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Terminator not terminated

Good news for Summer Glau fans! On Friday, cast members were informed Fox will be ordering the back nine episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

After moving to Mondays this fall, the show has struggled to pull 6M and 2.0 rating in the demos. This decision may have been swayed by Warner Bros as the movie is due for release early next year.

Given Dollhouse and 24 will be taking up the Monday slots in winter, Terminator's timeslot is uncertain but one possible slot may be *cough* Wednesday 9pm *cough*.

I hope to hear more good news from Fox. *cough* Prison Break *cough*

THRFEED

Bleak future for Serialized Dramas

Top Rating Shows of the last two weeks

Note: Shows can only appear once in the top 10 list, if it appears twice, only the latest episode is included. Also football and other specials are excluded.

Top 13
1. CSI, 16th October (CBS): 18.84M
2. NCIS, 14th October (CBS) : 17.86M
3. Dancing with the Stars: Performance, 13th October (ABC): 17.66M
4. Criminal Minds, 9th October (CBS): 15.896M
5. CSI:NY, 9th October (CBS): 15.855M
6. Desperate Housewives, 12th October (ABC): 15.33M
7. The Mentalist, 14th October (CBS): 14.86M
8. Two and a Half Men, 13th October (CBS): 14.57M
8. Grey's Anatomy 16th October (ABC): 14.57M
10. Dancing with the Stars:Results: 14th October (ABC): 14.37M
11. CSI:Miami, 13th October (CBS): 13.00M
12. Survivor:Gabon, 16th October (CBS): 12.88M
13. House, 14th October (FOX): 12.82M

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved

8/13 shows listed air on CBS and skew old. Additionally most shows on this list are procedurals, conversely, the ratings for niche shows such as Heroes, Prison Break and Lost have been losing viewers from its premiere season and are on the verge of cancellation (Lost will finish up in the 2009–2010 season). This is disappointing as these figures do not encourage networks to produce niche shows. Unless viewers embrace these shows the networks will keep pumping out lame old crime/cop procedurals, evident from last night's figures with the terrible Eleventh Hour beating the decent Life On Mars. These will eventually drive younger viewers away from the box.

So does this mean that serialized shows are on the verge of extinction? What say you? Leave a comment and have your say in the poll.

Thursday 18th October: Eagle Eye

Thursday saw The Eye rule with its reality and crime double. Survivor: Gabon topped the 8pm slot with 12.88M and 4.2(rating)/12(share) and 2.4/8 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively. These are fantastic numbers for a show in its 17th season. CSI followed but down significantly from its premiere with 18.8M; A18-49: 5.1/13 and A18-34 3.2/9. Nevertheless it did win its timeslot in total viewers. Lastly, the ordinary Eleventh Hour improved ~670k on last week to win the timeslot with 12.04M, A18-49: 3.2/9 and A18-34: 2.1/6.

ABC was a fair distance behind with the fading Ugly Betty scoring 8.21M, A18-49: 2.6/8 and A18-34: 2.3/7. This is a loss of 1.6M and ~20% in the demo from last year. ABC's other big show Grey's Anatomy continues to loose viewers averaging 14.57M, A18-49: 5.9/14 and A19-34 5.8/16. However, ABC will be pleased it bounced back from its terrible showing last week where it lost to The Office in the demos. Capping off the night was ABC's only new fall show, Life on Mars netting 8.47M, 2.7/7 (18-49) and 2.1/6 (18-34). These figures are worrying as last years occupant, the short-lived Big Shots slipped to those sorts of numbers in its 4th episode, not its second. I will be discussing the future of serialized dramas in another post.

Over at NBC, their 8pm comedy block is slowly dying with 8pm occupant My Name is Earl registering a disappointing 6.54M, A18-49: 2.6/8 and A18-34: 2.2/6. This was followed by the second episode of the Kath and Kim:US which lost 1.5M and 22% in the demo (6.01M, A18-49 2.7/7 and 2.2/7 (18-34)). The Office and Saturday Night Live specials are working well together with both rating in excess of 8M and 4 rating in the demos - 8.07M, A18-49: 4.1/10 and A18-34: 4.6/13 and 8.61M A18-49: 4.1/10 A18-34 4/11 respectively. NBC will be hoping critically acclaimed comedy 30 Rock pulls SNL-like numbers in two weeks time. ER finished the night off with a 18-49 victory scoring 8.81M, A18-49: 3.6/10 and A18-34 2.1/6.

