After the dramatic entrance of V last week, there were no similar big splash stories to lead things off this week. Then, as I was perusing the year-ago numbers, something occurred to me. It’s quite possible that FOX could improve both Monday and Thursday at 9:00 if they swapped Fringe and Lie To Me. If you look back to the initial Fringe run, it had a lot of success following House. In fact, while the House numbers are virtually unchanged from Tuesday to Monday, Fringe was holding much more of the House audience on Tuesday than Lie To Me currently is on Monday.

Example:
11/18/08: House (13.03m/5.5), Fringe (9.36m/4.2)
11/09/09: House (13.31m/5.3), Lie To Me (7.41m/3)

And that was against very similar competition. Both faced DWTS on ABC, which was pretty much a wash. NBC was greatly improved against Fringe with Biggest Loser (7.84m/3.3), as opposed to Trauma (5.35m/1.8). And CBS was mixed, with The Mentalist (15.83m/3.5) trailing the Men/Big Bang hour (13.62m/4.6) in the demo.

Now we look at where we are this season. Fringe did manage something of a rebound this week, finishing with (5.91m/2.2) on Thursday. That’s still a distant fourth place, and should find the show on the hot seat at the end of the season. It would, obviously, do better on Monday following House. The question is, would it do better than the (7.41m/3) that Lie To Me is currently offering? I think it would.

On the other side of that coin, while I’m not quite as confident about the move of Lie To Me to Thursday, I do still see the potential for it to outperform the current Fringe numbers. That bar has been set, after all, rather low. It would likely take a  hit in the move, but the end result would be that Thursday at 9:00 is stronger as well. Just something to think about. The usual numbers junk is after the jump. 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 »

I’m not sure when the “official” start to the new television season is supposed to be. The schedules really get crazy next week, but personally, I consider it last week. We finally have some premiere numbers to start talking about. Not a lot of them, but the ones we did see were rather interesting. And interesting on both sides of the coin. Some shows had reason to celebrate (Glee, Vampire Diaries), while others have cause for concern (90210, Melrose Place). Others (SYTYCD, Next Top Model, Supernatural) fell somewhere in the middle. Over on cable, the week was very good for FX and the crew down at Sons Of Anarchy HQ. Read the rest of this entry »

Highlights of the Week

• This had to be a difficult film to put together. HBO’s Boy Interrupted is the story of a young boy’s struggle with bipolar disorder and depression, leading to his suicide at 15. His mother, the filmmaker, hopes to shed light on this difficult disease with painful honesty, to expose a very true reality. (Mon. 9pm)
• The Reege is back, clocking more TV hours with the tenth anniversary return of primetime Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for a special 11-night, two-week event. Airing Sunday-Thursday, starting August 3 at 8pm, and wrapping Sunday, August 23.
• If you’d rather get your dance on, or watch others do so, the two-night finale of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance is here. Wednesday at 9pm for the performances, and the two hour extravaganza finale at 8pm, Thursday.
• But don’t worry; dance continues as by Sunday, the new season of Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew will be under away again. (Sun. 9pm, MTV)
• The team behind Slumdog Millionaire put together Bollywood Hero, a three-part mini-series over three consecutive nights, about a guy who failed to land a lead “heroic” role in the States, so took one in Bollywood. Will America follow? (Thu. 10pm, IFC)
• It’s been gone for a little while now, but TLC has a little show coming back. You may not have heard of it. It’s about this couple who have eight kids, a set of twins and sextuplets. Jon & Kate Plus 8 returns for awhile. (Mon. 9pm)
• It’s “Shark Week” over at the Discovery Channel, with shark-themed specials all week long. What more do you need to know. SHARK WEEK! Read the rest of this entry »

(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 »

7:00p/6:00 Central

• Saudi officials aren’t worried that we’re going to spend less on their oil. That’s what they’re telling CBS’s 60 Minutes. ABC offers a special look behind the scenes with Ty Pennington on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
• NBC says It’s Football Night in America, in case you weren’t sure. Meanwhile, the new CW Sunday continues with the second installment of Jericho.
• The first two of three King of the Hill repeats kicks off the night. These are for the West Coast as the rest of us will be dealing with the NFL. TLC is offering up a look at Superhuman Strength.

Read the rest of this entry »

6:00p/5:00 Central

• Who knew? A new reality competition show! This time it’s E! getting in on the fun with Party Monsters: Cabo. This new show, premiering on a special night and time to ensure no one can find its regular time slot (Tuesdays at 10/9), features nine party planners competing to throw the ultimate A-list shindig.

7:00p/6:00 Central

• While NBC kicks off another Football Night in America and ABC settles down with some more of America’s Funniest Home Videos, CNN’s Anderson Cooper sits down with Olympic medalist Michael Phelps before goldfish America forgets who he is on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Read the rest of this entry »