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 »

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.

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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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Holy smokes. After a summer without a lot of numbers to really be excited about, last week was just stuffed to the gills. There were season and series premieres everywhere, bringing in ratings that ran the gamut from outstanding to horrible. The big winners were House, NCIS, and Grey’s Anatomy. On the other end of the scale? The Beautiful Life, Brothers, Dollhouse, and just about all of NBC. Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday is what I would call the night of opportunities. Ten of the sixteen shows are new, and many of those are dropping into slots that, to be kind, don’t have the highest of expectations. Even better, if you need to make your bones on Wednesday, two of the shows that actually were successful on the night last fall have picked up and headed for Thursday (Bones, Private Practice). It’s about as much as a new show could ask for. Our big questions: Is it scheduling that picks a winner between NBC’s Mercy and Trauma? Is Glee the real deal, or just so much hype? And can ABC finally launch an actual hit sit-com? The short version – Yes, Mercy – real deal – eh, kind of. The more long-winded response, is after the jump.

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It’s all about America in tonight’s repeats. There’s America’s Got Talent, America’s Next Top Model, and America’s Funniest Home Videos. If you aren’t feeling patriotic, there is also the normal lineup of procedurals for you….

• CBS is your rock, folks, featuring the same lineup that they have had all summer. The evening starts with episodes of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried. The sitcoms are followed by Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• ABC is featuring a repeat of Wipeout. Somehow I think watching people fall on their faces is just as funny the second time around.
• NBC has a repeat of America’s Got Talent before a new episode at 9.
• The CW has a full night of America’s Next Top Model (which is apparently great to watch while sick).
• If Wipeout doesn’t have enough people falling down for you, you can tune into ABC family, where there are three full hours of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
• USA has a full night of NCIS repeats.