CW fans rejoice, they have finally beat another network with their male-skewing shows Smallville (4.15M, 1.7/5 (A18-49) 1.7/6 (18-34)) and Supernatural (3.06M; A18-49: 1.2/3 and A18-34: 1/3). These two programs equalled Fox in the demos but with 60k more viewers.

Fox finished last with Hole in the Wall and a Kitchen Nightmares repeat, both tanked horribly. It shouldnt be long before 5th Grader and Lyrics return to Thursdays.

Meanwhile, presidential hopeful John McCain's cameo on The Late Show with David Letterman, gave the long running late show its highest ratings since December 2005. It scored 6.5M and 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demo. Over on NBC, Jay Leno's Tonight Show featuring vice president hopeful Joe Biden netted 4.6M.

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved

Wednesday 15th October: Pushing up

Programming was disrupted as a result of the last Presidential debate.

In the 8pm hour, saw Pushing Daisies and Knight Rider both improve on last week's performance. Pushing Daisies was 4th in its timeslot yet it gained 700k in viewers but slipped 0.1 in the demo from last week- 6.29M; A18-49: 1.9/ 6. Knight Rider was second in the slot jumping 1M from last week to 7.65M; A18-49 2.3/ 7. CBS's comedy block topped the slot with The New Adventures of Old Christine (7.74M; A18-49 2.1/ 6) and Gary Unmarried (7.71M; A18-49: 2.4/ 7). Fox was 3rd in the timeslot but won in the demos with the baseball.

Meanwhile on Cable, Project Runway's finale netted a credible 4.8M and 2.4/6 in the 18-49 demo. Season 5 had an average of 3.6M and 2.4M in the 18-49 bracket.

Top Design: 1.756M; 0.8/2 A18-49
South Park: 2.850M; 1.5/3 A18-49
Chocolate News: 2.158M; 1.2/3 A18-49
Sons of Anarchy: 1.869M; 1.0/2 A18-49

Nielsen Media Research data and PIFeedback

Knocked Out

ABC's gameshow Opportunity Knocks has been axed after only 3 episodes. It has been doing Dancing with the Stars:Results no favours with its latest airing scoring a mere 6.3M and 1.9(rating)/5(share) A18-49. In comparison, its competitors are rating in excess of 12M.

This Tuesday sees the return of you guessed it, Dancing with the Stars: Recap.

In other news, AMC's Emmy award winning Mad Men, has been renewed for a 3rd season. The show is consistent on the ratings front, scoring 1-1.5M each week. There are two episodes left of the second season with the finale due to air on Sunday 26th October 10/9c AMC.

Tuesday 14th October: Fox is Foxy

CBS won the night in total viewers with their crime dramas. Under-rated NCIS won the 8pm hour with 17.86M, 3.9(rating)/11(share) (18-49) and 2.3/7 (18-34). CBS's hit new cop drama The Mentalist followed but was down on previous weeks with 14.86M, 3.4/8 (18-49) and 1.9/5 (18-34), last week's Presidential debate has done the show no favours. Capping off the night, was Without A Trace with 10.99M and 2.5/7 and 1.3/4 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively.

Fox was second, but dominated the night in the demos with House winning in the key demos with 5.1/14 in the 18-49 and 5.0/15 in the 18-34 bracket. House may be down on last season's average but when DVR numbers are included, it should top 15M. Fringe, its leadout program is doing particular well with 9.53M and 4.2/10 and 3.8/10 in the key demos, this series has improved significantly since its pilot.

Over at ABC, tiring format Dancing with the Stars appears to be losing viewers, this time only scoring 14.37M with 3.2/8 and 2/6 in the demos. However, its leadin program gameshow, Opportunity Knocks is doing it no favours, registering only 5.3M, 1.3/4 (18-49) and 1.3/4 (18-34). Following Dancing with the Stars, was the second season premiere of Eli Stone, this season has been critically acclaimed but this hasn't transpired to respectable ratings, Eli Stone dropped from 10.075M, 2.5/7 (18-49) and a 1.8/5 (18-34) in its first half hour to 7.568M, 2.0/5 and 1.4/4 its second. Averaging out to 8.82M, 2.3/6(18-49) and 1.6/5 (18-34).

