Movie Box Review

FOX's decision to move TOUCH to Thursdays and BONES to Mondays left THE FINDER as the odd show out, and today that other shoe fell:  Finder will run its remaining episodes (essentially burning them off) on Fridays at 8PM, starting April 6.  This pushes the unscripted HOTEL HELL to summer.

This may not be great news for FRINGE, because Finder's lead-in is likely to be fairly anemic--the show has been in the low 2s even with an AMERICAN IDOL lead-in, and can be expected to decline when asked to open low-rated Fridays.  On the other hand, one could make the argument that the scripted Finder provides a more compatible lead-in to to Fringe than KITCHEN NIGHTMARES.  (One could also make the argument that with Fringe's numbers, its lead-in is the least of its problems.)

FRINGE, having watched Monty Python & the Holy Grail, shouts "I'm not dead!" as the gravediggers try to take it away.

CBS:  An extremely soft win for the night (1.6 average).  UNDERCOVER BOSS was down 0.4 from its season premiere, A GIFTED MAN (in its penultimate episode, at least for this season) was down 0.2, and only BLUE BLOODS was up a slight 0.1 from last week, when it aired against ABC's Whitney Houston tribute.

FOX:  FRINGE was up 0.1, and while that doesn't sound like much (and isn't), at least it was in a tightly squeezed pack at 9PM (1.5-1.4-1.3-1.2).  The show now takes 4 weeks off, to return at the end of March with what it hopes won't be its final 8 episodes in this timeline and universe.  

NBC:  GRIMM continues to be a very niche success, at the top of that 9PM scrum by a bare 0.1 and showing no signs that it could thrive in the tougher competition that exists Sun-Thurs.  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? is flopping at 8PM with a 1.0, and DATELINE barely won the newsmagazine battle at 10PM by 0.1.

ABC:  The network was in 2d place by only 0.1 at both 8PM and 9PM (SHARK TANK particularly benefited from Undercover Boss' decline), but 20/20 slumped without the buzz of the Whitney Houston story.

CW:  Repeats, although it's worth nothing that the 0.4 scored by NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL was only 0.1 below what some of the network's new episodes have been rating.

Tonight is repeat hell, except for NBC's burn-off of THE FIRM episodes (another kind of hell).  Tomorrow night is likely to be joyful for fans of black-and-white silent French films, and depressing for everyone else.  (It's a mark of just how dreary this year's Oscars are that the media has spent 2 days obsessing about Sacha Baron Cohen's publicity stunt for his new movie instead of the awards.)  All the other broadcast networks are staying away, as are many scripted cable locales, with the exceptions of giant hit WALKING DEAD on AMC, and enormous flop LUCK on HBO.

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Not a great night for bubble shows.

CBS:  On a night where CSI NY and BLUE BLOODS both won their hours and were up slightly from last week, A GIFTED MAN went down 0.1 and tied for 3rd place at 8PM.

FOX:  KITCHEN NIGHTMARES and FRINGE were both down 0.1 from last week, but while that still left Kitchen comfortably in 2d place for its hour, Fringe matched a series low 1.1 and continued to make it hard for FOX to consider renewing it.

NBC:  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, with a heavily-promoted "Marisa Tomei murder mystery" episode, held steady with its season premiere, and then things got even better.  GRIMM was up 0.2 from last week, just 0.1 from the lead in its hour, and DATELINE (some big story/interview this week?) was up a whopping 0.4 from last week, beating out 20/20.

ABC:  SHARK TANK got the night off to a great start, up 0.3 for the week and winning the 8PM slot.  PRIMETIME was up 0.1, and while that was only enough for 3rd place at 9PM, it was a closely-bunched trio.  But then 20/20 fell flat at 10PM, down 0.3 from last week.

CW:  NIKITA held at a 0.5, and although SUPERNATURAL was down 0.1, its 0.7 is still solid for CW.

Tomorrow night's big event is the GRAMMYS, the one night of the year CBS pretends it's hip.  The show scored a 9.9 last year (up a bit from the year before), and faces all-new episodes on ABC and FOX, plus a 2-hour FEAR FACTOR special on NBC.

America wasn't in the mood for scripted drama.

NBC:  The network replaced the deceased Chuck with the reality show WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? and could only pull a 4th place 1.1 in the hour (admittedly a bit better than Chuck was doing, and probably at a lower price).  GRIMM had a bad week, even though it tied for 2d in its hour--it matched its season low 1.4, down 0.4 from its last original.

