Ratings Clack – Lost premiere is bigger than ever!
(1/12 – 1/18)
No. Not really. In fact, it was the lowest rated premiere the show has ever had. Somehow though, ABC managed to massage those numbers so much that they felt ok producing a promo that called it bigger than ever. It’s lipstick on a pig. DVR, streaming, illicit downloads, no matter what spin you want to put on it, Lost is way down from its once lofty numbers, and it has virtually no chance of ever regaining those lost viewers. It’s not all bad though, because what is left of the audience is still pretty substantial. We’ll get to those numbers, find out what happened in the latest round of the Grey’s / CSI battle, and see if those 30 Rock numbers managed to drop again, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Ratings Clack – Eli Stone vs Aqui y Ahora? It’s a draw.
(12/30 – 1/04)
Christmas and New Years are now in the rearview, so we can finally start getting back to something that passes for a regular television viewing schedule. If someone could just make this damn snow stop, I’d be a happy guy. Before we rejoin some of our favorite shows for the beginning of 2009 though, we’ve got one more really slow week to talk about. The hits were few and far between, but there were a couple interesting bits hidden away in there.
Ratings Clack – The slow grind to the end of the year
(12/22 – 12/29)
Yikes. That was not what you would call a good week of television. As usual, the holiday tossed the broadcast schedule into disarray, and new scripted programming was mighty hard to find. The only thing that passed for regular programming was the CBS Sunday night. Elsewhere, it was a mish-mash collection of movies, reality, and game shows. The interesting bit of that is found in the numbers. In some cases it looks like the networks would be better off going with repeats, as opposed to cheap, albeit original, filler programming.
A Visit from Kevin Reilly (The Night Before Upfronts), part 7
Hughie, and Joss, and Seacrest, oh my! Writing a poem with seven different authors makes for a bit of the crazy. If you’ve been playing along with the home game, Peter Krause tempted the various Fox casts with news of planned cancellations. Then the nimble Hugh Laurie snatched the list and made a getaway, only to be stopped short by one Ryan Seacrest. Now, with the final installment, it all comes to a head when the big boss shows up.
Focus turned to the door, where Reilly appeared
Looking rested and bright, and sporting a beard
“Hughie my boy, I’ll take it from here”
To Seacrest he offered, a menacing sneer
Read the rest of this entry »
Ratings Clack – It’s all about CBS
(12/14 – 12/21)
This week, the other networks just made it easy for CBS. After taking second on Sunday night, to NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the Tiffany network went on to win the next five nights in viewers and the demo. Granted, there were more repeats than usual, but even the CBS repeats were in on the game, as replays of CSI and Eleventh Hour more than doubled the viewers of their repeat competition. For the rest of the networks, the news was not quite as bright. Read the rest of this entry »
Tonight on the Tube: Momma’s Boys premieres, lots of stuff ends
Spotlight Show of the Night
Momma’s Boys (10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central, Series Premiere) – Hey, just because I spotlight it doesn’t mean I think it’s going to be good. I see this as the biggest trainwreck NBC has put on the air in a long time. In fact, it reminds me of something FOX would have put on the air in their Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? days. The premise is pretty simple, take three guys and a huge group of hot chicks and it sounds like a typical dating reality show. But no, these are Momma’s boys so they can’t choose a woman without mother’s approval. Oh god, this should be as awesome as Crowned and The Swan! And if this is what NBC creative is coming up with for the 10pm hour, Jay Leno was the right move.
Beginnings, Endings & Specials
The Biggest Loser (NBC, 8:00 p.m./7:00 p.m. Central, 6th Season Finale) -With four finalists left, all the couple come back to show us how great they’re looking, and we get to find out who the winner is.
Ratings Clack – CSI scores big. Biggest Loser NBC’s best hope?
(12/7 – 12/13)
I work with a guy that has the barest of the bare bones cable packages. Thirteen channels. It amounts to the networks, Discovery, PBS, and shopping. It was a tough week of television for him. There were a lot of repeats. The CW only managed 3½ hours of original programming for the week, for example. Add in a host of Christmas specials and the pickings were a little thin. Taking advantage of all of that, CBS had great numbers for the introduction of Laurence Fishburne on CSI. Some of the other shows that did manage to air originals were not so lucky.
Most Commented (Past Week)