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Ratings Clack – Should FOX switch Fringe and Lie To Me?

Brett Love — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:23 +0000

After the dramatic entrance of V last week, there were no similar big splash stories to lead things off this week. Then, as I was perusing the year-ago numbers, something occurred to me. It’s quite possible that FOX could improve both Monday and Thursday at 9:00 if they swapped Fringe and Lie To Me. If you look back to the initial Fringe run, it had a lot of success following House. In fact, while the House numbers are virtually unchanged from Tuesday to Monday, Fringe was holding much more of the House audience on Tuesday than Lie To Me currently is on Monday.

Example:
11/18/08: House (13.03m/5.5), Fringe (9.36m/4.2)
11/09/09: House (13.31m/5.3), Lie To Me (7.41m/3)

And that was against very similar competition. Both faced DWTS on ABC, which was pretty much a wash. NBC was greatly improved against Fringe with Biggest Loser (7.84m/3.3), as opposed to Trauma (5.35m/1.8). And CBS was mixed, with The Mentalist (15.83m/3.5) trailing the Men/Big Bang hour (13.62m/4.6) in the demo.

Now we look at where we are this season. Fringe did manage something of a rebound this week, finishing with (5.91m/2.2) on Thursday. That’s still a distant fourth place, and should find the show on the hot seat at the end of the season. It would, obviously, do better on Monday following House. The question is, would it do better than the (7.41m/3) that Lie To Me is currently offering? I think it would.

On the other side of that coin, while I’m not quite as confident about the move of Lie To Me to Thursday, I do still see the potential for it to outperform the current Fringe numbers. That bar has been set, after all, rather low. It would likely take a hit in the move, but the end result would be that Thursday at 9:00 is stronger as well. Just something to think about. The usual numbers junk is after the jump.

ABC - The bubble burst on V (10.7m/3.8) rather quickly. Sure, that’s still a very nice number, but it’s also a heck of a one week drop. Consider the jury still out on this one until we see what episodes three and four bring to the table. Earlier in the week, the return of football on NBC brought Sunday’s Extreme Makeover (10.38m/3), Desperate Housewives (13.79m/4.4), and Brothers & Sisters (9.08m/2.9) down a tad. It was still a successful start to the week.

The good news continued as Dancing With The Stars (17.62m/3.4) and Castle (9.82m/2.4) both gained viewers. The DWTS Results (16.23m/3.5) were up as well, despite the V drop. The news wasn’t so good for The Forgotten, as In The Spotlight with Robin Roberts (9.34m/2.3) finished well above what the show has been doing. Wednesday, the CMA Awards (17.18m/5.3) were a huge improvement over the usual comedies and Eastwick. FlashForward (8.28m/2.6) sunk to third in both measures to kick off Thursday, while Grey’s Anatomy (14.87m/5.6) and Private Practice (10.25m/3.9) were both up. Ugly Betty (4.45m/1.3) finished things off on Friday.

FOX - The network didn’t really gain anything with the all-Seth night, featuring Family Guy (7.26m/3.7), Seth & Alex (6.73m/3.4), Family Guy (7.99m/4.1), and Cleveland (6.44m/3.2). The news was better on Monday as House (13.31m/5.3) remained the clear demo leader on the night. So You Think You Can Dance remained steady, if not impressive, on Tuesday (5.76m/2.3) and Wednesday (5.72m/2.2), while Glee (7.53m/3.4) was tied for #1 in the demo with Criminal Minds. Thursday, Bones (10.22m/2.9) took over the #2 spot from FlashForward. And Friday, repeats again topped the recent comedy/Dollhouse combo.

CBS - The good news is that Sunday was up across the board with Amazing Race (11.62m/3.5), Three Rivers (7.99m/1.8), and Cold Case (8.16m/1.7). The bad news is that those numbers from 9:00 to 11:00 are too low. Things were better on Monday. The network was down slightly from 8:00 to 9:00 with How I Met Your Mother (8.67m/3.5) and Accidentally On Purpose (7.89m/2.9). Then, up with 2 ½ Men (14.44m/4.6) and Big Bang Theory (12.8m/4.7). At 10:00 is where the real magic started.

The big crossover CSI event led to gains for Miami (14.38m/4), NY (14.51m/3.8), and the OG CSI (17.38m/4.1). He didn’t get to be part of the big event, but Gibbs and the crew at NCIS (20.96m/4.4) easily returned to the top of the Tuesday pyramid. That was good news for NCIS: LA (16.23m/3.7) and The Good Wife (13.35m/2.8) as well. Old Christine (7.19m/2.1) and Gary Unmarried (7.3m/2.4) were both up on Wednesday, despite that CMA increase at ABC. Criminal Minds (12.77m/3.4) was solid. Although, that demo battle with Glee could prove very interesting.

Thursday, as with CSI, Survivor (12.94m/4) was up too. The Mentalist (16.17m/3.6) was off a bit in viewers, but is still having a very good second season. And Friday was another easy win for the night by Ghost Whisperer (8.01m/2), Medium (8.16m/1.9), and Numb3rs (8.16m/1.8).

NBC – The return of Sunday Night Football (21.88m/8.5) was certainly welcome. Hopefully, it softened the blow of another series low for Heroes (5.26m/2.3), and the further struggles of Trauma (5.35m/1.8). The Biggest Loser (9.65m/3.8) remains a success on Tuesday. Mercy (6.68m/1.7), on the other hand, can only claim that it is an improvement over the Knight Rider numbers. L&O: SVU (8.77m/2.8) remains a mystery. That was good for fourth place, again, but it is headed in the right direction. And that 2.8 demo is starting to look really good given the rest of the NBC schedule.

Thursday was more of the same as Community (5.09m/2.1) and Parks & Recreation (4.58m/2.1) again fell short of the Kath & Kim bar (11/06: 5.57m/2.4). By comparison, things look pretty good for The Office (8.05m/4.2) and 30 Rock (6m/3). Law & Order (7.5m/1.7) finished things up on Friday.

CW - The week got off to a very good start as One Tree Hill (2.67m/1.3), Gossip Girl (2.37m/1.3), and 90210 (2.06m/1.2) all saw gains. That was the highest rated Gossip Girl since the season premiere. Things didn’t go so well for Melrose Place (1.28m/.7). It would seem that the network is just waiting to see what difference Heather Locklear makes before pulling the plug.

Next Top Model (3.2m/1.5) was again nipping at NBC’s heels in the demo on Wednesday. As was Vampire Diaries (4.1m/1.9) on Thursday. Supernatural (2.69m/1.3) was on par as well. Finally, Smallville (2.7m/1.2) continued to defy the odds on Friday, drawing more viewers than OTH, GG, 90210, Melrose, and Supernatural.

Cable - It’s probably way too early for the folks down at Stargate HQ to be getting nervous, but concern might be in order. Friday 11/06 found the Universe dropping again, to (1.63m/.7). That didn’t do any favors for Sanctuary (1.42m/.5). It will be very interesting to see where the show levels out. Over at USA, White Collar (3.85m/.9) continues to search for a level as well. Other cable numbers to consider:

Mad Men (2.32m/.8)
Dexter (1.76m/.9)
Lincoln Heights (1.03m/.4)
Sons Of Anarchy (3.83m/1.9)
Nip/Tuck (1.75m/.9)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (.98m/.3)
Bored To Death (.63m/.3)
Californication (.76m/.4)
Rita Rocks (.48m/.2)
South Park (2.78m/1.5)
Secret Girlfriend (1.19m/.6)
It’s Always Sunny (1.87m/1.2)
The League (1.03m/.6)
Monday Night Football (16m/6.5)
The Hills (2.1m/1.3)
Top Chef (3.02m/1.7)
Mythbusters (2.13m/.9)
Ghost Hunters (2.91m/1.4)
Ghost Hunters Academy (2.07m/.9)
Project Runway (3.13m/1.4)
Keeping Up With The Kardashians (3.17m/1.7)

Photo Credit: FOX

Ratings Clack – V gets off to a great start

Brett Love — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:30:08 +0000

The World Series was the big ratings winner last week, but with New York involved, everyone kind of expected that, right? What nobody expected — most notably ABC — was the success of the V premiere. The numbers weren’t just good. It was the highest rated scripted program on the network, topping the Housewives and Grey’s. Even better, the V demo rating was the highest for a scripted show on any of the networks. Someone at ABC has to be kicking themselves for only ordering four episodes of V, while they continue to crank out more Hanks than they know what to do with.

ABC – It was the big show for the week, so we’ll start with the V (14.3m/5.2) premiere on Tuesday. Even more impressive, it did that against Biggest Loser and NCIS. Not an easy timeslot. That was obviously unexpected, or production wouldn’t have been cut to 4, for now. It makes the results of episode two very interesting. How much of that audience will be back for more? That huge leap in the 8 o’clock hour didn’t do anything for the rest of the night. The Dancing With The Stars results show (15.05m/3.1) was up just a tenth in the demo, and The Forgotten (7.27m/1.9) actually managed to lose a million viewers week-to-week.

Earlier in the week, things were pretty standard on Sunday with Extreme Makeover (10.75m/3.3), Desperate Housewives (14.08m/5), and Brothers & Sisters (9.02m/3.3). Monday, Dancing With The Stars (16.69m/3.4) and Castle (9.43m/2.4) were both off just a bit, but we’ll chalk that up to baseball. Wednesday remains a mixed bag as Hank (5.09m/1.3), The Middle (6.04m/1.8), and Eastwick (4.44m/1.5) all continue to struggle. Modern Family (8.77m/3.5) and Cougar Town (6.87m/2.8) do like solid performers, however.

FlashForward (8.57m/2.6) makes Thursday interesting. It continues to drop, and you have to wonder if the audience is just giving up on it already. It long ago lost track of Survivor, and this week was also topped by Bones. Grey’s Anatomy (13.95m/5.1) and Private Practice (9.11m/3.4) remain a successful pairing. Friday, Ugly Betty (4.76m/1.3) remained steady, but the big surprise was from the Rihana episode of 20/20 (8.18m/2.7).

CBS - It was, for the most part, another very solid week. Sunday was steady, with Amazing Race (11.22m/3.3), Three Rivers (7.7m/1.6), and Cold Case (9.02m/1.7). Of course, that steady means that Three Rivers remains a disappointment and its future prospects are not good. Monday was also solid with How I Met Your Mother (8.82m/3.5), Accidentally On Purpose (8.09m/3.1), 2 ½ Men (13.51m/4.4), Big Bang Theory (12.73m/4.7), and CSI: Miami (12.52m/3.6). Those numbers are off a bit, but we’ll give them a World Series pass as well.

Tuesday, that giant V premiere didn’t do much to slow down the NCIS (20.18m/4.3) juggernaut. NCIS:LA (15.29m/3.6) and The Good Wife (12.74m/2.7) were also on par. Wednesday brought a slightly baseball-weakened combination of Old Christine (6.68m/2), Gary Unmarried (6.29m/2), Criminal Minds (12.55m/3.4), and CSI:NY (12m/2.8).

Thursday, Survivor (12.44m/3.7) is again firmly in control of the hour. More interesting, The Mentalist (16.21m/3.6) topped CSI (15.6m/3.5) in both measures again. The troubling bit came on Friday, as Ghost Whisperer (7.93m/1.8) and Medium (7.58m/1.8) both lost to Law & Order, while Numb3rs (8.09m/1.8) was beaten by 20/20. I can’t remember the last time CBS was beaten in all three Friday hours while running all new episodes.

FOX - The World Series was the story last week. Games on Sunday (22.76m/7.8), Monday (17.09m/5.3), and Wednesday (22.34m/7.4) all did extremely well. So You Think You Can Dance (6.12m/2.4) held down the fort on Tuesday, and Bones (8.66m/2.6) and Fringe (4.86m/1.7) were back on Thursday. Bones moved to #2 in the hour, while Fringe remains a distant fourth.

The quick reaction is to blame the time slot, but compare it to what So You Think You Can Dance is up against on Tuesday at 8. ABC gains 5.73m/2.6. NBC gains 3.93m/2. CBS gains 7.74m/.6. That’s 17.3 million more viewers, and 5.2 more demo points facing SYTYCD, and it still outperformed Fringe. There is also the argument that because World Series Game 7 was scheduled Thursday, people didn’t know it was on. Unfortunately, that doesn’t explain the fact that Bones still managed 8.6 million viewers, or all those other weeks of subpar Fringe numbers. And in case you were wondering, House and Bones repeats on Friday again topped the Brothers, Til Death, and Dollhouse numbers.

NBC - With no football in prime time this week, the big success actually came on Friday. Law & Order is finally showing a little life, with episodes at 8 (7.99m/1.8) and 9 (8.41m/1.9) both winning their hours. Earlier in the week, it was more of the same on Monday from Heroes (5.86m/2.5) and Trauma (5.82m/1.9). The Biggest Loser (9.11m/3.5) remains a solid hit on Tuesday. Wednesday, Mercy (6.63m/1.7) and SVU (7.95m/2.4) were off, but it was the final game of the World Series, so let’s wait and see.

Thursday, Community (5.45m/2.3) and Parks & Recreation (4.91m/2.2) were both up. However, they do both remain below what Kath & Kim (5.57m/2.4) were doing at this time last year. The Office (8.09m/4.1) and 30 Rock (6.15m/3) continue along the same path. Leno had another rough week, falling below 4 million viewers once, and below 1.5 in the demo three times. I’m starting to think that Leno one night a week might not be a bad idea. Give him the post Biggest Loser slot, and return scripted to the other four hours. The numbers:

Monday: 3.92m/1.2
Tuesday: 5.96m/2
Wednesday: 4.81m/1.4
Thursday: 4.83m/1.6
Friday: 4.6m/1.2

CW - Nothing too exciting to report this week. One Tree Hill (2.32m/1.1) and Gossip Girl (1.98m/1) look to have taken a small hit from baseball. 90210 (1.92m/1) and Melrose Place (1.48m/.8) continue to struggle as we all wait to see what Heather Locklear will do to the Melrose numbers. Next Top Model (3.87m/1.7) was up, despite baseball. Thursday remains the strongest night of the week with Vampire Diaries (4.09m/1.9) and Supernatural (2.65m/1.2). And Smallville (2.76m/1.2) continues to grow.

CABLE - Not a lot to yell about on cable this week either. It is worth noting that the second episode of White Collar (5.075m/1.2), from 10/30, held up very well. It looks like USA has found a few more characters. Stargate Universe (1.97m/.8), from the same night, found itself falling below the 2 million viewer mark. Sanctuary (1.6m/.5) and Monk (4.69m/1) were fairly steady. Some other numbers:

Mad Men (1.78m/.7)
Dexter (1.88m/.9)
Lincoln Heights (1.11m/.3)
Greek (.66m/.3)
Sons Of Anarchy (3.52m/1.8)
Nip/Tuck (2.17m/1.1)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (.98m/.4)
Bored To Death (.72m/.4)
Californication (.82m/.4)
South Park (2.82m/1.5)
It’s Always Sunny (1.99m/1.3)
The League (1.41m/.9)
Monday Night Football (12.37m/5.1)
Kate: Her Story (3.79m/1.7)
The Hills (1.99m/1.2)
Mythbusters (1.82m/.8)
Ghost Hunters (2.73m/1.3)

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Smallville continues to defy the odds

Brett Love — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:00:19 +0000

We do often get caught up in the big numbers from the big networks. It is, after all, hard to overlook the fact that NCIS is still growing its audience in the 7th season. There are still some very interesting stories happening on the little network, CW. When it was announced that Vampire Diaries would be paired with Supernatural, while Smallville was shuffled off to Friday, many people expected that was the end.

