TOS Nielsen Ratings Season 2 & 3

[mswood]

Ryan just did a posting specific for TOS for all three seasons. I don't know if we are allowed to post links to other sites. But a google search of Ryan Ratings will bring it up. Not only does he provide the HH # and HH Rating for all the episodes (with one exceptions) he also links to a Star Trek Fact Check article (I knew I had read something about this issue) about the ratings information and interpretation of Marc Cushman's Books.

Now Ryan does have the full Nielsen released Pocketpiece that provided breakdown of network programming "primetime, daytime, morning, and evenings", But so far he has only released the copies of pocketpieces (Trek wise) for the first season, but this is a continuing project of his (again thanks, Ryan), so they will be posted in the future.

But in the meantime, Here is the information that he has released (Mods if you wish to merge these threads, feel free).

Season Two
09/15/67 - Amok Time
HH# 7.17 million
HH Rating 12.8 / 22.6 Share

09/22/67 - Who Mourns for Adonais
HH# 8.18 million
HH Rating 14.6 / 25.5

09/29/67 - The Changeling
HH# 8.46 million
HH Rating 15.1 / 25.9 Share

10/06/67 - Mirror, Mirror
HH# 7.62 million
HH Rating 13.6 / 23.6 Share

10/13/67 - The Apple
HH# 7.90 million
HH Rating 14.1 / Not Legible

10/20/67 - The Doomsday Machine
HH# 7.73 million
HH Rating 13.8 / 25.1 Share

10/27/67 - Catspaw
HH# 8.85 million
HH Rating 15.8 / 27.6 Share

11/03/67 - I, Mudd
HH# 8.23 million
HH Rating 14.7 / 25.0 Share

11/10/67 - Metamorphosis
HH# 7.11 million
HH Rating 12,7 / 21.4 Share

11/17/67 - Journey to Babel
HH# 7.28 million
HH Rating 13.0 / 23.3 Share

12/01/67 - Friday's Child
HH# 8.74 million
HH Rating 15.6 / 26.6 Share

12/08/67 - Journey to Babel
HH# 9.91 million
HH Rating 17.7 / 24.6 Share

12/15/67 - Obsession
HH# 9.18 million
HH Rating 16.4 / 28.0 Share

12/22/67 - Wolf in the Fold
* No Data

12/29/67 - The Trouble with Tribbles
HH# 8.85 million
HH Rating 15.6 / 26.4 Share (This was extremely difficult to see 26.4 is my best guess)

01/05/68 - The Gamesters of Triskelion
HH# 10.92
HH Rating 19.5 / 29.9 Share

01/12/68 - A Piece of the Action
HH# 9.97 million
HH Rating 17.8 / 26.6 Share

01/19/68 - The Immunity Syndrome
HH# 9.46 million
HH Rating 16.9 / 26.1 Share

02/02/68 - A Private Little War
HH# 9.52 million
HH Rating 17.0 / 27.3 Share

02/09/68 - Return to Tomorrow
HH# 10.14 million
HH Rating 18.1 / 28.1 Share

02/16/68 - Patterns of Force
HH# 8.34 million
HH Rating 14.9 / 24.3 Share

02/23/68 - By Any Other Name
HH# 8.79
HH Rating 15.7 / 25.2 Share

03/01/68 - The Omega Glory
HH# 8.79
HH Rating 15.7 / 25.7 Share

03/08/68 - The Ultimate Computer
HH# 8.74 million
HH Rating 15.6 / 26.4 Share

03/15/68 - Bread and Circuses
HH# 12.10 million
HH Rating 21.6 / 37.2 Share

03/29/68 - Assignment Earth
HH # 8.79 million
HH Rating 15.7 / 26.1 Share

Season 2 Average
HH# 8.83 million
HH Rating 15.8
Share 26.2

Nielsen doesn't release Pocketpiece breakdown for 4 weeks each year. They instead release what is called a Nielsen Fast Weekly Household report. It has far, far less data provided on it. Ryan has managed to also get many of these, but there are some years where he has not been able to locate copies. It is very possible that the episode Wolf in the Fold fell on one of these four weeks. Once Ryan does release the full reports for each of these years I will had the share data to these posts.

 

[mswood]

Season 3
09/20/68 - Spock's Brain (seriously I still can't believe they opened up the season with this one...
HH# 9.18 million
HH Rating 16.1 / 32 Share (Nielsen Reports only listed Shares this season with no decimal points, which becomes the standard used to this day)

09/27/68 - Enterprise Incident
HH# 6.67 million
HH Rating 11.7 / 22 Share

10/04/68 - The Paradise Syndrome
HH# 7.58 million
HH Rating 13.3 / 24 Share

10/11/68 - And the Children Shall Lead
HH# 7.98 million
HH rating 14.0 / 26 Share

10/18/68 - Is There In Truth No Beauty?
HH# 7.35 million
HH Rating 12.9 / 23 Share

10/25/68 - Spectre of the Gun
HH# 7.70 million
HH Rating 13.5 / 25 Share

11/01/68 - Day of the Dove
HH# 7.98 million
HH rating 14.0 / 28 Share

11/08/68 - For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
HH# 7.52 million
HH Rating 13.2 / 25 Share

