The kiddie TV wars are heating up — with frenemies Nickelodeon and Disney reporting some big summer numbers.
On the Nick side of the ledger, “SpongeBob SquarePants” returned last Saturday with a new, prime-time special, “The Super Spongy Square Games,” which snared 3.7 million viewers from 8 to 9 p.m. to claim the title as the week’s most-watched kids show. That hour was comprised of four new “SpongeBob” episodes, including “Extreme Spots” (with guest voiceover from Johnny Knoxville).
Not to be outdone, Disney Junior reports that it more-than-doubled Nick’s preschool-hour numbers with “Doc McStuffins,” “Jake and the Never Land Pirates” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” leading the way among the kids 2-5 and girls 2-5 set.
According to Disney Junior’s crack team of researchers (including the nose-to-the-grindstone Catherine Lord), the network averaged 1.63 million viewers to Nick’s 682,000 viewers in the pre-school hours.
Disney XD, meanwhile, notched the most-watched week in its history across most demos (including total viewers in total day — 515,000).
Let the sniping begin.
More cable numbers: Oxygen’s docu-series, “I’m Having Their Baby,” premiered to 819,00 viewers Monday night, posting double-digit increases in total viewers, adults 18-49 and women 18-49 in that timeslot versus the previous four weeks.
And USA’s “WWE Monday Night Raw” celebrated its 1,000th episode Monday night by corralling over 6 million viewers and its beset-ever numbers in persons 25-54 (2.7 million viewers).
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With the death of “The Jeffersons” star Sherman Hemsley yesterday — he passed away in Texas at the age of 74 — it’s interesting to note that there was another Jefferson featured on “All in the Family” before Hemsley made his debut as George Jefferson.
That character was Henry Jefferson, George’s brother, who lived with George and Louise next door to Queens bigot Archie Bunker — and was just as bilious as Archie.
Henry, played by the late Mel Stewart, appeared in eight episodes of “All in the Family” from 1971 through 1973, setting the stage for Hemsley’s 1973 debut as George.
The industry backstory is that “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear had hired Hemsley to portray George Jefferson. In the meantime, however, Hemsley was having a terrific run in the Broadway musical “Purlie” and didn’t want to break his contractual commitment to the show in order appear on “All in the Family.” So, while Lear waited for Hemsley’s stage role to end, he wrote in the character of Henry Jefferson, as a “placeholder” of sorts until Hemsley was ready to make his debut.
Stewart, who never enjoyed the breakout TV success experienced by Hemsley, later went on to co-star in “The Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” “Tabatha” and “On the Rocks,” among other sitcoms.
He passed away in 2002 at the age of 72.
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Last, but not least:
* TV/radio host Michelle Visage (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) will emcee the 12 Million Dog March in LA (Pan Pacific Park, Aug. 5) to help raise money for pet-cancer treatment. Sharon Lawrence, Tamara Braun and Eden Riegel are expected to attend; you can sign up for the march at 12milliondogmarch.com . . . Producer Tom Cole is prepping a documentary on handicapped athletes that’s scheduled to include former MLB pitcher Jim Abbott, ex-Indiana State placekicker Brett Sheldon and marathon runner Terry Fox . . . Add this to the “I Kid You Not” department (with a nod to the late Jack Paar): the assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs is named . . . wait for it . . . Johnnie Carson.