NBC was dead last in viewers but tied with Fox for second place in the demos with the younger skewing The Biggest Loser scoring 7.5M, 3.1/8 (18-49) and 2.8 (18-34) (2 hour average). Law and Order: SVU followed, winning its timeslot in the key demos (9.4M, 3.7/10 and 3.3/10)
and second to Without A Trace in total people.

The CW had 90210 (1.78M, 0.8/2, 1.0/3) and Privileged (1.24M, 0.6/1, 0.7/2) repeats which performed solidly.

Neilsen Media Research data

Programming and Casting News: 16th October

CBS has given Psych ripoff The Mentalist a full season. The Mentalist has been CBS's top new drama hovering around the 15M mark and 3 rating in the 18-49 demo. It also stars our very own Simon Baker, so many aussie fans will be happy.

Hollywood Reporter

NBC has ordered an additional three scripts for its sci-fi drama Medium. Medium usually premieres after Christmas, but sources are reporting that Medium might return earlier than normal given NBC's mediocre ratings this fall.

Hollywood Reporter

Jessica Walter who plays Tabitha (Harry's mother) in The CW's new teen drama 90210, has been dropped as a series regular. Her contract was not renewed for the back end of season 1 to cut production costs. However, have no fear fans, a CW insider guarantees she will be back better than ever.

EW

ABC has faith

Even before the ratings for the second season of Eli Stone are released ABC has ordered an additional 4 scripts of the legal dramedy.

Eli Stone had a sluggish first season averaging 7.4M and 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demo. Those figures are some what inflated by its 11M season premiere and its lead-in assisted 9M. Otherwise other episodes hovered around the high 5M and low 6M mark.

This is a real vote of confidence for the show.

EW

Monday 13th October: ABC is seeing stars

Sorry, no 18-34 demos, my usual leaks haven't managed to obtain them.

However, here's some for selected programs:

Gossip Girl: 2.4/7 A18-34
One Tree Hill: 2.6/7 A18-34
Big Bang Theory: 2.8/8 A18-34
HIMYM: 3.3/9 A18-34

ABC kicked off the night with the dominant Dancing with the Stars, followed by the season 2 premiere of Samantha Who? SW managed to retain 66% of DWTS' viewers and 78% in the demo. SW may be down on last season's premiere but it has improved on last season's post strike episodes. This would be a minor success for ABC. (But the major test will be tonight with the second season premiere of Eli Stone following DWTS: Results) Boston Legal which followed was second in total viewers but last in the demo.

CBS's comedy block is improving every week with all comedies up on last week, even the weak link - Worst Week was up nearly 1M and 0.3 in the demo. Big Bang Theory and How I met your Mother continue to power along scoring impressive demos and total viewers. However, CSI:Miami looks like it is losing steam, given the other spinoff CSI:NY is nudging 16M, CBS would be disappointed with those numbers. Nevertheless it did win its timeslot in all aspects.

After a 1 week hiatus, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill were back on The CW with both pulling respectable figures.

NBC on the otherhand are in deep strife, Chuck is struggling to draw viewers and Heroes is sinking. :( Both are up on last week, but that might have been due to the absence of Prison Break and Terminator. Hopefully numbers for both shows improve. The other big premiere last night was My Own Worst Enemy, it netted respectable figures, however it did drop from 7.64 to 6.95M and 3.1/ 8 to 2.9/ 7 in the 18-49 demo from its first half hour. The show has received mixed reviews, I will provide a review later on this week.

TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

Meanwhile on Cable:

Sunday
09/29/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.5/2; A18-49: 0.7/2

10/05/08 True Blood HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 1.0/2
10/05/08 Entourage HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 0.9/2
10/05/08 Dexter HH: 0.5/1; A18-49: 0.3/1
10/05/08 Little Britain USA HH: 0.4/1; A18-49: 0.4/1
10/05/08 Californication HH: 0.3/0; A18-49: 0.2/1

Monday
10/06/08 Monday Night Football HH: 7.1/12; A18-49: 4.6/12
10/06/08 The Hills HH: 2.2/3; A18-49: 1.9/5
10/06/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.6/3; A18-49: 0.7/2

- Dexter: 0.786 million viewers
- Little Britain USA: 0.657 million viewers
- Californication: 0.442 million viewers
- The Life & Times of Tim: 0.275 million viewers

TV by the Numbers

Note: 1 point approximates to 1.6M.

Sunday 12th October: ABC stable as CBS slides

Last night saw CBS struggle without the NFL Overrun with all their shows bar Cold Case slipping.

Over at ABC, America's Funniest Home Videos is finally registering the ratings it deserves. I don't know how on earth it averaged 9M last week, but thank god it has sunk.

Extreme Makeover continues to nail its timeslot and Desperate Housewives marches on albeit against weaker competition (no Family Guy and American Dad). The Housewives won its timeslot with 15.44M and 6(rating)/14 (share) and 5.1/13 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively. But, I'm not a fan of this 5 year jump. Brothers and Sisters averages fair numbers but the retention is poor.

The CW's new Media Rights Capital line up is scoring below par numbers, however, if there is a shining light it is Valentine's retention from last week, losing next to zero viewers.

TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

Meanwhile on the Cable Networks, recently acquired World Wrestling Entertainment's "Friday Night Smackdown" logged 3.5 million, 1.1 rating for MyNetworkTV. This figure makes Smackdown MyNetworkTV's number 1 program in its history. And to think The CW dumped this for Everybody Hates Chris, The Game and ANTM repeats, is mindblowing.

In other news, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, netted 2.8M and 0.7/2 in the 18-49 demo, this is a loss of 30% on its premiere.

THRFEED

Programming News: The CW gossip

The CW has ordered another 2 episodes of its teen drama Gossip Girl (giving it a total of 24 episodes this season). After a lacklustre Season 1, averaging only 2.6M and 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demo it has risen to 3.4M and 1.8 this season.

EW

Production of The CW's new Sunday shows Valentine and Easy Money has shut down. This isn't good news as The CW recently sold their Sunday night to Media Rights Capital. According to an insider, this hiatus was pre-planned, but production for MRC's other show In Harm's Way has not ceased.

An insider has stated the reason behind this shutdown is to give the writers some time to catch up on the shows' scripts. hmmm... However, production hasn't entirely ceased as a spokeswoman for MRC has noted both Valentine and Easy Money have been given at least 13 episodes this fall.

Both Valentine and Easy Money have achieved ordinary figures, with Valentine's second episode netting 1M and 0.4/1 (rating/share) in the 18-49 demo and Easy Money pulling 750k and 0.3/1 in the 18-49 demo. The only good news for Valentine is it didn't nudge a bit from last weeks figures, however Easy Money lost 25% in viewers and demos.

I couldn't careless about Easy Money, but Valentine has a lot of potential. Fingers crossed this doesn't mean the cancellation of one of my favourite shows of the new season (Valentine)

Hollywood Reporter

What's coming up this week? (12th - 18th October)

Missing:
Due to Major League Baseball: All return the following week
Simpsons
King of the Hill
Family Guy
American Dad
Terminator
Prison Break

Hiatus:
90210 (Returns on the 28th October)
Privileged (Returns on the 21th October)

Due to another Presidential Debate: All return the following week except for Bones and Til Death
Private Practice
Dirty Sexy Money
Criminal Minds
CSI: NY
Bones
Til Death
Lipstick Jungle

Premieres:
Monday 13th
9:30pm: Samantha Who? 2x01
10pm: My Own Worst Enemy 1x01

Tuesday 14th
10pm: Eli Stone 2x01

Wednesday 15th
8pm: Time Warp 1x01

Friday 17th
8pm: Crusoe 1x01-02

Futon Critic

If I have missed something feel free to correct me. :)

Friday 10th October: CBS rules

Three words The Ex-List. And CBS replaced Moonlight for this crap? nuff said.

Otherwise a low night with few people watching the small screen.