The show wouldn’t be able to come back from a year grinding away on Friday nights. After a few weeks looking at the numbers though, that’s not the case at all. Clark and the gang can celebrate good times, despite taking a hit from the move. In fact, this week Smallville topped new episodes of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, 90210, and Melrose Place. It’s far from done. Elsewhere, we had our first sizable crop of repeats this week, which brought some interesting results.

CW – With Smallville getting the lead, we’ll start with CW this week. The week got off to a slow start with One Tree Hill (2.21m/1) and Gossip Girl (1.98m/1.1) both down. Things picked up, if you can call it that, on Tuesday with 90210 (2.25m/1.1) remaining steady and Melrose Place (1.5m/.7) gaining in viewers. Next Top Model (2.99m/1.4) was steady as well. Vampire Diaries (2.27m/.9) and Supernatural (1.83m/.8) were repeats, but it is worth noting given that the Vampire Diaries repeat had more viewers than all of the Monday and Tuesday originals. Smallville (2.52m/1.1) closed out the week with the best performance for a scripted show on the network, and also managed to finish tied for third in the demo on the night.

ABC – It was something of an uneventful week for the network. Sunday’s performance was steady with Extreme Makeover (10.33m/3), Desperate Housewives (13.68m/4.6), and Brothers & Sisters (9.72m/3.2). Likewise, Monday finished very much like the previous week with Dancing With The Stars (16.82m/3.6) and Castle (9.69m/2.4). It is worth noting that the Castle numbers have been good enough that the network has picked up the back 9.

Things started to change on Tuesday, as Shark Tank (5.92m/1.8) and DWTS Results (14.92m/3.4) both saw gains. Unfortunately, that didn’t do anything for The Forgotten (7.3m/1.9), which slipped to the lowest numbers of the season. Those 10PM struggles were repeated on Wednesday, with Eastwick (4.78m/1.6) also finding new lows. That came on the heels of a night of comedy that was down across the board with Hank (5.78m/1.5), The Middle (6.53m/2), Modern Family (8.66m/3.4), and Cougar Town (7.31m/3.1). Things really don’t look good for Hank.

There were more changes on Thursday, although they really weren’t that surprising. FlashForward (9.87m/3.1) gained in viewers while holding steady in the demo. Grey’s Anatomy (15.06m/5.3), on the other hand, posted big week-to-week gains. Of course, that was against a repeat CSI. Surprisingly though, it didn’t translate into gains for Private Practice (9.93m/3.7). The show was down without the crossover element, despite facing a repeat Mentalist. Friday, Supernanny (4.7m/1.1) returned above the year ago premiere, and Ugly Betty (4.55m/1.2) limped to a third place finish in the hour.

CBS - The week started off with shenanigans as the football overrun bumped Cold Case for the night. Amazing Race (10.92m/3.3) and Three Rivers (7.38m/1.9) didn’t see any benefit from that. Monday was mostly par for the course, with one notable exception. Accidentally On Purpose (8.25m/3.3) actually beat How I Met Your Mother (8.07m/3.4) in viewers. Did anyone see that coming? Later, the duo of 2 ½ Men (14.07m/4.8) and Big Bang Theory (13.47m/5.3) continued to dominate the 9PM hour. CSI: Miami (13.16m/3.9) finished the night on a winning note.

Tuesday was up across the board, on the back of NCIS (21.25m/4.7) continuing to impress. That led to good things for NCIS:LA (16.48m/3.9) and The Good Wife (13.26m/2.8). Wednesday remained steady. Old Christine (6.58m/2) and Gary Unmarried (6.76m/2.2) seem to have fought off the ABC comedies, while Criminal Minds (14.27m/3.8) and CSI:NY (13m/3) easily win their hours. Survivor (12.9m/4) was the lone new entry on Thursday, but it is worth noting that The Mentalist (11.79m/2.8) beat CSI (10.14m/2.2) in repeats. Friday was again an easy victory for Ghost Whisperer (8.46m/2.1), Medium (8.43m/2.2), and Numb3rs (8.05m/1.8).

NBC - Overall, it was actually a good week for NBC, relatively speaking. Sunday Night Football (18.17m/7.2) continues to be huge. And Heroes (5.72m/2.5) was actually up. With Mercy (7.18m/1.9) getting a full season, things don’t look good for Trauma (5.46m/1.8). Tuesday, The Biggest Loser (9.82m/3.9) was also up. There were more gains to be had on Wednesday, as L&O: SVU (9.15m/2.8) continued to grow. There is still the very real possibility that it could compete with Criminal Minds in the demo by the end of the season.

Thursday continues to be a mixed bag. Technically, Community (5.04m/1.9) and Parks & Recreation (4.93m/2.1) had the 8PM hour up over last week. But really, if Kath & Kim are looking down at your numbers, that’s really bad. The Office (8.73m/4.4) and 30 Rock (6.84m/3.3) took advantage of the CSI vacation. Friday, Law & Order (7.17m/1.5) continued to struggle, while Dateline (7.91m/1.8) continued to make the case for canceling Southland.

Leno… didn’t have a good week.The numbers continue to shrink, slowly. Two nights below five million, and two below 1.5 in the demo. Most troubling might be the fact that despite nice gains from The Office and 30 Rock on Thursday, and facing a repeat Mentalist, Leno was actually down.

Mon – 4.74m/1.4
Tue – 5.46m/1.8
Wed – 5.14m/1.5
Thu – 4.97m/1.6
Fri – 6.15m/1.4

FOX - The week started off with one of the most interesting repeats of the week. An old Family Guy (8.13m/4.2) was stuffed in with new episodes from The Simpsons (8.69m/4.1), Cleveland (7.62m/3.8), American Dad (6.25m/3.1) but still managed to be the highest rated. Monday, being pushed back by baseball didn’t do any favors for House (11.65m/4.4) and Lie To Me (7.79m/2.9). The news was better from baseball (10.3m/3.4) on Tuesday. Wednesday, So You Think You Can Dance (6.91m/2.6) and Glee (7.15m/3.3) were steady. I’m curious to see what happens as SYTYCD gets into the competition.

Baseball (11.85m/3.7) returned Thursday, offering a boost to the usual numbers. Friday was more of the same. The only semi-surprise was that Til Death (1.97m/.7) managed to fall below 2 million viewers. Yikes. It’s pretty bad when you lose viewers from Brothers (2.35m/.8). Dollhouse (2.15m/.8) slipped again, marking its second worse performance ever.

Cable – Ryan asked for numbers from Stargate: Universe and Sanctuary last week. I don’t usually include them because unless Syfy sees fit to issue a press release over the weekend, the post is up before they come out. So, the next best thing is week old numbers. For the 10/16 broadcasts the numbers were Stargate: Universe (2.1m/.9) and Sanctuary (1.77m/.6). That same night, USA had Monk (3.98m/1) and Psych (3.68m/1.2). The interesting premiere this week was The Jeff Dunham Show (5.34m/2.2). That’s impressive, given the overwhelming hatred of the show from critics. It’s also worth noting that Sons Of Anarchy (3.7m/2) beat both Leno and The Forgotten in the demo. Other interesting cable numbers for the past week:

Monday Night Football (13.47m/5.5)
Hannah Montana (5.72m/1)
Mad Men (1.61m/.5)
Dexter (1.51m/.7)
Californication (.77m/.3)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (1.08m/.5)
Bored To Death (.66m/.3)
Project Runway (3.02m/1.3)
Real Housewives Of Atlanta (2.97m/1.6)
It’s Always Sunny (1.52m/.9)
Lincoln Heights (.92m/.2)
Greek (.68m/.3)
The Hills (1.83m/1.1)
Dirty Jobs (1.86m/.9)
Mythbusters (2.28m/1)
Top Chef (2.86m/1.5)
South Park (2.58m/1.4)
Secret Girlfriend (1.29m/.6)
Nip/Tuck (2.23m/1.2)
Ghost Hunters (3.07m/1.4)

Photo Credit: The CW

Ratings Clack – Where is FlashForward headed?

Brett Love — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:00:41 +0000

FlashForward is one of the more interesting shows of the new season where ratings are concerned. On the one hand, so far it has been a huge upgrade for the 8-9 spot on ABC. And while it has been surpassed by Survivor, it does continue to hold off Bones in the demo. On the other hand, the ratings don’t seem to be settled yet, which makes each week a new adventure. This week, the yo-yo headed back up. What will next week bring? One can only guess. I continue to think that it will eventually be passed up by the fiercely loyal Bones audience at some point, finding its place as the number 3 show in the hour. Elsewhere this week, there was good news for Dancing With The Stars, NCIS, Law & Order, So You Think You Can Dance, and Smallville. The news wasn’t so good for Hank, Parks & Recreation, Three Rivers, or Melrose Place.

ABC - Overall, it was a very good week for the network. Sunday was off a bit week-to-week with Extreme Makeover (9.81m/3), Desperate Housewives (13.42m/3.6), and Brothers & Sisters (8.97m/3), but those are still solid numbers. And there were plenty of gains through the rest of the week. Monday, Dancing With The Stars (16.79m/3.6) and Castle (9.77m/2.3) were both up. Tuesday was also up for the night with Shark Tank (5.24m/1.6), DWTS (13.96m/2.9) and The Forgotten (7.43m/2.1). The Forgotten was down in viewers, but up in demo. Wednesday was a bit of a mixed bag with Modern Family (9.35m/3.6) and Cougar Town (7.99m/3.3) both up, while Hank (6.15m/1.6), The Middle (6.77m/2.1), and Eastwick (5.08m/1.7) were all down.

In a bit of oddness, Thursday found FlashForward (9.07m/3.1) and Private Practice (10.36m/3.8) both posting gains while Grey’s Anatomy (13.79m/5) took a bit of a dip. Still, that’s a dip that still left it #1 in the demo for the night. Friday was also up with the premiere of Ugly Betty (5.01m/1.3 – 5.18m/1.3). Of course, that’s well off last season’s Ugly Betty numbers, and up over repeats. I’ve no idea what ABC is expecting from Ugly Betty on the night, but the increased competition should be worrisome for FOX.

CBS - The Tiffany network also had a good week, starting with The Amazing Race (10.52m/3.2). Unfortunately, Phil’s gains didn’t do much for Three Rivers (7.33m/1.7) and Cold Case (7.87m/1.9). Both of those should be considered on the bubble at this point. That was just a temporary setback though, as business picked back up Monday. How I Met Your Mother (8.56m/3.6), Accidentally On Purpose (7.73m/3), 2 ½ Men (14.17m/4.8), and Big Bang Theory (13.07m/5) all bounced back from an off week, gaining in viewers and demo. CSI: Miami (13.27m/4) was off just a bit in viewers, but also up in viewers. That 8-9 hour of comedy continues to be interesting. In moving Big Bang to 9:30, the 8-9 hour is down 1.1 million viewers and 4 tenths in the demo versus last year (Big Bang 9.36m/3.6, HIMYM 9.14m/3.8). Although, to be fair, the 9-10 hour is up 1.4 million viewers and .6 in the demo (2 ½ Men 14.57m/5.3, Worst Week 9.78m/3.3).

Moving on, NCIS (21.04m/4.5) continues to roll. Despite that being up, NCIS:LA (15.38m/3.5) and The Good Wife (12.98m/2.8) were both off week-to-week. The good news though is that they both remain up over last year (Mentalist 14.86m/3.4, Without A Trace 10.99m/2.6). Wednesday also saw gains with Old Christine (6.99m/2.1), Gary Unmarried (6.91m/2.3), and CSI: NY (13.4m/3.2) up in both measurements. Criminal Minds (13.92m/3.8) was off slightly in viewers, but also gained demo.

Thursday saw week-to-week gains across the board with Survivor (11.78m/3.5), CSI (15.38m/3.6), and The Mentalist (15.08m/3.5). It’s interesting to note that The Mentalist is so close to becoming the #1 show for the network on the night. Friday, as usual, was an easy win with Ghost Whisperer (8.21m/2), Medium (8.04m/1.9), and Numb3rs (7.77m/1.8) all holding up well against baseball.

FOX - A bit of a mixed bag of results in a week that was still very good. The Sunday toons, The Simpsons (7.6m/3.7), Cleveland Show (7.87m/3.9), Family Guy (8.97m/4.6), and American Dad (6.75m/3.5) were all down, but still very strong. It’s worth noting that Cleveland is building on the Simpsons audience. Monday was also down, with House (13.49m/5.2) and Lie To Me (7.87m/2.8). Not a worry for House, the #1 demo of the night, but Lie To Me should be better. Tuesday was a great result as Hell’s Kitchen (8.04m/3.8) continues to hold up amazingly well.

The really interesting bit of the week came on Wednesday. So You Think You Can Dance (7.21m/2.8) continues to grow now that the weeks (and weeks) of auditions are over. It’s now #1 in the demo for the hour. That led to a slight boost for Glee (7.65m/3.4) as well. Thursday was more of the same, with Bones (9.59m/2.8) on par, and Fringe (5.78m/2.2) continuing to struggle in the 9PM meat grinder. Friday was way up over the usual schedule with baseball. Sports are iffy for numbers, but the early results say something in the neighborhood of 7.54 million viewers and a 2.4 for the night.

NBC - How NBC did this week really depends on your glass. Is it half full, or half empty? For example, the entire Monday lineup was up in viewers and demo. But then, when you come up to numbers like Heroes (5.55m/2.4), Trauma (5.49m/1.8), and Leno (5.09m/1.6), it’s hard to really celebrate. There were similar results for Mercy (7.37m/1.9), which was up in the demo. As well as Community (5.01m/2) which gained in both over last week. The only really bad news probably comes from Parks & Recreation (4.53m/2). To give an idea of how bad that is, last year at this time Kath & Kim knocked down 6.01 million viewers and a 2.5.

There was good news to be had. As usual, Sunday Night Football (16.02m/6.2) remains a power. The Biggest Loser (9.14m/3.5) was also rather steady. The Office (8.03m/4.1) was down from the big wedding episode, but remains the best rated scripted program on the network. 30 Rock (6.39m/3), given the demo, also had a successful debut. There was also some good news on the Law & Order front. Both SVU (8.77m/2.6) and L&O (7.6m/1.6) remain down year-to-year, but they are also both gaining. That’s a trend worth watching. It could be that as people tire of the new programming, they’ll return to the old standbys.

Leno, overall, had a rough week that ended with his worst showing yet on Friday. The only victory for Leno came on Wednesday, as the show was #2, edging out Eastwick. The numbers:

Monday (5.09m/1.6)
Tuesday (5.77m/1.8)
Wednesday (6.15m/1.8)
Thursday (5.37m/1.8)
Friday (4.97m/1.2)

CW - Count the littlest network as also having a good week. One Tree Hill (2.55m/1.2), Gossip Girl (2.36m/1.2), Vampire Diaries (3.88m/1.8), Supernatural (2.58m/1.2), and Smallville (2.62m/1.1) were all up over last week. 90210 (2.25m/1.1) was off a tenth in demo, but gained viewers. Next Top Model (3m/1.4) was off over the previous week, but remains the #2 show on the network. The only really bad news continues to be Melrose Place (1.38m/.7) which has now fallen well off the pace of Privileged last season.

