RATINGS: Chuck Rebounds!

The overnight ratings for “Chuck vs. the American Hero” are in and they are positive! After a disappointing couple of weeks, TV By The Numbers reports that 5.59 5.68 million viewers tuned in and last night’s episode bounced up to a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo. Welcome back, show!

Updated 5:00 CDT: The final viewer numbers for last night were enough of a bump that they had to be noted.

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39 comments

  1. Hooray!! Good to see the ratings jump. The Olympics didn’t help.

  2. Best Chuck Ever. WOW.

  3. Assuming Chuck gets a fourth season, NBC seriously needs to reevaluate its timeslot. This show is great and I would’t miss it for anything, but I think most people are perfectly happy recording it and watching one of the other shows in its current timeslot. You just can’t expect the show to better than it is against shows that pull in 22 million viewers(Dancing with the Stars). I have a feeling at least a couple million of those people are recording Chuck and watching DWTS, but that doesn’t help us because all NBC cares about are live viewers who are stuck watching commercials. This show needs to be put on either Wednesday or Thursday. In a timeslot with less major competition, I think NBC would see a major ratings boost among people watching live instead of recording as well as people discovering it for the first time because there is nothing else to draw them away.

    • I very much agree with the time slot arguement. Being in the early prime time slot is tough for live viewers no matter what night it’s on. I would expect that most viewers are younger like me and depend on DVR/Online watching to fit their schedule. The demographic that is more inclined for live viewing are probably getting dinner ready and dealing with young children after a long day at work, they probably don’t get a chance to sit down in front of the television till after chuck has already started. Bumping chuck back an hour would tremendously help with the live ratings. Chuck is the perfect show for the 18-49 demo but with the way television watching is evolving it’s not as easy to tell through traditional ratings. I hope NBC can see this and bring Chuck back for a fourth season.

      • I really couldn’t agree more! Most of my friends (I’m a 31 year old graduate student) watch Chuck, but we almost all DVR it or watch it online. I’m about the only one that watches it live and of course none of us are Nielsen viewers. The whole audience that the show seems geared towards – well-educated 20 and 30 somethings – are the most likely to NOT be Nielsen families because they bounce between various schools and cities in pursuit of degrees and jobs, and also the most likely to watch their TV online when it fits their schedules.

        We need to move away from the antiquated Nielsen system – you can’t tell me that there isn’t another, more accurate way of doing it these days! Online viewing should also be taken into account if it’s going to be available as there’s really no need to even own a TV anymore for many in our generation of laptops and broadband internet.

        I’m all for moving Chuck to Tuesday or Wednesday… I think it would do so much better!!!

      • I absolutly agree. It really is about time that programme makers realised that we have moved to the 21st century. I think Chuck suffers more than most as the majority of its viewers will be internet and electronically savvy so are more likely to view online or DVR the show. They are a generation that want to choose when to watch a show not be told to sit down at a specific day and time. I know it’s all about the advertising revenue but networks need to figure out a different way to raise money. It’s not fair to ignore a large portion of the audience just because they choose when to be entertained. I believe that when the number of people who DVR are added to the live viewers Chuck ratings can jump .6. I’ve no idea what this means as I’m from the UK. But I do have an investment in the show because I’m now addicted to Chuck and want Virgin to buy more seasons.

      • I worry about those days because of the American Idol juggernaut. We think we have it bad with DWTS, imagine that. I was wondering about the 10 PM Thursday slot. The humor in the show might go well with the other Thursday night comedies.

      • Yeah I thought about Thursday as well but I think it would be a difficult move considering the local affiliates, especially after the Leno fiasco. They want something that will lead viewers into the news and Chuck is not a show that attracts an audience who watches local news. It again comes down to wanting the young demo but not understanding how to make money off of us anymore. I personally would be okay with them only allowing us to watch episodes on NBC.com with a full slate of commercials to go along with it. I just want to continue watching, especially after last night’s episode. If that means I have to send NBC a check myself for a “Chuck Fund” of some sort, then so be it. Ha, if enough people sent in money maybe we could pay for it ourselves J/K.

