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.

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.

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).

If you hear bells pealing and catch sight of Human Beings dancing (well, not so much dancing as meta-dancing that references obscure pop culture artifacts from 20 years ago), it's because NBC has finally freed COMMUNITY, its low-rated, selectively-beloved, utterly bizarre captive sitcom.  

As of March 15, Community will be back in its 8PM Thursday timeslot, with 30 ROCK moving to 8:30.  The bad news is that this will keep PARKS & RECREATION off the schedule until April 19, when that show will come back at 9:30PM (when UP ALL NIGHT will have finished its season order). 

The network also announced a set of changes to its disastrous Wednesday night schedule that are as twisty as a John LeCarre novel, so pay attention:

For the next 2 weeks (Feb 22 and 29), Wednesdays will continue to be:

8PM:  WHITNEY

8:30PM:  ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA?

9PM:  ROCK CENTER

10PM:  SVU

After that, the changes start.  March 7-14:

8PM:  Whitney

8:30PM:  Are You There, Chelsea?

9PM:  ???

10PM:  Rock Center

March 21-28:

8PM:  Whitney

8:30PM:  Are You There, Chelsea? (both their season--please God, series--finales air March 28)

9PM:  BENT (Amanda Peet sitcom being burned off with 3 consecutive weeks of back-to-back episodes)

10PM:  Rock Center

April 4:

8PM:  BETTY WHITE'S OFF THEIR ROCKERS (reality comedy)

8:30PM:  BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (semi-improv sitcom)

9PM:  Bent

10PM:  Rock Center

April 11-May 23:

8PM:  Betty White's Off Their Rockers

8:30PM:  Best Friends Forever

9PM:  Rock Center

10PM:  SVU

Got that?  Planning to watch any of it?  Did I mention that Community is coming back?

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.  

Lots of news, but it's only good for one network.

CBS:  Keeping in mind that the Thursday 8-9PM landscape will change drastically next week with the return of American Idol, CBS got everything it could have wished from the debut of ROB at 8:30PM.  The show's 4.1 blew past the numbers that Rules of Engagement was doing in that slot (let alone How To Be A Gentleman), retained 80% of its BIG BANG THEORY lead-in, and boosted PERSON OF INTEREST at 9PM to its own season high of 3.2.  THE MENTALIST was at a standard 2.7 at 10PM, good enough to win the hour.  Last year, the CBS 8:30PM sitcom (S#![ My Dad Says) did a 2.8 against the debut of Idol, after a 4.2 for Big Bang Theory, so even if Rob takes a hit from last night, it's in a good position to improve CBS's numbers overall.

NBC:  Ugh.  30 ROCK only made it to a 1.8 in its season debut.  That's a little better than what Community had been doing at 8PM, but a whopping 30% behind last year's season average.  On any other network, it would be in line for cancellation.  PARKS & RECREATION didn't benefit from the new lead-in, rising only 0.1 from its last original outing after a Community episode.  (In what now look like the halcyon days of 2011, NBC's 8-9PM sitcoms averaged a 2.2 against the debut of Idol.  That's not gonna happen next week.)  Despite all the marketing dollars spent to promote the new 9PM hour, THE OFFICE tied its season low, and UP ALL NIGHT, in its new timeslot, was up only 0.1 from Whitney's lowest rating in the slot.  But the worst was yet to come:  THE FIRM had its timeslot premiere with a catastrophic 1.0, 45% lower than the number Outsourced did last season at 10:30PM.  That would be a decent (and not exceptional) number for USA; it's a ridiculous rating for NBC. 

FOX:  THE FINDER had a very unimpressive 1.7 debut.  Of course its lead-in beginning next week will be probably triple the 2.4 it had from BONES last night, which should certainly leave it looking healthier--but still, a 4th place finish doesn't suggest much audience enthusiasm.

ABC:  The network took a hit from the higher level of competition on the night, not to mention the marketing dollars spent by the other networks in promoting their changes, as GREY'S ANATOMY and PRIVATE PRACTICE fell to the mid-levels of their season numbers.

CW:  VAMPIRE DIARIES was down a significant 0.3 (by CW terms), but still huge (by CW terms) with a 1.2.  Even with the diminished lead-in, SECRET CIRCLE held steady at a strong 0.8.

