Movie Box Review

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.  

On what used to be network TV's marquee night, only one series had a rating over a 4...

NBC:  ...and it certainly wasn't on NBC.  THE OFFICE is now the only non-football show on NBC to exceed even a 2.5 rating.  So far, Office is holding up pretty well post-Carell (down about 20% from last year's season average), although its number isn't all that impressive compared to comedy hits on all the other networks.  Still, that's by far the network's good news.  WHITNEY's plunge means that not a single new NBC fall series is any kind of success.  (Under the "you can't cancel everything" rule, that doesn't mean all these failures will be thrown off the schedule.  In fact, it's very possible several of them may get back orders for spring, not because NBC is suddenly talent-friendly--ah, the spin!--but out of sheer desperation, since apart from Smash, the network's midseason shows are midseason for a reason.)  NBC may be a couple of weeks away from a very difficult decision:  if they can't save both Whitney and Up All Night, which one gets the life-raft of the Office lead-in?  Meanwhile, at 10PM PRIME SUSPECT is on the critical list with a dire 1.5 rating.  From 8-9PM, COMMUNITY and PARKS & RECREATION provide some stability, albeit of the low-rated kind.

CBS:  THE BIG BANG THEORY is the hit of the night, with a terrific (and stable) 4.8.  But after that, things are a lot bumpier.  HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN didn't open (meaning that CBS Marketing was only able to get 2 Broke Girls any kind of debut sampling this fall, and that was because of the 2 1/2 Men lead-in) and is probably headed downhill from there.  It's not just that PERSON OF INTEREST is running 20% below CSI's rating in the same timeslot last year-- it's about 13% below the number CSI is doing now in its weaker Wednesday 10PM slot.  And THE MENTALIST is 20% below last season's average, despite NBC being a non-factor in the timeslot.

ABC:  It's just a matter of time till the misbegotten CHARLIE'S ANGELS heads to the trash-heap.  GREY'S ANATOMY, unable to capitalize on NBC's and CBS's problems, is running 20% below its average last year, but at least in its season debut, PRIVATE PRACTICE hit last year's average. 

FOX:  Once again, when all the smoke had cleared, X FACTOR may have declined a bit from last week, but it gave FOX an easy win for the night.  Next week's experiment with a repeat New Girl at 9:30PM is sure to have a strong lead-in, and the results should be interesting.

CW:  VAMPIRE DIARIES continues to be by far the network's strongest show, and even ticked up a bit this week, while SECRET CIRCLE seems to have settled in to a 0.9 rating, which ain't much, but is above-average by CW standards.

Tonight, CBS will hope that viewers watching A GIFTED MAN, unlike the show's protagonist, won't be seeing dead people.  Look for our Pilot + 1 Review later.