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 »

Things were a little slow on the DVD front last week, but business has certainly picked back up. The big shows are back with sets from Dexter, Greek, Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, Gossip Girl, iCarly, and Sons of Anarchy. We also have some classic TV (Simon & Simon), some Discovery favorites (Man vs Wild, Ghost Adventures), and animation (Total Drama Island, The Simpsons, The Smurfs). It all makes for a pretty solid collection. My pick of the week, Simon & Simon. It’s Rick and A.J. man! Pictures, links, and the rest of the releases, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, the 2008-2009 network television season’s in the bag. But, you know what? It’s not all tears and depression. Let’s be honest; most nights, the networks air a pretty stinky lineup of shows. Apparently, it’s really hard to put on three straight hours of quality programming, and some networks even struggle to put on two (and when that’s hour-long shows, it’s only two series per night. Why so tough, FOX and The CW?)

But even more true is the fact that today is no exception. The networks have rarely managed to keep us satisfied all night (this is a family post, perverts!), so enough with our lamenting the good old days. Instead, I propose an alternative: a build your own strongest lineup for each night of the week from each one of the big four networks (never will The CW have enough good to qualify. Although we might be able to mine something from The WB and/or UPN….)

A few months back, we discussed the ultimate in nights of television, NBC’s Must See Thursdays. But, plenty of other nights, and other networks, have storied histories (both good and bad). So, with a little suggestion from Peter Lynn, and a little chronological order, what say we visit Sundays on FOX, first. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2008-2009 television season is quickly coming to a close. Last week saw some 30 season/series finales hitting our screens. The resulting numbers were all over the place. Some shows took advantage of the situation, pulling out all the stops and hitting numbers they hadn’t seen in some time. Others held steady. And a few signed in with troubling drops.

I’ve mentioned before that these final numbers could hold sway as the networks prepare to release the fall schedules this week. That does still apply, although, after all the shenanigans over the weekend, with Dollhouse and Better Off Ted being renewed, just how much sway becomes a little more cloudy. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re on the verge of it now. Over the next two weeks all of our favorite shows are going to be ending, and some of those tough decisions will have to be made by the networks. These final few ratings numbers will play heavily in those decisions. With that in mind, the week brought good news for a couple of bubble shows (Castle, Lie To Me), and bad news for others (Better Off Ted, Cupid, The Unusuals, Dollhouse, Reaper, My Name Is Earl). Read the rest of this entry »