Tonight:  the return of FRINGE!  (There may not be many more chances to use that phrase.)  And the final regular episodes of EXTREME MAKEOVER:  HOME EDITION.  

Whatever America is doing early in this holiday season, it's not watching network television.

NBC:  The network attempted to help GRIMM in its return after a 3-week hiatus by giving it a showcase Thursday night run, but its 1.6 rating didn't suggest bubbling fan interest (and may prefigure an ugly score in its timeslot return tonight)--it scored better than PRIME SUSPECT, but that's the definition of "not saying much."  Earlier in the evening, a parade of season lows:  PARKS & RECREATION, THE OFFICE and WHITNEY all tied their lows, while the "winner" was COMMUNITY, a whopping 0.1 above its low for its last pre (permanent?) vanishing episode.

CBS:  BIG BANG THEORY was just above its season low, while RULES OF ENGAGEMENT narrowly set a new one.  Initial numbers have strong results for PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST, but CBS in Pittsburgh aired the Steelers vs Browns game, so those numbers are due to come down.

FOX:  The FOX affiliate in Cleveland had the other end of the NFL game, so these numbers are probably high as well.  That won't be good news for FOX, since even with the NFL boost, right now X FACTOR is at a season low and BONES is only 0.1 above its own low.

ABC:  WIPEOUT's season premiere at 1.9 was 20% below last season's average.  After that, AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS and  THE GREAT BIG AMERICAN AUCTION specials were nothing of the sort, with lousy 1.9 and 1.4 numbers respectively.  

CW:  Gone fishin till January.

Tonight, as noted above, the question is how GRIMM will fare in its return to timeslot, against atypical competition:  CBS and FOX are airing holiday specials and reruns.

The final Thursday of November sweeps wasn't impressive for anyone.

ABC:  The network had to be disappointed with the 2.5 earned by its 2-hour, much-promoted "intervention" episode of PRIVATE PRACTICE, which was down not only from Grey's Anatomy numbers but even from Practice's 2.8 last week.  (It was, however, a strong episode, especially the first hour written by Shonda Rhimes.)  The Katie Couric/Regis Philbin interview special at 8PM did better than recent episodes of the dead CHARLIE'S ANGELS, but not by much.

FOX:  X FACTOR continued its slide, with last night's 3 its lowest Thursday number by a factor of 10%.  That was, however, still good enough for an easy 2d place finish in its hour.  The news was better for BONES, which capitalized on the absence of Grey's to win at 9PM.  

NBC:  Well, on the plus side COMMUNITY and PARKS AND REC were both up slightly from last week.  But THE OFFICE, despite reduced competition in its hour, tied its season low, and WHITNEY, preparing for its move to Wednesday--where it will have to be a self-starter--hit a new all-time low and went below a 2 for the first time.  The cancelled PRIME SUSPECT played out the string, tying its series low.

CBS:  Even though all its shows except RULES OF ENGAGEMENT were down from last week (and PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST both tied their season lows), the network was able to win the night thanks to the absence of Grey's.  

CW:  As the network's Thursday is on hiatus until January, it filled in for the night with an obscure aquatic action movie that happened to star VAMPIRE DIARIES' Paul Wesley.  Even with the temporary and artificial boost of NY and Denver preemptions for the brutal (if you're a Jets fan) football game, the movie did no better than the CW norm, and that will be reduced later today as national numbers come in.

Tonight the Grimm watch will continue for NBC.

For one network, a night that moved in the wrong direction.

FOX:  Does FOX have to start worrying about X FACTOR?  The show seemed to make its way through the wave of baseball-related preemptions and reschedulings very smoothly, but this week has been troubling.  Both Wednesday and last night, the show has hit season lows for those respective nights, and while the numbers are still perfectly fine (last night's 3.3 was enough for a strong 2d place in its hour), this is the part of the season when competition shows are supposed to start building, not falling apart.  BONES was also down almost 20% from last week, although a drop after the season premiere isn't unusual.  

ABC:  If the network hadn't used the 8PM hour to burn off what may have been the last completed episode of CHARLIE'S ANGELS, ABC might have won the night.  The "fall finale" episode of GREY'S ANATOMY was up to a very solid 4, the highest number it's seem since the season premiere, and PRIVATE PRACTICE is peaking at the right time, with its season-highest rating as lead-up to next week's  2-hour special.