CABLE - The most intriguing number for me on cable this week was Nip/Tuck (2.92m/1.4). That’s not a bad number, but it’s more interesting in showing just how successful FX is with Sons Of Anarchy (3.31m/1.8). It looks like SAMCRO will be around for awhile. Let’s just hope the writer’s get this whole Oz fascination out of their system sooner, rather than later. Some other cable numbers of note:

Mad Men (1.53m/.6)
Army Wives (3.93m/1.3)
Monday Night Football (13.14m/5.4)
Top Chef (2.67m/1.4)
South Park (2.56m/1.3)
Secret Girlfriend (1.25m/.6)
It’s Always Sunny (1.61m/1)
Project Runway (2.97m/1.3)
Mythbusters (2.69m/1.2)
The Hills (1.72m/1)
Ghost Hunters (2.91m/1.3)
Real Housewives of Atlanta (2.64m/1.4)
Greek (.66m/.3)

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Favre and Baseball create havoc

Brett Love — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:00:43 +0000

It was a strange week for ratings. Brett Favre playing against Green Bay made for a huge Monday Night Football (21.84m/9) audience on ESPN. And then the baseball playoffs ran through the rest of the week, calling a lot of the seemingly odd drops in viewers into question. Despite that increased competition, there was some good news to be had. The Biggest Loser, Bones, The Office, Lie To Me, Castle, and The Simpsons all managed to make gains week-to-week. Dollhouse also got in the game, stopping a four episode streak of series lows. On the other side, it’s starting to look like ER took all of it’s viewers with it when it left. The premiere numbers for Three Rivers were not good, and NBC’s dueling medical dramas continue to struggle.

FOX - Animation Domination got the week off to a great start, with The Simpsons (9.38m/4.4), Cleveland (8.86m/4.4), Family Guy (9.86m/5.1), and American Dad (7.14m/3.6). Food for thought: In the demo, that makes Family Guy the #1 comedy of the week. On Monday, House (13.74m/5.4) looks to have taken a hit from football. The good news though, is that Lie To Me (8.06m/3.1) was up, despite the drop from House.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly steady with Hell’s Kitchen (7.43m/3.3), So You Think You Can Dance Tuesday (5.47m/2.5), SYTYCD Wednesday (6.22m/2.5), and Glee (7.28m/3.3). Thursday was another example of just how solid the Bones (10.29m/2.9) audience is. No matter the night, or the competition, it gets its numbers. And it is getting very close to passing up FlashForward in the demo as well. Unfortunately, Bones being up, and the appearance of Nimoy, didn’t help Fringe (5.83m/2.1). For now, let’s blame a special episode of The Office and see what happens next week.

Friday brought very similar results, with Brothers (2.35m/.8), Til Death (2.36m/.8), and Dollhouse (2.25m/1). If your glass is half full, those Dollhouse numbers are a win, because the streak of series lows that stretches back four episodes to last season was ended. If your glass is half empty … it was still the second lowest rated episode the series has had.

CBS - The Amazing Race (9.8m/2.8) was down to start the week, which didn’t offer much help to Three Rivers (8.97m/1.9). That’s really not good for the premiere. Cold Case (10.05m/2.2) was steady, if not impressive. Monday was down across the board with How I Met Your Mother (8.08m/3.4), Accidentally On Purpose (7.16m/2.8), 2 ½ Men (13.3m/4.4), Big Bang Theory (12.52m/4.7), and CSI: Miami (13.43m/3.9). I’m willing to chalk that up to football, but the AOP demo is something to keep an eye on.

Tuesday’s lineup, NCIS (20.7m/4.3), NCIS:LA (16.31m/3.6), and The Good Wife (13.69m/2.9) was also down every hour, but still far and away #1 for the night. There were gains on Wednesday as Old Christine (6.86m/1.9) and Gary Unmarried (6.84m/2.2) were both up. Criminal Minds (14.05m/3.6) and CSI:NY (12.43m/2.9) were both down slightly, but Criminal Minds did take back the number one spot in the demo from ABC.

Thursday was another night of decreases, with Survivor (11.69m/3.4), CSI (14.89m/3.5), and The Mentalist (14.7m/3.3) all down. On the plus side, all were the most watched programs in their slots. Friday was again a cake walk, with Ghost Whisperer (8.6m/2.1) and Medium 8.3m/1.9) up week-to-week. Numb3rs (7.13m/1.6) was slightly down in viewers, but did win the hour.

NBC – As always, Sunday Night Football (18.42m/7.4) is solid. The Biggest Loser (9.25m/3.7) also did well, gaining week-to-week and winning the 9PM hour in the demo. More good news came from the big wedding episode of The Office (9.42m/4.8). That is higher in viewers and demo than every episode from last season. Elsewhere, it was a very NBC week.

Heroes (5.46m/2.4) continues to explore new lows. And that isn’t helping Trauma (5.37m/2.7). Mercy (7.43m/1.8) is doing slightly better, but that’s still not what you would call a real success, given the weak Wednesday competition. Community (4.87m/1.9) made the big move to 8, and managed less viewers than SNL Thursday. It did, at least, provide a boost for Parks & Recreation (4.75m/2.1). Things were slightly brighter for L&O SVU (8.29m/2.6) and Law & Order (7.23m/1.5), but both are not even close to doing what they once did.

Leno? He had a tough week. The numbers continue to slowly grind down to a level, with this week finding two nights dropping below 5 million viewers. Tuesday remains his most successful night. The only nights where he isn’t last in both measures are Tuesday (2nd in demo) and Wednesday (2nd in viewers).

Monday (4.45m/1.5)
Tuesday (6.22m/2.1)
Wednesday (5.72m/1.7)
Thursday (4.84m/1.7)
Friday (5.33m/1.4)

ABC – Things got off to a nice start Sunday as Extreme Makeover (11.63m/3.4), Desperate Housewives (14.64m/5), and Brothers & Sisters (9.46m/3.2) were all up. A return to the 5s in the demo is very encouraging for Desperate Housewives. With Monday, the network started suffering many of the same drops the other networks saw. Dancing With The Stars (16.35m/3.5) was down, but still strong. On the plus side, despite that drop, Castle (9.23m/2.2) was up just a bit.

DWTS (12.42m/2.6) was down on Tuesday as well, while Shark Tank (5.15m/1.5) and The Forgotten (7.55m/1.9) both saw small viewer gains. Wednesday was one of those very curious nights, with Hank (6.45m/1.6), The Middle (6.79m/2.1), Modern Family (8.82m/3.4), Cougar Town (7.84m/3.2), and Eastwick (5.14m/1.8) all suffering large losses. We’ll have to wait for next week to see how much of that sticks. The best news there is probably for Castle, which is now well above The Forgotten and Eastwick.

Thursday remains a strong night for the network with FlashForward (9m/3), Grey’s Anatomy (14.13m/5.4), and Private Practice (9.5m/3.6). Those numbers still have FlashForward ahead of where Ugly Betty was last season, but it has now fallen to third in viewers and second in the demo. It will be interesting to see where it plateaus. Private Practice is notable because it remains ahead of The Mentalist in the demo, which is an unexpected win.

CW - One Tree Hill (2.13m/1.1), Gossip Girl (2.08m/1.1), and 90210 (2.09m/1.2) were all down in viewers this week, with 90210 gaining a tenth in demo. Melrose Place (1.6m/.9), on the other hand, was up in both measures. I believe the gains come from starting the episode with Katie Cassidy in her underthings, and look forward to the network taking that into account as they film new episodes.

With Next Top Model (3.15m/1.5), Wednesday was down just a touch in viewers, and up a whole bunch in WTF? Seriously, why is there a repeat of Melrose following the number two show on the network? The spot is open, and Smallville would obviously do better Wednesday at 9. Thursday, Vampire Diaries (3.52m/1.7) continues to lead the network, and Supernatural (2.47m/1.2) had a small drop in viewers. Friday, Smallville (2.3m/1) was down year to year, but still managed more viewers than OTH, GG, 90210, and MP.

Cable - Monday Night Football (21.84m/9) took full advantage of all of the Favre craziness, topping everything on the broadcast networks for the week in viewers and demo. Other highlights this week included the Entourage finale (2.49m/1.5), Sons Of Anarchy (3.67m/2), and Project Runway (3.22m/1.5). Also of note, the Seinfeld reunion was able to add an extra half million viewers to Curb Your Enthusiasm (1.56m/.7). In really crazy drop numbers, remember that Jon & Kate premiere with 10 million viewers? All of their shenanigans have resulted in the latest episode managing just 1.71 million. Some other cable numbers to peruse:

Army Wives (3.33m/1.1)
Drop Dead Diva (2.79m/.9)
Dexter (1.37m/.6)
Californication (.77m/.4)
South Park (2.67m/1.3)
Secret Girlfriend (1.55m/.8)
WWE RAW (4.71m/1.6)
The Ultimate Fighter (2.76m/1.6)
It’s Always Sunny (1.51m/.9)
Mad Men (1.91m/.7)
Bored To Death (1.08m/.5)
The Hills (2.3m/1.4)
The City (1.61m/.9)
Lincoln Heights (.75m/.2)
Greek (.72m/.3)
Top Chef (2.76m/1.5)
Mythbusters (1.89m/.9)
Ghost Hunters (2.74m/1.3)
Destination Truth (2.04m/1)
Sherri (.44m/.1)
Rita Rocks (.28m/.1)

Photo Credit: FOX

Ratings Clack – Is Dollhouse about to get pulled?

Brett Love — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:39 +0000

Week two of the full-tilt-boogie season brought with it some interesting things, including premieres for Animation Domination, The Amazing Race, Trauma, Hank, and The Middle. We also saw more huge numbers from House, NCIS, and Grey’s. But after all of that, the most interesting story again comes from the show with the worst ratings on all of the big four networks, Dollhouse. After season two premiered to a series low last week, things got even worse. Episode two just barely cleared the 2 million viewer bar, while falling below a 1 in the demo. Reached for comment, my BFF Jill said, “OMG! RLY!?”

Yes, really. The situation is dire. Even the hardcore Whedonites are now at DEFCON 1. Someone has got word that the show could be in danger of being pulled from the air. I don’t know anything more than they do about that, but I would expect it to get one more shot this Friday, before baseball takes over. If episode three doesn’t show some sort of improvement though, I wouldn’t be surprised if baseball makes way for a series of House and Bones repeats on Fridays at 9.

FOX - Since Dollhouse (2.09m/.8) led things off, let’s start there. That is absolutely terrible. To put it in perspective, 6 of the 7 new hours on the CW last week beat it in viewers and the demo. And the 7th, Melrose Place, still managed to tie it in the demo. It also again fell short of its Friday partners, Brothers (2.42m/.8) and ‘Til Death (2.29m/.8). Fortunately for FOX, while the end of the week was a disaster, the beginning was the complete opposite.

Things got off to a great start with the premiere of Animation Domination. The Simpsons (8.31m/4.3) was off just a touch from last season’s premiere, but The Cleveland Show (9.51m/4.9), Family Guy (10.11m/5.2), and American Dad (7.14m/3.6) all brought year-to-year increases to their spots. The good news continued Monday, with House (14.71m/5.8). That is more than 2 demo points above second place Dancing With The Stars. From there, things were more mixed.

Lie To Me (7.73m/2.9) was a solid third in viewers and demo, but those numbers are all too close to where it was while airing at 8 last season. I expected more of a boost, given the post-House slot. Wednesday and Thursday were a mixed bag, with Hell’s Kitchen (6.64m/3.1), So You Think You Can Dance (5.18m/2.4 – 6.81m/2.7), and Glee (7.4m/3.3). Hell’s Kitchen and Glee are solid, but SYTYCD could be doing better. I’m curious to see what happens when the all too-long audition episodes end. Finally, Thursday was a repeat of last week with Bones (9.43m/2.7) holding strong, and Fringe (6.03m/2.3) getting crushed by the heavyweight Thursday competition.

CBS - The Dollhouse kerfuffle trumped NCIS (21.37m/4.8) for my before-the-jump spot, but just barely. Surprising just about everyone, NCIS not only held on to all of the demo from the premiere, but also increased in viewers. That led to a great Tuesday. Combined with NCIS: LA (17.39m/4.1) and The Good Wife (13.69m/3.2), the network was up in viewers and demo in every hour year-to-year. Earlier in the week, The Amazing Race (10.4m/3.4) returned to solid numbers on Sunday, followed by Cold Case (9.19m/2.1).

Monday was also a big success, overall. How I Met Your Mother (8.71m/3.6), 2 ½ Men (13.86m/4.8), Big Bang Theory (13.27m/5.3), and CSI: Miami (13.96m/4.1) all did great. We’re getting very close to Big Bang taking over as the outright #1 comedy on television. The only real misstep was Accidentally On Purpose (8.03m/3.1). That’s not bad, but it does stand out compared to the rest of the night.

The rest of the week proceeded as expected. Old Christine (6.65m/1.9) and Gary Unmarried (6.65m/2.2) remain the weak spot in the lineup, while Criminal Minds (14.24m/3.8) and CSI: NY (13.16m/3.3) own the rest of Wednesday. CSI (15.94m/4.1) narrowly edged Grey’s in viewers, but is now getting hammered in the demo. The other two hours on Thursday have much more intriguing battles shaping up. Survivor (11.54m/3.7) and FlashForward are very close, and that one could go either way each week. And at 10, The Mentalist (15.75m/3.8) couldn’t match the Private Practice premiere demo, but the two should be very interesting to watch going forward. Finally, it was another easy win on Friday; despite everything being down, the perfect combination of Ghost Whisperer (7.63m/1.7), Medium (7.72m/1.8), and Numb3rs (7.73m/1.6) won every hour.

ABC - Things were a little less exciting on ABC. There was some good news. Grey’s Anatomy (15.69m/6.1) remains huge, and led to a great premiere for Private Practice (11.58m/4.6). Desperate Housewives (13.64m/4.7), while down, is still a legitimate hit. And Brothers & Sisters (9.38m/3) is solid following it. The network also has to be excited about the week two performances of Modern Family (9.99m/3.8), Cougar Town (9.25m/3.8), and FlashForward (10.73m/3.7). All three held up very well and look to have greatly improved their places on the schedule.

Things weren’t quite as good elsewhere. Dancing With The Stars (17.03m/3.7 – 13.02m/2.7) is still a viewer machine on performance night, but it was more than two full demo points behind House. The results show has now fallen to second in viewers and third in the demo. The show is still strong, but not nearly what it once was. Elsewhere, Castle (9.15m/2.2) remains rather soft, although comparisons with The Forgotten (7.45m/2), and Eastwick (6.57m/2.3) may help it. Finishing the week, Hank (8.33m/2.1) and The Middle (8.71m/2.6) had disappointing numbers, considering they were premieres in a fairly weak hour. They’ll have their hands full with Gary and Christine in coming weeks. And finally, Shark Tank (4.75m/1.5) has now fallen below Opportunity Knocks from this time last year. And we all know how that ended.