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved

TV by the Numbers

Review: Life on Mars

Last night, ABC aired another spin-off, this time it was British cop drama Life on Mars. Have the yanks run out of ideas? Ok, Ill stop giving them crap as I did enjoy the pilot, however, I did lose interest at times as it was a bit slow. But I'll be back.

I haven't seen the pommy version so I can't really comment on the similarities/differences or the plot. But in a nut shell put Journeyman and a cop show together and that's the premise of the show.

The show begins with Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) and his girlfriend Maya (Lisa Bonet) going about their normal cop business. They arrest a criminal, but after a long questioning time, they end up setting the supposed criminal free. Maya isn't convinced, so she decides to trail the criminal, and she ends up getting abducted. When Sam arrives at the site, he only finds her bloody shirt. In search of Maya, he gets struck by a car.

Later, he wakes up and finds out he has traveled back to 1973. Initially he is confused at what has happened, but he later figures out he is either in a coma or he has traveled back in time. He arrives at his office, where he has just recently been recruited from Hyde (another state/ police department). Shortly after he meets the lieutenant (Harvey Keitel), and using a little elbow grease, the lieutenant explains to Sam it is infact 1973.

Along the way he meets a colleague Annie Morris (Gretchen Mol) who has a psychology degree and to some degree believes his story. They set out to arrest a criminal who performs similar acts to what has happened in 2008. After arresting the criminal, he figures, he possibly was sent back for a reason - to follow the killer's footsteps and save Maya.

Overall, it was a decent pilot which kept me entertained for the majority of the 40 mins. However, the show is kind of limited in where it can explore. Hopefully the writers can come up with original ideas as it has potential.

7/10

Thursday 9th October: NBC springs a surprise

What a night of surprises! In the 8pm hour, long running Survivor won with 13.306M and 4.4/12 in the 18-49 demo. While NBC's comedies remain stable, My Name is Earl looks like its struggling but given NBC's failures this season, Earl is in no danger. The first surprise was Kath and Kim, after numerous negative reviews, Kath and Kim managed to pull nearly 7.5M with 3.2/9 - 18-49 and a timeslot winning 3.2/10 in the 18-34 demo. Whilst on ABC, Ugly Betty remains consistent for ABC.

9pm was the battle of the powerhouses, but The Office, which usually plays 3rd fiddle to both came out on top in the 18-34 demo. A Saturday Night Live special followed and it netted an impressive 10.6M and good demos. Meanwhile, CSI, won in total viewers with 23M and 7/17 in the 18-49 demo. Grey's on the other hand slumped from its performance two weeks ago, dropping nearly 4M and more than 2 points in the demo. It has been a very bad week for ABC, with all its big guns stumbling.

The CW's male-skewing night continues to outperform most nights with Smallville and Supernatural holding their own. Given these promising figures, I think The CW should stop targeting one specific audience (Women 18-34) and start targeting the entire 18-34 demo.

At 10pm, both CBS and ABC launched their new shows. Life on Mars US on the ABC was triumphant but both shows lost audience from their first half hour. Life on Mars lost nearly 11% in viewers, 14.6% in 18-49 and 17.2 in the 18-34, with Eleventh Hour losing 15.3% in total viewers, 18.9% in the 18-49 and 12.5 in 18-34. However, these two big premieres were overshadowed by the long running ER, which won the timeslot in both demos with 4.0/10 and 3.3/10 (18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively). A strong SNL leadin wouldve helped ER, nevertheless those numbers for a program in its 15th and final season are impressive.

TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

Meanwhile, South Park's fall premiere received 3.7M and 2.5 adults 18-49 rating. This helped its lead-out program The Sarah Silverman Program which scored a series high of 2.4M and 1.6 in the demo.

THRFEED

Review: Kath and Kim US

NBC last night aired the American version of Kath and Kim. I can't say I'm impressed but it had an understanding plot and a few good one-liners.

But first and foremost, Is Selma Blair really that overweight in real life?

The show is very close to the Aussie version where both Kath and Kim have relationship problems. But I think both Selma Blair and Molly Shannon are trying too hard to be someone they aren't. The chemistry was lacking as well.