11/15/68 - The Tholian Web
HH# 7.64 million
HH Rating 13.4 / 23 Share

11/22/68 - Plato's Stepchildren
HH# 7.41 million
HH Rating 13.0 / 24 Share

11/29/68 - Wink of an Eye
HH# 8.72 million
HH Rating 15.3 / 29 Share

12/06/68 - The Empath
HH# 9.86 million
HH Rating 17.3 / 33 Share

12/20/68 - Elaan of Troyius
HH# 7.81 million
HH Rating 13.7 / 27 Share

01/03/69 - Whom Gods Destroy
HH# 6.84 million
HH Rating 12.0 / 20 Share

01/10/69 - Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
HH# 7.92 million
HH Rating 13.9 / 23 Share

01/17/69 - The Mark of Gideon
HH# 6.78 million
HH Rating 11.9 22 Share

01/24/69 - That Which Survives
HH# 7.81 million
HH Rating 13.7 23 Share

01/31/69 - The Lights of Zetar
HH# 8.09 million
HH Rating 14.2 / 27 Share

02/14/69 - Requiem for Methuselah
HH# 6.95 million
HH Rating 12.2 / 22 Share

02/21/69 - The Way to Eden
HH# 7.07 million
HH Rating 12.4 / 22 Share

02/28/69 - The Cloud Minders
HH# 7.58 million
HH Rating 13.3 / 24 Share

03/07/69 - The Savage Curtain
HH# 6.73 million
HH Rating 11.8 / 22 Share

03/14/69 - All Our Yesterdays
HH# 7.41 million
HH Rating 13.0 / 24 Share

06/03/69 - Turnabout Intruder
HH 5.02 million
HH Rating 8.8 / 19 Share

Season Three Average
HH# 7.57
HH Rating 13.3
Share 24.5

 

[mswood]

I also had to correct the HH Rating for the first episode of season 1. It is now the correct #.

I had also mentioned that Ryan was going to release these to the 2000's. Of which I was very much looking forward to the Pocketpieces at least from the late 70's do include gender and age demos. But rereading Ryan's plan he only plans to go through the 1990-91 year (he is trying to get from the 50's up through that date as rating for these periods of time are extremely hard to come by, and has been working for years on it).

And these reports to date that he has released do not include national syndicated programming. So TNG (and DS9) will not be something that these reports carry.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm shocked that "Amok Time" got lower ratings than the episodes that came after it.

"Bread and Circuses" had a HUGE ratings spike. I wonder what happened that week?

Season 3's drop in ratings, compared to Season 2, is there... but it looks like how much they've dropped has been exaggerated by pop culture and fandom in general.

 

[mswood]

Well in fairness Trek was even in Season three more expensive than many shows. So the threshold you need to remain afloat is higher than lower cost programming.

Since Ryan hasn't released those full reports I have no idea what aired at the same time. But I would assume some other programming that night on NBC helped lift up the episode Bread and Circuses.

 

[Ssosmcin]

It looks like the reaction to Spock's Brain scared off some viewers. I wonder how much of a difference it would have made, at least at the start, if Spectre of the Gun led the season. People loved westerns and Spock still saved the day. In fact, he was much more heavily involved in Gun than Brain. But Spock's Brain had his name in the title... And who knows? Maybe NBC thought it was good. It's not like science fiction TV was considered highbrow entertainment at the time.

 

[drt]

I'm shocked that "Amok Time" got lower ratings than the episodes that came after it.

"Bread and Circuses" had a HUGE ratings spike. I wonder what happened that week?

For “Amok”, it might have been a two-fold hit where folks maybe missed the start of a new season, plus still doing some end-of-summer/early fall outdoor activities.

It’s an interesting trivia point that “Bread” ends up being the highest rated episode of TOS’s original airing — I don’t think most would guess that…

 

[Ssosmcin]

For “Amok”, it might have been a two-fold hit where folks maybe missed the start of a new season, plus still doing some end-of-summer/early fall outdoor activities.

It’s an interesting trivia point that “Bread” ends up being the highest rated episode of TOS’s original airing — I don’t think most would guess that…

Especially so late in the season. Usually by then viewers were at a lower point. In those days, Networks would cast off what they would consider weaker episodes, banishing them to the end of the season. NBC held this one back for months. Yet it landed with the audience.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I'm shocked that "Amok Time" got lower ratings than the episodes that came after it.

"Bread and Circuses" had a HUGE ratings spike. I wonder what happened that week?

Season 3's drop in ratings, compared to Season 2, is there... but it looks like how much they've dropped has been exaggerated by pop culture and fandom in general.

Looking at the date... huh, not sure what wa going on at the time.

I also wonder if Nielsen ratings weren't as accurate as people were lead to believe. And maybe that week's recorded diaries happened to have a larger amount of Star Trek fans.

One other possibility might be that Roman stuff was popular around that time, right? So maybe some other viewers were interested?


Also in terms of millions of viewers.... how does it compare to numbers of modern audiences?

