I’m a television critic, so it is therefore my job to watch as much television as possible. I only watch television shows that I like or that I think are relevant to the two audiences for which I write, Warming Glow and Pajiba. Still, on an average week, I watch between 25 and 30 television shows, not including “The Daily Show.” It’s not as much as you’d think — it breaks down to a little more than three hours a day, which is the amount of television the average American watches.
What I’m often confounded by, however, is this: Despite all of the television that both myself and the average television viewer watches, our programming choices rarely intersect. I’m one of the four million people — according to Nielsen — that watches “Parks and Recreation.” How is that the other 296 million American or so can watch 25 shows a week, and fail so spectacularly to watch quality shows? “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” have about 3 million viewers, “The Walking Dead” is watched by about 8 million people per week, about 10 million watch “How I Met Your Mother.” What are the other 290 million people who watch 25 shows a week watching besides “Jersey Shore”?
Then I see the Nielsen Top 25, and it all starts to make sense. These were the Top 25 shows from the week before last.
1. NCIS
2. American Idol — Wednesday
3. American Idol — Thursday
4. Voice
5. NCIS: Los Angeles
6. Big Bang Theory
7. The Mentalist
8. Person of Interest
9. Two and a Half Men
10. Criminal Minds
11. 60 Minutes
12. Modern Family
13. CSI
14. Unforgettable
15. Mike and Molly
16. Blue Bloods
17. Survivor
18. Undercover Boss
19. Rob
20. 2 Broke Girls
21. Amazing Race
22. CSI: Miami
23. Once Upon a Time
24. The Good Wife
25. Hawaii Five-O
I watch exactly three of those shows. If you take into account only the Top 25 Shows in the 18-49 demo, there’s not that much change.
1. American Idol (Wednesday)
2. VOICE
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. American Idol (Thursday)
5. Modern Family
6. Two and a Half Men
7. NCIS
8. 2 Broke Girls
9. How I Met Your Mother
10. Mike & Molly
11. NCIS: Los Angeles
12. Grey’s Anatomy
13. Rob
14. New Girl
15. Criminal Minds
16. Once Upon a Time
17. Survivor
18. Person of Interest
19. Glee
20. Amazing Race
21. Smash
22. Family Guy
23. The Mentalist
24. Hawaii Five-O
25. CSI
So, four shows among the 18-49 demo. Note, too, this unusual fact: Around 4 million viewers among the 18-49 demo watch a show like “NCIS: Los Angeles,” but 16 million people watch it overall, so around 12 million of those viewers are over the age of 50. That is to say, 75 percent of its audience is over 50. Most of the top 25 reflect a similar breakdown, which suggest that viewership for most network programs is controlled by old people.
It still doesn’t answer what the other 290 million people are watching. It must be cable, right? Here’s that week’s top 25 Cable programs.
1. The Walking Dead
2. Pawn Stars
3. Jersey Shore
4. Gold Rush
5. Whitney Houston: Her Life
6. Whitney Houston: Her Life
7. Pawn Stars
8. Whitney Houston: Her Life
9. Whitney Houston: Her Life
10. Swamp People
11. Radio Rebel
12. WWE
13. NCIS
14. WWE
15. Whitney Houston: Her Life
16. Spongebob Squarepants
17. NCIS
18. Spongebob Squarepants
19. Monsters, Inc.
20. Austin & Alley
21. Victorious
22. The Big Bang Theory
23. Spongebob Squarepants
24. Shake It Up
25. Teen Mom
OK. So, I’ve only seen one of those shows, and I haven’t even heard of many of them. All of this is to say, there is a vast world of television viewers with whom most of us have very little in common, at least where it concerns our television habits.
Today’s Discussion Question: How many of the top rated shows on networks and on cable do you watch?