NBC – The good news, as usual, comes from Sunday Night Football (17.47m/6.8), The Biggest Loser (9.18m/3.7), and The Office (7.41m/3.9). The bad news starts with Heroes (5.72m/2.5), and continues to SNL Thursday (5.02m/1.8), Parks & Recreation (4.67m/2), and Law & Order (6.68m/1.2). Somewhere in the middle, we find the dueling medical dramas, Trauma (6.68m/2.2), and Mercy (7.39m/2.1). Those are iffy demos, especially considering Mercy’s competition, but the fact that they are both getting more viewers than Heroes, and three of the four Thursday comedies, is at least a small positive.

Community (5.86m/2.9) rebounded slightly after the Grey’s and CSI premieres last week, but those numbers don’t bode well for its debut at 8 next week. I’d be shocked to see it match Earl from this time last season (7.09m/2.7). Finally, the most curious result of all has to be Law & Order SVU (8.09m/2.5). The show has been a huge winner for the network for years, and I really expected a battle with Criminal Minds. Getting beaten by 6 million viewers and 1.3 demo points has to come as a surprise.

CW - Overall, you’d have to call it a positive week. One Tree Hill (2.51m/1.1) and Gossip Girl (2.36m/1.2) were both up after last week’s big House special delivered quite a blow. Likewise, 90210 (2.21m/1.1) and Next Top Model (3.28m/1.5) were both up as well. Vampire Diaries (3.53m/1.6) and Supernatural (2.6m/1.2) were both down slightly, but continue to be the strongest night in viewers and the adult demo for the network. Monday remains strongest among younger viewers. Smallville (2.39m/.9) even got in on the game; despite being obviously down from last season, it did manage to beat both hours on FOX on Friday. The real problem on the schedule is now Melrose Place (1.42m/.8), which has fallen behind where Privileged was at this time last season.

Cable – The shocking stat from the cable list this week is that I managed to turn up at least 13 shows with more viewers than Dollhouse. Really, those numbers are that bad. The real standout on cable though, was The Ultimate Fighter (5.31m/3.1) on Spike. Sons Of Anarchy (3.76m/1.9) also remains very strong for FX, especially considering it is airing during the regular network season. Some other cable numbers to ponder:

Stargate: Universe (2.35m)
Mad Men (1.73m/.6)
Entourage (1.87m/1.1)
It’s Always Sunny (2.02m/1.2)
Drop Dead Diva (2.52m/.8)
Project Runway (2.8m/1.3)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (1.05m/.6)
Bored To Death (.71m/.4)
Army Wives (3.38m/1.1)
WWE RAW (4.5m/1.6)
Monday Night Football (15.7m/6.6)
The Hills (2.36m/1.5)
The City (2.03m/1.3)
Ghost Hunters (2.89m/1.2)
America’s Best Dance Crew (2.25m/1.2)
Lincoln Heights (.86m/.3)
Greek (.74m/.4)
Kourtney & Khloe (2.23m/1.3)
Real Housewives of Atlanta (2.72m/1.5)
Destination Truth (2.33m/1)

Photo Credit: FOX

Fall 2009 pre-season predictions: Sunday

Brett Love — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:00:16 +0000

Whoops. The pre-season post for Sunday completely slipped my mind. That could be because it does promise to be a rather dull night where the ratings are concerned. Three Rivers and The Cleveland Show are the only new entries on the night, and neither of them looks to really shake things up. So, for the most part, Sunday night will look much like it did last season. There will be small fluctuations in the numbers, but nothing dramatic. In the bigger picture, I would look for FOX to be up slightly, while ABC is down slightly. CBS is taking a gamble that could go either way, and NBC, with football, will remain erratic, based on the games.

Sunday
	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30
ABC	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition		Desperate Housewives		Brothers & Sisters
NBC	Sunday Night Football
CBS	The Amazing Race		Three Rivers		Cold Case
FOX	The Simpsons	The Cleveland Show	Family Guy	American Dad

Getting a little more into the thinking of the opening, ABC will be down slightly simply because that is the trend. Extreme Makeover and Desperate Housewives both slowly lost viewers last season. That’s partly due to the nature of network television, and partly due to the shows having been on for a long time. It just happens. That’s not to say that either of them is in any real danger. The new seasons will end up just below last season, but that still makes for numbers that are a real success for the network. Brothers & Sisters should be impacted less, because it’s still young enough that the erosion isn’t as severe. It will make for better retention out of Desperate Housewives this season.

CBS, on the other hand, could really go either way. The Amazing Race will again do its thing leading off the night. It’s become a solid Sunday night performer, providing a good alternative to NBC’s football. The curious bit is the move of Cold Case from 9:00 to 10:00. The show was consistent following Race, and I would expect it to do similar numbers again. In that regard, putting Three Rivers there is a bit of a gamble. I get the thinking — the network is trying to hold onto more of the younger demo that Cold Case was losing from Race. Great if it works, but a disaster if it doesn’t, as it will take Cold Case down with it. My guess is that initially, it will be a winner, improving the demo of Cold Case from last season. After that, it will be down to how the show develops.

There’s nothing too exciting for FOX or NBC. The FOX schedule is slightly improved simply for having The Cleveland Show plugged in at 8:30. That should provide the boost to the King Of The Hill numbers that Sit Down, Shut Up wasn’t able to deliver, making the whole night come out ahead. At NBC, football is always a winner, and it will make Sunday the strongest night for the network more often than not.

Photo Credit: CBS

TV on DVD for September 1st

Brett Love — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:00:21 +0000

I’ll never understand the thought process behind TV on DVD release dates. Why do so many of them end up coming out just weeks before the new season starts? After everyone just had a whole summer with a drastically reduced television schedule. Shouldn’t there really be a flood of new season sets in May and June? Whatever the case … as has become the norm, with the new seasons approaching we have a bunch of current shows releasing new sets. Among those you’ll find Supernatural, Heroes, Two And A Half Men, The Game, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Rescue Me, and CSI. My pick for the week actually isn’t even a TV show. It’s the latest Bring It On movie, Fight To The Finish. I’ll explain that, and have the rest of the releases, after the jump.

Supernatural: The Complete 4th Season

If I had to pick a favorite show currently on television, Supernatural would be it. It’s just so good, every time out. Because the show is on The CW, I don’t think Kripke and his team get enough credit for what they’ve put together with these four seasons. The story of the Winchester brothers hasn’t missed a beat the whole way through. And it covers the gamut, from frightening, to heart-wrenching, to laugh out loud funny. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for season five, and if you haven’t hopped on board yet, this is one that I highly recommend. (Check our our giveaway for the Blu-ray version of this set).

Heroes: Season 3 (Blu-ray)
And if I had to pick the show currently on TV that most frustrates me, Heroes would be it. It’s a strange relationship I have with Heroes. And its one that I’m sure more than a few other fans share. At its core, the idea is so good. Unfortunately, the execution of that idea has been … hit and miss? Moments of brilliance all too often give way to moments of head scratching bewilderment. But there is just enough there, and enough hope that it will all turn around, that you have to see it through. Season three had both its highlights, and its lowlights, but it should be a nice collection for anyone that is still hanging in there.

Bring It On: Fight To The Finish

Ok, it’s technically not TV on DVD, but it’s not like this one was ever released in the theaters. And, the Bring It On series is stuffed to the gills with TV actresses. The original had both Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) and Gabrielle Union (Flash Forward). Bring It On Again had Felicia Day (The Guild). All Or Nothing added Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Kiersten Warren (Maximum Bob!). In It To Win It starred Ashley Benson (Eastwick) and Cassie Scerbo (Make It Or Break It). And now Fight To The Finish has Laura Ceron (ER), Gabrielle Dennis (The Game), and an appearance by Lauren Gottlieb (So You Think You Can Dance). And yes, I do know far too much about screwball comedy cheerleader movies.

C.S.I.: The Complete 9th Season – Grissom’s exit didn’t do a lot for the ratings, but there were highlights, with Taylor Swift guest starring and a “Star Trek” based episode featuring Ronald D. Moore.
The Game: The 1st Season – This one was much better than the ratings, or its treatment by the network, would suggest. Worth a look.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 3 – You can never go wrong with Scooby-Doo.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 8 – Also always a solid animated choice.
Desperate Housewives: The Complete 5th Season – Here’s an odd bit from the extras disk – Miss Piggy takes Wisteria Lane. WTF?
Brothers & Sisters: The Complete 3rd Season – More drama from the Walker family. It’s hard to go wrong with Patricia Wettig vs Sally Field.
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Volume 1 – A very cool idea. These are the other detectives from the time of Sherlock Holmes. It includes Jeremy Irons in his first screen appearance.
Two and a Half Men: The Complete 6th Season – The number one comedy on television, for years now.
Rescue Me: Season 5, Volume 1 – Somehow, I’ve never seen this show. It’s one on the list to get to eventually.
People Like Us: The Complete Series – UK comedy from 1999 featuring guests such as Sarah Alexander, Bill Nighy, and David Tennant.
Ben 10: Alien Force: Volume 4 – Another installment from the Cartoon Network stalwart.
Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye – The three part story about the beginning of the battle between good and evil on Earth.
Shaun the Sheep: Vol 4: Little Sheep of Horrors – Something for the kiddos that, based on the description, sounds pretty fun.
And finally, three new releases from Doctor Who: Story #088: The Deadly Assassin – Story #094: Image of the Fendahl – Story #150: Delta and the Bannerman

Photo Credit: CW

Presenting CliqueClack’s guide to the 2009-10 fall season

Richard Keller — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:00:42 +0000

To subscribe to the below schedule in iCal, copy this link and paste into the ‘Subscribe…’ menu item in iCal. You can also just click it to open iCal or even click to add to your iPhone calendar. The same link will work in a Google Calendar as well! Or see the calendar as a web page (also embedded at the bottom here). The calendar will update as new shows are added/changed and with links to our reviews as we publish them.

Welcome to CliqueClack’s guide for the 2009-10 fall season! Or, in the case of NBC, The Great Experiment. Now, if you didn’t realize it already, this fall season is going to be different from past years. First, there’s no ER, which will feel a little weird. Second, Lost will be ending its run in the spring of 2010. Third, American Idol will be without Paula Abdul. And finally, Jay Leno is going to come into your homes at 10 PM each night and try to convince you that scripted programming is dead.

Once this season pans out, that may or may not be the case on the big Four and a Quarter networks. With so many viewers moving to other venues of original, scripted programming like cable and the Internet, the networks are fighting for life … again. Well, NBC and ABC probably are: CBS and FOX are doing okay for the time being. So, the big question is whether or not they can come back with ambitious programs like Flash Forward, comedies like Hank and The Middle, which feature known stars, remakes like Parenthood and Melrose Place, and Chevy Chase?

Only time and ratings will tell. In the meantime, CliqueClack TV is here to present you with the most comprehensive premiere schedule on the Internet. Something that you will come back to time and time again to peruse in order to plan your day. Just be aware that dates and times of these premieres may change at the whim of a network executive with too much gas. Now, without further typing…

Guide Notes:

New series premieres in bold italic

* – denotes new time/day

? – asks why the f%*&k this show is still on the air

September

To Be Determined

3:00 and 4:00 The Tyra Banks Show(CW) – Season 4 premiere. First on CW. Airdate to be determined.

Monday, September 7th

Dinosaur Train (PBS) – Check local listings for times.

Electric Company (PBS) – Check local listings for times.

10:00 Durham County (ION) – The network’s first original drama

Tuesday, September 8th

8:00 90210 (CW) – Season 2 premiere

9:00 Melrose Place (CW) – Coming next season, remakes of Booker and The Heights.

10:00 Sons of Anarchy (FX) – Season 2 premiere

Wednesday, September 9th

8:00 America’s Next Top Model (CW) – Season 13 premiere

8:00 So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) - Season 6 premiere

9:00 Glee (FOX) - A feel-good show on FOX? Nah, can’t be! (here’s our preview of Glee’s return)

9:00 Inside the NFL (Showtime)

10:00 Destination Truth (SyFy) – Season 3 premiere

Thursday, September 10th

8:00 The Vampire Diaries (CW)

9:00 Supernatural (CW) – Season 5 premiere

Friday, September 11th

10:00 20/20 (ABC)

Saturday, September 12th

8:00 COPS (FOX) – Season 20 premiere. Coming up this season — the 700th episode!

9:00 Robin Hood (BBC America) – Season 2 premiere

9:00 America’s Most Wanted (FOX) – Season 23 premiere

Sunday, September 13th

7:00 Football Night in America (NBC)

8:15 NBC Sunday Night Football (NBC)

Monday, September 14th

Dr. Phil (Syndicated) – Season 8 premiere. Check local listings for times.

Oprah (Syndicated) – Season 24 premiere. Check local listing for times.

The Rachel Ray Show (Syndicated) – Check local listings for times.

8:00 Lincoln Heights (ABC Family) – Season 4 premiere

8:00 One Tree Hill (CW) – Season 7 premiere

9:00 Gossip Girl (CW) – Season 3 premiere

10:00 The Jay Leno Show (NBC) – The start of The Great Experiment. Guest stars for the premiere include Jay Z, Kayne West, Rhianna, and Jerry Seinfeld.

Tuesday, September 15th

8:00 The Biggest Loser (NBC) – Weekly shows from 8-10 pm, followed by Jay Leno’s show. Yes, this is the new face of NBC.

Wednesday, September 16th

9:00 The Beautiful Life (CW)

Thursday, September 17th

8:00 Survivor: Samoa (CBS) – 19th season premiere

8:00 Bones (FOX) – Season five premiere. Here’s hoping Booth recovers from his coma.

9:30 Thursday Night Live (NBC) – Season 2 premiere. Not too sure what they’re going to talk about now that the election is over.

8:30 Parks and Recreation (NBC) – Season 2 premiere

9:00 Fringe* (FOX) – Season 2 premiere

9:00 The Office (NBC) – Season 6 premiere.

9:30 Community (NBC) – Chevy Chase returns to TV, and not in a talk show format! (Here’s a Guest Clack post about the show)

10:00 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) – Season 5 premiere

Friday, September 18th

10:00 Crash (STARZ) – Season 2 premiere

Sunday, September 20th

9:00 Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) – Season 7 premiere

10:45 Bored to Death (HBO)

Monday, September 21st

8:00 Dancing With the Stars (ABC) – Season 9 premiere. And … Donny Osmond!

8:00 How I Met Your Mother* (CBS) – Season … wait for it … 5 premiere.

8:00 House (FOX) – Season 6 premiere. Will House get out of the looney bin? Only a two-hour episode will tell.

8:00 Heroes (NBC) – Two-hour, season 4 premiere

8:30 Accidentally on Purpose (CBS)

9:00 Two and a Half Men (CBS) – Season 7 premiere

9:30 Big Bang Theory* (CBS) – Season 3 premiere

10:00 Castle (ABC) – Season 2 premiere

10:00 CSI: Miami (CBS) – Season 8 premiere

10:00 Madventures (Travel) – An actual travel show on the Travel Channel? Get out!