FOX:  KITCHEN NIGHTMARES won its hour with a 1.6, but then FRINGE plunged to a 1.1 despite airing one of the season's best episodes, tying its season low.

CBS: The network tied for the win on the night, but A GIFTED MAN, CSI NY and BLUE BLOODS were all down slightly from their last original episodes.

ABC:  Shared the win, sparked by a 20/20 that tied Blue Bloods for the lead at 10PM.  PRIMETIME, though, was down 0.3 from last week.

CW:  Another pair of tied season lows for NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL. 

Not a lot of viewer enthusiasm on a night when nothing topped a 1.8.

NBC:  CHUCK continued to lurch toward its January 27 finale with a 0.9.  The network's issue comes at 9PM:  one obvious move would be to yank the horribly rated THE FIRM off Thursday and put GRIMM in that slot, but Grimm hit a series low 1.4 last night, making it harder and harder to consider the show a "hit," even on NBC.  Leave Grimm on Friday where not much is expected from it (but where returns are low), or try to make it more of a mainstream success (and risk losing it altogether)?  Tough call.  DATELINE wound up the night with an unimpressive 3rd place finish.

ABC:  A tie for the night's win, sparked by the final regular-series hour of EXTREME MAKEOVER:  HOME EDITION and a Madonna interview on 20/20 that both gave the network a 1.7 in their hours (tying for 1st place at 9PM, 2d place by 0.1 at 10PM), following a 1.4 for the first hour of the Extreme Makeover finale. 

CBS:  Shared 1st place for the night, with a 1.3 for A GIFTED MAN at 8PM but better results the rest of the night.

FOX:  KITCHEN NIGHTMARES started the night off well with a 1.7 that won the 8PM hour, but then FRINGE fell to 4th place at 9PM, tying its 1.1 series low.  Let's hope the producers have an endgame in mind for the rest of this season, because the show's tenuous lease on life may be nearing an end.

CW:  Both NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL were down from last week to 0.5 and 0.6, respectively.

Saturday night will be dominated, possibly to a historic extent, by CBS's coverage of the Tim Tebow/Tom Brady Armageddon Bowl.  ABC will try to zig a little bit to that massive zag by airing the Miss America pageant.  In late night, Daniel Radcliffe (who has a movie opening) will test his post-Harry Potter appeal by hosting Saturday Night Live, with music guest Lana Del Rey.  Sunday will feature debuts by CBS's Undercover Boss and FOX's animated version of Napoleon Dynamite, but the night's big event will be NBC's Ricky Gervais-hosted Golden Globes.

People will watch anything over an episode of CHUCK.

NBC:  Facing nothing but repeats, a new Chuck could do no better than 4th place in its hour with a sad 0.8.  The GRIMM repeat did half the rating of the CSI MIAMI repeat at 9, but a new DATELINE did manage to win the hour at 10PM with a 1.2.

FOX:  The repeat KITCHEN NIGHTMARES won the first hour, but at 9PM a FRINGE rerun plummeted to 0.4.

CBS:  Steady, with its reruns all within 0.9-1.2.

ABC:  A run of the first CHRONICLES OF NARNIA picture managed a 1.0 for the night.

CW:  Repeat, off-night SECRET CIRCLEs could only muster a 0.3.

Tonight, thanks to New Year's Eve, ABC will be all-new with Dick Clark specials, and NBC will have Carson Daly for a fresh hour at 10PM.  Sunday sets up as a very big night for NBC:  against reruns on all the other networks (including 3 back-to-back Once Upon A Times on ABC), the Peacock has an all-the-marbles showdown for the last NFL playoff spot between Dallas and the NY Giants.

Happy New Year from The Sked!

No news was good news for NBC last night.

NBC:  The network returned from several weeks of seasonal hiatus in pretty chipper shape.  CHUCK was up slightly from its last airing, but more importantly, GRIMM held steady with a 1.6 that on this night and this network was a veritable present under the tree, winning its hour.  Then DATELINE (airing against a CBS rerun) was equally strong, also winning the hour.

ABC:  Unexcitingly even, with EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION's 1.2 average over its 2 hours and 20/20's 1.3 the same as last week.

CBS:  Christmas specials won the 8PM hour and were a very solid 2d at 9PM, but the BLUE BLOODS repeat at 10PM came in behind both newsmagazines.

FOX:  Repeats didn't budge the needle, with FRINGE notably awful at 0.4.

CW:  More repeats, as the network's winter intermission continues.

