The ratings and shares system is a time tested method of how many people are watching the show, and how effective it actually is. They are also used for discerning how many people are seeing a certain type of commercial, and what the typical demographic is that views the show, or just the network's time slot in general.
The Celebrity Apprentice finished strong at NBC's Thursday night prime time slot, with an average 7.4 rating and a 12 share. Since other popular shows had not yet come back from the writers strike, NBC actually maintained the number one slot throughout the night because of this show. In general, I think that the show would hold up decently among the other shows that it was competing against, such as Grey's Anatomy on ABC, but the writer's strike helped it immensely. Seeing as last year, Grey's Anatomy brought in a share of 14.1, it would certainly detract from the viewers of The Celebrity Apprentice. The fact that this week was the finale helped as well, I would think. The first hour the ratings were down, because it had to compete with the NCAA tournament, but after the second hour the ratings rose again, to bring the average up for the #1 spot of the night.
If Celebrity Apprentice was moved to a different spot, I don't know if it would be as successul. It has the potential to be, because it would no longer have to compete with Grey's Anatomy on Thursday nights, however, there are plenty of other shows, reality or otherwise that it would have to compete with if it was moved.
The demographic that it appeals to, mainly the working world, would be best suited to watch it at it's current time, which is immediately after dinner time on a thursday night, and not late enough that those who have to get up for work would decline to watch it. According to Zap2it.com, the ratings for the group of 18-49 year olds watching were higher than any of the other networks that night. I think the spots that were left vacant by the writers strike helped Celebrity Apprentice gain popularity, and even though the writers strike was over by the time the finale came around, the popularity that it had gained throughout the weeks of the writers strike helped it to keep it's popularity to the end. Let's face it - no viewers of the show would tune out for the special 2 hour finale, to see whether Piers or Trace won! Even though I did not watch the show religiously for it's entire run, I tuned in to see who won, and actually found myself caring.
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