Tuesday, September 22nd

8:00 NCIS (CBS) – Season 7 premiere

9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)

10:00 The Forgotten (ABC)

10:00 The Good Wife (CBS) – The return of Julianna Margulies

10:00 The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck (Oxygen) – And you can all get your minds out of the gutter with that title.

Wednesday, September 23rd

8:00 The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) – Season 5 premiere

8:00 Mercy (NBC) – It might be me, but this show really belongs on Lifetime. (Here’s our preview post on the show.)

8:30 Gary Unmarried (CBS) – Season 2 premiere. Hey, the show isn’t half-bad!

9:00 Criminal Minds (CBS) – Season 5 premiere

9:00 Law & Order: SVU* (NBC) – Season 11 premiere.

9:00 Modern Family (ABC) – All-star cast, including Ed O’Neil and Julie Bowen, give this comedy a chance (Check out our preview post on this show.)

9:30 Cougar Town (ABC) – Courtney Cox’s new comedy. (Check out our preview post on this show.)

10:00 Eastwick (ABC) (Check out our post about this show.)

10:00 CSI: NY (CBS) – Season 6 premiere

Thursday, September 24th

8:00 Flash Forward (ABC) – Another series full of mysteries. How long before people’s heads begin to explode? (Check out our review of the pilot script and preview of the pilot episode.)

9:00 Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – Season 6 premiere

9:00 CSI (CBS) – Season 10 premiere

10:00 The Mentalist* (CBS) – Season 2 premiere

Friday, September 25th

8:00 Ghost Whisperer (CBS) – Season 5 premiere

8:00 Smallville (CW) – Season 9 premiere

8:00 Brothers (FOX) – One-hour series premiere.

8:00 Law & Order* (NBC) – Season 20(!) premiere. And, maybe its last.

9:00 Medium (CBS) – Season 6 premiere (1st season premiere on CBS)

9:00 Dollhouse (FOX) – Season 2 premiere. Yes, I’m being serious!

10:00 Numb3rs (CBS) – Season 6 premiere

Saturday, September 26th

10:00 48 Hours Mystery (CBS) – Because there isn’t enough crime on the CBS schedule.

11:30 Saturday Night Live (NBC) – Season 35, which may have been about 15 seasons too long. Allegedly, Megan Fox will be host. So, if the show sucks, at least we can look (leer) admiringly at her.

Sunday, September 27th

7:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) – Season 10 premiere. Prepare for tissue stocks to skyrocket.

7:00 60 Minutes (CBS) – The whopping 42nd season premiere.

8:00 The Amazing Race (CBS) – 15th season premiere

8:00 The Simpsons (FOX) – The big 2-0 for this long-running animated comedy.

8:30 The Cleveland Show (FOX) – After a year of promotion this show finally gets its chance.

9:00 Desperate Housewives (ABC) – Season 6 premiere

9:00 Family Guy (FOX) – Season 8 premiere, which is supposed to be their Empire Strikes Back parody. But, it’s only a half hour. Hmm…

9:00 Dexter (Showtime) – Season 4 premiere.

9:30 American Dad (FOX) – This fifth season(!) premiere ends the first week of “Seth Sunday” on FOX.

10:00 Brothers & Sisters (ABC) – Season 4 premiere

10:00 Cold Case (CBS) – Season 7 premiere

10:00 Californication (Showtime) – Season 3 premiere

Monday, September 28th

8:00 Lie to Me* (FOX) – Season two premiere

9:00 Trauma (NBC) – ER with more explosions. (Here’s our preview post on the show.)

Tuesday, September 29th

8:00 Shark Tank (ABC) – The press release says “in-season premiere,” which means it’s either a continuation of the summer run or the beginning of season two.

9:00 Dancing With the Stars the Results Show (ABC)

10:00 The Hills (MTV) – Season 5 premiere

Wednesday, September 30th

8:00 Hank (ABC) – Kelsey Grammer’s new sitcom

8:30 The Middle (ABC) – Patricia Heaton’s new comedy

October

To Be Determined

3:00 Let’s Make a Deal (CBS) – Hosted by Wayne Brady

Thursday, October 1st

10:00 Private Practice (ABC) – Season 3 premiere

Friday, October 2nd

8:00 Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon) – Season 2 premiere

8:30 ‘Til Death* (FOX) – Season 4 premiere. Though, I have a feeling they’ll be burning off a number of season three episodes as well.

9:00 Stargate Universe (SyFy) – Eh, I don’t know about this one.

Sunday, October 4th

7:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) – Holy frak! This is the show’s 20th season. I wonder if Bob Saget will make a cameo.

9:00 Three Rivers (CBS) – The return of Alex O’Loughlin

9:00 The Next Iron Chef (Food)

Monday, October 5th

7:00 Sherri (Lifetime)

7:30 Rita Rocks (Lifetime) – Season two premiere

Wednesday, October 6th

9:00 Scare Tactics (SyFy) – Season 2 premiere

Thursday, October 7th

10:00 South Park (Comedy Central) – Season 13 premiere

Friday, October 8th

10:00 TOSH.0 (Comedy Central) – New episodes from this summer’s premiere.

Friday, October 9th

10:00 Sanctuary (SyFy) – Season 2 premiere

Monday, October 13th

10:00 Disaster House (DIY) – Houses are wrecked to show the wear and tear that are inflicted upon them over the years. Obviously small children that are full of sugar are involved.

Wednesday, October 14th

10:00 Nip/Tuck (FX) – Season 6 premiere

Thursday, October 15th

9:30 30 Rock (NBC) – Season 4 premiere. And you thought Studio 60 would have been the show that came out the winner.

Friday, October 16th

8:00 Supernanny (ABC) – Oy!

8:00 Ugly Betty* (ABC) – Two-hour, season 4 premiere

Sunday, October 18th

8:00 Occupation (BBC America) – American release

11:00 The Venture Bros. (Cartoon) – Season premiere

Friday, October 23rd

9:00 Southland* (NBC) – Season 2 premiere.

10:00 White Collar (USA Network) – Tiffany Theisen!

Wednesday, October 28th

Friday Night Lights (DirecTV) – Season 4 premiere

November

Tuesday, November 3rd

8:00 V (ABC) – Yet another remake on the fall schedule (Here’s our preview post about the show.)

Saturday, November 7th

11:00 The Wanda Sykes Show (FOX)

Monday, November 9th

11:00 Lopez Tonight (TBS) – Another weeknight talkshow

Midseason Premieres

24 (FOX)
American Idol (FOX) – The Paula Abdul-less version
Better off Ted (ABC)
Blonde Charity Mafia (CW)
Caprica(SyFy)
Chuck (NBC) – Yeah!
Day One (NBC)
Human Target (FOX)
Lost (ABC) – Last. Season. Ever!
Life Unexpected (CW)
Parenthood (NBC)
Scrubs (ABC) – Or, Scrubs 2.0

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Finale bonanza

Brett Love — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:00:34 +0000

The 2008-2009 television season is quickly coming to a close. Last week saw some 30 season/series finales hitting our screens. The resulting numbers were all over the place. Some shows took advantage of the situation, pulling out all the stops and hitting numbers they hadn’t seen in some time. Others held steady. And a few signed in with troubling drops.

I’ve mentioned before that these final numbers could hold sway as the networks prepare to release the fall schedules this week. That does still apply, although, after all the shenanigans over the weekend, with Dollhouse and Better Off Ted being renewed, just how much sway becomes a little more cloudy.

ABC - Kind of a good news/medium news week for the network. Things started off a bit rocky on Sunday. Desperate Housewives (12.29m/4.1) was off a bit, but that is still the highest rated show on Sunday night, so it’s not a big worry. That led to the finale of Brothers & Sisters (8.74m/3), which remains a solid solution for Sundays at 10. There was a similar drop with the Dancing With The Stars (18.55m/4.2) performance show on Monday. But I think much of that can be chalked up to the first half hour being nothing but a rehash of the season. Tom and the gang were followed by the season finale of Castle (9.96m/2.4) which made the best out of getting the cushy time slot. It was enough to garner a second season for the show.

Tuesday brought more good numbers for the DWTS Results (14.01m/3.1) and some bad ones for the finale of Cupid (5.05m/1.5), which was better news for Castle than anyone else. The writers at Lost (9.43m/4.4) delivered one of those ‘pull out all the stops’ finales on Wednesday. We’ll save the debate about whether it was a good finale for Bob’s post. For our purposes here, while it’s pretty clear the show is never going to return to the 20 million viewer level, the 4.4 demo score means it’s still a legitimate hit show. The news was even better on Thursday. Grey’s Anatomy (16.53m/5.9) also went big with the finale, and it paid with numbers the show hasn’t seen in a long time.

CBS - Going a bit out of order, CSI (14.81m/3.4) was the polar opposite of Grey’s. Forget pulling out all the stops, it was as if there was a directive assuring that all the stops would be pushed as far in as they would go. Really, that episode could have been dropped in anywhere in the season, as if they didn’t even care that it was the finale. Worse yet, those are the worst numbers of the season. For the finale. That’s a problem.

Elsewhere, the news was better. Sunday was solid, as The Amazing Race (10.49m/3.1), Cold Case (11.84m/2.6), and The Unit (9.64m/2.4) called it a season. Early reports say that those numbers were enough to get another season for Cold Case. Monday, The Big Bang Theory (9.76m/3.7) finale led into How I Met Your Mother (8.78m/3.6), 2 ½ Men (13.11m/4.5), Rules Of Engagement (10.14m/3.6), and CSI: Miami (13.59m/3.9). Those numbers are slightly down for Men and Engagement, and it marks a rare demo win for Miami over big brother CSI. Crime continued to pay on Tuesday, with NCIS (16.19m/3.3), The Mentalist (16.21m/3.3), and Without A Trace 13.4m/2.8). Finally, the CBS Friday wrapped up the season with Ghost Whisperer (8.93m/2), Flashpoint (8.42m/1.8), and Numb3rs (9.6m/2.1).

NBC – It was an up and down week for the network. Celebrity Apprentice (8.81m/3.1) and The Biggest Loser (11.85m/4.7) held up their ends on Sunday and Tuesday, both bringing 3 hour finales. That Biggest Loser number is especially impressive, facing Idol, NCIS, The Mentalist, DWTS Results, and Fringe. On the other hand, Monday and Wednesday remain troubled. Deal Or No Deal (4.23m/1.1) really needs to end. It’s not offering any help to Medium (7.3m/2.3), which remains solid, if not impressive. Law and Order Wednesday isn’t doing much for the numbers either. The reruns are being ignored, and the original Law & Order (7.89m/2.2) was a distant third for the night.

The real worries came on Thursday. It is the networks most successful scripted night. And, sadly we do have to qualify that with ’scripted’ because The Biggest Loser kicks the hell out of the prized comedies. In a night of comedy finales, My Name Is Earl (4.84m/2) and Parks & Recreation (4.29m/2) were both off the pace. That’s bad, but not exactly surprising. What is surprising, the numbers for The Office (6.77m/3.5). That’s the lowest rating the show has seen in two years, for a finale, with a big Jim & Pam reveal. That, of course, didn’t do any favors for 30 Rock (5.69m/2.8) which was also below par. To cap it all off, the shine is most definitely off of Southland (4.65m/1.6). The network might have been a little hasty pulling the trigger on renewing that one.

FOX - After a bumpy start on Sunday that saw The Simpsons (5.19m/2.5), Family Guy (6.35m/3.2), and American Dad (4.88m/2.4) all down week to week, things picked up Monday. House (12.74m/4.7) is still a hit, besting DWTS and Men for the highest demo of the night. 24 (9.79m/3.2) followed, with usual results. American Idol, of course, won everything on Tuesday (22.71m/8) and Wednesday (24.67m/8.7), but the more interesting story is probably the shows it is paired with.

The Fringe (9.28m/3.9) finale remained reasonably steady, wrapping up what has been a very successful first season. The interesting bit is that reported schedules for the fall have Fringe stepping out on its own, without the protection of House and Idol. Has the show developed an audience all its own? It will be fascinating to find out. Lie To Me (8.46m/2.6) also remained steady, compared to its recent 8 o’clock numbers. It does remain the most puzzling scheduling question of the season though. Why Idol at 9? The numbers would be virtually identical at 8, and Lie To Me would be averaging a good two million more viewers and better than a point more in the demo.

Thursday, Bones (8.88m/2.6) remains somewhat down on Thursdays, when compared to itself on another night. But the move has been a success, giving FOX a presence on the night that it hasn’t had in years. That alone made the renewal a no-brainer. Hell’s Kitchen (7.37m/3.2) continues to surprise, and very nearly edged CSI in the demo. Finally, Friday brought the series finale of the already canceled Prison Break (3.33m/1.2). Yes, that did top the finale of Dollhouse, making that whole renewal just that much more strange.

CW - It was business as usual down at the CW this week. Gossip Girl (2.3m/1.2), and One Tree Hill (2.3m/1.1) remain at their mid-season levels. Likewise, Reaper (1.97m/.9) seems to have settled in at a number. 90210 (2.08m/1.2) did show some small gains. On Wednesday, the finale for Next Top Model (4.31m/1.9) set the show apart as easily the highest rated program on the network, while again asking the question, “Why do they only show 90210 repeats after their highest rated show?” Finales for Smallville (3.13m/1.4) and Supernatural (2.89m/1.3) solidified Thursday as the strongest scripted night for the network. And finally, an odd one hour dramedy episode served as the finale for The Game (1.86m/.9). It finished things off so it will work as a series ender, but there are rumors that the show’s value in syndication could bring an ATJesque renewal.

Coming up this week … everything else wraps up. Sunday sees a couple of the big hitters call it a season when Desperate Housewives and Survivor call it quits. Monday brings finales for Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, How I Met Your Mother, 2 ½ Men, and CSI: Miami. We’ll aslo get the final performance show from Dancing With The Stars, the premiere of The Bachelorette, and a two hour 24 event. Tuesday finds NCIS, The Mentalist, Without A Trace, DWTS and 90210 airing finales. In addition, Idol has the final performances, followed by a sneak peek at the Glee pilot. Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and Idol all have finales on Wednesday. Thursday, Ugly Betty finishes the season with two episodes, facing off against the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance. Finally, Don’t Forget The Lyrics returns to Friday, so we can have yet another number to compare against Terminator, Dollhouse, and Prison Break.

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Good news for Castle, not so much for Dollhouse

Brett Love — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:00:51 +0000

We’re on the verge of it now. Over the next two weeks all of our favorite shows are going to be ending, and some of those tough decisions will have to be made by the networks. These final few ratings numbers will play heavily in those decisions. With that in mind, the week brought good news for a couple of bubble shows (Castle, Lie To Me), and bad news for others (Better Off Ted, Cupid, The Unusuals, Dollhouse, Reaper, My Name Is Earl).

ABC - It was what has become a fairly standard week for the network. Good bits first. Things started off strong on Sunday with Extreme Makeover (9.18m/2.7), Desperate Housewives (13.49m/4.4), and Brothers & Sisters (9.97m/2.4). Dancing With The Stars continued to carry its weight on Monday (20.28m/4.8) and Tuesday (14.56m/3.2). Wednesday, while Lost (8.7m/4) was down in viewers, it remains a legit hit in the adult demo. The most exciting news came Thursday. Grey’s Anatomy (15.55m/5.4) has been regularly beating CSI in the demo for some time, but last week it took top honors in viewers as well. As a bonus, that led to more good numbers from the Michael J. Fox special (10.23m/3.1).