Sunday's schedule will be all over the place, with new episodes on FOX and CBS (including the cycle finale of THE AMAZING RACE at 8PM), a rerun of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on ABC, what should be a big Giants vs Cowboys football game on NBC, and on HBO, the season finale of BOARDWALK EMPIRE coupled with a "preview" of the pilot for their big-name (Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Michael Mann, David Milch) horseracing series LUCK.  

Something unusual for NBC these days:  good news.

NBC:  A 1.6 rating may not sound like anything to celebrate, but it's a pretty good number for Friday night (only one show all evening did better last night).  More importantly, it represented a stable hold for GRIMM from last week, and it was good enough to tie CBS for the lead in its hour.  That's practically enough for a celebration down Lankershim Avenue outside NBC's offices.  One cautionary note:  Grimm won't air again for at least 3 weeks, with preemptions on both of the next 2 Fridays.  As FOX can testify, those kinds of breaks can wreak havoc with new shows.  

FOX:  FRINGE, possibly feeling the weight of Grimm's presence in its timeslot, held at its series low 1.1 rating after KITCHEN NIGHTMARES won the 8PM hour.

CBS:  The highest rated show of the night was BLUE BLOODS, locking up the nightly win.  Even the soon-to-disappear A GIFTED MAN was only 0.1 off the lead at 8PM.

ABC:  Third place in every hour, although EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION was up nicely from last week.

CW:  Both NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL were within the 0.6-0.8 CW window.

Sunday night will be disrupted by the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS on ABC.  Last year's awards did a 4.3 in 18-49s, which was down substantially from the 5.5 the show had done the year before.

The small fluttering bit of NBC's fall that was still breathing may have started to die last night.

NBC:  GRIMM didn't win its timeslot last night, after another 15% drop.  On Friday night, a 1.5 is still a decent number (good enough for 2d place in the 9PM hour last night), but the show's momentum is clearly moving the wrong way, and the network will be hard-pressed to justify calling the show a "hit"--not that that's likely to stop them.  CHUCK continued its creep to the TV graveyard 

CBS:  A GIFTED MAN's 1.2 was on par with its season track record and good enough for 2d place in its timeslot, but the network will have to decide very soon whether that's good enough to survive.  BLUE BLOODS took a hit at 10PM, possibly because of a promotable 20/20 on ABC.

FOX:  FRINGE hit a series low 1.1, and that's low indeed.  The series has a full season order, so it'll have plenty of time to see how Grimm plays out before there's any need to panic.  KITCHEN NIGHTMARES had an easy win at 8PM.

ABC:  EXTREME MAKEOVER was nowhere to be found at 8PM (just 0.2 above Nikita on the CW), but the 10PM 20/20 was way up over last week.

CW:  Both NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL were within the 0.6-0.8 CW norm.

The absence of World Series Game 7 didn't have the dramatic impact that might have been expected.

NBC:  Hey, GRIMM won its timeslot, that's something NBC doesn't get to say very damn often this season.  So:  success.  A back 9 order may very well be around the corner from a network craving anything that looks like good news.  But the spin on last week's 2.1 rating was that only baseball had held it back, and yet with far less competition this week, the number is down 15%.  If it declines even a bit more, in 2 weeks it may no longer be winning its hour.  So:  success?  Meanwhile, the network has to be concerned by the godawful 0.8 lead-in Grimm is getting from CHUCK, which is tantamount to starting the night with a rerun.  If any show on NBC right now needs a strong lead-in, it's Grimm, but with its depleted stocks, the network may not have one to give it.

CBS:  A GIFTED MAN's chances for a full-season pick-up weren't helped by showing no additional signs of life with the World Series out of the way.  BLUE BLOODS had a commanding win against the 2 newsmagazines at 10PM, almost outrating both of them combined. 

FOX:  Even though FRINGE was up only a tenth from its last new episode, it deserves a little credit:  that was after a 3-week gap (a rerun and the World Series intervening), and versus the new and hugely-publicized direct competition of Grimm.  The show will never draw big numbers, but its fans are loyal.

ABC:  EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION benefited from the end of baseball, and both hours did OK.  20/20 was only a tenth below Dateline at 10PM.

CW:  Baseball didn't mean much to this network's audience, and its shows stayed on track.

Fridays are quiet in any case, but with 2 of the networks waiting to launch their "real" schedules, last night was nearly inaudible.

CBS:  Although A GIFTED MAN upticked slightly last night, it seems clear that the show won't reach the level of the network's other Friday shows (and the competition is about to get tougher).  CBS will have to decide whether they can live with those numbers.

