Movie Box Review

As football season approaches its regular-season climax, viewers just can't get enough of it.

ABC:  The network's female-oriented line-up is meant to survive football, but ABC has been shooting itself in the foot in recent weeks.  Last night was the 2d time in 3 weeks that ONCE UPON A TIME was the only regular ABC scripted series to air on a Sunday night, and the odd scheduling is taking its toll.  Serving as lead-in to a horribly rated rerun of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the pivotal episode of Once dipped to a new season low for the third week in a row.  It's probably lucky that the show is done with new episodes for the year, to return in January.

CBS:  In TV terms, Tim Tebow is practically--well, a miracle.  Not only is he charismatic and controversial, but his games aren't determined until the last possible second or beyond, keeping ratings through the roof, and yesterday was another overtime finish that went well into primetime.  That propelled 60 MINUTES, THE AMAZING RACE and even THE GOOD WIFE, all of which were near or at season highs.  (The buzz had worn off, though, by the time CSI MIAMI aired.)

FOX:  With less of a football overrun, THE SIMPSONS and the rest of the animation line-up was down, but THE CLEVELAND SHOW held far better to the Simpsons audience than Allen Gregory had been doing.

NBC:  A meaningful match-up between marquee teams that went down to the last second:  it doesn't get better for NBC than this.  Unfortunately for the network, for reasons that still haven't been entirely explained, NBC was unable to use its "flex time" rights to get what should be the Avatar of regular-season football games next week:  Denver vs. New England.  That blockbuster will air on CBS in late afternoon.

Tonight CBS tries something a little different:  although its 9-11PM shows are regularly-scheduled originals, it's going to try a new 2 BROKE GIRLS episode in place of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER at 8PM (with a repeat Girls at 8:30).  NBC, for its part, is bringing FEAR FACTOR back into our lives.  And FOX will hope for something in TERRA NOVA's ratings that justifies bringing it back for another season.

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.