By Lisa de Moraes
WashingtonPost.com
Another highly anticipated -- at least by critics -- new series fizzled Wednesday night.
"30
Rock," Tina Fey's much-ballyhooed "SNL" -ish comedy series, scared up
only 8.1 million viewers in the third week of the new TV season.
NBC's other "SNL"-ish series, Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," opened during Premiere Week to a crowd of 13.4 million, which was considered a disappointment.
We should note that "30 Rock" aired at 8 p.m., while "Studio 60" aired at 10, when more homes use television. Also, NBC hasn't tried comedy in Fey's 8 p.m. Wednesday time slot since, like, forever.
Oh wait, that's not my problem.
Only four new series on the four major networks opened to a smaller crowd so far this TV season than did Fey's.
They are NBC's sent-to-Saturday-to-die-with-dignity drama "Kidnapped" (7.6 million viewers), NBC's high school football drama "Friday Night Lights" (7.2 million), NBC's new old-guys sitcom "20 Good Years" (7.1 million), which premiered right after Fey's sitcom on Wednesday, and Fox's probably canceled "Happy Hour" (7 million).
Here's an interesting stat: While pundits expected the "20 Good Years" audience to skew very old, because it stars John Lithgow, who's very old (61 next week) by TV standards, and Jeffrey Tambor, who's even older (62), the median age of that show's premiere audience was just barely over 48 years, while the median age of "30 Rock" was just under 48 years -- 47.7 years, to be exact.
The median age of the "Studio 60" audience in its first broadcast was 48 years.
In fact, fully 17 percent of Fey's audience was 65 or older. So she might want to stop nicking "grandparents" over and over again in interviews, saying they're the only ones who are going confuse her "SNL" knockoff show with Sorkin's.
Fey finished third in her time slot among the 18-to-34-year-olds she covets, behind ABC's ballroom dancing and the CW's "America's Next Top Model."
Among 18-to-49-year-olds, "30 Rock" finished behind ABC's dance competition and even CBS's new the-sky-is-falling drama "Jericho," and that stars Gerald McRaney, for goodness' sake.
CBS celebrated by giving "Jericho," which also stars Skeet Ulrich, a full-season order.
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