CBS:  Even with mostly reruns, CBS was in the hunt to win the night.  BIG BANG THEORY and RULES OF ENGAGEMENT won their hour handily, and the MENTALIST rerun easily beat NBC's new programming at 10PM.

NBC:  The good news was that THE OFFICE stayed on the safe side of a 3 rating, and WHITNEY, while far from a hit, retained a steady 70% of that number.  The 8PM hour was a disaster, though, with COMMUNITY and PARKS & RECREATION both tying their season lows.  (And when it comes to those shows, that does mean "low.")  PRIME SUSPECT, like a crippled racehorse no one will have the mercy to shoot, continued to howl in pain at a 1.2.

CW  The "fall finale" gambit worked less well for VAMPIRE DIARIES and SECRET CIRCLE, which were both down a bit from last week.

Tonight the Friday watch will be on GRIMM, which needs to stop dropping so NBC can reasonably claim a fall hit (by Friday standards), and A GIFTED MAN, fighting to stay off the autopsy table.

November sweeps began with a baseball bat in its hand, and for one network, that bat was the one wielded by Robert DeNiro in The Untouchables.

NBC:  A disaster, although its full extent won't be known until the World Series is over next week.  COMMUNITY and PARKS AND RECREATION tied all-time lows (and for those shows, that's really low), and THE OFFICE had its lowest ever rating on a Thursday, which means the network will have zero non-football shows this week with even a 3 rating.  NBC could take a tiny bit of solace from the 0.1 uptick for WHITNEY, but all that promotional effort this week aimed at PRIME SUSPECT came to naught, with an even lower rating than last week's episode.  And the news just gets worse:  Awake, the midseason multiple-dimension cop show that would be the obvious substitute for Suspect in the Thursday lineup, has been forced to take an unscheduled break in production for several weeks because of script problems.  And the cherry on the whipped cream on the network's cake is that tonight's series premiere of GRIMM will have to launch against the first World Series Game 7 in 9 years.   Truly:  Ow.

ABC  It's nice to be a female-skewing network when the competition is a sports event.  IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN, from 1966, doubled what Charlie's Angels had been doing at 8PM (but why are Angels episodes still scheduled for the next 2 sweep Thursdays?).  Then GREY'S ANATOMY and even PRIVATE PRACTICE were up, despite the fact that FOX doesn't usually air programming in the 10PM hour.

CBS:  A little bruised by baseball, with the 8-10PM shows all down from last week.  Surprisingly, though, even against the unusual FOX competition, THE MENTALIST held even with last week.  (Note:  rather than face World Series Game 7 tonight, the network has substituted reruns for their entire schedule.  This means the next 1 or 2 ratings for A GIFTED MAN will be life-or-death for that show.)

FOX:  We don't know just what the network's number was last night due to time-zone adjustments for live sports, but we know it was good.  Last night and tonight are the reasons there's still some value for the network in staying in the baseball business. 

CW:  Their target audience of women 18-34 has little interest in baseball, and both VAMPIRE DIARIES and SECRET CIRCLE did just fine.  (Vampire tied NBC in its first half-hour, and its rating was higher than Prime Suspect's).

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.

Modern Family - 1:7

The Office - 8:1

30 Rock - 8:1

Glee - 12:1

The Big Bang Theory - 16:1

Parks & Recreation - 25:1

Modern Family - 1:2

Parks & Recreation - 5:1

30 Rock - 8:1

The Office - 10:1

The Big Bang Theory - 15:1

Glee - 18:1

The Emmys have a tendency, once they find a show they like, to reward it over and over again (Frasier won 5 years in a row, and more recently 30 Rock was a 3-time winner).  The big money is betting that Modern Family will be the new Emmy darling, repeating last year's win.  This may well be the case, particularly because the consensus is that The Office and 30 Rock both had off years, and Big Bang Theory doesn't seem to have the kind of comedy stature the voters look for.  (Glee, with its hybrid 1-hour format and comedy-drama mix, is badly-placed for a win--especially since the show it starting to look like it may have peaked.)  If there's going to be a surprise, look out for the longshot on the board:  Parks & Recreation hit its creative stride this season, and it has a chance for an upset.