FOX:  The network has allowed FRINGE to survive with ratings at the current level; we'll find out in the next few weeks if the show can sustain there against the new rivals about to appear in its timeslot.

NBC:  Biding its time until GRIMM and CHUCK arrive in 2 weeks.

ABC:  Biding its time until EXTREME MAKEOVER arrives next Friday (and then SHARK TANK the following week), although they have to be gratified that their LAST MAN STANDING reruns more than doubled NBC's rerun combo of THE OFFICE/PARKS & REC.  That bodes well for next Tuesday's rating.

CW:  When you're scoring a 0.5 like NIKITA did last week, a 0.6 can seem like good times.

Fridays are only half a real night for the broadcast networks right now, so it stands to reason that they get only half the ratings.

CBS:  Will the network accept a 1.2 from A GIFTED MAN?  (And, to be fair, along with it an older audience that gives the show double the all-ages number of anything else in the slot.)  CBS doesn't have an enormous bench of 1-hours for midseason, so the answer probably hinges on whether there's a show airing elsewhere in the week that they want to move to Fridays.  We probably won't know that for a some time yet.  Even though BLUE BLOODS and CSI NY are winning their hours, their 18-49 numbers are down 10% and 20%, respectively, from last season.

FOX:  FRINGE stopped the bleeding, and the network seems to be OK with it at its current 1.3, so fans can breathe easy for another week.

NBC:  In a holding pattern until CHUCK and GRIMM debut on October 28.  It's interesting to note, though, that for the next couple of weeks Whitney will be airing 3x per week on the network:  original episodes on Thursdays, and reruns on Wednesdays and Fridays.

ABC:  Holding pattern until EXTREME MAKEOVER and SHARK TANK arrive later this month.

CW:  Even by the CW's standards, it doesn't seem likely NIKITA can survive very long with a 0.5.  Creatively, the show has been adrift this year too, with all the characters pursuing separate ends that make the show feel more like a procedural than ever.

NEW GIRL - With a well-deserved full-season pick-up, this is one of the bona fide hits of the new season, so much that the network is already using it as a piece in its scheduling games--a repeat airs in the 9:30PM slot this Thursday , and a new episode next Wednesday at the same time to target the other networks' new sitcoms.

X-FACTOR - OK, it's not a blockbuster.  But its solid ratings are giving FOX wins on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and that's the kind of "disappointment" any network would envy.

TERRA NOVA - Similarly, its 3.1 rating isn't blowing anyone away.  Paired with HOUSE, however, it's keeping the network a strong 2d on Mondays.

Holdovers - HOUSE and the Sunday animation line-up.

GLEE -  OK, not "struggling"--it's still a very strong 2d place in its timeslot.  But its time as a phenomenon seems to have passed.

FRINGE - It's already the poster child for "barely hanging on;" one or two ticks lower and it'll have to air in a parallel universe.

There are certainly areas for improvement on the FOX schedule, but none of them are disasters.

It being a Friday, not a single show on network television could even manage a 2 rating in 18-49s.  Even within that narrow radius, though, there was room to be a loser.

CBS:  A GIFTED MAN (see our Pilot + 1 Review) had little room to fall after a blah debut, and now it has none at all:  its 14% drop from the premiere isn't a bad retention, but its 1.2 rating is considerably lower than anything else on the network's Friday, and although the show easily wins the timeslot with older viewers, it may be doomed if it drops any lower.  BLUE BLOODS and CSI:  NY held up the flag for original scripted programming on Fridays.

FOX:  FRINGE's 1.2 was a bad 20% drop from the season premiere, and the show is again stepping dangerously close to the area where FOX will finally give up on it.

NBC:  The network again went the promo route in the night's first hour, repeating UP ALL NIGHT and WHITNEY to negligible results.  DATELINE was down considerably from last week, but still pulled a decent number for 2 hours.

ABC:  Promo runs of MODERN FAMILY, SUBURGATORY and PAN AM at least hit a 1.0 or more, but of course those shows were more successful than NBC's to begin with.  With a weaker Dateline as competition, 20/20 even edged up a bit.

It was a sleepy first Friday for premiere week.

CBS:  The network's marketing team doesn't have all that much to boast about this week:  2 Broke Girls had a monster opening, but that was because of its even more monstrous 2 1/2 Men lead-in, and now A GIFTED MAN follows Unforgettable and Person of Interest in generating only moderate interest.  A 1.4 isn't necessarily a death sentence on Fridays, but being CBS's lowest-rated show on the night might be; certainly any further decline in that number would be cause for alarm.  Blue Bloods and CSI New York both opened around their season averages.

