch a glimpse here and there or sometimes I just read the spoilers. Right now all the show are watch are 90% politics. KO, Maddow, Daily Show, Colbert - in that order during the weekdays. Weekends are slow for politics so that is when I watch network tv or sill stuff like The Hills.

[JJ30]

I thought I was alone watching nothing but political shows! LOL! My husband says I need a life!

[kstuff]

People are having a hard time relating to the housewives. Worries about whether to sleep with the plumber or the gardner seem so trivial and shallow now. Personally, I would rather watch a show, set in the 1930's, featuring a family trying to make it in the midst of the Depression. Now that would be interesting, I need to know what they had for dinner on a regular basis...

[helen]

Perhaps "The Waltons" ???