Steve Carell, The Office - 1:6

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory - 7:2

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock - 14:1

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes - 33:1

Louis CK, Louie - 33:1

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory - 40:1

Steve Carell, The Office - 1:10

Louis CK, Louie - 8:1

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock - 11:1

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory -13:1

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes -25:1

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory - 40:1

The smart money (or "smart" money) is going all-in on the idea that Steve Carell--who has never won--will take home a valedictory Emmy for his last season on The Office, and with weak competition, that sounds right (it helps that his last couple of episodes were the best of the season).  Parsons and Baldwin have traded the award each of the last 2 years, so neither is "owed" one, and the feeling seems to be that Galecki is subsumed by his co-star.  Matt LeBlanc is in the race for the getting-tired thrill of watching him play a surreal version of himself in Episodes (Larry David may not have invented that concept, but he owns it for now).  Louis CK is deservedly the hot name of the moment; his problem is that Emmy voters are unlikely to know what to do with his auteur-driven show.

Bookie Odds:

Laura Linney, The Big C - 4:6

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation - 7:4

Tina Fey, 30 Rock - 6:1

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie - 14:1

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope - 25:1

Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly - 33:1

ShowbuzzDaily Odds:

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation - 8:5

Laura Linney, The Big C -2:1

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie - 10:1

Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly - 20:1

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope - 30:1

This has been a quirky category in recent years, with Edie Falco and Toni Collette each winning for little-watched Showtime comedy-dramas, and the bettors are jumping on Laura Linney as the impeccable successor to that crown with her turn as a funny cancer patient.  Our thought is that the Academy will change gears and go for a more conventional (but still offbeat and classy) network comedy, with the well-liked Amy Poehler winning for Parks & Recreation.  Fey and Falco already have their multiple Emmys, Plimpton is on the cusp between Lead and Supporting on Raising Hope, and McCarthy is likely getting a "welcome to the club" nomination.

8PM: Thursday is DVR night, as all the networks pack in some of their hottest shows to get premium dollars from movie studios advertising the weekend's new openings.  COMMUNITY and PARKS & RECREATION are two of the best shows NBC has left, and PARKS & RECREATION, in particular, took giant leaps in quality this past season.  Meanwhile, there's no better guilty pleasure on the air than THE VAMPIRE DIARIES on The CW, far more ingeniously plotted than other TV shows (and blockbuster movies) that delve into the high school realm of the supernatural.  That's not even mentioning the enormously popular BIG BANG THEORY or X FACTOR, which FOX certainly believes will be their appointment series of the Fall.  Odd ladies out may be CHARLIE'S ANGELS, which looked decent enough in its promos but entirely predictable, and may have taken on too tough a time slot for its own good. 


9PM:  Will THE OFFICE recover from the loss of Steve Carell?  Maybe not--the post-Carell episodes this past season weren't exactly promising--but the show has been so good for so long that it deserves every chance; its new slotmate WHITNEY, though, will have to be better than its promos if it's to survive.  Fans of BONES know that the season finale set the stage for a new season not to be missed; the reboot could either work smashingtly or bust the show's fragile mix of mystery, screwball comedy and occasional soap.  Thinking of soaps, GREY'S ANATOMY isn't the behemoth that it once was, but it's still a sturdy entertainment that delivers the suds.  Even the new shows in this slot are big guns:  PERSON OF INTEREST has the JJ Abrams pedigree and stars the LOST cult's favorite Michael Emerson, while THE SECRET CIRCLE will test Kevin Williamson's ability to launch a new franchise back-to-back with his VAMPIRE DIARIES.  Advice for this hour:  DVRs won't be enough, so make sure you know where your chosen network streams its shows online.

10PM:  After the rush of 9PM blockbusters, things calm down in a big way at 10PM.  THE MENTALIST and PRIVATE PRACTICE both have their core audiences, but it would be awfully nice to get some new blood flowing in this slot, so the hope is that NBC's PRIME SUSPECT will be worthy of its classic British predecessor; casting the very strong Maria Bello in the lead is a good first step.

WHAT TO WATCH THE REST OF THE WEEK: