Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

FOX may not be able to crown its new series Human Target a hit just yet, but it sure is heading in that direction. Its special Sunday night premiere pulled a 2.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10 million viewers. FOX had hoped to get some additional push from the NFL playoff game, but they ended up getting the early game that day. However, Human Target’s numbers improved during its second half hour suggesting that the network’s heavy promotional push worked and viewers switched over to the premiere after the late game on CBS ended. FOX then gave the premiere an encore run on Tuesday following American Idol where its rating jumped to a 3.4, though part of that came from the bleed-over at the end of Idol. Then on Wednesday, the show aired its first episode in its regular 9 PM EST timeslot, and that also scored a 3.4 rating along with 10.4 million viewers. Sure, a lot of that comes from the American Idol lead-in, but the show should continue to improve throughout the season because it has fairly wide appeal.

Heroes, on the other hand, is heading in the other direction and fast. It pulled a series low for a new episode of an abysmal 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and less than 4 million viewers. I don’t care what Angela Bromstad said previously about them wanting it back for a fifth season, I just can’t see the show sticking around with these numbers, even on fourth place NBC. Heroes’ Monday night companion, Chuck, did much better at the 8 PM EST hour with a 2.5 rating and 6.7 million viewers.

On Thursday, the CW’s two supernatural-tinged shows returned from their winter hiatuses at about where they were before the break. Vampire Diaries dropped just a bit in the ratings, pulling a 1.6. Supernatural, though, actually improved some on the first half of the season with a 1.3 rating (up from the 1.2 it was averaging) and almost 2.8 million viewers. And on FOX, Fringe managed to hold onto the gains it has seen since returning from its hiatus as it pulled a 2.6 rating and nearly 7 million viewers. Unfortunately, FOX will put that one on a second hiatus starting early February and it will not return with new episodes until April.

The Friday night shows were preempted this week by the Hope for Haiti telethon that aired across multiple networks.

Here is the full breakdown of the numbers for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that aired on the broadcast networks this past week:

Source: TV by the Numbers

Previous Results: Chuck Kung Fu’s the Ratings; Fringe Shows Life

For more on the Cancellation Alert for each show, see our Cancellation Watch column