Monday overnight ratings are in. FNL does worse than Studio 60

NBC's experiment of airing Friday Night Lights in the 10pm Monday
timeslot, in place of Studio 60, proved to be a failure. The first run

episode of FNL garnered a 5.7/10 rating. The numbers were a marked
dropoff from those of its 9pm lead-in, Heroes, whose 9.7/14 bested all
competitors in the 9pm timeslot. More notably, however, was the fact
that last week's Studio 60 ratings in the 10pm Monday slot (6.3/10)
were better than those of FNL -- and Studio 60 was up against first run

episodes of CSI: Miami and What About Brian. Only WAB was new last
night, CSI: M was a repeat.

I have no ill will toward Friday Night Lights but last night's ratings
prove to me the show just doesn't have a large enough audience to
justify remaining on NBC's schedule. It was a slap in the face to
Studio 60 viewers to replace the show with one that was doing terrible
in its own 8pm Tuesday timeslot and now has proven to have also done
poorly in Studio 60's 10pm Monday perch. I'd love to see NBC show
Studio 60 tonight, in place of FNL -- even as a repeat. Its viewers
deserve at least that much. But, knowing NBC, it'll probably announce
in the next couple of days that both shows will be pulled for November
sweeps.

William George Ferguson...

Digging a little deeper into the numbers, FNL was lower in Household
ratings than last week's Studio 60, but was higher in both total viewers
and 18-49 than lasts week's Studio 60. So, less households were watching,
but more people, and more 18 to 49 year olds, were watching. Its
retention, in HH, viewers, and 18-49 was lower than last week, but then,
Heroes had over 2 million more viewers than last week (it posted its series
high, so far).