 

[Lord Garth]

One other possibility might be that Roman stuff was popular around that time, right? So maybe some other viewers were interested?

I wouldn't know. It might be a possibility, but... I'm leaning towards NBC probably aired some type of Event Program in the timeslot either immediately before or immediately after "Bread and Circuses". I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it's the guess I'm starting from.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah there has to be some unknown factors out there. The Empath spikes up to HH# 9.86 million & HH Rating 17.3 in a season full of 12 and 13 ratings.

I don't recall, what sort of commercials ran in those days for TV shows? Did NBC place ads for that week's Star Trek episode during other programs? So someone watching Bonanza might see an ad and say, "I'm gonna check that out,"

 

[James Cole]

I wouldn't know. It might be a possibility, but... I'm leaning towards NBC probably aired some type of Event Program in the timeslot either immediately before or immediately after "Bread and Circuses". I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it's the guess I'm starting from.

Marc Cushman attributes it to CBS pre-empting GOMER PYLE at the last minute for a special report on the gold price crisis (I guess foreshadowing Nixon breaking with the gold standard?) and ABC airing a navel-gazing documentary on London theater actors.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Marc Cushman attributes it to CBS pre-empting GOMER PYLE at the last minute for a special report on the gold price crisis (I guess foreshadowing Nixon breaking with the gold standard?) and ABC airing a navel-gazing documentary on London theater actors.

And considering the very limited channel options at the time....that makes a lot of sense.

Just curious...what's the avergae number of viewers for something like Strange New Worlds or Discovery?

 

[Lord Garth]

Marc Cushman attributes it to CBS pre-empting GOMER PYLE at the last minute for a special report on the gold price crisis (I guess foreshadowing Nixon breaking with the gold standard?) and ABC airing a navel-gazing documentary on London theater actors.

Looks like I was half-way there. Special Events, just on different channels!

 

[Nilz Baris]

Once Ryan does release the full reports for each of these years I will had the share data to these posts.

Were you ever able to obtain the "audience share" figures for seasons 2 and 3? It looks like the Ratings Ryan website has disappeared.

 

[mswood]

Were you ever able to obtain the "audience share" figures for seasons 2 and 3? It looks like the Ratings Ryan website has disappeared.

Sorry I never saw the post.

But yes I have the shares for two and three just haven't taking the time to post them. So I will do that this week.

And Shares have been added.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Looking at the date... huh, not sure what wa going on at the time.

I also wonder if Nielsen ratings weren't as accurate as people were lead to believe. And maybe that week's recorded diaries happened to have a larger amount of Star Trek fans.

One other possibility might be that Roman stuff was popular around that time, right? So maybe some other viewers were interested?


Also in terms of millions of viewers.... how does it compare to numbers of modern audiences?

If it were a show today getting those season 3 numbers for its first season it would be a ratings hit. For any season today it would be.

 

[mswood]

Marc Cushman attributes it to CBS pre-empting GOMER PYLE at the last minute for a special report on the gold price crisis (I guess foreshadowing Nixon breaking with the gold standard?) and ABC airing a navel-gazing documentary on London theater actors.

The preemption of Gomer Pyle got very nearly the same ratings as Gomer Pyle normally got so it probably wasn't that. But the ABC Special "The Actor" did terrible. A loss of over 9.3 million HH from the previous weeks normal programming. It's one of the lowest numbers I have seen during regular season during this period. So I thank its safe to say that Trek benefited from the audience wanting nothing to do with that show.

 

[mswood]

If it were a show today getting those season 3 numbers for its first season it would be a ratings hit. For any season today it would be.

These are not Total Viewers numbers for this period. It's all House Hold Numbers.

The first # is the Number of House Holds. That data subset is not really released anymore (pretty much once P2 (Persons 2 and older, or what we call Total Viewers started to get released).

So you would need to use the 2nd number which is the House Hold Rating (since we don't have another comparison number to use). The average for Season 3 was 13.3.

So just to give you an idea how huge that would be today, There is no scripted or reality program on broadcast that could get that number today. Scripted today would range typically from 1.2 to 3.5. The biggest show so far this season would be Sunday Night Football its highest HH rating for this season so far has been 11.71. Meaning that lowest rated season 3 episode would be higher rated than any weekly program this TV season to date. And of course thats due to the massive amount of options not only of what to watch but how you watch a program.

But even when you only had 4 networks, and a little bit of cable competition, these numbers would be great.

In fact that average would be solid to stellar for any other time that Trek was on the air 1987 to current). TNG only had 13 episodes with a higher HH Rating. DS9 only had 2 episodes with a higher HH rating, Voyager had 1 episode with a higher HH rating. And thats its for any Trek after the original series.

 

[Ssosmcin]

The preemption of Gomer Pyle got very nearly the same ratings as Gomer Pyle normally got so it probably wasn't that. But the ABC Special "The Actor" did terrible. A loss of over 9.3 million HH from the previous weeks normal programming. It's one of the lowest numbers I have seen during regular season during this period. So I thank its safe to say that Trek benefited from the audience wanting nothing to do with that show.

Wanna see what everyone else ignored? I love the internet.

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