THE SKED'S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

A preview of next season's schedule?

CBS:  The network experimented with a new episode of THE MENTALIST at 9PM, and while the 2.0 rating was 20% below the show's Thursday season low, Friday offers fewer available eyeballs, so a decline was to be expected.  Mentalist nevertheless considerably outrated what CSI NY and A Gifted Man have been doing at 9PM, easily winning its timeslot, pushing Grimm near a series low, and helping BLUE BLOODS inch up to a 1.8.   And that wasn't even CBS' best news of the night:  in the 4-way unscripted battle at 8PM, UNDERCOVER BOSS was the winner by far with a 2.2, the highest rated broadcast on any network last night.

NBC:  Against Mentalist, GRIMM's 1.5 was 0.1 above its series low.  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? was a weak 3rd place at 8PM with 1.0 (tying a repeat on FOX), but DATELINE, while behind Blue Bloods, nosed out ABC for 2d place at 10PM.

ABC:  SHARK TANK managed 2d place at 8PM (although a big 0.7 behind CBS), but PRIMETIME and 20/20 fell to third the rest of the evening. 

FOX:  A repeat KITCHEN NIGHTMARES tied for 3d in both of its hours.  

CW:  Repeats were at a typical (for CW repeats) 0.3-0.4.

Tonight continues to be something of a bonanza for Saturday original programming (as long as quality doesn't come into play):  THE FIRM on NBC, Q'VIVA! THE CHOSEN on FOX, and a 20/20 invitingly titled My Extreme Affliction.  Yum!  Then tomorrow, all the networks are new (with a return of Dylan Baker's Hannibal Lecter-ish character on THE GOOD WIFE), with the main "events" being HARRY'S LAW return to the NBC schedule at 8PM and the 2d episode test for ABC's GCB at 10PM.