Movie Box Review

A seemingly atypical night turned out to be fairly typical after all.

ABC:  The network preempted its entire line-up for the CMA AWARDS, and did very well, with a preliminary 4.8 that was up a tick from last year's ceremony (and up in every half-hour from the night's usual line-up except for MODERN FAMILY's slot).

CBS:  Considering the network's target audience, no surprise that CBS bore the brunt of the unusual competition.  SURVIVOR, CRIMINAL MINDS and CSI all hit or tied season lows, but the damage seemed to be minimal, with each drop only by a few tenths that the network should be able to recover.

FOX:  X FACTOR was also down 0.3, which was less than a 10% drop from last week.

NBC:  At least in the early numbers, yet another bit of bad history for the Peacock:  SVU's rating went below a 2 for the first time ever, which meant the entire night's line-up was below that mark.  (Although HARRY'S LAW was unaccountably up from last week, albeit to a still-pathetic 1.3.)

CW:  An AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL rerun led in to a new episode that did a CW-standard 0.7.

Correction 11:20AM:  Tonight will be the last "normal" Thursday of November sweeps, Tonight will be the last November sweeps Thursday featuring regularly scheduled shows (although CBS will air reruns 9-11PM), as next week ABC will be airing a Regis Philbin retirement special and a 2-hour "very special" PRIVATE PRACTICE.  

Post-baseball hangover over?  Not so fast.

FOX:  Unlike Monday, FOX's Tuesday seems to have been seriously dented by baseball preemptions.  GLEE only recovered a bit of its pre-baseball number, and despite a much-publicized episode in which 2 of the main characters lost their virginity, the show is now running a scary 25% below last season's average.  NEW GIRL managed to barely win its timeslot, but it's 20% below where it was at the beginning of October.  Making matters worse, RAISING HOPE took an odd nosedive from last week, and is now losing 40% of its lead-in's rating. 

ABC:  The LAST MAN STANDING/MAN UP! hour isn't benefiting from Glee's decline, as both shows continued to slip.  Preempting BODY OF PROOF didn't do anything for the 10PM hour, as a Robin Roberts interview special was even a couple of ticks worse.

CBS:  The NCIS shows continue to deliver, and while UNFORGETTABLE isn't in their league, it's doing well enough to win its weak timeslot.

NBC:  THE BIGGEST LOSER built a bit on last week's increase (although it's still running more than 20% below last season's average), but PARENTHOOD was unable to capitalize on that and was at the lower end of its season's range.

CW  90210 and RINGER were respectively slightly up and down, but only by a tenth each.  With the exception of Thursday, the network's schedule is mired in the 0.6-0.8 range (with a 2 month hiatus on the way).