There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, especially the conversations involving Craig, but other than that, the humour was lacking. I wouldnt completely write this show off, but if NBC really want the show to succeed they should at least give it more than one season so both Blair and Shannon can gel.

5/10

Bright Knight

NBC has ordered four additional scripts for its new series Knight Rider. This usually means NBC is happy with the show and its on the verge of getting a full season (22 episodes). yay!

Knight Rider's first three episodes have averaged a soft 7.2M, 2.3 (18-49 rating) and 2.0 (18-34 rating). (All preliminary ratings, finals are a bit higher)

Ive recently watched the first two episodes and even though there isnt a real plot to the show. KITT is just awesome and I can watch it work its magic all day long.

Hollywood Reporter

Psyched about Burn Notice and Psych

USA Network has renewed two of my favourite shows, Psych and Burn Notice for a 4th and 3rd season respectively. yay!

Both shows did well for the popular cable network, rating in excess of 4.5M and 2M in the 18-49 demo every week. They are currently on hiatus and will be returning next year.

Variety

In other news, ABC has order a second season of I survived a Japanese Game Show for their summer schedule. Behind Wipeout, the Japanese game show was ABC's second highest summer show, hovering around the 5-6M mark

Variety

Wednesday, 8th October: NBC and ABC call for SOS

ABC's Wednesdays have taken a tumble with all shows below the 8M mark, the only bright spot would be Private Practice winning the 18-34 demo and building on its leadin

CBS's comedy block is steady, whilst Criminal Minds and CSI:NY continue to dominate, winning in total viewers and the 18-49 demo.

Over at FOX, Bones continues to deliver, netting 10.3M and 3.3/10 and 2.9/9 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively. Along with House, Bones is Fox's top rating drama this season. FOX will be hoping Fringe develops a core audience and 24 succeeds in spring. Nevertheless, FOX has significantly improved on last fall, remebering the only program which gave FOX a yearly win in the demos last year was Idol.

The CW had America's Next Top Model and a 90210 repeat. ANTM continues to be one of The CW's highest rating shows and 90210 is repeating well, The CW will be hoping Stylista, which premieres in 2 weeks time, retains more of ANTM's lead in.

NBC is also in a heap, after 2 good showings, Knight Rider finally looses viewers. Personally I havent watched the show yet, but apparently it is a very poor spinoff. However, I can't see it being cancelled as it is one of NBC's top dramas, very depressing I know. Lipstick Jungle is surely on its last legs with below par figures - sub 5M and 2 rating in the demos.

Tomorrow, we will see the long awaited battle between two ratings juggernauts, Greys and CSI commence. Eleventh Hour and Life on Mars will also go head to head.

Source: PIFeedback and TV by the Numbers

Where is Pushing Daisies?

There are reports ABC will be airing a Dancing with the Stars Special at 8:00 - 9:02 PM ET/PT on the 5th of November. However, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money still remain in the schedule.

After a mediocre second season premiere - netting a paltry 6.32M and 2/6 demo, where does this leave Pushing Daisies? I think I can smell bad daisies.

Source post 129

Tuesday 7th October

The night was dominated by the Presidential Debate which I wont be posting the numbers for. If you are really interested check out the links below.

8pm was the only hour which had 'regular programming'. Dancing with the Stars took a tumble, possibly due to an earlier start time. While NCIS won the timeslot in total viewers and the 18-49 demo. NCIS is starting to pull CSI-like numbers.

90210 managed to stay above the magic 3M mark with solid demos 1.7/4 and 2.2/4 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively. Privileged which followed managed to improve on last week due to lesser opposition. 2.3M and 1.1/3 (18-49) and 1.4/4 (18-34) in the demos may not be good numbers for the other 4 networks but they are respectable in The CW's books.

Over at NBC, The Biggest Loser: Families managed to win the 18-34 bracket with a strong 2.7/8. Whilst on Fox, there was a House repeat which was competitive as usual. FOX might consider moving House repeats to Mondays 8pm and put Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles after Bones. This will help both Terminator and Prison Break.

UPDATE: In other news, the double episode premiere of Star Wars: Clone wars on Friday Night netted nearly 4M viewers and recently dumped Smackdown averaged 3.2M on MyNetworkTV.

