Movie Box Review

Somewhere, Edward R. Murrow weeps.

CBS:  The attempt to resurrect Murrow's 59-year old celebrity interview vehicle PERSON TO PERSON with Charlie Rose and Lara Logan flopped badly with a 1.1 (wait, people didn't want to see the inside of Warren Buffet's house?).  But Survivor will be back next week, so no long-term damage done.  CRIMINAL MINDS was in its recent neighborhood (its lead over Mobbed on FOX will likely look better when final ratings are released and the Idol overrun into Mobbed's hour is removed).  As expected, CSI took a big hit from the last new episode, which was Marg Helgenberger's finale, but still won its hour.  Next week Elisabeth Shue debuts as the show's new female lead, and we'll see if that does anything for the show.

FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL held at a 6.0, which naturally destroyed the competition but was still down almost 30% from last year at this time--and was also about 10% below Monday's number for The Voice.  MOBBED was purportedly up for the night, but again that may well change once the Idol overrun is removed.

ABC:  THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY were basically even with their earlier numbers against Idol, while MODERN FAMILY and HAPPY ENDINGS, which had last aired new episodes against a 2-hour Idol, predictably did better against Mobbed.  REVENGE matched its last few originals--we'll see if next week's arc finale gives the show a bump.

NBC:  Even though Idol was stable, its NBC competition of WHITNEY and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? managed to be down to a pair of 1.5s, which is even with the series low that Up All Night had when it aired on Wednesdays.  ROCK CENTER unsurprisingly was slaughtered in its new 9PM timeslot, with a 1.1 against 3 networks that all averaged a 3.0 or more in the hour.  SVU was in last place at 10PM, although considering the difference in lead-ins, a 2.2 (only 0.5 behind CSI) was almost a moral victory.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL continues to hold nicely with a 0.7, while REMODELED continues to need one of its own with a 0.4.

Virtually all new sweeps episodes on every network tonight.  NBC will air a 1-hour 30 ROCK at 8PM, preempting PARKS & RECREATION, which should have little effect on the ratings, and while the network waits to launch AWAKE after sweeps, it'll re-air the post-Super Bowl edition of THE VOICE at 10PM.

AMERICAN IDOL returned to the schedule, towering over everything... except its own past.

FOX:  Idol came back with a 7.4, which naturally squashed all its competition.  In fact, it beat the ratings of the other 4 broadcast networks combined.  And yet... the number was down 24% from last season's Wednesday premiere.  Last year's 9.8 Wednesday premiere translated into an 8.8 Wednesday season average, so if the numbers work out the same way this time, the show could end up with a 6.6 Wednesday average.  That will certainly keep it as the season's top non-football series, but not quite the monolith it used to be (admittedly, a problem every other network would commit serial murder to have).

NBC:  All the networks choked on FOX's dust last night, but none more than the Peacock.  The 8-9PM sitcoms plunged, with WHITNEY at a new series low 1.6 and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? not much better with a 1.8.  This was followed by by the usual sad 1.1 for HARRY'S LAW, and a new 1.8  all-time low for the once-mighty SVU, which didn't even have to compete with Idol.

ABC:  All things considered, a decent 2d place for the night, except at 9:30PM where Criminal Minds narrowly beat out HAPPY ENDINGS.  None of the network's shows were down more than 0.4 from last week (MODERN FAMILY and Happy Endings declined only 0.1), and REVENGE even managed to inch up.

CBS:  With Survivor between cycles, the network aired an NCIS repeat at 8PM, which predictably got smashed.  CRIMINAL MINDS hit a season low, but down only 0.2 from its last fresh episode, which aired against much lighter competition.  The only real disappointment was CSI's 2.8, which won its hour but was down 0.1 despite the start of the much-hyped exit of Marg Helgenberger's character.  

CW:  ONE TREE HILL was down to a 0.7, which is still better than Gossip Girl or 90210 have been doing.  The REMODELED repeat that followed did the same 0.3 as the first run had done the night before.

Tonight, more Idol, with fresh competition from all the other networks, including the second episode of ROB on CBS.

Possibly because the Golden Globes take place in much less proximity to the Emmys than they do to the Oscars, and thus aren't the crucial part of network gamesplaying that they are for the movie studios, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's TV awards have always tended to be more adventurous and genuine than the ones they give to movies.

The Downton award was cause for celebration, as were the 2 major wins that Showtime's HOMELAND took for Drama and Best Drama Actress, to the spectacular Claire Danes.  Ditto for the universally lauded Peter Dinklage from GAME OF THRONES.  

Most of the other acting awards celebrated shows that are more uneven, but the performances themselves are beyond reproach:  Matt LeBlanc's wry work as "himself" in Showtime's EPISODES, Jessica Lange's campy yet fully-committed turn in FX's wacky AMERICAN HORROR STORY, Idris Elba's riveting dark homicide detective in BBCAmerica's LUTHER, Kate Winslet's superbly textured portrayal of HBO's MILDRED PIERCE, and Kelsey Grammer as the uncompromisingly grim antihero of Starz's BOSS.  HBO's ENLIGHTENED and Laura Dern's lead role are acquired tastes that this viewer hasn't acquired, but one has to respect both the work and HFPA's willingness to honor it.

One question, though;  does anyone know what NBC will be airing the night after the Super Bowl?  After watching tonight's telecast for 3 hours, I find myself completely unaware of what they may have on tap.  Just wondering...

AKA the season's final pre-American Idol Wednesday.

NBC:   In the absence of the 600-pound gorilla that's arriving in a week, the new 8-9PM hour did respectably.  WHITNEY's 2.1 was slightly higher than where Up All Night had settled in last fall, and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA built a bit on that to a 2.3, which is more than anything else at 8:30PM has been able to do for the network all season.  On a night when 3 networks were in repeats, that was good enough for 2d place in the hour.  However, as Mitch Metcalf notes, that's partly because NBC spent a lot of money and effort marketing the shows.  And did we mention American Idol arrives next week?  HARRY'S LAW was up fractionally, while SVU couldn't capitalize much on the absence of CSI in its hour, up only 0.1 from its season low.  (And apart from Idol, next week features the start of Marg Helgenberger's departure from CSI, which can be expected to stunt that show's ratings.)

ABC:  An easy night-long win.  Everything was stable except MODERN FAMILY, which was down a not-insubstantial half a ratings point... but if you're Modern Family, you can afford to go down half a point.  Notably, even with presumably more female-skewing competition on CBS than usual, REVENGE still won its hour.

CBS:  The PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS were down 0.2 from last year, still enough for 2d place over its 2 hours.

FOX:  Basically bowed out for the night, with repeat and new episodes of MOBBED that didn't top a 1.3.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL's 0.9 season premere was excellent by CW standards.

OK, now they're not even trying:  every single show on network TV last night was a repeat.

CBS:  Which is exactly how CBS likes it.  Not to rub salt in NBC's many wounds, but the CBS average last night with reruns (2.1, highlighted by a 2.3 for CRIMINAL MINDS) was just about what NBC does with new programming almost every non-football night of the week.

ABC:  The sitcoms did OK, all things considered (1.2-1.9, with MODERN FAMILY, of course, at the top), but that 0.6 for REVENGE was painful.

FOX:   Managed with scrape above a 1.0 for the 9PM hour with NEW GIRL.

NBC:  Ugliest of the ugly.  The highest number was a 1.0 for UP ALL NIGHT, and then HARRY'S LAW did a CW-level 0.5.

CW:  A Hilary Duff movie that barely appeared in theatres did a 0.4, which is about what their series reruns have been scoring.

No relief tonight, although ABC will air a repeat Charlie Brown special at 8PM.

SUBURGATORY -  Only one airing so far, but it premiered well.

Holdovers - MODERN FAMILY, THE MIDDLE, PRIVATE PRACTICE, CASTLE

REVENGE -  Not really "struggling" yet, but last week's drop was worrisome.  The question is whether it can stop the fall.

PAN AM -  Same here.  It's won the battle of the 1960s shows, and it's beating CBS, but the ratings need to hold where they are now.

GREY'S ANATOMY - As with Glee, this show is still a hit, but it's substantially less of one than it used to be.

DANCING WITH THE STARS - The question is whether this disastrous cycle is just an aberration of bad casting, or if it signals the beginning of the end for this show.  That would be seriously bad news for a network that needs it to fill multiple hours per week.

Holdovers - BODY OF PROOF, HAPPY ENDINGS

CHARLIE'S ANGELS - No one cared to see a remake of this, and besides, it's not any good.  Now that NBC has issued the season's first cancellation, expect this one to be close behind.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - Dead show walking!  No one expected it to go out as dismally as it has.  A warning of the perils of hanging on for one season too many.

 
GRADE:  C-plus
 

Everyone was down, as the new season started to settle in on itself--but some were down more than others.

ABC:  MODERN FAMILY is doing quite spectacularly, more than 20% above last season's average.  The results in other timeslots were more mixed.  SUBURGATORY had a very nice debut at 8:30 (again, kudos to ABC Marketing this Fall), but it's a little disappointing that THE MIDDLE wasn't able to capitalize on NBC's increasing woes at 8PM, although it was still slightly above last season's average.   HAPPY ENDINGS was up a whopping 50% from its average last season, and almost double last year's season finale (which was admittedly in the less attractive 10:30PM slot)--and by the way, rightly so, since in a way Happy Endings had last year's most impressive reboot, miraculously becoming funny after a terrible first few episodes.  REVENGE is still OK, a solid second place in its timeslot, but it's no longer looking like a hit (other than in comparison to last season's disaster The Whole Truth)--and because of its serialized nature, once viewers have left, it'll be awfully hard to get them back.

FOX:  More of the same for X FACTOR:  it's not a blockbuster, but it's a big enough hit to win the night.  I'm not sure how FOX's coverage of the baseball post-season will affect X Factor's schedule over the next few weeks, but if the show has to skip many episodes, that'll be something to keep an eye on.

NBC:  UP ALL NIGHT has pushed past being a dubious success story to a show on the brink of trouble.  Last night's 2.1 puts its numbers squarely into COMMUNITY/PARKS & RECREATION territory, and as much as I love those shows, that's not where you want your big new comedy to be.  FREE AGENTS is just waiting for its cancellation notice, which may be delayed for PR reasons if NBC doesn't want to be the first network to admit to Fall failure.  HARRY'S LAW can't even pull in its presumed older audience, let alone 18-49s.  And the arrival of Danny Pino did nothing for SVU--if the show falls any lower than its current 2.0, it would be a candidate for cancellation anywhere but NBC, where they have too many bigger problems.

CBS:  Stability, thy name is CBS.  SURVIVOR and CSI barely budged from last week, and although CRIMINAL MINDS is now a bit below last season's average, it's facing very strong competition from Modern Family and X Factor.  

CW:  H84 was slightly less DOA than last week (it's unutterably sad to think that may be because Kim Kardashian was featured), and AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL continues to be more than 30% below last season's average.

Tonight, quite a few shows will be airing their second episodes and waiting to find out how many viewers come back for more (look for plenty of Pilot + 1 Reviews tonight).  For NBC, the critical numbers will be for The Office and Whitney in the 9PM hour, which is all that's keeping the network from complete non-football oblivion.

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.

On the night that two of the Fall's most-hyped new arrivals made their debuts, the clear winner was a returning hit.

ABC:  When their horse has the lead, horse-racing fans will sometimes yell out "Wire!" in the hope that the finish line will miraculously appear and the race will end exactly as is.  That's how ABC should feel about last night.  America showed that it's been waiting all summer for the return of MODERN FAMILY, which triumphed over the debut of X-Factor and romped to a 6.0 victory in 18-49s.  This propelled REVENGE into a timeslot-winning 3.4 at 10PM--not a giant number, but higher than any 10PM series averaged last season.  And even THE MIDDLE, facing huge competition, was barely behind Survivor in the race for second place in its hour.  Of course, next week Modern Family goes back to being a half-hour, and Revenge won't get the same lead-in from Happy Endings.  But for a week, ABC can bask in a Wednesday well-launched.

FOX:  Well, X-FACTOR... is not American Idol.  Or for that matter, The Voice.  That's not to diminish a very strong 4.4 debut (slightly updated from Mitch Metcalf's report), and competition show ratings tend to increase over the course of their run.  But coming out of the gate well behind Modern Family and just barely ahead of Criminal Minds, X-Factor isn't exactly the historic event that seemed to be on the horizon.  Nonetheless, it's a very solid number that marks a big increase for FOX on the night, so the only problems with the rating are the high expectations that preceded it.

NBC:  It's only 3 days into the season, and already the Tylenol concession is the one to have at the Peacock.  Absolutely nothing is going NBC's way right now.  They'll live with UP ALL NIGHT's 2.3 if that number doesn't continue slipping, but 4th place in the timeslot (and nowhere close to 3rd) is hardly a win.  The most exciting thing about FREE AGENTS is that it's now locked in a battle with Playboy Club for the title of earliest cancellation.  HARRY'S LAW couldn't even draw in the older crowd that was sustaining it on Mondays--it was 4th in total audience--and its 1.2 rating in 18-49s was embarrassing.  And the Meloni-less SVU was clearly the big loser in the battle for 10PM.  

CBS:  With the least-hyped schedule of the night, a quietly solid result.  SURVIVOR is clearly on the down side of its illustrious run, but that was still good enough for 2d place in the hour; CRIMINAL MINDS more than held its own in the hugely competitive 9PM slot, even exceeding its season average from last year.  And the new CSI, with Ted Danson taking over the lead,  may have declined from its Thursday average, but that's misleading, because its old slot had much higher total viewership--in its new home, CSI may well become the winner at 10PM once Revenge settles to its post-premiere level. 

CW:  Oh, do they air shows on Wednesdays?  H8R is barely a blip with a 0.4, and AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL is doing a half-decent cable number with a 0.7.

Thursdays are always a battleground, and tonight sees an assortment of important debuts, including Charlie's Angels on ABC, Person of Interest on CBS, and both Whitney and Prime Suspect on NBC (both of which have to air against a 2-hour Grey's Anatomy season debut on ABC, as the hits keep coming for the Peacock).