'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy'

CSI Files

CSI Files

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The much-hyped face-off between CSI:Crime Scene Invesitgation and Grey's Anatomy resulted in defeat for the formerly #1 drama on television.

According to preliminary numbers from Nielsen, CSI was handily beat by Grey's across the board. Grey's won adults 18-49 (10.9/26 to 7.5/18) and adults 25-54 (11.7/25 to 9.3/20). Grey's also won in total viewers (25.1 million to 22.0 million).

Grey's was up 26% in adults 18-49 from its September 2005 premiere in 18-49 (8.3/2.0) and rose 10% over its May 2006 season finale (9.9/22). By contrast, CSI declined 26% from it's premiere last season (10.2/25) and 10% from it's May finale (8.3/20). Last night's numbers will likely put CSI in the number three drama of the week in 18-49.

Spin-offs CSI:Miami and CSI:New York performed much better than the franchise original this week. The new Aaron Sorkin drama Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip was expected to provide solid competition for CSI:Miami. It did not. Miami won in both 18-49 (5.8/15 to 5.0/15) and total viewers (17.62 million to 13.41 million), placing it in the top slot on Monday night.

CSI:New York similarly proved to be a winner on Wednesday night with 4.9/13 in 18-49 and 16 million total viewers.

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It was to be expected. Bummer, though.
I also don't like that Studio 60 had less viewers than Miami, but I had expected that.
 
Frankly, I think CSI had the toughest competition and that's why it was the only one that was defeated.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

The thing is is that I think Grey's had more build-up to see the premire and CSI really didn't--other than the romance but alot of people are not for that pairing. So I guess we'll have to wait and see with future epps because CSI last few minutes might be able to bring people back for next week. Everyone's talking at least--and word travels fast.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

Yeah, I don't think we can really compare NY and Miami to Vegas in terms of competition. If Vegas had fewer viewers than Grey's Anatomy, Miami and NY wouldn't have stood a chance. Sad to say, but true. NY had 16 million viewers and Miami had 17.6 million--but Vegas had 22 million. That's nothing at all to be worried about. ;)
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

Not really surprising. One had a hype and expectation going into the season whereas the other was a lot of dread and worrying.

Seriously, at the end of last season's CSI finale, not many people were saying 'OMG, what's going to happen?' as they were expecting something good to come out from it. Or either was it excitement like at the end of season 5 finale. It was more like 'OMG, I'm switching to Grey's Anatomy [insert your choice of TV show]' kind of reaction.

I bet CBS will still come out and say they're not worried but maybe they _should_ start worrying. They made a mistake and if they don't even acknowledge it, there will be no room for improvement either. Yeah, CSI's procedural show but can't they AT LEAST be consistent on how the character's portrayed?

And I'm not even going to start on how CSI's now forced to carry certain old stories like a dead weight trailing behind it.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

I don't think it's really the plot line's issue. I think it's the lack of advertising CBS did for CSI. While Grey's was getting full page spreads with the words "CHOOSE GREYS" written on them in various magazine( two weeks before the premier), CSI had the Abbey Road ad up in only the week of the premier. The TV Guide only came out the DAY OF the CSI opener.

Oh, and in Canada, no CSI billboards/ads aside from inside American owned magazines. All I see are Grey's Anatomy, Grey's Anatomy and Grey's Anatomy! There's one across from my school, in a bus stop! AH!

I mean, did the producers/execs really expect to win this way? While GA has been bombarding us with ads?
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

The thing is is that I think Grey's had more build-up to see the premire and CSI really didn't--other than the romance but alot of people are not for that pairing.
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I totally agree! A lot of people were disgusted and said that they will 'switch' to Greys because the Season 6 finale's plot was boring and that TPTB chose a pairing that a lot of viewers disapprove of. Grey's finale was so much better and had a great build-up.

I watched both shows and CSI's season opener dragged a bit in the middle and the cases didn't hold my interest, whereas Grey's storyline plus the flashbacks they did were engaging.
But the end scene of CSI was notches higher than the end scene of Greys. It was intense and I love the dark, noir-ish feel of it. Its just unfortunate that it wasn't enough to keep the viewers watching.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

I'm not at all surprised. I watched Grey's instead of CSI. This is the first time in years I've chosen another show over CSI. I'm just not impressed with it anymore. Honestly, I watched it for a little while and decided I couldn't really care less.

Grey's Anatomy is just higher quality right now. It's still fresh. CSI is scrambling to keep up. They're throwing choppy storylines together at the last minute and attempting to create shock value. Well, it didn't work for them. They had a formula that worked well for 6 years and they abandoned it to throw in some GA caliber drama. You can't beat GA at its own game.

IMO if TPTB want to get the show back on top they need to take a step back and look at their characters. Continuity and in-character behavior is a GOOD thing. Compelling cases are GOOD things.

So far the only storyline that looks halfway decent is Greg's. Why? Because it's believable. Seeing non-combative Greg deal with what he will. I can buy that.