In other news, with DWTS expanded to two hours on Monday, Castle (9.97m/2.8) bounced back, and may have secured a second season. The outlook is not so bright for its midseason compatriots, Cupid (5.14m/1.6) and The Unusuals (4.63m/1.6). In comedy news, Tuesday’s combination of Scrubs (3.71m/1.5) and Better Off Ted (3.07m/1.2) remain a problem. Those numbers wouldn’t even be good enough for the top spot on The CW. The big Scrubs finale (5.07m/2) on Wednesday was better, but still a far cry from where it once was. Despite that, there are still rumors of the show continuing. Apparently, the episodes are worth so much in syndication that it’s worth dumping them on the network no matter what the ratings are. See the last 50 episodes of According To Jim.

NBC - Like ABC, the week got off to a good start, thanks to Celebrity Apprentice (8.63m/3.1). However, Monday brought quite the speedbump with Deal Or No Deal (4.35m/1.2) replacing Chuck. That’s a fifth place finish in the demo, behind Gossip Girl. A two hour Medium (7.24m/2.2) did what it could to save the night. Tuesday remains a strong night, thanks to Biggest Loser (9.13m/3.6) and L&O SVU (9.82m/3.7). The OG L&O didn’t do quite as well on Wednesday (8.14m/2.3). It’s probably time to trim the franchise a bit and come back with just SVU on NBC next season. Thursday was also a bit of a struggle. My Name Is Earl (4.47m/1.7) managed an all time low. That didn’t offer any help to Parks & Recreation (4.73m/2.1). The difficulties in the 8 o’clock hour make The Office (7.85m/3.9) look good by comparison, but those are low numbers for a new Office as well. Joining the fray, 30 Rock (6.13m/2.9) found its lowest number of the season when following a new Office. And Southland (6.61m/2)continues to pose questions. This is not the big drama replacement for ER the network hoped it would be.

FOX – Sunday came up as expected, with a notable change. Sit Down, Shut Up (2.06m/.8) was shuffled to 7:00, and will now finish out its run and go away. The Simpsons (6.66m/3.2), Family Guy (6.57m/3.5), and American Dad (5.35m/2.8) didn’t miss the quirky show, as King Of The Hill (4.99m/2.4) filled in. More of the usual followed. House (12.05m/4.6) and 24 (10.11m/3.3) were solid on Monday, while American Idol (23.41m/8.3) and Fringe (9.25m/3.8) took care of Tuesday. That Fringe demo number is down a couple ticks, but look for it to rebound with the finale, and a very special guest star.

Good news continued on Wednesday, as Lie To Me (8.68m/2.7) gained back some of the numbers it had lost. With the finals approaching, Idol (23.57m/8.3) was up as well. Thursday brought solid, if not spectacular numbers for Bones (8.76m/2.3) and Hell’s Kitchen (6.5m/2.7). And Friday, as expected, brought more terrible numbers for Prison Break (3.03m/.9) and the Dollhouse finale (2.75m/1). We’ll have to wait to find out for certain just what Dollhouse’s fate is, because strange things do occasionally happen. After all, there are two more seasons of Friday Night Lights on the horizon, and you could make a solid ratings case that there never should have been a second. That being said, with the finale garnering the lowest ratings of the series, season two seems a pipe dream.

CBS - Things were off to a pretty standard start for CBS as well. You can roll through the first four days and it’s all as expected. Sunday brought Amazing Race (10.84m/3.2), Cold Case (12.46m/2.9), and The Unit (8.84m/2). Monday, the comedies were all on par, with Big Bang Theory (9.25m/3.4), How I Met Your Mother (8.89m/3.6), 2 ½ Men (14.14m/5), and Rules Of Engagement (11.33m/4.1). They were followed by the always fluctuating, but still dominant, CSI: Miami (13.72m/4). Part two of the NCIS backdoor pilot (16.72m/3.4) led off Tuesday, followed by The Mentalist (16.68m/3.6) and Without A Trace (11.83m/2.6).

Things get a little more complicated on Wednesday and Thursday. I’m still not sure what the network will ultimately make of Old Christine (6.45m/1.9) and Gary Unmarried (6.66m/2). I still believe that Gary would fit perfectly out of 2 ½ Men, and could do well splitting the season with Rules Of Engagement, but with these numbers either, or both, of them could be gone. Criminal Minds (14.13m/3.3) and CSI: NY (13.4m/3.3) remain a solid combo to finish the night. Thursday, as we’ve been following for weeks now, CSI (14.91m/3.6) continues to struggle. And that is struggle in the relative sense. These are good numbers, unless you are talking about CSI, which should be grabbing another 4 million viewers and a point in the demo. Earlier in the night, Survivor (11.99m/3.8) easily won the hour. Finally, Friday was the usual walk for Ghost Whisperer (9.35m/2.2), Flashpoint (8.64m/1.8), and Numb3rs (9.52m/2).

CW - I’d like to say there was some controversy with the CW numbers, but with all of the early renewals announced, the writing is on the wall. So, the fact that Reaper (1.89m/.9) again edged out 90210 (1.84m/.9) on Tuesday probably doesn’t mean anything for the fates of either of them. One of them will be back next year, and it’s not the fun one with the stripper clowns and the Honey Pie from Feast. On Monday, Gossip Girl (2.22m/1.3) and One Tree Hill (2.23m/1.1) soldiered on. Wednesday saw Top Model (3.82m/1.7) again take the top spot for the week, and again be followed by a 90210 repeat that nobody watches. Thursday, Smallville (3.39m/1.5) and Supernatural (2.79m/1.2) were at par. And, while I usually dismiss the CW Friday, it is worth noting that The Game (2.05m/.9) also managed to top 90210.

For the week ahead, it’s a finale extravaganza. House and Castle take center stage on Monday, as both have their season finales. Tuesday, in a three hour event, the winner of The Biggest Loser is announced. Get out your sliderule for Wednesday, and just try and follow the time travel shenanigans in the Lost finale. Lie To Me will also call it a season. Then things get really crazy on Thursday. Tune in for finales from Grey’s Anatomy, My Name Is Earl, Parks & Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, CSI, Smallville, Supernatural, Bones, and Hell’s Kitchen. Wow. And the week wraps up with Friday finales for Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint, Numb3rs, Prison Break, and The Game.

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Chuck and Heroes kick off finale season

Brett Love — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:00:04 +0000

And just like that, finale season is upon us. Over the next few weeks, all of our favorite shows will be pulling out all the stops and heading off into the summer break, with hopes of returning for another go in the fall. Some of them, no doubt, will be disappointed in that regard. Aside from the marriages, pregnancies, and lives left hanging in the balance, finales are interesting from a ratings perspective because they provide the possibilities of a numbers boost. One last data point to point to as you make the case that this show shouldn’t be canceled. NBC got the ball rolling last week as Chuck and Heroes both fired off their finale salvos. The results were something less than stellar. The news was better for Fringe, the NCIS spinoff, and the CW Thursday.

NBC - Chuck (6.19m/2.4) has really come to the forefront in the Internet TV world over the last week, so let’s begin there this week. Last week was the big season finale, and the show posted almost identical results to the week before. No finale gain for the kids down at the Buy More. Heroes (6.47m/3) found itself in a similar situation, dropping just a tenth in the demo from the previous week. Despite scattered Internet reports, Chuck’s fate remains up in the air, but some form of return is looking more and more likely. Heroes will be back for another season. Now it’s just a question of how long that season will be.

Elsewhere, the lack of a boost to Heroes didn’t do Medium (6.71m/2.2) any favors. The news was better on Tuesday, as The Biggest Loser (9.26m/3.6) continued its fantastic run, combining with L&O SVU (10.55m/3.9) to finish second in the demo. Thursday was again a disappointment. My Name Is Earl (5.16m/2.1), The Office (7.41m/3.7), and 30 Rock (5.95m/2.9) were all below their averages. Meanwhile, Parks & Recreation (5.07m/2.2) continues to drop. More troubling though, are the numbers for Southland (6.62m/2). It’s now lost over three million viewers and more than a point in the demo from the premiere on April 9th (9.72m/3.2).

ABC - The crumbling of new shows is something ABC knows all about. Desperate Housewives (13.64m/4.7), Brothers & Sisters (9.31m/3.1), and Dancing With The Stars (19.29m/4.3) got the week off to a nice start, but then the new shows started. Surviving Suburbia (8.98m/2.2) continues to drop, while Castle (8.24m/2) seems to have found its level. It would just be really nice if that level was a little higher. Probably the best news for Castle is the revelation that Cupid (5.59m/1.6) and The Unusuals (4.86m/1.5) are both struggling. If one of them is going to survive, Castle certainly has the inside track.

In happier news, Lost (9.04m/4.1) was back above 4 in the demo, and the combination of Grey’s Anatomy (14.12m/5.1) and Private Practice (9.7m/3.5) made gains on Thursday. In addition, According To Jim (3.11m/.9 – 3.56m/1) continues to punish the network for continuing to air this show. Finally, Ugly Betty (6.72m/2), while not outstanding, did offer an improvement over the recent sit-com experiment.

CBS - The week started out with another good run from the Monday comedies – Big Bang Theory (9.24m/3.4), How I Met Your Mother (8.87m/3.7), 2 ½ Men (14.16m/4.9), and Rules of Engagement (11.3m/3.9). Of note there, Rules Of Engagement has taken advantage of the post-Men slot and made a pretty good case for getting another season. The good news continued Tuesday as the backdoor pilot for the NCIS spinoff (16.7m/3.5) posted solid numbers. As good as that is, I remain skeptical about the spinoff’s prospects. That was followed by The Mentalist (17.11m/3.7) and Without A Trace (12.21m/2.5).

After a solid Wednesday, thanks to Criminal Minds (13.61m/3.3) and CSI:NY (12.5m/3.2), the puzzlement continued on Thursday with CSI (15.54m/3.7). The show now finds itself tied with The Office in the demo, with Grey’s being completely out of sight. It’s probably a very lucrative time to be William Petersen. Meanwhile, Survivor (11.73m/3.6) was up week to week. And Ghost Whisperer (9.67m/2.3), Flashpoint (9.57m/2.1), and Numb3rs (9.46m/2.2) easily took Friday night.

FOX – There was less to worry about at FOX. The week was off to a bit of a rocky start, as Sit Down, Shut Up (4.21m/1.9) dropped again, despite the cushy spot between The Simpsons (6.01m/3) and Family Guy (6.67m/3.4). That was quickly forgotten as House (11.69m/4.6) returned on Monday. That brought a little boost to 24 (10.43m/3.4). Tuesday also made for an easy win, thanks to Idol (23.26m/8.1) and Fringe (9.62m/4). Worth noting there is that while Idol was down a tenth, Fringe was up. Things weren’t so happy on Wednesday. Despite the fact that ABC, NBC, and CBS all handed the night off to Obama, Lie To Me (7.75m/2.3) couldn’t make any gains. Wednesday’s Idol (22.37m/7.7) was still number one, but I really don’t get the thinking behind not having Idol at 8.

Bones (8.94m/2.3) and Hell’s Kitchen (6.85m/2.8) remained down a bit on Thursday, but that’s nothing compared to what has become the weekly forehead slap of the FOX Friday. Prison Break (3.2m/1) and Dollhouse (3.09m/1.1) both managed small gains in viewers, while Dollhouse hit a new low for the demo. But small gains aren’t going to cut it here.

CW - The week didn’t get off to a good start. Gossip Girl (1.97m/1), One Tree Hill (2.28m/1.1), Reaper (1.77m/.7), and 90210 (1.79m/.9) were all down. The tides turned on Wednesday, as Next Top Model (4.01m/1.8) remained the highest rated show on the network. You do have to wonder why they waste that Wednesday at 9 spot on repeats, though. Thursday was also good, as Smallville (3.23m/1.4) and Supernatural (2.95m/1.3) both bounced back.

For the coming week … Monday finds Medium taking over the Heroes slot with a special two hour episode. The NCIS spinoff pilot continues on Tuesday. Scrubs lets loose with the big one hour finale on Wednesday. And Dollhouse finishes off season one (if you ignore that 13th episode) on Friday.

Photo Credit: NBC

See Jane Clack – Obama gets shunned, Kitty’s a dope

Jane Boursaw — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:00:25 +0000

This week, I’m pondering the Ax Men’s ineptitude, Fox’s power shun, and Kitty’s stupidity. Read on, and clack to me in the comments below.

I’ve got an ax to grind with Ax Men. Is it just me, or do their shenanigans not bode well for the woodcutting industry? Between snapped cables, runaway logs, and machines that burst into flames, it’s amazing that Rygaard Logging isn’t mired in lawsuits. I guess it’s fitting that the sponsor of this History Channel show is Nationwide Insurance. I hope they’re on their side.

Kitty Walker is a complete dope. I mean, she’s got Rob Lowe — Rob Lowe! — at home and she’s out in the park picking up strangers. Dope. Makes me want to grab the scruff of her neck and shake her.

Watching TV makes you less lonely. Or so says a study that I’m sure someone spent zillions of dollars on. And, really? No kidding. It’s why we all keep it on as background noise when we’re in the house alone. There’s your study. Hand over my million bucks.

Lie to Me trumps Obama. I’m liking Fox more and more. Especially since they’re refusing to air the President’s 100-day press conference, and choosing Lie To Me instead. I’m thinking maybe we could combine them. Have Tim Roth’s Cal Lightman sit in on the press conference and interpret the Prez’s facial movements for inconsistencies.

Entourage gets in bed with Spike. I see where Spike TV is nearing an agreement to buy off-network cable rights to HBO’s Entourage. Doesn’t that seem weird? I dunno … Spike is the “guy network.” Sure, Entourage is about guys, but we’re talking bromances here. I think more girls watch it than guys. My husband wouldn’t be caught dead watching Entourage. Just sayin’…

Clack to me!

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Crazy schedules and a Thursday where everyone loses

Brett Love — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:00:03 +0000

Last week was a bit of an odd one for programming as the networks went a bit experimental. Over at FOX, Bones tried its third night in a week. On ABC, The Unusuals took over for Cupid and someone gave the OK for another Lost clip show. CBS continued the shuffling of their procedurals by bumping NCIS, The Mentalist, and Criminal Minds back an hour. The results, as you might have suspected, were varied. While a lot of that was strange, the biggest surprise of the week was Thursday, which found just about everything taking a hit in the ratings. In other news, According To Jim still stinks out loud.

ABC - With Desperate Housewives (13.85m/4.8) and Brothers & Sisters (9.46m/3.3) back with new episodes, the week got off to a great start. The good news continued on Monday as Dancing With The Stars (20.53m/4.7), Surviving Suburbia (9.87m/2.4), and Castle (8.21m/2.1) were all up in viewers, week-to-week. Although, Surviving Suburbia was down in the demo. The party ended on Tuesday.

Seriously, what the hell is with ABC and According To Jim (3.37m/1 – 3.35m/1)? I mean, I get it. Syndication money, blah, blah, blah. But come on. We have to wait until random distant Saturday in the future to get the final episodes of Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone, but According To Jim gets 8 PM on a Tuesday? With 3 million viewers? And a 1 demo? The facts are these … According To Jim sucks. Anyway … the news was better at 9, with the DWTS Results (14.73m/3.2). That led in to the special broadcast of The Unusuals (5.81m/1.5), which fell short of what Cupid has been doing there. Worse for The Unusuals, that was better than the regular installment on Wednesday (4.74m/1.4). That one certainly didn’t receive any help from another Lost clip show (6.75m/2.9), and those two episodes may have sealed the fate of the show. That’s too bad, I really like it. Earlier on Wednesday, Scrubs (4.6m/1.9) and Better Off Ted (4.19m/1.7) continued to struggle.

On a very strange Thursday where viewers just didn’t really show up, In The Motherhood and Samantha Who? were benched for a Grey’s Anatomy repeat before the regular Grey’s broadcast (13.51m/5) and Private Practice (9.08m/3.3) got the week back on track. Those numbers are oddly low for Grey’s, but as you’ll see, everyone had issues on Thursday, so we’ll need to wait and see how these numbers go.

NBC - It was another rough week for the peacock, which started off with nobody interested in Miss USA (4.99m/1.4). The Celebrity Apprentice (8.41m/3.2) is holding up, as is The Biggest Loser (9.26m/3.7), but that doesn’t really soften the blow for the weekly Monday results. Again, things didn’t look good for Chuck (6.11m/2.4) and Heroes (6.45m/3.1). Both shows remain mired in fourth place, despite the fact that Dr. House made way for Bones, and four of the five CBS shows were repeats. That means that Chuck remains on the bubble. Heroes will be back in the fall, but with a shortened season. Somewhat better, Medium (7.34m/2.5) managed to win the 10PM hour in the demo, while finishing third in viewers.

As with ABC, NBC was also oddly down on Thursday. My Name Is Earl (5.54m/2.2) was the lone exception, gaining slightly in viewers over the previous week. The rest of the shows all took a drop. Parks & Recreation (5.2m/2.3) wasn’t really a surprise. The show just isn’t very good, yet anyway. It has only been two episodes. More surprising, though, were the results for The Office (7.28m/3.8), 30 Rock (6.3m/3.1), and Southland (8.11m/2.4). It’s too early to say whether this was just a wacky Thursday, or if this is what it looks like when Southland goes up against a new Private Practice. That’s a matchup to keep an eye on, though.

CBS - I’m really not sure what the programmers at CBS are up to. For two weeks now they have been juggling things around the schedule. This week, that meant a repeat Mentalist in the CSI: Miami spot on Monday, NCIS and The Mentalist repeats both moved back an hour on Tuesday, and the new Criminal Minds (13.72m/3.5) moving to 10 on Wednesday. I can only guess that it’s all a series of tests for setting the schedule next fall. Perhaps something to do with how they plan to take advantage of NBC’s Leno shenanigans. With that in mind, it is worth noting that the Criminal Minds numbers are above what CSI: NY usually does in that spot.

Thursday brought the normal lineup, but as with the other networks, lowered numbers. Survivor (11.3m/3.5) wasn’t too far off, but CSI (14.64m/3.7) remains concerning. We’ll give a pass this week, but that demo number is one to watch. With things going the way they are, there is actually the possibility that a new CSI could finish fourth in the demo before the end of the year. That was unthinkable last fall. Friday brought the expected win for the night with new episodes of Ghost Whisperer (9.15m/2.1), Flashpoint (8.18m/1.6), and Numb3rs (8.84m/1.8).

FOX - The premiere of Sit Down, Shut Up (5.18m/2.3) made for a bit of a disappointing start to the week. Given the talent, and the cushy spot between The Simpsons (6.58m/3.1) and Family Guy (7.34m/3.8), that’s not a good number. Things were also a bit slow on Monday, with Bones (8.57m/2.5) taking over for House. I’m not going to take anything away from Bones on that one, though. That’s what happens when the network airs the show on three different nights in a week. Bones also got in on the strange Thursday with its regular episode (8.42m/2.3). That was followed by an also low Hell’s Kitchen (6.8m/3).

There was better news elsewhere, as 24 (10.34m/3.2) held up ok without Dr. House batting lead off. American Idol, of course, was an easy winner on Tuesday (23.96m/8.2) and Wednesday (23.95m/8.3). And while many still question what Fringe (9.89m/3.9) could do on its own, you can’t argue with the results it’s getting post-Idol. It leaves me very curious to see what they do with the show in the fall. The ever dwindling results of Lie To Me (7.97m/2.3) have to be giving pause to any thoughts of Fringe anchoring a night. That leaves the FOX Friday, which was a whole new kind of disaster this week. Apparently, not too many people care what ultimately happens to Lincoln and Michael on Prison Break (3.05m/1). And that led to Dollhouse (2.99m/1.2), which found a new low, despite having a very interesting episode.

CW - Gossip Girl (2.37m/1.3), One Tree Hill (2.45m/1.2), and Reaper (2.15m/.9) got the week off to what is a pretty standard start at this point. Things were a little more unusual with 90210 (1.88m/1) and Next Top Model (4.01m/1.9). 90210 was down a fair bit from the previous week, and Next Top Model actually finished second in the demo. And really, given the way that Lie To Me is going, it’s not inconceivable that the CW could actually win a night in the demo at some point. Wednesday at 8 is now the exact opposite of Monday at 8. Finally, Smallville (3.1m/1.3) and Supernatural (2.7m/1.1) wrapped up the wacky Thursday.

For the coming week, some numbers to watch … Monday brings the season finales of Chuck and Heroes. I think it’s far too late in the game to expect a huge change, but the prospect of a finale could offer boosts to both of them. Cupid returns on Tuesday, to make a case for a second season, and to possibly rule one out for The Unusuals. Keep an eye on the CSI demo Thursday, and watch what happens when Private Practice and Southland square off again. And Friday, Alan Tudyk stops by FOX to try and offer a boost to the sagging Dollhouse ratings.

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Heroes and Dollhouse hit new lows

Brett Love — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:31 +0000

(3/22 – 3/38)

It was another screwy week of ratings. The combination of the Obama address and the NCAA tournament made for all kinds of scheduling nuttery. That doesn’t meant there weren’t some interesting numbers to look at. The ongoing dramas of the Heroes and Dollhouse ratings continued. Chopping Block managed to post a number so low that even NBC was forced to cancel it immediately. And the trio of Dancing With The Stars, Biggest Loser, and Idol continued to prove why reality TV isn’t going anywhere.

NBC - Oh, Heroes… There are a lot of shows that were handed excuses this week. The President… Idol moved to their night… NCAA tournament gobbling up younger demos… Heroes (6.47m/2.9) didn’t have that luxury. This was the big Bryan Fuller episode, and it had the added bonus of facing a 2 ½ Men repeat and a 24 that was weakened by not having a new House as a lead in. Still, with all that going for it, the show managed to hit an all time low. That’s really bad. Not, ‘it won’t be back next year’ bad, but I also wouldn’t count on another 25 episode order.

The Heroes weren’t alone in the bad news this week. Kings (4.6m/1.3) got things off to a rocky start, as the second week numbers plummeted. Chuck (6.16m/2.2) signed in with low numbers as well. Even My Name Is Earl (5.89m/2.1), which is usually steady, if not impressive, was down. And Chopping Block (2.58m/.9)? Wow. Those numbers are so bad that NBC announced the next day that L&O repeats will be taking over immediately. The bright spots were, as usual, The Biggest Loser (9.83m/4.1), The Office (8.65m/4.5), and 30 Rock (7.17m/3.4).

FOX - It was a bit of a slow week for the network. Animation Domination checked in at usual levels on Sunday, with The Simpsons (6.19m/3), King Of The Hill (5.51m/2.6), Family Guy (7.34m/3.7), and American Dad (5.83m/2.9). With House taking the week off, 24 (10.37/3.4) was down a bit. Idol made way for Obama on Tuesday, instead posting the usual dominating numbers on Wednesday (26.03m/9.3), and Thursday (23.1m/7.7). That Thursday installment also brought about a big jump for Hell’s Kitchen (10.13m/4.5). And then, there is Friday. Terminator:TSCC (3.83m/1.3) again managed minor gains, while Dollhouse (3.87m/1.3) fell to a new low in the demo. The two are virtually tied at this point, and that’s not a good thing for either of them.

CBS - I have no idea what the network was thinking with the Monday schedule. It’s odd enough to mix repeats and new episodes of the comedy block when it is doing so well. But what was the thought process behind moving How I Met Your Mother (7.36m/2.9) to 8 for the week? Clearly, it didn’t work. Even without the usual House competition, HIMYM was well below what it normally does for a new episode. It is worth noting that Rules Of Engagement (9.37m/3.4) did well out of a 2 ½ Men repeat.

Elsewhere, NCIS (17.83m/4) and The Mentalist (17.62m/3.9) were both bumped back an hour, and it didn’t seem to matter. The relocated Survivor (8.07m/2.3) took a hit against Idol, but it was a clip show, and still a slight improvement over what the comedies usually do there. Criminal Minds (14.36m/3.4) remained strong. And like last week, the NCAA Tournament was both good and bad. Thursday was a downgrade, averaging somewhere near 9 miollion viewers and a mid three demo. Friday saw a boost, hovering around the usual 10 million viewers, but adding to the demo, coming in around 3.6.

ABC - Monday’s Dancing With The Stars (20.34m/5) was again the most watched show on the network. It was also tied for second in the demo, with Desperate Housewives (14.75m/5). The demo crown went to Grey’s Anatomy (16.1m/5.6), which benefitted from the tournament sidelining CSI. More good news for Brothers & Sisters (10.15m/3.4) and Private Practice (10.12m/3.6), which are both performing very well following the hits. The DWTS Results (16.12m/3.9) show also perked up this week, with no Idol to contend with.

The news was not quite as good for Castle (9.14m/2.5). Another week brought another drop. Those aren’t horrible numbers, but the show needs to find it’s level sooner, rather than later. Lost (9.04m/4.1) suffered a drop of its own. Idol is just the thorn in the side of the show. That was following what was a disappointing second outing for the new Scrubs (5.36m/2.1) and Better Off Ted (4.6m/1.8) combo. That’s too bad. Better Off Ted is a funny show. And in premiere news, In The Motherhood (6.69m/2.2) and Samantha Who? (6.57m/2.2) came in close to the normal numbers for Ugly Betty in that spot. I have to believe that will change with episode two though. In The Motherhood is not good. They should have kept Chelsea Handler.

CW - Some worrisome results for the little network this week. Much like Heroes, this was the spot for Gossip Girl (2.25m/1.1) to make gains. No new House or Big Bang Theory. Somehow, it managed to actually lose audience week to week. Is it really wise to be talking about a Gossip Girl spinoff? One Tree Hill (2.4m/1.2) held steady week to week. That cracked the door just a little bit for Reaper (2.69m/1.2) which managed to out perform Gossip Girl. Still probably not enough, but it’s a start. Next Top Model (2.87m/1.4) suffered the wrath of Idol, making way for Smallville (3.79m/1.6) to be the highest rated show of the week. Supernatural (3.13m/1.2) joined in to again make Thursday the most successful night of the week. One last note, I usually skip the CW Friday ratings, but it is worth noting that The Game (2.01m/.9) was up this week. I can only attribute that to the appearance of ‘The Blond Stranger‘, Stacey Dash. And here’s one to blow your mind. Stacey Dash is 43?!

For the coming week… It’s a full slate on Monday, with everything new. Did the return of Bryan Fuller do enough to change the fortunes of Heroes? Tuesday brings the premiere of Cupid on ABC, but I’ve already dismissed it out of spite. I’ll just go ahead and watch Dave Mordahl trying his hand at barstool sledding. We’ll also be getting our first look at The Osborne’s Reloaded that night. Unfortunately, I’m guessing the ratings will be depressingly good. CBS tries their hand with I Get That A Lot on Wednesday, while Thursday brings the big series finale of ER. And Friday, it’s all about what happens with Terminator:TSCC and Dollhouse.

Photo Credit: FOX

Ratings Clack – Everybody loves Melissa Rycroft…

Brett Love — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:00:22 +0000

… and hates Marco White, apparently.

It was a strange week on television. The calendar keeps insisting we are in a sweeps period, but the networks are dropping repeats all over the schedule. Even Lost, which ABC promised would run uninterrupted, went the repeat route. There were still some big events. As usual, Idol dominated, but ABC made some noise of their own with the return of Dancing With The Stars, spinning the loss of Jewel and Nancy O’Dell into ratings gold by signing up jilted bachelorette Melissa Rycroft. At the other extreme we found NBC’s latest disaster, The Chopping Block. There were also interesting numbers, good and bad, for Chuck, Heroes, Castle, Kath & Kim, CSI: Miami, Lie To Me, Next Top Model, and Dollhouse.

ABC - While it fell short of Idol, Dancing With The Stars (22.83m/6.1) was still the big story for the week. In a season that finds so many shows struggling to retain the ratings they once had, DWTS came back with more viewers and a higher demo than it had with its last premiere. That was due, in large part, to the appearance of Melissa Rycroft. She went from 17 million viewers the week before on The Bachelor, to over 20 million on DWTS, and now looks to be one of the early favorites to win the big mirror ball. It was a shrewd bit of casting from ABC.

DWTS led in to the premiere of Castle (10.76m/3). Those numbers aren’t quite as exciting. It was enough for second place in the time slot, but the show will need to retain most of that audience going forward. Before the big Monday, Desperate Housewives (13.65m/4.7) and Brothers & Sisters (10.32m/3.4) easily won on Sunday. Desperate Housewives is one of those shows struggling to attain the numbers it once had, but is still a force.

Things went off the rails on Tuesday and Wednesday. It would be fair to say that the network didn’t even try, as evidenced by 4(!) repeats of Scrubs (2.85m/1, 2.69m/1.1, 3.56m/1.2, 3.25m/1.2) and another Lost (4.34m/1.6) repeat. The best theory I’ve heard for the Lost repeat is that the network was hoping FOX’s Lie To Me experiment would fail, forcing the show back to 9. Otherwise, I don’t know. Lost repeats do so horribly the network should go out of its way to avoid running them. Bailing on Wednesday 8-10 tossed Life On Mars (4.49m/1.4) under the bus. The only other bright spot was Grey’s Anatomy (13.64m/5), which is down from a season ago, but still easily wins the demo.

CBS - The Monday comedy block took it on the chin with the return of DWTS, with numbers down for Big Bang Theory (9.47m/3.6), How I Met Your Mother (8.68m/3.6), 2 ½ Men (13.44m/4.8), and Rules Of Engagement (9.94m/3.7). While those numbers are down, it’s still a good showing on what has become a very crowded night. CSI: Miami broke the trend, following the comedies up by posting its second highest demo of the season.

Like ABC, CBS took Tuesday off. The difference is that CBS shows repeat very well. Encores from NCIS (13.52m/2.8), The Mentalist (14.32m/2.8), and Without A Trace (10.22m/2.1) were good enough for second in viewers and third in the demo for the night. Even better, that was the worst of it. Wednesday, Criminal Minds (14.34m/3.6) and CSI: NY(13.63m/3.5) were topped only by Idol. And Thursday, Survivor (12.82m/4.1) and CSI (17.13m/4.2) helped the network to win the night outright. Friday, of course, Ghost Whisperer (11.1m/2.6), Flashpoint (9.4m/1.9), and Numb3rs (10.1m/2) all won their night.

