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 »

8:00p/7:00 Central

• Cuddy moves in with House on FOX?! It’s not like that; her house is just being worked on; but you know it’s like that. Oh, and someone’s dying and only House can save them. But you knew that.
• The investigation into a petty officer’s death leads CBS’s NCIS team into the world of underground street fighting. It’s domestic squabbling on Lifetime’s Rita Rocks at the half hour.
• Tyra Banks is on hand for the big “makeover” installment of NBC’s The Biggest Loser. MyNetwork TV has the 2008 World Music Awards, while BBC America is offering up a “Winter Olympics” special edition of Top Gear, followed by Gavin & Stacey at 8:40p/7:40 Central.

9:00p/8:00 Central

• Mike Rowe gets to see what life is like as a maggot farmer on Discovery’s Dirty Jobs. History takes a look at “Sex in Space” on The Universe. With “Sex” in the title, it’ll probably be the highest-rated episode of the entire series so far. And ECW is new on Sci Fi.
• Jane goes undercover on CBS’s The Mentalist to see if a National Guard unit member is killing the rest of his unit. A crook who winds up embedded in a vault wall turns out to be after something of Walter’s on FOX’s Fringe.
• But none of that really matters because tonight is the one hour season premiere of According to Jim on ABC. Oh how we’ve missed you, Jim Belushi. Tonight, a Christmas blankie goes missing, as does Cheryl’s best friend. It’s up to Jim to save the day!

10:00p/9:00 Central

• The name of TruTV’s Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel just seems an oxymoron to me. There’s so much reality this hour it’s not funny … it’s reality. Like the third season premiere of The Bad Girls Club on Oxygen, now expanded to a full hour and promising a whole new crew of women with bad habits that are hindering their lives.
• How about BET’s Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is? Or do you prefer Health’s Deliver Me? There’s also Lifetime’s Blush: The Search for the Next Great Make-Up Artist, Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County, A&E’s The Rookies: Tampa, Animal Planet’s Living With the Wolfman season finale, History’s Extreme Trains, and BET’s Brothers to Brutha at the half hour.
• It’s the season finale of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF on MTV. Find out which person she picks to be her new best friend for as long as the cameras are still running. I’m sure she’s already bored. Maybe she’ll put them on Sci Fi’s Cha$e, and send her henchmen after them to kill them for her amusement.
• Just for fun, the Discovery Channel has put together a show extrapolating what could happen should a massive earthquake hit the nation’s most populous city on Sci-Trek: New York Earthquake. Just for fun!
• William Shatner has his own talk show. The man just keeps on going! Now, I love me some Shat, so expect this to be pretty damned entertaining. In tonight’s back-to-back premiere he sits down with Valerie Bertinelli and Tim Allen on Biography’s Shatner’s Raw Nerve.
• NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit looks at a rape case. I know, right?! Still, this case stirs up memories from Det. Benson’s past. It’s just a missing doctor on CBS’s Without a Trace. Not nearly as dramatic.
• Eli Stone’s visions have him in his father’s body on his brother’s birthday, but it all ties into his case. He’s trying to help a sixteen-year old boy emancipate himself from his powerful and intimidating father on ABC’s visionary, musical and probably canceled (they didn’t pick up the back-half order) show.

11:00p/10:00 Central

• You know what I want to see on MTV’s Paris Hilton’s My New BFF reunion special? I want them to trot out the winner and have Paris say, “Who are you?”
• A&E is back with an hour of The Rookies: Jefferson because they were feeling slighted after an hour of Tampa. And WE looks at Cosmetic Surgery from Hell, and believe you me there’s been some nasty looking results out there. Have you seen “the cat lady?”
• TBS has a new Frank TV as well. I really want that show to be better than it is because I like Frank Calliendo. He’s great at impressions and he seems like a really nice guy. Maybe he just needs some better writers. It has its moments, but not enough of them.

8:00p/7:00 Central

• Who here is planning a big block party for the season finale of MyNetwork TV’s Street Patrol? We’re going to watch it and then go tip a patrol car.
• The ’80s invade NBC’s The Biggest Loser, with wardrobe and workout routines inspired from the decade. ABC sticks with their moneymaker, opting for a recap show of last night’s performances on Dancing With the Stars.
• Annie and Naomi stop arguing enough to deal with the arrival of their stepbrother in a new 90210 on The CW, also featuring appearances by Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth. It’s war games for the gang on CBS’s NCIS.
• Foreman takes on a case with no involvement with House on FOX, while the old adage that the patient always lies comes into play again with an emancipated teen suffering with fluid in her lungs (to start with).
• Tony Danza guests on Lifetime’s Rita Rocks, where Rita gets Jay in trouble with his buddies by revealing that he cried at the end of Charlotte’s Web. At 8:40p/7:40p, BBC America’s Gavin & Stacey features Bryn trying to throw a surprise party for Gwen.

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Sci Fi

8:00p/7:00 Central

• It’s prom night on ABC Family’s Lincoln Heights. ABC offers up a special performance recap show of Dancing With the Stars. At 8:40p/7:40 Central Gavin and Stacey learn that house hunting is harder on a relationship than one might think over on BBC America.
• Gibbs finds himself second-guessing his judgment on the case of a deadly robbery on CBS’s NCIS. Alternately, FOX’s House never second-guesses himself. Even when he’s wrong. Tonight he’ll probably get it wrong at least twice when treating an agoraphobic man in his home.
• The winner of last season’s The Biggest Loser joins a show full of surprises. The contestants will start competing individually while the eliminated contestants will return for a chance to get back in the competition. That’s on NBC. On Lifetime at the half hour, Rita Rocks has proven itself well enough to get a full season order.
• Over on The CW, you’ve got Annie’s sweet sixteen and Jennie Garth returning to 90210. In honor of this Veteran’s Day, MyNetwork TV offers up Heroes at Home, a special showcasing the sacrifices and experiences of six real-life service men and women of the war in Iraq.

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Oxygen

8:00p/7:00 Central

• While ABC Family deals with Johnny’s accident on Lincoln Heights, Dr. House and team tackle a man with accidental blackouts and time lapses over on FOX. Meanwhile, is Cuddy ready to adopt?
• Over on CBS, a killer plays a game of cyber cat and mouse on NCIS, because killers always think that makes them look cool. Alternately, Rita demands respect of her own on Lifetime’s Rita Rocks when she starts to feel her kids are taking her for granted. That one’s on at 8:30p/7:30 Central.
• It was only a matter of time, but it looks like our first 90210 kid is checking into rehab on The CW tonight. Also, Ryan learns more about Kimberly than he could have ever suspected.
• One of the contestants sets a new record on The Biggest Loser on NBC at the weigh in. Nessa and Smithy see the first scans of their baby, while Stacey is less than thrilled with Essex life on BBC America’s Gavin & Stacey at 8:40p/7:40 Central.

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SciFi

8:00p/7:00 Central

• Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? I ask this assuming you’re beyond the fifth grade. Actually, FOX wants to know. Enough of us are watching this show; I wonder how we’re stacking up to the kids?
• Or is NBC’s Deal or No Deal more your style? That don’t need you to know nuthin’! On ABC’s Wife Swap, take a Louisiana Cajun wife who’s overrun by her wild kids and husband and swap her with a California ballerina. That’s bound to be a hoot!
• CBS’s Ghost Whisperer takes Melinda and Jim on a romantic, and of course haunted, cruise. For funnier fare, though, check out The CW’s Everybody Hates Chris. Classic sitcom hijinks as Chris tries to watch a movie instead of read the book for a class project. You know how this one ends. Then, on The Game, Kelly wants Jason to help her tell their daughter about their separation but he’ll have none of it.
• He’ll probably be watching WWE SmackDown! on MyNetwork TV instead. Does anyone know how the ratings are over there for the perennial series?
• TLC offers up another Real Simple. Real Life. Can they help Cheryl get organized? Have you figured out yet if Rita Rocks? At the half-hour, Lifetime’s five-night premiere for this new comedy wraps.

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The Biography Channel

8:00p/7:00 Central

• Pull on your bulletproof vest and tune into the BET’s Hip Hop Awards ‘08. Actually, hopefully there won’t be any shootings at this one. The Rays are shooting themselves that they blew game one against the Phillies, but there’s always World Series Game 2 tonight on FOX to even things up.
• One contestant suffers a breakdown and food struggles continue on CBS’s Survivor: Gabon.
• Can Earl avoid being a snitch on NBC’s My Name is Earl? After that, on Kath & Kim, Kath starts planning her wedding, Kim tells her she’s too old for a fancy shindig and then both suspect their significant others of having affairs. Is this show clicking for you? It’s still a little weird for me. If you’d rather flip over to Lifetime there’s yet another Rita Rocks on. For the record, this will be a Tuesday night show once this week-long premiere ends.
• Would you rather see Lindsay Lohan return to ABC’s Ugly Betty? She needs Betty’s help to find a job. Maybe TV will work for the Lohan until she can get her shit together more. Or, on The CW’s Smallville, a serial killer may be meteor-infected (hey, remember when that was every week!). It may be Davis, too. Gasp!

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