American Idol has become such a ratings juggernaut that it’s always a little surprising when something actually tops it. The Grammy Awards were able to do just that last week, thanks to the best ratings for the show since 2004. The other big event for the week was the return of Lost on ABC. It didn’t approach the Idol or Grammy numbers, but it did finish the week as the number one scripted show in the adult demo. Granted, it was the season premiere, but knocking off Grey’s, House, 2 ½ Men, and Big Bang Theory is always worth noting. On cable, the big surprise was probably the performance from USA’s White Collar and Psych. Both were well down from last week. Read the rest of this entry »

Nineteen strong seasons and debuting its twentieth season in February, there’s no denying that Survivor’s a TV force to be reckoned with. Whether or not you like reality TV, this one’s here to stay.

CliqueClack’s received a press release this week from the Survivor folks, announcing something they’ve never done before: they are holding a casting call audition contest, open now through February 21. Just upload a 30-60 second video of yourself explaining why you think you could win the game. Fans can vote, but the winner will be chosen by the Survivor casting team from the top ten videos.

Well, handy for you that CliqueClack’s managed to get our hands on the intricate scoring system the casting team uses to choose the winner. If you use this guide while making your video, you’re a shoe-in for winning the contest and being on the next Survivor. Good luck!

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What the heck were you watching last week? More than likely, it wasn’t network television. Faced with the coming holiday shenanigans of their viewers, all of the broadcast networks threw in the towel. In fact, there were only three new hours of scripted television last week. Even worse, all three of those hours could be categorized as the burning off of shows that will be canceled. The lone bright spots on the ratings terrain came from the reality wrap-ups of Survivor and The Sing-Off. Read the rest of this entry »

It was another very holiday week on television, with schedules full of repeats and seasonal specials. CBS was the only network that really tried, and it paid big dividends. With all new programming on Monday through Thursday the network won all 12 hours in viewers, and 11 of them in the demo. Of course, just showing new programming didn’t guarantee anything. Scrubs and Better Off Ted both continued to struggle, despite the weakened competition. On cable, the Dexter finale set a record for Showtime. Read the rest of this entry »

The scheduling shenanigans continue as we race toward the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Last week saw more holiday themed specials, and a lot of repeats. Fortunately, there were a few interesting numbers mixed in with all of the seasonal offerings. Things like big gains for The Middle, which is looking much better now that it’s not lugging around that Hank sized bag of stink. Or, Bones hitting season highs. Of course, not all of the interesting numbers were of the good variety. Melrose Place, Dollhouse, and Find My Family all found some coal in their ratings stockings. Read the rest of this entry »

ABC has now announced that FlashForward will be taking a little break, with new episodes returning March 4th. And that really couldn’t have come at a worse time. Television is not usually a place where absence makes the heart grow fonder. More likely, viewers forget what you were up to and can’t be bothered to return. If that wasn’t bad enough, the show took it’s fall bow with it’s worst performance yet. Elsewhere this week, Sons Of Anarchy had a big finale, with some big numbers, and Dollhouse returned to be run over by a reindeer. Read the rest of this entry »

The biggest premiere last week came from cable, as AMC finally released their modern take on The Prisoner. I had been planning for months to make a comparison between that and media-darling Mad Men. I always find the amount of coverage that Mad Men is able to generate, despite the fact that its latest season hovered around 1.7 million viewers for most of its run, fascinating. We can still make that comparison, of course, but it didn’t work out the way that I expected. The initial sampling was good, with (2.22m/.8) checking out the two hour Prisoner premiere. Unfortunately, those people were clearly not impressed. The following nights were both a forgettable (.95m/.3). That’s really not good.

Back on the networks, it was a tough week for genre. Heroes found a new low, V dropped again, there is cause for concern at FlashForward, and the must-see Fringe managed to lose two-tenths in the demo. The news was better for Dancing With The Stars, The Mentalist, and Melrose Place. Although, “better” where Melrose is concerned is a very relative term. Read the rest of this entry »