FOX - House (12.38m/4.8) and 24 (11.37m/4.6) faired a little better going against DWTS, but both did suffer a small drop. Idol was as expected on Tuesday (25.77m/9.5) and Wednesday (25.55m/9.1). The bigger news there was the shift of Lie To Me (11.25m/3.4). That was down three tenths in the demo from the last new episode (10.2m/3.7) following Idol, but oddly up in viewers. It’s a good sign for the show.

Elsewhere, the Thursday experiment with Bones (9.66m/2.8) looks like a success. It seems that wherever they plug the show in, it’s going to get around 10 million viewers and a 3 demo. Hell’s Kitchen (7.71m/3.5) remains solid following, as well. And on Friday… the news was better. Terminator (3.5m/1.2) and Dollhouse (4.3m/1.6) were both up over last week. I don’t think that offers much hope for Terminator, but it keeps the door open for Dollhouse. 4.3 million viewers and a 1.6 demo is still cancellation territory, but it’s good to see the show moving in the right direction as it heads into the mythical sixth episode. It continues to be the most interesting ratings story going.

NBC - It was a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly this week. The good? Celebrity Apprentice (7.69m/3.2) did well enough on Sunday. The Biggest Loser (9.38m/3.8) remains the most consistent show on the network, and paired with SVU (11.07m/3.6) for a successful Tuesday. The Office (7.87m/4.1), 30 Rock (6.43m/3.3), and ER (10.86m/4) made a good showing on Thursday. Although, the return of Doug and Carol to ER should have done better. It was odd that the network didn’t go out of their way to promote their return.

Moving to the bad, we start on Monday. Chuck (5.79m/2.1) and Heroes (6.7m/3.2) are clearly not fans of DWTS returning, as both shows are as low as they have ever been. Life (5.21m/1.7) looks to just be playing out the string. And while Friday Night Lights (4.4m/1.5) did see gains, and rumors of a renewal, those are still bad numbers.

And the ugly? Chopping Block (3.78m/1.4) wasn’t just the lowest rated premiere for the network this season, it was also beaten by Next Top Model on CW. Almost as awful, was the season (hopefully series) finale of Kath & Kim (3.89m/1.7).

CW - It was another shortened week for the little network. Reaper (2.17m/.9) kicked things off on Tuesday. On the bright side, the show held all of its demo from the premiere. Unfortunately, the numbers still need to go up to bring a third season. Next Top Model (4.45m/1.9) followed on Wednesday, bringing a rare third place finish for CW. After an extended break, Smallville (3.57m/1.6) and Supernatural (2.84m/1.1) were back Thursday. That demo number is curiously low for Supernatural, but now that the fifth season has been given the go ahead, it’s not nearly as troubling.

In the week ahead, we’ll get a look at NBC’s next great hope, Kings. Castle has a big episode Monday, where we get a look at the non-premiere numbers. After standing strong against Idol, The Mentalist faces Idol and the DWTS results show on Tuesday. ABC debuts Better Off Ted on Wednesday. CBS kicks off March Madness on Thursday and Friday. And Dollhouse breaks out the big sixth episode.

Photo Credit: ABC

Ratings Clack – Maybe Dollhouse needs a Taylor Swift guest spot

Brett Love — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:00:50 +0000

It certainly worked for CSI this week. And, really, considering the way the Fox Friday is hemorrhaging viewers, I don’t think they should rule anything out. Once again, both Terminator and Dollhouse were down. They shared bad news with Chuck, Heroes, and Life On Mars. Reaper, Lie To Me, and Jesse Stone found themselves somewhere in the middle. Good news this week went out to Brothers & Sisters, The Bachelor, and CSI.

CBS – The week got off to an interesting start with the latest Jesse Stone (15.24m/2.2) movie. Fifteen million viewers is an outstanding result, but the 2.2 demo is oddly low. Jesse Stone skews old even for CBS. That could be better, but still should probably lead to another movie. Things only got better on Monday. Big Bang Theory (10.83m/3.9), How I Met Your Mother (11.09m/4.2), and 2 ½ Men (15.47m/4.9) were all at normal levels. And as a bonus, Rules Of Engagement (11.82m/3.9) returned to the schedule with a marked improvement over what Worst Week was doing.

After taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, the good numbers kept coming. Survivor (11.85m/3.8) was again solid against Idol, and a guest spot from Taylor Swift brought a boost to CSI (20.88m/5.3). Eleventh Hour (12.05m/2.9) finished off Thursday. Friday was another easy win for the network with Ghost Whisperer (11.1m/2.6), Flashpoint (9.8m/2), and Numb3rs (10m/2.3) easily taking the night.

ABC - Like CBS, ABC started the week strong with Extreme Makeover (11m/3.5) and a special 2 hour Brothers & Sisters (11.98m/4.1). That number is down from what the Housewives normally do, but also up from the Brothers & Sisters average. It’s also quite encouraging because it shows that Brothers & Sisters does have its own audience. More good news from The Bachelor finale on Monday (15.48m/5.4), and two After The Final Rose installments on Monday (17.47m/6.7) and Tuesday (10.9m/4.1).

Lost (10.65m/4.9) was back up again, due to Lie To Me being back on the schedule at FOX and a Criminal Minds repeat. Unfortunately, that didn’t do much for Life On Mars (5.33m/1.9) which had another bad week of ratings, and was cancelled by the network. Ugly Betty (6.34m/1.7) struggled against Idol on Thursday, and 20/20 (8m/2) wrapped things up with a good showing on Friday night.

FOX - Idol continued to dominate the schedule, with three airings for the week on Tuesday (24.31m/9), Wednesday (22.78m/7.8), and Thursday (21.49m/7.6). Those were the highlights. Monday was down, due to no new House, as 24 (11.14m/3.3) had a two hour event. Lie To Me (10.2m/3.7) returned to the schedule with the usual Idol fueled numbers. It is worth noting though that the show is now being beaten in viewers and the demo by Lost. It will be interesting to see what happens when it goes to 8 and isn’t being gifted 20 million viewers at the start of the hour.

Hell’s Kitchen (9.71m/4.4)also had another Idol boosted outing. And that led to Friday, which can only be described as a disaster. Terminator:TSCC (3.0m/1.0) and Dollhouse (3.5m/1.5) both dropped again to what are clearly cancellation levels. The game now turns to watching to see how long they will be allowed to run before being replaced by random repeats. Dollhouse does have the mythical sixth episode out there still, where everything is supposed to get better. I just don’t know if there is going to be any audience left to see it.

NBC - Things got a little better for NBC this week, thanks to the return of Celebrity Apprentice (8.83m/3.9). Unfortunately, after that, it was business as usual. And by that I mean The Biggest Loser (8.95m/3.5) on Tuesday, The Office (8.54m/4.5) and 30 Rock (7.25m/3.7) on Thursday, and a whole lot of train wrecks.

Chuck (6.65m/2.4) and Heroes (7.15m/3.3), crazy as it sounds looking at those numbers, were actually up slightly for the week. Still, just horrible ratings. Not to worry Heroes fans, NBC has confirmed that the show will be back next season. One of the perks that comes with being on a network that has two scripted successes. Elsewhere, Knight Rider (5.68m/1.7) finished its run. How bad is that? Paired with a repeat of Life, NBC was beaten in the demo by the CW. Thursday found Earl (5.45m/2.2) and Kath & Kim (4.09m/1.8) struggling. And Friday Night Lights (3.8m/1.2)? Well, they can say they have more viewers than Dollhouse.

CW – The littlest network offered up three hours of programming this week and it was a mixed bag, where ratings are concerned. Reaper (2.31m/.9)had its premiere on Tuesday. Those numbers are low, but the show was against Idol. For comparison, a month ago 90210 went up agains Idol in the same slot and had 2.38m/1.2. So, Reaper is in the ballpark, but the show really needs to better those numbers to have a shot at a third season. Wednesday brought another premiere, from Next Top Model (3.92m/2.2). The show is down from where it was in its heyday, but still a solid performer for the network.

Looking to the week ahead… The pressure doesn’t let up on the stacked Monday night. The Bachelor has left the building, but Tom & Samantha and their dancing stars are back. NBC, CBS, and FOX will all bring new episodes to welcome them. My guess, ABC wins the night in viewers, but not the demo. Wednesday, Lie To Me jumps to 8, and the ratings drop with the move. CSI and Grey’s are both new again on Thursday, to give us an idea where that rivalry now stands. And Friday, we can all rubberneck, as we look to see if Terminator and Dollhouse drop again.

Photo Credit: CBS

Brothers and Sisters – New brothers, old fathers, plotlines tread thin ice

Jen Creer — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:09:36 +0000

Brothers and Sisters feels like it’s treading water, waiting to figure out which direction it wants to go. The land deal that Tommy is orchestrating is going to blow up in his face like a land mine. Rebecca’s father has come back at the same time that Ryan is giving Nora mixed signals about his interest in the Walker plan.

I never know from one minute to the next about what is going on with Sarah’s company. Kitty’s marriage is a sham at the time she is expecting her first child. Justin had a lame, dead-end storyline with Chelsea, his pseudo sponsor. Nora puts energy into her cancer center only when she isn’t busy meddling with the family’s drama. And Kevin should have quit his position with Robert several episodes ago: What can possibly be in it for him to stay?

What is going on with the Walkers? Sure, life is messy and complicated. But the show just feels like it’s lurching in several different directions, lacking the sharp focus of the first two seasons. At least when the family was still reeling from William Walker’s death, the show flourished with multiple revelations: A mistress, embezzlement, a half-sibling! All of this was very compelling drama, but how many times can they recycle those storylines?

Tommy is an idiot, and Holly should send him to prison; Rebecca should have stayed a sibling; Kevin never should have gone to work for Robert. These are the things that need to be fixed, though I don’t know how they can go back and undo Rebecca’s DNA test. That would be gross anyway, considering her relationship with Justin. However, the show has made some massive missteps that they are going to have to recover from if they want to recoup the energy and sharpness and potential it showed us in its previous seasons.

Photo Credit: ABC

Brothers and Sisters – I feel like a quail at a shoot

Jen Creer — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:30:56 +0000

(Season 3, Episode 13 – “It’s Not Easy Being Green” )

All right. I admit it. I fell for it. When I saw the previews for this week, I did indeed think that Nora had slept with Roger, Sarah had slept with Ethan, and Rebecca had slept with Kyle. It never occurred to me that in every single situation the sex would fall through.

I have to admit, I was more surprised by the idea of Rebecca cheating on Justin than I was surprised by her faithfulness. Let me unpack that statement a bit: When Rebecca first arrived on the show and tangled with Sarah’s husband Joe, she didn’t seem like the most trustworthy girl. I think she has grown up a lot, though, and her commitment to Justin demonstrates a new-found maturity, as does her new job.

Now, watch, she’ll completely contradict that statement in the next episode….

Although I did enjoy the party and watching Nora and Roger dance around attraction, paired with their mutual devotion to constructing Nora’s Cancer Center, the part of the episode that intrigued me the most was Kevin’s confrontation with Gordon and Wade at the quail shoot. For one thing, I love the fact that the word “asshat,” which formerly I only heard on blogs, has made its way into the mainstream vernacular by showing up on Brothers and Sisters. It almost makes up for the fact that Matthew Rhys and Rob Lowe were so heavily made up with rouge and lipstick before their hunt that they looked like they were going to take the stage in drag rather than go charging through the woods.

But I was impressed with Kevin for standing up for himself, just because he’s usually a bit more passive/aggressive. I was glad, though, that the show didn’t go toward the cliche of the Republicans suddenly liking Kevin for being a crack shot or for standing up for himself (at least not in a public declaration). The whole dynamic of the way Robert treats Kevin is both interesting and disturbing. Robert initiated Kevin’s coming to work for him, yet he treats him badly oftentimes, reminding him of what Kevin’s obligations to him are. What about his obligations to Kevin, as his employer?

I am very curious about why Kevin persists in working for Robert. Surely it’s not about the money. So, maybe Kevin was right. Maybe his work for Robert is about trying to win his father’s approval in some way. Or, perhaps it’s some sort of way to keep an eye on both Robert and the Republican party. There simply must be some other reason than that it makes it easier to write dialogue between characters if they are all already working together anyway.

I just hope the show starts to show what that reason is, so I don’t have to keep trying to find it….

Photo Credit: ABC

Brothers and Sisters disappoints with dream sequences

Jen Creer — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:47:08 +0000

(Season 3, Episode 11 – “A Father Dreams”)

I feel like an idiot for actually thinking that MAYBE Brothers and Sisters was going to attempt a dramatic storyline rather than a MELODRAMATIC storyline. What was I thinking? After the steamy scenes in the breath-taking ad for Episode 11 of Brothers and Sisters before the holidays, I had hopes for a scandalous affair between Kevin (who is gay!) and Tommy’s wife Julia (who is boring!) and a long, ugly drawn out custody battle to warm us through the winter. So, imagine my disappointment last night to see that Kevin was trapped instead in a series of dreams and he didn’t even get a pair of ruby slippers out of it.

It’s not a bad thing for a TV show to operate in the dream world. House has done is fabulously (especially in the two-part finale last season). However, in the episode of Brothers and Sisters last night, there wasn’t even a discussion of what those dreams might mean. Well. That isn’t completely fair: Kevin did realize that his dreams about Elizabeth indicated that he wanted children and that he thought he might be a good father after all. However, why did his dreams of becoming a father include seducing his biological daughter’s mother? Yes, I know how babies are made, but Kevin is GAY. Gay, gay, gay. I would have expected him to have dreams about a mayonnaise jar and a turkey baster.

Why does Brothers and Sisters rush to closure? Why not sustain some dramatic tension for future episodes? Are you kidding me that Kevin — does anybody remember that he is a lawyer? — signed a document promising not to reveal Elizabeth’s paternity? Does anybody think that gag orders like that actually work? Is everybody in the family going to sign it? THIS family? Julia was right when she said that somebody will say something. There is nothing wrong with telling Elizabeth that she was adopted by Tommy — that much at least should come out. By Tommy pretending that biology is the only way to go, he is opening himself up for some serious potential rifts with his daughter in the future.

In some ways, having Kevin pursue some sort of visitation of his daughter would have made sense given the conflict between Kevin and Tommy this season. It would have provided some real tension, too, because I think the audience could potentially sympathize with both parties. I think the neat, sewn-up conclusion to this (if it’s really resolved) is an opportunity lost for the future. Instead of going somewhere interesting, it looks like they are going to recycle storylines like Sarah is Bad With Money. Sure, that is a timely storyline for today’s economy, but when I am worried about money, I don’t want to live vicariously through some rich person’s interpretation of financial troubles.

Also, given the recent tabloid attention Matthew Rhys (Kevin) and Balthazar Ghetty (Tommy) have gotten for feuding over flighty star Sienna Miller in real life (coincidentally, Ghetty has now left his wife and kids), having them fight over custody would have potentially been cathartic for everyone. Sigh.

Come on, Brothers and Sisters. Throw us some more interesting bones to chew on. Please.

Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Second Season

Photo Credit: ABC

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