But those are only 2 episodes out of 8 so far. We've already got spoilers for a third of the season and three-fourths of them are mediocre at best! Bottom line: CSI can't even think about competing with GA until it gets back on the right track. It already some of the people who were scandalized by the finale. If it doesn't improve it'll lose the rest of the non-GSR fans who stuck around AND fans who are just sick of the drama. Rape, Accidents, Kidnapping, and Murder all in one premiere? It just screams "trying too hard."

YMMV, but I think the show is way off from what it was.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

I disagree that "Grey's Anatomy" is a higher quality show. It's merely an evening soap opera with pretty people and a lot of sex set around a hospital. It's "ER" with spike heels and camisoles. Evidently, that's what the majority of the people are more interested in.

The CSI season opener was a bit of a let-down. The beginning was pretty flashy, but the plot was kind of slow. The ending was more Cath drama, which was very well done for Cath drama, but I personally am tired of Cath drama. Also, I'm one of the 40% who was not happy with GSR, so yes, that may have contributed to a few people not watching. I personally wouldn't abandon CSI for Greys, but I can see why more people tuned in to Greys because sex and sexy people indulging more in sex than in finding a murderer does sell.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

I'm not surprised--the pre-season buzz for Grey's was so huge and over the top that it really got the edge towards the end of the summer. Patrick Dempsey was on the cover of both TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV previews, and I've seen the endless billboards and ads, too. Grey's is the hottest show on television right now in the sense that it's the most talked about/covered at the moment. Lost and the overrated Desperate Housewives fall into that category as well, but whereas they declined slightly last season, Grey's has been building an audience.

Let's face it--CSI is in its seventh season. I watched both the CSI and Grey's premieres, and when CSI opened it was more of a "here we go again" feeling, as opposed to the Grey's opener, which came off a cliffhanger ending last season. I'm not a fan of what the writers did to Catherine--yet again sexually exploiting a female CSI character :rolleyes: --but if they'd really wanted to surprise people and shake up the formula, they should have opened with Catherine waking up in the bed, and either flashed back to what happened or pieced it together through the episode.

The other problem is that CSI is a franchise. I suspect NY will be the CSI show that benefits from viewers choosing Grey's over CSI; if people want to see mysteries/forensic science, they can tune into NY the night before and then watch Grey's on Thursday.

But overall, 22 million viewers really is nothing to frown about, not for a show in its seventh season. They didn't get their ass handed to them by any means--it's just that a few more people watched Grey's. It will be interesting to see if the numbers change throughout the season.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

Perhaps WP shouldn't have shaved that beard? *coughes* I'm scarred forever...

I'm kidding!

Sorta.

And perhaps the image of Catherine and a tampon was a bit much. *shivers* I don't care what the reasoning behind that was - it was just to much. You know? That's a private thing... rape or no rape... I didn't want to see THAT.

And it's not like CSI got totally killed. Ok sure, three million viewers is a large amount... but just between CSI's 22 million and CSI NY 16 million is a 6 million gap - and NY is said to be doing GREAT! *sighs*

I won't even mention Miami, cause I didn't watch it, and they didn't even have a pairing I wasn't fond of.

Bleh. And you're right, if I gotta see one more GA advertisement I'm going to barf - not that there's anything wrong with the show, not one of my faves, but I have enjoyed it - it's just that there's only so much advertising you can see before you want to scream and watch an 'Have a happy period' commercial instead.

*Sorry, is obsessed with that scene*

Oh please don't hate on me now. I got to much sleep last night...
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

csi was (and the emphasis is on WAS) a great show for four years. five was ok. six was completely downhill, especially the second half. the finale pissed off a lot of fans to the point of refusing to turn in. you do realize the s6 premiere had 30 million viewers? this is what happens when you make bad choices.

you can say it was lack of promo (oh so not, there were plenty of talk shows and a couple of mag covers---not just one) and you can say it is because grey's is new. and you would be wrong. it is nothing but lack of continuity, lack of believibility, and out of character behavior. and that all boils down to a poor writing staff and inept show runner.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

Thanks, coolcatz, ITA. It all comes back to poor plot decisions. I actually enjoyed a good bit of season 6 episodes. I actually enjoyed it more than season 5. So, I thought CSI was actually on the rise. But the last few episodes of the season (Rashomama not included) were just bad. Compound that with actually making a controversial couple that half the audience doesn't support canon and it's a recipe for disaster.

Sure, 22 million viewers is nothing to scoff at, but the premiere had more advertising than any other ep will likely get. Premieres/finales of any show are notorious for receiving more viewers than any other eps in the season. Chances are the ratings will only go down from here unless TPTB get with the program.
 
Re: 'CSI' Season Opener Loses Battle Against 'Grey's Anatomy

I think it all had to do with poor plot decisions. I thought the acting was great, but the plots in all three of the premires were pretty lame. TPTB really needs to get with the program!
 
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