Future Not Looking Promising For 'Jericho'

The second episode of the new abbreviated season pulled in a 3.9 rating/7 share, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research. That was a 7 percent drop over its season premiere. While that would normally constitute a decent retention of audience from a publicized premiere, "Jericho" really had room to go up, not down, and the show is not making a case to CBS executives that it should return again in the fall.

"Jericho" finished last in the timeslot behind a rerun of "Law & Order: SVU" (6.2/11) on NBC and a rerun of "Boston Legal" (4.9/9) on ABC, according to Zap2it. It didn't get a lot of help from its lead-in programming, "Big Brother: Til Death Do You Part" which had ratings only slightly higher than "Jericho." Most of the Tuesday schedule was pounded by "American Idol" on Fox.

On Monday, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" continued to try and find its footing, earning an estimated 5.1/8. It finished fourth in its time slow behind comedies on CBS and reality programming on ABC and NBC.

For Tuesday, CBS finished third with a 4.9/8 behind Fox's 16.4/25 and NBC's 5.4/9. CBS didn't do well in the key demographic of adults 18 to 49 either, earning a 2.0 behind the 11.2 from Fox and 3.3 from NBC.

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.

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