Movie Box Review

AWAKE is getting sleepy.

NBC:  A 20% drop from a series premiere isn't ordinarily anything shocking or particularly worrisome.  But when you start with a 2.0 the way AWAKE did, that leaves you with a 1.6 in Week 2, and that makes Week 3, when the show will be facing fresh competition on both CBS and ABC for the first time, look like an oncoming train.  (The show continues to be problematic creatively, too:  see our Pilot + 1 Review.)  Earlier in the evening, 30 ROCK had its last 8PM airing of the season (COMMUNITY arrives next week) and remained 0.1 above its season low with 1.4, while PARKS & RECREATION was comparatively robust at 1.9.  THE OFFICE and UP ALL NIGHT (with what may have been its most insufferable episode yet--if the show would just own up to the contempt it feels for almost all human beings, it might be a lot better) were up 0.1 from last week.

CBS:  BIG BANG THEORY continued to dominate Idol at 8PM, and a repeat Big Bang provided strong competition for FOX at 8:30PM, holding on impressively to almost 80% of the new episode's audience.  That (along with the weak competition on ABC and FOX) pushed PERSON OF INTEREST to a new series high of 3.4, which in turn gave THE MENTALIST its best number in a month.

FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL came awfully close to losing the full 8-9PM hour (4.8 vs 4.6), continuing its diminished ways.  THE FINDER aired its last Thursday episode before being burned off on moving to Fridays, with a 2.3 that was last place among the original shows in its hour.

ABC:  Repeats for the evening, putting it in last place (other than CW) in every hour.

CW:  Also in repeat mode, with a rerun SUPERNATURAL substituted for THE SECRET CIRCLE to little effect.

Tonight's interesting move is CBS experimenting with a new Mentalist episode at 9PM.  Apart from the CBS shows and GRIMM, everything is unscripted or a repeat.

Unfortunately for NBC, there are other nights in the week besides Monday.

NBC:  The gradual season-long collapse of THE OFFICE continued last night, as the show's 2.5 hit not just a season low, but its lowest rating since Season 1 in 2005--i.e., the season that almost got it canceled.  That was still by far the s network's highest number of the night.  30 ROCK was misleadingly up from last week, which was an aberration caused by a program description that resulted in DVRs not picking up the episode; last night's 1.6 was in line with the other episodes this season (and slightly below recent episodes of Parks & Recreation, which it replaced for the night).  UP ALL NIGHT tied its Thursday low.  Perhaps the most pathetic news of the evening was that the meager 1.5 earned by a repeat of the post-Super Bowl VOICE at 10PM still marked almost double the rating Prime Suspect and The Firm had been doing in that slot.

FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL was up 0.2 to a 5.7 (losing again in its first half-hour to Big Bang Theory), still down more than 20% from the parallel night last year.  THE FINDER was down slightly, mired in 4th place for its hour.

CBS:  BIG BANG THEORY continued to win its half hour, dead even with the past 2 weeks.  ROB, too, has spent the past 4 weeks within a tiny range of 0.2 up or down.  This stability has been great for PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST, which both tied their season highs--Mentalist won its hour, and Person was a strong 2d at 9PM.

ABC:  WIPEOUT hit a new season low, but after that the news improved.  GREY'S ANATOMY, back on track after the previous week's "alternate universe" episode, had its highest rating in more than a month, while PRIVATE PRACTICE was on the lower end of its numbers, but very stable.

CW:  VAMPIRE DIARIES' steady 1.2 put it in hailing distance of both NBC and ABC for the hour.  SECRET CIRCLE was up slightly to (for CW) a very strong 0.8.

No sweeps events tonight, just an evening of all-new episodes.  On Saturday, NBC repeats its entire Monday night line-up all over again, while ABC prepares for the return of Cougar Town with a mini-marathon after a Valentine's Day-themed Charlie Brown special.  And FOX gets into the holiday spirit, too, with America's Most Wanted:  Crimes of Passion Special Edition. 

Sweeps!

FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL was steady with last Thursday at 5.4, which meant it was again down around 30% from last year and again saw its first half-hour lose to CBS's Big Bang Theory.  THE FINDER, airing against original episodes on every network this week, lost most of last week's gains and fell to a 4th place 2.4 in its hour (which may go down further if Idol had an overrun).

NBC:  The shows on NBC (you may know them better as "the stuff that airs between Smash commercials") suffered more ignominy, as 30 ROCK hit a new all-time low of 1.3 (down 20% from last week's then-all-time low), and THE OFFICE, with a 2.7, had its lowest ever rating on a Thursday.  PARKS & RECREATION provided comparatively good news by rising 0.1 from last week to a 1.8, but UP ALL NIGHT fell 0.1 from last week, also to a 1.8.  For anyone who wondered if THE FIRM could get any lower, the answer was yes--down to a 0.8, where it was probably beaten by plenty of cable networks.

ABC:  An unimpressive start to sweeps, as WIPEOUT matched its season low 1.8, GREY'S ANATOMY got no boost from its hyped "alternate universe" episode and matched the 3.5 of its last original, and PRIVATE PRACTICE, while up 0.2 from its last original, was still near that season low.

CBS:  A strong 2d place to FOX for the night.  BIG BANG THEORY won its half hour, and then ROB was steady with last week, both shows down only 0.1.  PERSON OF INTEREST hit a series high 3.3 that left it only 0.2 out of 1st place for its hour, and THE MENTALIST, while down 0.2 from last week, easily won its hour.

CW:  VAMPIRE DIARIES rose slightly to a 1.2, which left it only 0.1 behind 30 Rock at 8PM.  SECRET CIRCLE was even with last week's 0.7.  

AMERICAN IDOL's best days are behind it.

FOX:  Idol gave FOX an easy win for the night, but it continues to be 30% below last season, and last night dipped 0.3 from its first Thursday.  It appears as though the show didn't even win the time-slot for its first half-hour, falling behind BIG BANG THEORY on CBS (although Idol recovered at 8:30PM).  Again:  a 5.4 rating these days is still tremendous, and Idol isn't going anywhere, but it's no longer the fearsome beast it's always been.  The best news for FOX last night was that THE FINDER did a very robust 2.9 at 9PM, although the number (which may come down if Idol had an overrun) comes laden with asterisks, as it faced a mix of repeats and atypical competition in its hour.

NBC:  The network let it be known this week that, with much of THE OFFICE cast not under contract after this year, it's already starting to prepare for a post-Office schedule by developing a Rainn Wilson spin-off that could start airing in early 2013.  Last night it got a look at what an Office-less Thursday might look like:  with a fresh 30 ROCK airing at 9PM, not a single show on the once-Must-See night could reach even a 2 rating.  In the Ignominious Department, THE FIRM, even with reruns on the other networks, only scratched its way to 1.0.

CBS:  Big Bang, as noted, seems to have beaten Idol at 8PM, and even though ROB declined at 8:30PM, its 3.5 was still quite strong.  After that it was repeats, although it's worth noting that the MENTALIST rerun at 10PM equaled the combined ratings for NBC and ABC in the hour.

ABC:  Conserving its original episodes for February sweeps, the network was all-repeat last night, with nothing over a 1.5.

CW:  Preempted the schedule for the dreadful theatrical movie The Covenant (featuring a couple of Gossip Girl actors) and managed a 0.5.

Tonight we bid hail and farewell to CHUCK, which was never a breakout hit but managed to hang around fairly entertainingly for 5 seasons. Although series finales are notoriously tricky, up to now the show has remained admirably faithful to its mythology and tone, so let's hope it sticks the landing.