Congratulations, Denver. You have good taste in TV. Except when it comes to “Private Practice,” which we’ll get to in a moment.
You know a classy legal drama and a clever ensemble comedy when you see one, and you aren’t suckers for every reality show.
Viewers in the Denver-Boulder market demonstrated their discerning judgment last month, during the important ratings period, when we put “The Good Wife” and “How I Met Your Mother” in the top 10 for the November sweeps (adults 25-54). We embraced two smart shows that didn’t make the cut in other regions of the country.
In the national Nielsens, viewers in November overlooked both the smart Julianna Margulies legal series and the clever Neil Patrick Harris sitcom, but put the Country Music Awards and American Music Awards and the tired innuendo of “Two and a Half Men” in the top 10.
For the year, local viewers were higher than the rest of the nation on “The Mentalist” and “60 Minutes.” And we put “The Good Wife” at a strong No. 3, behind football. Good for us.
Nationally, “American Idol” ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the 2009 top 10. In Denver, “Idol” managed only No. 10 for the year. We like it, but we’re not insane for it.
Similarly, we’re not as high on “Dancing With the Stars” or ESPN’s football coverage as our couch-potato brethren elsewhere.
Yet we aligned with the country in giving both “NCIS” and the new “NCIS: LA” our devotion to make them top-10 shows.
In sports, the World Series played better for Fox in other regions (two nights placed No. 2 and 3 in the national top 10); Denver watched less rabidly without a team in the game.
Where you might suppose Denver would embrace the country-music awards show, we didn’t, compared with the rest of the nation.
But we did support “Big Bang Theory” in a big way, rewarding the deserving CBS sitcom about a group of science geeks.
We conform to national tastes when it comes to football. Pigskin ruled the rankings both nationally and locally, with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” at No. 1, averaging more than 20 million viewers nationally, and drawing a quarter of the Denver-Boulder homes watching television.
In some cases, there’s no accounting for taste: Viewers locally agreed with those across the country that “Desperate Housewives” deserved a spot high on the list in November. Despite the tiresome antics of Wysteria Lane, the “Housewives” ranked No. 6 in Denver, and tied for No. 10 in the national Nielsens.
And worse: Denver viewers are inexplicably drawn to “Private Practice,” that over-the-top ABC melodrama that makes “Grey’s Anatomy” look like fine literature. “Grey’s” tied for No. 3 in Denver — it didn’t make the national top 10 — and “Practice” ranked No. 19 in Denver last month, while the national audience put it at a more reasonable No. 33.
Some thoughts on the effect of DVRs: The time-shifters aren’t the enemy of the networks, as first feared. According to Nielsen’s list of 2009’s Top Timeshifted Prime Time Shows, several worthy series (particularly on cable) gained substantial audience thanks to the new DVR same-day, three-day and seven-day measurement.
The big winners are sci-fi shows that didn’t make it into the regular top 10, but break out in the time- shifting category:
“Battlestar Galactica” on SyFy topped the list, gaining almost 60 percent more audience through DVR use. Next, in order, were “Mad Men” (AMC), “Damages” (FX), “Rescue Me” (FX), “True Blood” (HBO), “Stargate Universe” (SyFy), a tie between “Sanctuary” (SyFy) and “Heroes” (NBC) for No. 7, “Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles” (Fox), and tied for No. 10, “10 Things I Hate About You” (ABC Family), “Dollhouse” (Fox) and “Melrose Place” (CW).
Local radio notes.
In an agreement with nonprofit Cedar Cove Broadcasting, Greeley-based public radio KUNC will buy a station to serve Eagle County at 90.7 FM, to be called KVNC. Pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission the station will be licensed to Minturn, carrying the same National Public Radio format as KUNC.
David Sirota formally takes the job he’s been filling since March: 7-10 a.m. on progressive talk station KKZN-760 AM. As Jay Marvin continues to battle health issues, the columnist/author officially launches “The David Sirota Show.”
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
