Movie Box Review

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.

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!)

Not all shows premiere like Smash.

ABC:  In recent years, viewers have flocked to horror series from True Blood to The Walking Dead to The Vampire Diaries, and at the multiplex, "found footage" thrillers like Paranormal Activity, The Devil Inside and Chronicle sell tickets like crazy, so... So this is why the entertainment business drives businesspeople crazy, because comparatively speaking, no one showed up for THE RIVER, ABC's stab at the genre, which had a blah 2.4 opening, with a steadily decreasing track that bodes very badly for next week.  It's a short-term problem for the network, since only 7 episodes were ordered, but it's not going to make Tuesdays in the rest of February and March pleasant for ABC.  The 8PM LAST MAN STANDING was just 0.2 above its season low, and a special 8:30PM episode didn't do much better.

NBC:  Any hope for a halo effect after the best 2 days of the network's season went out the window, as THE BIGGEST LOSER was up only 0.1 from recent weeks, and then PARENTHOOD, facing a stronger competitor on ABC than the usual Body of Proof, slumped to a season low 1.6.  Parenthood's ratings in 2012 have been terrible, and with only a few more episodes left in its season order, its producers have to be glad they're on the one network where those numbers aren't necessarily a death sentence.

CBS:  The 200th episode of NCIS easily won its hour, but with The River perhaps siphoning off some male viewers, NCIS LA and UNFORGETTABLE were both only 0.1 above their season lows.

FOX:  GLEE was way down from last week's Michael Jackson episode (apparently Ricky Martin doesn't have quite the same name value).  NEW GIRL won its timeslot, but shows no signs of recapturing the highs of its fall ratings, and both it and RAISING HOPE were 0.2 above their season lows.

CW:  90210 held its own with a 0.7, but RINGER's 0.5 was down 0.1 from last week's midseason premiere.

Tonight the only news is on the news side:  CBS fills in at 8PM (pending the return of Survivor) with a special PERSON TO PERSON interview show hosted by Charlie Rose and Lara Logan (the title is from an Edward R. Murrow series that ran 1953-1961, a reference that should certainly pull in the young crowd).  At 9PM, ROCK CENTER moves to its new timeslot, where it can look forward to being decimated by a new MODERN FAMILY on ABC.  At 10PM, CSI will probably be down from Marg Helgenberger's exit episode, while REVENGE moves toward the endgame of the first arc of its season's storyline.

FOX had announced last year that rather than air GLEE repeats in the space between its original February episodes and the new ones that will close out the season, it would instead air a 2-hour block of sit-coms.  That's still the plan, but today they shuffled just what those comedies will be and when they'll air.

Starting on March 6, Tuesdays will start with new episodes of RAISING HOPE (instead of New Girl reruns, as originally scheduled), facing off against Last Man Standing (as well as NCIS and Biggest Loser, which are less direct competition).  Then I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER, which had been scheduled to air after 90-minute American Idol episodes on Wednesdays, will instead take the 8:30PM slot and compete with Cougar Town.  NEW GIRL will of course keep its usual 9PM slot, and at 9:30PM BREAKING IN, the Christian Slater slow that was cancelled and then un-cancelled last Spring, will try to capitalize on its newly strong lead-in (it was originally supposed to have the 8:30PM slot).  

At first glance, this is clearly good news for Breaking In, which gets an original New Girl rather than a repeat as its lead-in.  It's bad news for Raising Hope, which loses its sheltered 9:30 slot and has to open the evening against Tim Allen.  Since Hope will be Teenage Daughter's lead-in rather than American Idol, it's also bad for Teenage, and seemingly unnecessary in terms of Tuesday results, since original Teenage episodes probably won't do a number much different than New Girl repeats would have.  The one piece of this puzzle that FOX hasn't yet announced is what will now be airing at 9:30PM on Wednesdays, and it'll be interesting to see if Idol is extended for 2 hours on that night--if so, it may suggest that FOX needed this change to create some extra Idol advertising inventory, in order to make up for the shortfall in this season's ratings and revenues.

Some things are eternal, and Michael Jackson appears to be one of them.

FOX:  GLEE's Michael Jackson episode propelled the show to a 3.6, its best rating in months.  The strong lead-in didn't help the network's sit-coms much, though:  NEW GIRL was only up 0.1 for the night, and RAISING HOPE fell to match its season low.

CW:  RINGER, returning from a hiatus that seemed almost as long as Mad Men's, didn't find absence making audience hearts grow much fonder, with the same 0.6 it had on November 29, which was down slightly from its 90210 lead-in.

NBC:  BIGGEST LOSER was even with last week, but that wasn't good news, as it was close to a season low.  Repeats of the serialized PARENTHOOD are always ugly, and last night's 0.7 was no exception.

ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING and BODY OF PROOF were at their usual unimpressive repeat levels, and the season finale of CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP couldn't leave town fast enough (The River takes its slot next week), setting a season low.

CBS:  All repeats, with 3d place finishes for both NCIS shows, but a win for UNFORGETTABLE in the battle of the reruns at 10PM.

Tonight is the last night before February sweeps, so ABC is all repeats, while the only new show on CBS is this year's installment of Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials, while NBC will have fresh episodes of its woeful Whitney/Chelsea duo.  FOX will hope to take advantage of the reduced competition with bigger numbers for American Idol, before its declining ratings becomes even more of a story than they already are.  

Not much good news for anyone--including the night's winner.

FOX:  The network ran the table 8-10PM, but with ugly numbers:  GLEE and NEW GIRL both set season lows, and RAISING HOPE was just 0.1 above its low.  For the first time in quite a while, Glee was below a 3 rating.

ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING was up from last week, although its 2.6 was still just 0.2 above that season low.  MAN UP!, on its way out, hit a new low.  Reruns of THE MIDDLE and SUBURGATORY averaged a 1.2, even lower than Middle had done last week.  BODY OF PROOF also set a new low, with an awful 1.5 for a new episode.

NBC:  Hardly anyone wanted to celebrate Christmas with Michael Buble, as his special managed only a 1.5.  After that, BIGGEST LOSER perked up to a 2.2, which was down from last week but still above other recent episodes.

CBS:  An all rerun night, with NCIS way down from last week's repeat (2.1 vs 2.9).  Notably, though, the repeat UNFORGETTABLE managed to beat the new Body of Proof on ABC.

CW:  90210, unlike Gossip Girl, is still holding its own in CW terms with a 0.8.  RINGER was a repeat.  

Tonight will be the first with regular schedules, no specials or repeats, in a while.  The number to watch will be the 2d episode of FOX's I Hate My Teenage Daughter, this time airing against new episodes on the other networks.