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Ratings: Katie Holmes on 'Eli Stone' has mixed results for ABC

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Entertainment Weekly
10/22/08
By Aubry D'Arminio

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Katie Holmes' return to TV couldn’t save ABC’s Eli Stone from the expected decline in ratings after last week’s premiere, but it did cushion the blow. While most shows lose about 15 to 20 percent of viewers between their first and second episodes, Eli was down only 3 percent (8.5 million people tuned in to watch Holmes warble Duke Ellington yesterday versus last week’s 8.8 million). That said, things weren’t all good for the Eli: Of the 9.7 million viewers that put it on at the beginning of the hour, 2 million changed the channel (or just shut it off) by the end. Eli also held on to only 47 percent of the viewers from its lead-in, ABC’s Dancing With the Stars results show.

Dancing, on the other hand, faired much better. Its 8 p.m. recap episode bested last week’s Opportunity Knocks (which aired on ABC in the same time slot) by 4 million viewers to total out at 9.3 million. Then, after losing the 9 p.m. slot last week to CBS’ freshman wonder, The Mentalist, Dancing’s results show climbed back on top yesterday with 16 million viewers (an 11 percent gain from the previous episode’s 14.4 million).

Nevertheless, CBS once again stole Tuesday night. NCIS nabbed 17.1 million viewers (down slightly from last week’s 17.9 million), making it the evening’s top-rated series. The Mentalist showed steady gains at 15.3 million (compared to last week’s 14.9 million), and Without a Trace also improved, averaging 11.6 million viewers (up from 11 million). Overall, the Eye ended the evening in the No. 1 spot with an average 14.6 million viewers.

Over at Fox, House (12.9 million) added a few watchers to last week’s 12.8 million, while Fringe showed a slight decline (snagging 9.1 million viewers versus the previous episode’s 9.5 million). At NBC, 8 p.m.’s The Biggest Loser: Families (7.3 mllion) and 10 p.m.’s Law and Order: SVU (9.4 million) garnered nearly the same viewership numbers as last week. Finally, The CW’s 9 p.m. Privileged (1.5 million) showed expected gains over last week’s rerun (1.2 million), while declining 35 percent from its previous new episode (2.3 million). Also on The CW, 8 p.m.’s 90210 rerun (1.3 million) scored nearly 30 percent below the previous week’s repeat (1.8 million). Thankfully, new episodes begin again next week.

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