TV with MeeVee

Network TV Audience Has Fallen And It Can't Get Up

It's rare for TV viewers to care about demographics. But this is a killer. A new report from research firm Magna Global shows that the network TV audience as a whole has aged out of the demographic most desired by advertisers. The median age of the broadcast audience is now 50, while ad buyers want to reach viewers aged 18-49. This might be an awesome time to sell your network stock. You can read the report yourself by clicking to this TV By The Numbers item and downloading the PDF.

Median age means half the audience is younger and half is older. The half-century mark was reached because the audiences for ABC, NBC and Fox have gotten older, while the traditionally old CBS has stayed steady. The Magna Global study pegs CBS at 53, followed by ABC at 49 and NBC at 48, while Fox's median age is 43 and CW's is 34. The median age for the U.S. population, by the way, is 38.

What are the oldest-skewing shows? ABC's canceled "Women's Murder Club" came in at a median age of 57, followed closely by "Dancing With The Stars" at 55. On CBS, the oldest show was "60 Minutes," at, ironically enough, 60. NBC's "Monk" came in at 58. Fox's oldest was "Canterbury's Law" at 55. CW's was the canceled  "Life Is Wild" at 45.

The youngest? CW's "One Tree Hill" and "Gossip Girl" came in between 36 and 29, depending on the night. Fox's "American Dad" and "Family Guy" at 29. For NBC, it was "Scrubs," at 34. For CBS, "How I Met Your Mother," at 45. For ABC, "Supernanny" at 41 and "Lost" at 43.

Interestingly, time-shifted viewer (by DVR etc.) drops the median age for some shows significantly. "Lost" drops to about 38 when the 22 percent of its audience who time-shift their viewing are considered.

Not surprisingly, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" is the oldest-skewing late-night program, with a median age of 54 for NBC. But Conan O'Brien's "Late Night", who follows Leno, has the youngest audience of the major shows, at 46.

All of this suggests that either the five broadcast networks - and especially the big three - will become less and less attractive to advertisers. Their saving grace, though, might be the baby boomers, the demographic pig in the python, who are also aging.

Review: "Life Is Wild" Isn't

I wish I could say I was more impressed with this sweet little show about family harmony, racial understanding and the beauty of nature. It is sweet enough to be a hit with animal-loving 12-year-old girls of all ages. But that's the thing - except for a few good lines from grumpy boozed-up grandpa, "Life Is Wild" is basically a kid's show. Tune in for the beautiful animals if you will. But don't expect too much in terms of nuanced drama. Suffice to say that the big dramatic climax involves the entire family watching intently as a lioness and her cub are reintroduced after a separation. Did I mention that two of the children are pining for their dead mom? Are you in a diabetic coma yet?

Teenager Katie Clark and her little brother Chase lost her mother to cancer three years ago. Then their veterinarian dad, Danny, married pretty lawyer Jo. Jo brought her rebellious teenaged son Jesse and his little sister Mia to their blended family. Now Jesse's acting out, and everyone's in turmoil. So Doctor Danny decides the answer is: a) counseling b) having dinner together as a family every night to improve communications or c) moving the whole brood to a lodge in a South African game preserve. This being television, the answer is, of course, c.

This makes sense - not really, but the screenplay says so - because the Blue Antelope Lodge is where Katie's dead mother grew up. Now Katie's reclusive grandfather, Art, is running the joint into the ground. Doctor Danny's arrival will ease the critical shortage of vets in the area. The kids can forget all about their iPods and cellphones and romp and play with the pretty animals. Jo will help Art resurrect the lodge. And they'll all help each other heal and become a true family. Cue the baby hippo!

Fall TV Night-By-Night: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday? We don't need stinkin' Saturday. Watch college football on ABC, or "Torchwood" on BBC America, and forget about "Cops" and the endless reruns on the other networks. Sunday, though, is as always another story, featuring the season's most bizarre new show ("Viva Laughlin," right) and several returning favorites.

ABC's trio of hits - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters" - returns on Sept. 30. The big excitement here has to be Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion joining the cast of "Desperate," a show that seems in definite though not desperate need of some fresh fuel. It will be interesting to watch the ratings here.

CBS will still have "60 Minutes" at 7 and "Cold Case" at 9, and it's swapping in James Woods as "Shark" at 10. The show has curdled a little as Woods' bracingly hard-edged character has gotten soft around the edges; we'll see if that trend slows or accelerates as Jeri Ryan's character becomes his co-worker instead of his boss. Kevin Pollack as the new DA ought to be good, though. But the big news here...