Movie Box Review

CBS fell to a weak second-place for the night (2.1 rating from 7-11 pm).  Amazing Race rebounded nicely to its premiere of this cycle after a rough outing last week against the Oscars and not too far off last year's pace (2.8 last night and 3.2 on the same night last year, a nominal decline compared to so many other shows).  But Good Wife just can't get it going at 9 pm, on track for another season low, while CSI: Miami flirts with its season low at 10.  Last year on this night: 60 Minutes (1.7), Amazing Race (3.2), Undercover Boss (3.0) and CSI: Miami (2.9).    





NBC was basically off the air from 7-9 pm with Dateline (1.0) and a repeat Celebrity Apprentice from 8-9 (1.1).  The original episode of the Trump reality show from 9-11 pm averaged a 2.3 (rating by half hour: 2.2... 2.3... 2.3... 2.4).   A definite rebound from last week's outing versus the Oscars but well off last year's pace and surprisingly lower than the cycle-premiere rating.  On this night last year:  Dateline (1.4), America's Next Great Restaurant (1.8) and Celebrity Apprentice (3.1).

On a night when the most interesting rating is likely to be on cable (the return of Walking Dead on AMC), there wasn't much good news for any broadcast network.

ABC:  ONCE UPON A TIME is premiering 8PM next Sunday, and the night is hardly set up for the new arrival as the network must have hoped.  Although DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES seems to have found its level, that's a painful 30% below last year's average.  PAN AM crept down again, to a lowly 1.8, and given the serialized nature of the show, it's going to be awfully difficult to get that number up.  Creatively, while the show continues to look great visually, it's still having trouble finding compelling storylines, and the espionage plots are an uncomfortable fit with the overall soapy nature of the series.

FOX:  An uncharacteristic night, with X FACTOR airing what should have been last Thursday's episode (which was bumped by Wednesday's episode, which was bumped by an unexpectedly late baseball game...).  All things considered, a 3.3 rating is nothing to feel bad about.  FOX is in the midst of the trickiest part of its fall:  a St. Louis vs. Texas World Series is unlikely to be high-rated, and X Factor will be forced to Tuesdays for 2 weeks while baseball plays out its actual and potential games.  

CBS:  One thing to keep in mind about THE GOOD WIFE is that although its 2.1 rating is mediocre, the network may be able to charge a premium to advertisers if the show gets (as it very well might) an upscale, high-income audience.  CSI MIAMI is still running below last year's average, but it had a welcome uptick last night.  

NBC:  Last night's blowout featuring two teams with losing records was probably as low as SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL can get (although next Sunday, with the Manning-less sad-sack Colts, may not be much better), and it still won the night easily.  However, since football is now propping up NBC's entire schedule, a relatively low-rated game can dent the week's average.

Tonight FOX will hope TERRA NOVA and HOUSE can rebound from their delayed-by-baseball airings last week.

The season's first week came to an end with more of a whimper than a bang.

ABC:  All things considered, PAN AM got off to a solid start (insert "good take-off," "little turbulence" or similar pun of choice).  Its 3.1, while not enormously impressive, held just about all of what turned out to be a lousy lead-in from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and continued steady through the hour.  If it can continue to score in Housewives' neighborhood, the network will be satisfied enough.  The Housewives number, however, suggests that the show will limp through its final season, already 20% below last year's average.  EXTREME MAKEOVER had to compete with football on multiple networks in its first hour, then recovered to last season's average in the second.

CBS:  During football season, preliminary numbers for CBS on Sundays are tricky, because unlike FOX, CBS allows its entire schedule to slide after the late game ends.  So THE GOOD WIFE, which was the major event of its evening, didn't actually air at 9PM in parts of the country.  Based on current numbers, though, the show appears to have made an unimpressive move to Sunday, below last season's average and down from its AMAZING RACE lead-in (as well as from what Undercover Boss was doing in the slot most of last season) .  Race seems to be around its average, but the 60 MINUTES number is particularly suspect because football overruns aired in its first scheduled half-hour.  CSI MIAMI, burdened by its lead-in and aging too, appears to be well below last season's average. With A Gifted Man already looking weak on Fridays, it may not be too long before CBS contemplates getting Good Wife off Sundays and moving it to that night.

FOX:  Their animation line-up thrives with a football lead-in and the young male audience it carries, and everything scored above average last night. 

NBC:  Between now and January, let's just assume that NBC always wins Sunday nights, OK?  Even though last night's game wasn't quite the event it was expected to be, thanks to Peyton Manning's injury (although it was still a good, close game), as usual it devoured everything in is path.