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. Read the rest of this entry »

After a summer of wondering what the result of NBC just giving up on the 10 PM hour would be, we now have our first look at the numbers. Jay Leno started with a bang (over 18 million viewers), and then quickly started the slow grind to reality. The week also saw the premieres of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Biggest Loser, The Beautiful Life, SNL: News, Parks & Rec, The Office, Community, Bones, and Fringe. Some of those were more successful than others. Read the rest of this entry »

When I was young, my mother taught me the old adage: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Unfortunately for her, I am responsible for talking about True Blood tonight. Its not that I hated it, because I didn’t. At the very least, I was excited that they dispatched with MaryAnn with time to spare. However, this season finale just wasn’t in the same neighborhood as season one … And that’s the problem.
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This week kicks off the real fall season with more premieres than we could possibly list here. Even more intriguing is The Jay Leno Show, kicking off Monday and every weeknight at 10pm. Will it work? I’m sure it’ll launch huge, just like Conan did over on The Tonight Show. But will it last?

If it does, will this spell the slow decline of expensive quality scripted fare on television? And what about expensive less-than-quality programming like ‘Til Death and Brothers? These shows need homes on the schedule as well … for some reason. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally. The weather turned to complete crap in my little burg this weekend, which can only mean one thing: Fall TV premieres are on the horizon! Next week we’ll have numbers for the new seasons of 90210, Melrose Place, Next Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, Glee, Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural(!). Until then, we have one last reality-heavy week to look at. There is a small bonus though … we did get our first look at Glee, Fringe, and Medium in their new time slots. They were repeat airings, but interesting just the same. Over on cable, more records as Bravo and Food had great months, and the NFL scored for ESPN. Read the rest of this entry »

Seriously, what the heck is going on with True Blood? Where do all of these people keep coming from? The show managed to set another series high this week, with 5.3 million viewers. That alone is cause for celebration. Even better, the DVDs continue to sell like hotcakes. In its 13th week of release, the season was still the number one TV show. That set has now racked up over $40 million in sales. It’s crazy. But that was just one of the many stories from cable last week. We also saw huge numbers for the Wizards of Waverly Place movie, records for Warehouse 13 and Burn Notice, and new seasons announced for Leverage and Drop Dead Diva. Over at the networks … well, we’re getting close to the fall premieres. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s not a whole lot I have to say about the penultimate episode of True Blood. Sure, going into finales, often times you can get a filler episode or two, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the problem here. All season long, there has been a divide between the story in Bon Temps and the story in Dallas. Last week, when everyone was back in town, the show suffered for it. This week, to be honest, was more of the same.

I’m beginning to think it had less to do with the plots and more to do with the characters. As much as I may not be a big fan of Bill, I think that those that were left in Bon Temps might be more deserving of criticism. Admittedly, Sam and Tara were the only main characters in that storyline, but much as been done to completely ruin Tara, and ironically since he’s the target of the big bad, marginalize Sam.

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