FOX:  At this point, the FRINGE audience is what it is, within a couple of tenths of a point.  Its 1.5 last night was in line with the numbers it was doing on Fridays when it was renewed last spring, so presumably if it can stick around that level, it'll continue to survive. 

CW:  Not a surprise that NIKITA took a hit away from its strong Vampire Diaries lead-in on Thursdays. but even by the CW's standards, 0.6 is a tiny number, and if it falls any further, the show may be in trouble.   Supernatural's 0.8 looks comparatively strong.

NBC:  The Peacock used the first hour of the night for promo purposes, repeating UP ALL NIGHT and WHITNEY to limited results.  DATELINE perked up nicely for the remainder of the evening.

ABC:  Also went the promo route, with MODERN FAMILY and REVENGE repeats for the viewers who don't have or know how to use their DVRs.  20/20 wasn't a factor at 10PM.

GRIMM -  Friday 9PM on NBC:   If Nothing Else Is On...


Alongside their 2 mid-1960s nostalgic soaps (Pan Am and The Playboy Club), next season ABC and NBC are both giving us shows about fairytale characters who live in the real world:  Once Upon A Time and GRIMM.  Of the 2, NBC's is by far the most... aptly named.


Grimm is, beyond its veneer of mythology, a far more straightforward horror story than we're used to in the post-Buffy era (this despite the fact that co-writers Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt are both veterans of the Whedonverse).  Homicide Detective Nick Burckhardt (David Giuntoli) discovers one day that when he looks at the faces of certain passersby, he sees the secret, monstrous identities they wear behind their normal facades; before the pilot is over, he's learned from his dying aunt (Kate Burton) that as her power fades, he's growing into his place as a "Grimm," basically a monster-hunter who can identify the Big Bad Wolves and evil witches among us.  This comes in handy as he sets out to solve the crimes these otherworldly villains commit. As the series goes on, there will presumably be a monster-of-the-week, and Nick will gradually learn more about his abilities and the peril he's now in.

There's nothing at all wrong with this as the premise for a supernatural saga, but at the moment, Grimm hasn't found its voice.  (To be fair, Fringe, a show that travels some of the same territory--and is now Grimm's timeslot competitor--took most of its first season to lock onto its tone and content, squandering much of its initial audience in the process.)  The pilot is almost unrelievedly dark, with a tone that owes far more to Criminal Minds than to True Blood, which is an odd choice; it's questionable how much interest the procedural audience has in a genre show like this.  A lot of the dialogue is ploddingly expositional, and the only levity--shocking, considering the Whedon background of the writers--comes from Silas Weir Mitchell as a reformed Big Bad who helps Nick's investigation and who will hopefully stick around for a while.  There's no romance to speak of, and Nick's Grimm-ness is treated mostly as a cause for suffering.  (At some point, presumably the show will explain some of the seeming inconsistencies in Nick's abilities, like why he can see some creatures' real faces but not others, and why the creatures--who know who he is--don't just kill him before he reaches his full powers.) Even the inevitable revelation that there's a larger conspiracy around Nick feels routine.

It doesn't help that at first glance, Giuntoli seems like little more than a good-looking lump of heroism, or that

8PM:  Devotees of CHUCK, never numerous but very loyal, won't want to miss the series' final 13 episodes.  And there's not much to stop them:  A GIFTED MAN is worthy of some attention because of the high level of talent involved (director Jonathan Demme, writer Susannah Grant, star Patrick Wilson), but its promo looked like gauzy supernatural hearts and flowers, and while NIKITA got off to a good start last season, it got tangled in its own mythology and the drama petered out.


9PM:  In what seems to be the Mutually Assured Destruction Bowl of Fall 2011, NBC's fantasy GRIMM goes against the multi-dimensional (and now time-travelling) FRINGE and the veteran horror show SUPERNATURAL.  Probably all this just means good news for CSI NEW YORK, but in terms of quality, FRINGE  has gotten better and better as it's gone along, and GRIMM at least looks intriguing.

10PM:  A timeslot only for Tom Selleck fans and newsmagazine junkies.  The longer-term question for the hour is whether the aftermarket value of BLUE BLOODS is high enough to justify its much greater cost compared to 20/20 and DATELINE, when the ratings of all 3 are likely to be more or less even.

WHAT TO WATCH THE REST OF THE WEEK:
ALSO SEE MITCH METCALF'S PREDICTIONS OF FALL 2011 RATINGS: