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Showing posts with label network scorecard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label network scorecard. Show all posts

THE SKED'S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:09 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,






A preview of next season's schedule?

CBS:  The network experimented with a new episode of THE MENTALIST at 9PM, and while the 2.0 rating was 20% below the show's Thursday season low, Friday offers fewer available eyeballs, so a decline was to be expected.  Mentalist nevertheless considerably outrated what CSI NY and A Gifted Man have been doing at 9PM, easily winning its timeslot, pushing Grimm near a series low, and helping BLUE BLOODS inch up to a 1.8.   And that wasn't even CBS' best news of the night:  in the 4-way unscripted battle at 8PM, UNDERCOVER BOSS was the winner by far with a 2.2, the highest rated broadcast on any network last night.


NBC:  Against Mentalist, GRIMM's 1.5 was 0.1 above its series low.  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? was a weak 3rd place at 8PM with 1.0 (tying a repeat on FOX), but DATELINE, while behind Blue Bloods, nosed out ABC for 2d place at 10PM.

ABC:  SHARK TANK managed 2d place at 8PM (although a big 0.7 behind CBS), but PRIMETIME and 20/20 fell to third the rest of the evening. 

FOX:  A repeat KITCHEN NIGHTMARES tied for 3d in both of its hours.  

CW:  Repeats were at a typical (for CW repeats) 0.3-0.4.

Tonight continues to be something of a bonanza for Saturday original programming (as long as quality doesn't come into play):  THE FIRM on NBC, Q'VIVA! THE CHOSEN on FOX, and a 20/20 invitingly titled My Extreme Affliction.  Yum!  Then tomorrow, all the networks are new (with a return of Dylan Baker's Hannibal Lecter-ish character on THE GOOD WIFE), with the main "events" being HARRY'S LAW return to the NBC schedule at 8PM and the 2d episode test for ABC's GCB at 10PM.


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THE SKED THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:32 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,





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.

 

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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:33 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Viewers could tell that REVENGE wasn't FOR REAL.

ABC:  Serialized dramas repeat notoriously badly, so the network had the clever idea of filling in the spring schedule gap with a "news" show about true-life crimes that presumably are similar to those in the show, albeit without Emily Van Camp or Madeleine Stowe.  The resulting REVENGE FOR REAL was probably about where ABC expected, a full ratings point down from real Revenge episodes, but a little higher than repeats have been scoring.  The network tried to give For Real a lead-in with a new episode of HAPPY ENDINGS, but that ended up unnecessarily burning off a fresh (and funny, particularly for John Hughes fans) Happy episode, which hit a season low and didn't do any better coming out of a MODERN FAMILY repeat than a Happy rerun would have done. 


NBC:  Oh, NBC Wednesday, what's to be done with you?  Last night's new episodes of WHITNEY and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA could no more than tie the repeats on ABC of THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY that aired against them.  Then the network started its 2-week experiment of moving SVU reruns to 9PM (until BENT--very temporarily--takes the slot), which was a catastrophe that resulted in a previously unimaginable (even for a rerun) 1.0 rating for SVU, which just a couple of years ago was one of the most reliably repeating series on the schedule.  To the extent there's a bright side to any of this, the move of ROCK CENTER to 10PM supercharged that show all the way to a 1.0 rating, which was pathetically just 0.1 below its series high.  

FOX:  The season's song played again for AMERICAN IDOL, as it increased from last week (against mostly repeats on the other networks), but remained more than 35% below last year's numbers.

CBS:  SURVIVOR may also have benefited from the repeat competition and hit a cycle high.  At 10PM, a repeat CSI handily beat both of the new (albeit unscripted) shows on the other networks.

CW:  ONE TREE HILL continued to hold at a 0.7, while AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, perhaps benefiting from the large number of viewers for Monday's repeat of its season premiere, ticked up 0.1 to 0.6 (still far below last season).

Tonight NBC will sleeplessly await the Week 2 ratings for AWAKE, which this week has to face a new THE MENTALIST.  FOX airs the last Thursday night episode of THE FINDER before it's shipped off to Fridays, and only ABC is in repeats.


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THE SKED'S TUESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:26 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





FOX's 4-sitcom Tuesday excited no one.

FOX:  I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER and BREAKING IN made unimpressive returns to the schedule.  Daughter could claim a decent retention of its RAISING HOPE lead-in, and it also won the head-to-head sitcom battle at 8:30PM--but really there's nothing good about a 1.6 premiere.  Breaking In had less excuse, falling to an ugly 1.7 from NEW GIRL's strong 3.0 lead-in, which was the highest number on any network last night. And even though Raising Hope handled its shift to 8PM well, it aired against an ABC repeat last night, so future results may not be as strong.


ABC: The network actually aired some good programming last night, to little avail.  COUGAR TOWN had a funny half-hour directed by Courtney Cox, and for Bill Lawrence fans, it had the additional pleasure of a guest appearance by Scrubs' Sarah Chalke.  After that, THE RIVER finally delved into what's supposed to be the show's central mystery--just what happened to Dr. Emmett Cole--which allowed Bruce Greenwood to appear in more than snippets, in a creepy hour directed by Michelle McLaren.  For their troubles, the show got matching lousy 1.5 ratings, 4th place for their slots.  (Cougar Town at least had the excuse that it rose from its repeat LAST MAN STANDING lead-in, but as its cast members continue to flock to 2d position pilot deals, that doesn't matter much.)  The evening ended with a terrible 0.9 for a BODY OF PROOF repeat that was beaten by primary election coverage on NBC.

NBC:  THE BIGGEST LOSER fell to a season and possibly a series low, dipping below a 2 for the first time.  At 10PM, a DECISION 2012 special scored a not-embarrassing-for-a-news-special 1.0.

CBS:  All repeats, which were still enough to win all but the 9-9:30PM half-hour of the night.

CW:  90210 returned after a month off with a fine (CW level) 0.7, but RINGER dipped to a 0.5 after that.

Tonight's only new arrival is REVENGE FOR REAL, which ABC will use to sucker in Revenge fans rather than air repeats.  The network is giving it a bit of a lead-in with a new HAPPY ENDINGS (although that show's rating will be lowered by having a repeat MODERN FAMILY as its own lead-in).  NBC airs new sitcoms at 8-9PM, and apart from that, only the unscripted shows on all the networks are original.


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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:21 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,





SMASHWatch is grinning this morning, but should it be?

NBC:  Airing against repeats on both of the other networks, SMASH was up a big 0.4 to 2.7, a healthy number for any 10PM drama these days.  So... yay?  Maybe, but the show itself continues to get markedly worse, moving with near-rocket speed from "potential Emmy contender" to "disappointing" to just plain "not good."  Smash, very sadly, is becoming a collection of unbelievable characters, unmotivated bitchfest scenes and bad, on-the-nose dialogue, with increasingly painful plot developments (was it just me, or did last night's final sequence suggest the writers had been watching "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady on Autorepeat?).  But I digress:  the rating was, no question about it, very good.  Apart from the ABC/CBS repeats, it helped that lead-in THE VOICE was also up 0.7 from last week, confirming its new place as the big bad reality show of the season.


FOX:  2 hours of ALCATRAZ matched its series low at 1.8, coming in below not just the new programming on NBC and ABC, but the repeat sitcoms on CBS.  (If anyone can make sense of the mythology on this show, congratulations.  Although Parminder Nagra will never have a better job, since for half the season she's been collecting a paycheck for lying comatose in an infirmary bed.)

ABC:  THE BACHELOR, airing the last episode before its season finale, continued at a very steady 2.5 (every episode this year has scored within a 0.3 ratings window), and was followed by a CASTLE rerun.

CBS:  An all-repeat night.  Notably, all the sitcoms were down 20-30% from their January repeats in the pre-Voice era.  HAWAII 5-0 won the 10PM rerun battle with Castle, although both were far behind Smash.  

CW:  A frankly weird night of repeat numbers.  AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL was just 0.1 below the original airing of the same episode last week (and dead even with last Monday's new episode of GOSSIP GIRL), and the repeat HART OF DIXIE was only 0.1 behind last week's new episode.

Tonight, FOX debuts its 4-sitcom line-up, with RAISING HOPE moving to 8PM, I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER returning at 8:30PM, and the season premiere of BREAKING IN following a very good episode of NEW GIRL at 9:30PM.  CBS is the only network in repeats, although ABC will toss a rerun of BODY OF PROOF on at 10PM.  

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THE SKED SUNDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:13 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Maybe ABC should have left "Bitches" in the title.

ABC:  GCB (aka Good Christian Bitches, aka Good Christian Belles) had a very unimpressive debut, a 2.2 that was way below Pan Am's premiere in the fall.  (In fairness, the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES lead-in to Pan Am was a lot higher than last night's rating.)  GCB wasn't able to win its hour, and considering that it was only 0.2 ahead of 3rd place CSI Miami, the likelihood is that once it settles into post-premiere numbers, it'll be in last place at 10PM.  ABC was hoping this could be the show that inherits the 9PM Housewives slot next season, but the signs aren't good.  Meanwhile, Housewives itself, as it nears the home stretch of its run (7 episodes left), was up a nice 0.3 from its pre-Oscar week airing.  The queen of ABC's Sunday night, though, is ONCE UPON A TIME, with a terrific 3.4 that was more than a half-point higher than anything else on network TV last night.


NBC:  CELEBRITY APPRENTICE, like every other major reality franchise this year (except The Voice), is substantially down from last season, in the neighborhood of 30%.  (Things aren't going to improve much next week, when its lead-in becomes Harry's Law, a show even CBS thinks skews old.)  But the show still won the 10PM hour, and a win is a win.

CBS:  Even with a solid 2.8 lead-in from THE AMAZING RACE, THE GOOD WIFE took a tumble to a season low 1.8, and while the show probably isn't in danger of cancellation--it's the only classy drama on the network--it had better hope those upscale viewers don't go anywhere.  (It'll be interesting to see what happens March 25, when Mad Men, a show that defines "upscale," makes its return in the same timeslot.)  CSI MIAMI was only 0.1 above its own season low, but faced atypical competition with the much-hyped GCB premiere.

FOX:  Another day at the office for the animation line-up, with every show within 0.1 of its rating 2 weeks ago.  FAMILY GUY and THE SIMPSONS, though, are down 25-30% from last season's average.

It's Monday, and that means SMASHWatch is on.  Tonight is the show's opportunity to hold or even increase last week's rating, thanks to repeats on both ABC and CBS.  Also, tonight was meant to be the 2-hour season finale of ALCATRAZ, but due to last week's rescheduled NASCAR race, it's just a 2-hour episode.  CBS and CW are all-rerun, and CASTLE is a repeat after a new BACHELOR.  



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THE SKED'S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:26 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Adieu, GIFTED MAN.

CBS:  The season finale of A GIFTED MAN ticked up a bit to a 1.4, but while that would be great news for, say, Fringe, don't get your hopes up for Man's renewal.  A far more telling sign:  we've talked here before about "second position" pilot deals for actors, and Gifted Man's female lead Rachelle Levebre just signed for one produced by Man's own production company (and that being CBS Studios, not unacquainted with its network).  CBS won the night's other hours (UNDERCOVER BOSS slightly up, BLUE BLOODS even) to tie for the evening win.


ABC:  SHARK TANK was down slightly at 8PM, but after that the night improved sharply, with 0.3 and 0.4 respective rises for PRIMETIME and 20/20, pulling the network to a tie for the night.

NBC:  WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?, with a Reba McEntire episode (and possibly benefiting as well from the repeat on FOX) leaped half a ratings point from last week (although that still put it in 3d place for the hour), which helped propel GRIMM up 0.2 to tie for the lead at 9PM.  DATELINE lost the newsmagazine battle and fell to 3d place at 10PM.

FOX::  With February sweeps over, the network slipped into repeats, falling into 4th place for the night with KITCHEN NIGHTMARES.

CW:  Twin 0.3 ratings for repeats of NIKITA and SUPERNATURAL.

Tonight, a rarity:  new Saturday night series programming!  FOX premieres the Latin dance talent-search series Q'VIVA! THE CHOSEN from (not so incidentally) producer and Idol co-host Jennifer Lopez.  It's not clear why ABC cares about bragging rights to Saturdays, but the network will try to blunt Q'Viva with an all-new 2-hour 20/20.  NBC continues its sad burn-off of THE FIRM.  Sunday is so crammed with original programming, sweeps might as well be going on.  The major event, of course, is ABC's premiere of GCB (see Mitch Metcalf's ratings prediction). 


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THE SKED'S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:28 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,





AWAKE didn't keep anyone from a full night's sleep.

NBC:  In the universe of NBC these days, you take your glass-half-full where you can get it, and here it is:  AWAKE won its time slot, it was up from its lead-in, it had the network's highest Thursday 10PM rating of the season, and despite its unusually convoluted premise, it lost relatively few viewers during the course of the hour.  So there's that.  Back on earth, though, Awake was for all intents and purposes NBC's last chance for a scripted break-out hit this season (whatever Smash is, it's not that), and marked yet another failure.  It could only reach a 1.9 rating against repeats on the other networks, and fell considerably below even the season lows for new episodes of The Mentalist and Private Practice.  (Even against a Mentalist repeat, its margin of victory was a mere 0.2.)  So:  on to next year!  Meanwhile, the rest of the evening was dismal as well:  none of the sitcoms were more than 0.2 above season lows, despite airing against repeats on 2 other networks.  Creatively, it was also a down night:  THE OFFICE neared the end of its Tallahassee arc with its weakest recent episode (the big gag was that Ed Helms' character was beaten up by a little girl), 30 ROCK was unable to match the conceptual brilliance of its last couple of entries and resorted to network television's one millionth Law & Order parody, and PARKS & RECREATION was unusually scattered.  (Let's not even speak of UP ALL NIGHT.)


FOX:  It's been the same story all week, as AMERICAN IDOL, with another 2-hour episode, was up from last Thursday (since this week aired against ABC and CBS reruns), but horribly down (more than 40%) from the parallel episode last season.  

ABC:  For an explanation of the network's schedule shenanigans last night, see Mitch Metcalf's rating report.  In any case, nothing on the night scored higher than a 1.3.

CBS:  With THE BIG BANG THEORY in repeats, the season finale of ROB hit a series low 2.6, which on the bright side was down only 0.6 from its depressed lead-in.  Repeats of PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST were both under a 2.

CW:  Reruns of VAMPIRE DIARIES and SECRET CIRCLE were at 0.4 and 0.3, respectively.

Tonight is all new (except CW), with the notable event--such as it is--being the season (at least) finale of CBS' A GIFTED MAN.


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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:06 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





February Sweeps go out not with a bang, but with the other thing.

ABC:  The first "midseason arc" episode of REVENGE looked almost exactly like all the other episodes, so it was fitting that the rating stayed even.  The show will now take a break from fresh episodes until the end-of-season push in April.  (Meanwhile, the network will air REVENGE FOR REAL, some kind of "ABC News" concoction about actual rich-people crimes.  If it works, no doubt NBC is poised to launch Smash For Real.)  Elsewhere, even with a 2-hour Idol as competition, HAPPY ENDINGS had a very nice 0.4 bump over the last 2 weeks--and continued to pile up its pre-Community Random Pop Culture Reference points with a nod to Krippendorf's Tribe that must have made Richard Dreyfuss very happy.  THE MIDDLE was also up a gratifying 0.4, while SUBURGATORY was slightly up and MODERN FAMILY was even.  


FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL 2-hour Wednesday was in the same position as its Tuesday:  dreadfully down from the parallel episode last year (44%, ouch), but only slightly down from last week.  The days of its dominance certainly seem to be over.

CW:  Audiences were not waiting with baited breath for the US vs. Brit version of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, which had a 0.6 that was down a disastrous 45% from last year's Spring premiere, and even down from its lead-in ONE TREE HILL.  (And for anyone looking for excuses, sorry:  last year's premiere also aired against a 2-hour Idol.)

NBC:  On the plus side, nothing got worse. ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA and SVU remained tied with their all-time lows, while WHITNEY and ROCK CENTER were a wildly exciting 0.1 above theirs'.  Next week, the network begins its Wednesday roundelay, with a new version of the schedule practically every week.  Fun!

CBS:  No good news here, either:  CRIMINAL MINDS tied its season low, while SURVIVOR and CSI were 0.1 above their respective lows.  The latter, though, still had enough to win the 10PM hour.

When NBC chose tonight for the debut of its difficult, highly conceptual AWAKE, the plan was for it to face no competition at 10PM but reruns.  Which is true, except ABC had the interesting idea of re-running its star-studded JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE post-Oscar special in the slot as counterprogramming.  Otherwise, little is new on the schedule:  FOX has another 2-hour Idol, and CBS stuck a new ROB amidst the rest of its otherwise all-repeat night.




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THE SKED'S TUESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:39 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Did PARENTHOOD buy itself another season?

NBC:  Creatively, PARENTHOOD's season finale wasn't the show at its best (too many storyline conclusions crammed into too little time).  But its 1.9 rating built on last week's increase, and "tied for 1st place" isn't a phrase NBC gets to hear very often these days in reference to any timeslot.  The show at least gave itself a fighting chance.  Parenthood's number was particularly impressive because it was just 0.1 below its BIGGEST LOSER lead-in, which was close to a season low thanks to the atypical competition on FOX.


FOX:  The night's AMERICAN IDOL number could be viewed as half-empty or half-full.  On the one hand, as Mitch Metcalf noted, the rating was down a horrific 41% from last year's parallel episode.  But in the context of this season, it was more or less even with what seems to be Idol's new ratings level.  (In any case, the bragging rights to the season's biggest non-football show are now THE VOICE's to lose.)

ABC:  Some may have noticed yesterday that Josh Hopkins, one of the leads in COUGAR TOWN, has signed to a pilot in "second position," which for the uninitiated means he's committed to the new show unless his current one is renewed.  No one likes to recast a new show that's managed to get ordered, so these deals are typically made only when an actor's current series is circling the drain.  Mistakes are made (Damon Wayans Jr made a 2d position deal last year for New Girl and then Happy Endings was renewed), but Cougar Town did itself no favors with last night's season-low 1.5.  Also heading upstream without a paddle:  THE RIVER, with a matching 1.5.  Both of those look good, though, next to BODY OF PROOF and its disastrous 1.3.(and Body didn't have the excuse of facing Idol).

CBS:  NCIS, while still a strong 2d in its hour, hit a season low that completed a startlingly bad February stretch (by its standards), with a track of 4.2/3.9/3.6/3.4.  NCIS LA has been more up and down during the month, and last night was up to a very decent 3.1.  UNFORGETTABLE tied for the hour's lead, but those words are less magic at CBS than they are at NBC, and the show hit a season low with a symbolically painful 1.9, slipping below a 2 for the first time.

CW:  Only the network knows why it's been giving RINGER a repeat HART OF DIXIE lead-in for the past 2 weeks.  Last night Dixie's 0.3 led Ringer to a series low 0.4.

Tonight, the final night of February sweeps, features new episodes schedule-wide (but get ready for a whole lot of repeats in March).  CW premieres the latest cycle of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, this time with Americans vs. Brits.

 

  

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THE SKED'S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:00 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




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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THE SKED'S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:24 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




Ow, says FOX.  See FOX say Ow.

FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL's 4.4 rating was its lowest since the show began as a summer series 10 years ago.  That was down 14% from last week, 38% from the first hour of last year's parallel episode, and 43% from last season's Thursday average.  The combined Wednesday/Thursday average for this week was more than 20% lower than NBC's rating for Monday's The Voice.  Oh, I could go on.  The question is what--if anything--can FOX do to reverse the trend?  The show is locked into its format and judges, so look for some high-profile theme nights and other stunting.  The network may also have to give Idol some of the valuable promo time that would otherwise have gone to launching shows like Touch.  Meanwhile, THE FINDER was down to the rating it was getting before it had Idol as a lead-in, although considering that  Idol was down 1.4 rating points from the lead-in it provided 2 weeks ago, Finder's 0.2 decline wasn't at all alarming.


NBC:  The lower Idol numbers on FOX didn't do anything for 30 ROCK or PARKS & RECREATION, both of which were even with last week's season lows (if you exclude 30 Rock's oopsie DVR listing episode).  This is too bad, as both featured first-rate episodes this week, especially 30 Rock with its inspired Leap Day William concoction.  THE OFFICE is also on a creative upswing, although the Tallahassee gambit that's perking the show up is by definition a temporary one.  Office, facing The Finder instead of Idol, was up a decent 0.3 from last week, still far from its numbers earlier this season.  UP ALL NIGHT also had a 0.3 boost with the higher lead-in.  The last rerun GRIMM before Awake arrives next week received little interest with a 0.9.

ABC:  GREY'S ANATOMY tied its season low, and PRIVATE PRACTICE took a big 0.4 hit from last week's crossover episode.  

CBS:  THE BIG BANG THEORY is now the unquestioned king of the 8PM slot, although ROB slipped a bit to a new low (at 3.0, it's still in pretty good shape).  PERSON OF INTEREST benefited from the reduced FOX competition at 9PM and rebounded 0.3, but THE MENTALIST tied its season low.  (The 10PM ratings in general support the idea that in the absence of strong programming, this is when people are catching up on their DVR playlists, since Mentalist and Private Practice were both down, and no one was watching NBC.)

CW:  Already in repeat mode for the night (new shows won't return till mid-March), with a SUPERNATURAL thrown in instead of the usual SECRET CIRCLE at 9PM and garnering an unremarkable 0.3. 

No special events for the evening tonight, just fresh sweeps episodes of all the regular shows (except at CW).

 


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THE SKED'S TUESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:23 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





GLEE looks at a shark and considers taking a jump.

FOX:  Despite perhaps the most melodramatic midseason finale of any "comedy' in TV history (a suicide attempt, an as-yet unexplained pregnancy, and a dead-or-not-dead? cliffhanger), GLEE was up only 0.1 from last week's season low.  The show won't air again until mid-April.  NEW GIRL was down to a new series low, and RAISING HOPE, while marginally up, was only 0.2 above its own season low.  After next week's 2-hour special Tuesday Idol, both sitcoms will be part of FOX's 4-sitcom Tuesday through March, with Hope moving to earlier in the evening.


NBC:  What's the deal with NBC's Promo department spoiling every upcoming plot point on PARENTHOOD in its "Next Week On..." spots?  Both of last night's major developments been disclosed a week ago, and the promo for next week's season finale wasn't much better.  A sign of desperation (last night continued a month of the show hovering at or just above its series low), or that the network just doesn't care?  Meanwhile, THE BIGGEST LOSER continued its steady if unspectacular pace, with all ratings in the past 6 weeks within a narrow 0.2 range.

ABC:  The good news for COUGAR TOWN was that it was down only 0.1 from last week's hyped premiere, but a 1.7 leaves little else to celebrate.  1.7 was also the steady number for THE RIVER, making no headway from 4th place at 9PM.  BODY OF PROOF was up 0.2 from last week's series low, still bring up the rear in its hour.

CBS:  The network edged out a 0.1 win for the night, but all its shows were down, with NCIS LA and UNFORGETTABLE hitting season lows.

CW:  Here's an oddity:  last night's repeat of HART OF DIXIE was only 0.2 below Monday's new episode (and just 0.1 below Monday's new GOSSIP GIRL).  That surprisingly decent lead-in helped RINGER to a still-mediocre 0.5.

Everything is new tonight, including a 2-hour Idol on FOX.  The only special event is a 20/20 standing in for Revenge on ABC, centering on this year's Oscar nominees back before they were famous.  (Jean DuJardin and Berenice Bejo, before they were household names?  How exciting!)



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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:22 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




So much for SMASH being a hit.

NBC:  Leaving the numbers aside for a moment, on a dramatic level SMASH after 3 episodes is starting to lose its practically-cable sheen, and look a lot more like a high-class ABC soap.  The post-pilot episodes haven't even been as good as a typical Parenthood or The Good Wife, much less Mad Men.   And those numbers continue to crumble:  last night's 2.3 was down 40% from the premiere, and as Mitch Metcalf's analysis shows, the drop in the show's 2d half-hour suggests the ratings aren't done falling.  It's only fair to say that if Smash could just stabilize where it is, that would still be a very good number for NBC, on a level with The Office, still the network's highest-rated scripted show.  And as The Sked has noted, the series appeals to the upscale viewers that advertisers covet.  But... coming in 2d place to Hawaii 5-0 (and not that far ahead of Castle in 3d place) is hardly where NBC wanted Smash to be.  On the very important plus side for the the network, though, THE VOICE is holding beautifully, down less than 15% over 3 weeks, and enabling NBC to keep airing those promos asserting domination over once-untouchable American Idol.  


FOX:  The Monday lineup is nearing bottom but may not have gotten there yet.  HOUSE and ALCATRAZ were both slightly down from last week, and Alcatraz had its 2d consecutive week below the lowest number Terra Nova ever had.  

CBS:  HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, 2 BROKE GIRLS and 2 1/2 MEN all recovered some of last week's losses, but each continues to run below its level from the first time facing The Voice .  MIKE & MOLLY and HAWAII 5-0 were steady, albeit at or just above season lows.

ABC:  THE BACHELOR and CASTLE were steady, 0.1 above their respective season lows.

CW:  GOSSIP GIRL and  HART OF DIXIE both held with last week at 0.5 and 0.6 respectively.

Fans of COUGAR TOWN could be in for a rough night if its rating drops further from last week's blah debut.  THE RIVER also needs to hit some smoother water.  FOX airs the "midseason finale" of GLEE (next Tuesday there's a 2-hour Idol, then the network launches its 4-sitcom experiment).  Everything continues to be new as February sweeps continue, except that CW is burdening RINGER with the terrible lead-in of a HART OF DIXIE rerun.

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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

1:28 PM | Labels: , , ,

REVENGE... not so sweet.


ABC: It was finally time for Revenge to wind itself back around and reach the flashforward that started the pilot, climaxing the series' initial plotline, but viewers weren't all that interested, with a 2.4 that was slightly below last week and around where the show has been for the past month. As a limited defense, its lead-in was down even further from last week, with both MODERN FAMILY and HAPPY ENDINGS dented by last night's extra hour of American Idol. THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY were at season lows, but that's pretty much where they've been since Idol arrived.





CBS: A small amount of excitement for Elisabeth Shue's arrival on CSI provided a 0.2 boost, enough to win the 10PM hour. Earlier in the evening, SURVIVOR's 3.0 was a season low and the show's lowest-rated cycle premiere ever, and CRIMINAL MINDS, airing against Idol, set a new season low.


FOX: AMERICAN IDOL's 6,0 gave it the easy win for the night, but was still down 25% from last season.


NBC: Must we? OK... WHITNEY was up 0.1, and that was it for the good news. ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA?, ROCK CENTER and SVU all set season lows, and for SVU, that was the all-time low of a 13-year run.


CW: ONE TREE HILL held with a CW-good 0.7, but REMODELED fell to a downright alarming 0.2 in the next hour.


Tonight brings one of the most hallowed artifacts of a TV sweeps month: the crossover. The mother of Cooper's son from PRIVATE PRACTICE has been dying of cancer this season, and her only chance of survival is surgery by none other than Derek from GREY'S ANATOMY, so tonight that story is played out on both shows. All the networks feature new episodes, including another 2-hour IDOL on FOX, the exception being a repeat GRIMM on NBC to keep the timeslot warm for the arrival of AWAKE in 2 weeks.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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THE SKED'S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

9:42 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




NBC can't put away that Alka-Seltzer just yet.

NBC:  THE VOICE, down only around 10% from last week's huge rating, is in great shape at 8PM, and those 2 strong hours pretty much guarantee NBC Monday wins the rest of the season.  So far so good.  But nightly wins aside, an enormous amount of NBC's stature and even its identity has been wagered this season on SMASH, and that part of the night is still unsettled.  Last night, Smash's 2.8 was down about 25% from last week, and as Mitch Metcalf details, that number went down sharply at the half-hour mark.  Right now the show can still fairly be called a hit, winning its hour against CBS and ABC.  But its margin of victory was a shrinking 0.2 (and really it only won the 10-10:30PM half-hour), so the show needs to stabilize quickly.  As I noted in my Pilot + 1 review, creatively the 2d episode started to show some dramatic strain, and NBC will hope those are rectified before more viewers depart. 


FOX:  The Voice is killing ALCATRAZ, which fell by almost half an additional ratings point to another season low.  (Terra Nova fans, stop grinning.)  The show has dropped 40% from its premiere rating.  HOUSE also fell to a new season low, but by a slimmer 0.1, and besides, the series is now officially a lame duck, so its troubles are more short-term.

ABC:  THE BACHELOR and CASTLE continue to hold their own against the NBC competition, with Bachelor down only 0.1 from last week and Castle (with a much-hyped 2-part Bourne-type spy plot) dead even.

CBS:  What the hell happened to HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, 2 BROKE GIRLS and 2 1/2 MEN last night?  All of them had steep falls to new season lows, down 0.6, 0.6 and 0.5 from last week even though competition from The Voice was lower this week.  (And so much for any Grammys halo effect.)  Any and all theories are welcome.  MIKE & MOLLY and HAWAII 5-0 were down a more modest 0.1 each, although that still marked a new season low for each of them.

CW:  GOSSIP GIRL, on the downswing of its illustrious career, was down 0.1 to a 0.5, beaten by stablemate HART OF DIXIE, which was even at 0.6.

Tonight ABC finally brings back COUGAR TOWN, with LAST MAN STANDING as the least compatible possible lead-in for that show this side of Man Up!  After that, the network will hope that THE RIVER doesn't collapse further from its unimpressive debut.

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THE SKED'S SUNDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

11:02 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,




Americans, faced with tragedy, gather around their television sets.  For the death of Whitney Houston, that meant the GRAMMYS.

CBS:  The sudden (and not so sudden) death of Whitney Houston turned the Grammys into An Event that transcended the usual awards-plus-glamor formula, and the result was a giant 14.1 rating, more than 2 rating points higher than last year's Academy Awards (and given this year's Oscar prospects, almost certain to be the season's highest-rated awards show).  Beyond the ratings, the show will undoubtedly give a huge boost in sales to the artists (especially the night's It Girl, Adele) who performed or won awards during the broadcast.  (A side note:  although advertisers are guaranteed a minimum rating for their commercials, and receive compensation if those numbers aren't hit, they get the full benefit of unexpectedly high ratings, meaning that all the sponsors of last night's show received windfalls worth millions of dollars.)


ABC:  Every other network suffered accordingly, and none more so than ABC, whose female-skewing lineup is geared to compete with NFL Football, but not with a colossus that attracts that same audience.  ONCE UPON A TIME was down about 10% from the episodes that competed with NFL playoff games, and that was the good news.  DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES hit a low that was 30% below its previous all-time bottom, and the penultimate episode of PAN AM was an embarrassing 0.7.

FOX:  Young guy-skewing shows weren't immune either, and FOX hit season lows across the board.  Its animated schedule was down 20% even from the weeks when CBS aired the late NFL playoff games.

NBC:  The network had basically given up on this night already (it'll launch the new season of Celebrity Apprentice next week), so comparatively speaking, it had the least to lose.  DATELINE and a FEAR FACTOR special did a 1.6 and 1.5, respectively, and on a cost-benefit basis that was probably the most effective competition of the night.

Tonight NBC bites its fingernails, as it waits to find out how many people will come back for a second helping of THE VOICE and, especially, SMASH.  This still being sweeps, the shows face all-new competition on every network.


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THE SKED'S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:36 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




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.
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THE SKED'S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

10:38 AM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




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. 

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THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

12:01 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




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.


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