      • I was talking about the 10:00 p.m. slot by the way, sorry.

  4. AWESOME!

    That was the BEST episode all season!

  5. I’m so happy that the ratings went up and i think with next week’s episode it would go up even more. ok. maybe it’s just me but i really hope that will happen

    • I think it could certainly happen.

      Great news. Hopefully, thinks are looking up.

      Thanks for being on the ball with these ratings, guys.

  6. Heres a question… Some of us are not on set top boxes or diaries for nielson ratings. Would it be better to show support for the show by watching it on either hulu or nbc.com? This way when NBC looks at the website numbers it will count the hits regardless of where your located.

    I realize that it wont add much weight being that tv is the dominant money maker, but a spike in the numbers online may move them to better promote theseshows on tv better in effort to pull the online viewership. As I see it a little influence by viewership online is better then no influence by watching on a un-metered TV?

    thoughts?

    • Yeah – that’s a good question. I usually watch the show live and then again on my DVR during the week. I could start rewatching it online instead.

      It could help.

  7. 2.1 is a notable improvement, but it’s not a “safe” number yet. Hopefully last night’s strong episode + cliffhanger will bring more people back next week.

    I’d still be interested in seeing year-to-year ratings comparisons for CityTV, given they’re showing it in a different timeslot this year. Though you’d have to account for people north of the border watching it on NBC this year (that is not reflected in the US ratings), since last year City had channel subbing going in it’s favour.

    • One notable difference with CityTV is that if you check their scheduling Chuck is on at 10pm. I think by that time on Monday night alot of people are winding down and going to bed, you end up forcing all the people that get up early to go to work to either record it or watch it online.

  8. I loved all the elements of this episode. I’m happy to hear that the ratings were up from the last 2 weeks. With the cliffhanger (and hopefully lots of promos on NBC throughout the week) the ratings will jump higher. We can certainly hope for that!

    I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Our family was asked to participate in the Nielsen ratings only once in my life, about 4 or 5 years ago. I wasn’t given a ‘meter box’, but received some papers in the mail, with follow-up phone calls throughout the week to see if I was filling out the forms and if I had any questions–then one final call at the end of the rating period to make sure I mailed it back in. Do they still even do it that way now in addition to the meters, and how would that figure in to the ratings since the ratings for shows are posted immediately the next day after viewing? Just curious….Thanks.

    • From what I understand some Nielsen families do still use the diary method of tracking viewing. The overnight ratings, which is what everyone quotes only counts those families with set-top boxes and thus doesn’t accurately reflect true viewership because it doesn’t account for those families that still use the diary method. A more accurate count is released later in the week which reflects both.

    • I work at a local CBS affiliate in a lower 100’s market station. We still use diaries. They are usually sent out to smaller markets and are not counted immediatly. What we get the day after the show is what is called fast overnights, and is taken from people with the set top box or “meters” which are normally used in your higher population areas. That is kind of like a preliminary result, but it is still used because it typically maintains the trend of the other markets. When it comes to renewal all the ratings both diaries and meters are usually considered.

    • Thanks guys, for the Nielsen info 🙂

  9. Freakin awsome what a show last night!!!! chuck never disappoints me and the actors are amazing thank you to them as well

  10. Yes!!! A rating of 2.1 may still not be what a lot of us would like to see, but it’s a step in the right direction! Let’s keep this up, people; we need to encourage everyone we know to watch the show live on the air next week, and also to vote in the Save Our Show poll on Kristin Dos Santos’ webpage.

    LONG LIVE TEAM BARTOWSKI!!! 😀

  11. happy the rating is better but both house and himym were old episodes so lets hope we stay at this rating or we get better

    • Staying at this rating, whether against repeats or new shows, is not going to get Chuck renewed for season 4.

      It really needs to get to 2.4 or better before NBC makes it final decision on renew/cancel.

  12. Good to see an upturn in the ratings & hopefully that trend will continue with the season finale next week. The ratings do have to improve as at the moment I don’t believe they’re good enough to earn a 4th season even with all of NBC’s troubles. I hope a lot of the fans that have turned off after some much talked about mis-steps will return as I think that the show will get better now that the Sarah/Chuck thing has been resolved.

    I agree with a lot of commentators that it was one the better episodes this season. It was great to see pretty much all the main cast present as the show is so much more fun with all its elements in play.

    Here’s hoping next Monday’s show is a fitting finale to season 3.0.

    • Keep in mind, next week is the original intened season finale. The network ordered six more episodes, making the actual season finale episode 19. The shows producers have described episodes 14 through 19 as a mini-season unto themselves.

  13. At least it’s not below 2.0. I’m glad to see a little jump but still a bit shaken after the previous weeks ratings.

  14. Excellent news, it was such a great episode, that I hope these viewers spread by word of mouth that the Chuck we all loved is back.

  15. Good news of a sort, at least the ratings went upwards. Hopefully that upward
    trend continues. The 13 episode arc ends with its finale next week which looks
    good. The Shaw character will hopefully be gone by then as the show goes into
    a 2 week hiatus before the start of the 2nd 6 episode arc. If the original
    cast is reunited as much as possible and show’s charm restored, it might be
    possible to recapture much of the original lost fan base & restablish a solid
    ratings position before NBC makes up its mind about renewal.

    I agree with the idea the show needs to be moved where it would have a decent
    chance to survive. It can’t possibly survive in its current time slot. NBC
    needs to move it during the 2 week hiatus and promote the new time and mini
    season heavily with a emphasis on new story lines and the original cast
    as much as possible. If the show is renewed, it needs to come back in the
    fall in a good time slot, not as a mid season replacement.

    The next 7 or 8 weeks will be critical to the show’s survival. The best chance
    for renewal is to recapture the original base and have more people watch the
    show as much as possible during actual air times and buy Subway sandwiches
    on Monday nights to increase sponsor sales to encourage Subway to renew
    sponsorship for next year. This will better the chance for renewal on the
    business side of the network.

    We can now only wait and see….

  16. That was a great episode. Very much the Chuck style we’ve ever loved!

  17. i were gonna get more viewers next week. Next week’s episode is gonan reflect last nights and since people loved last nights there gonna tune in next week. Theres no house or how i met your mother.

    • really? no new house or how i met your mother… in that case i think it might go up even more.. 😛 i;ve noticed it seem to do better with reruns of house and how i met your mother. but you know that sunday time slot doesn’t seem too bad either…..

  18. I loved last nights episode It brang back the sarah that we all loved before shaw the one where she always wanted to help chuck along with his spy career but also wanted to keep his morals intact so that she still had that main reason to love him. And ill give the writers credit they did flirt with that line that almost made chuck seem desperate to the point where we didnt respect him, but having him admit his fault of asking her again made it seem like no matter what he wouldnt let her go. episode 13 will be great along with the rest of the season as long as sarah doesnt pull back on her feeling which she showed casey along with us that chuck is the man she wants to run away with, shes done the hide your true feelings one too many times and with what they all have on the line you cant cover anything up.

  19. YAY! All POSITIVE COMMENTS!! That is the most i mean BEST! episode so far. and after watching it. I felt relieve and wants more!! 😀

  20. It was a good episode that left us with a cliff hanger,which lets face it leaves none of us the option of not watching next weeks episode, but my goodness sarah’s like-ability factor to me has never gone so low as it has through most of this episode

  21. Thought some of you might like reading this Media Life article dated today 3/31/10. There is some positive info referencing ‘CHUCK’ (in regards to being a bubble show). I’m hoping this is good news for us fans:

    http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Television_44/Buyers_NBC_s_tops_in_bubble_shows.asp

    • Only one trouble with that. Chuck isn’t competing with Numb3rs for renewal. What happens to Numb3rs has no effect on Chuck.

      Chuck is competing with other low performing NBC shows. Unfortunately, Chuck is produced by WB. If it were produced in house, it’s chances of renewal would be better.