Source: TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

FX isn't rich but its good news for FOX

An FX spokesperson has confirmed FX's con-artist drama The Riches has been caned after two seasons.

In other news, FOX has agreed to do a spin-off of Britcomedy Absolutely Fabulous. Christine Zander from Saturday Night Live will be writing the scripts.

Source: EW and Variety

Monday 6th October: Prison Break, Terminator stable as Heroes bleeds

More to follow later, Im disappointed to say the least.

ABC cleaned up last night with ratings powerhouse Dancing with the Stars, yet they still couldnt manage to win the key demos. Coming a close second to CBS in the 18-49 and a distant 3rd in the 18-34 bracket behind NBC.

Boston Legal pulled respectable figures but the Dancing with the Stars lead-in is wasted, they should give their other struggling programs such as Dirty Sexy Money/Pushing Daisies that slot.

What a difference a day makes, the EYE struggled for younger viewers on Sunday Night but won the 18-49 demo with their comedies and the ever consistent CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and How I met your mother, continue to do well in the key demos, however Worst Week is a weak link. The show isnt that bad and I think it should be doing much better. To cap off the night CSI: Miami won in all aspects with 13.6M and 4/10 (rating/share) in the 18-49 demo and 2.7/7 in the 18-34 demo.

Over at NBC, Chuck struggled for viewers, whilst Heroes is down significantly from last week - dropping nearly 1M from last week and 0.5 in the demo. But it did win in the 18-34 demo. This is a real disappointment as this season has been fantastic so far. Hopefully this isnt replicated here in Aussie land. Nevertheless, behind the Law and Order franchise, Heroes is NBC's top rating drama and I dont see NBC cancelling it anytime soon. On the otherhand, Life continues to meander along however its demos were competitive. Next week, NBC premieres My Own Worst Enemy, there have been mixed reviews about this show, but the latest news from the critics is a big thumbs up.

On Fox was another two of my favourites Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Prison Break. With Terminator averaging 5.6M and 2.3/6 and 2.0/6 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demo respectively. Its lead out program, Prison Break was up on last week with 5.4M and 2.2/5 (18-49) and 2.2/5 (18-34). Next week those two shows will be taking a break due to the baseball but hopefully there are brighter things to come for these two shows.

The CW screened repeats of Gossip Girl and Privileged, numbers were respectable with both exceeding 1.5M and 1.2 rating in the 18-34 demo. Food for thought for The CW how about switching Privileged with One Tree Hill?

Source: TV by the Numbers and PIFeedback

US Fall Schedule: premieres this week (5th October-11th Octover)

5th October
Valentine (Series Premiere) 1x01 8pm
Easy Money (Series Premiere) 1x01 9pm

8th October
South Park (Fall premiere) 12x08 10pm

9th October
Kath and Kim US (Series Premiere) 1x01 8:30pm
CSI (Season 9 Premiere) 9x01 9pm
Eleventh Hour (Series Premiere) 1x01 10pm
Life on Mars (Series Premiere) 1x01 10pm
Testees (Series Premiere) 1x01 10:30pm

10th October
Starter Wife (Season 2 Premiere) 2x01-02

Note: These are all American Dates.

Source: Futon Critic

Review: Valentine

From the producers of Desperate Housewives and Reaper, Media Rights Captial brings you Valentine, a romantic new dramedy.

The show centres around the greek gods helping ordinary people find their soul mate or true love. The first episode begins with Roland a Hollywood poser, presenting Joanna (who he has known for a long time) her birthday gift. The gift is a holiday/date for the two of them, unfortunately a few hours earlier Tad, her previous lover who has cheated on her numerous times, proposes to her, which she gratefully accepts. Roland becomes upset and depressed.

This is where the greek gods come in, later that night whilst fixing his sink, Roland receives a message from 'Valentine Inc' a 'company' owned by these gods. Headed by Grace Valentine (Jaime Murray) aka 'Aphrodite' Grace sends out her two sons Danny and Leo to help Roland find his true love.

There is also Pheobe who runs the oracle, a magic pond inside their mansion. On their way, they also recruit a romantic story writer, Kate Frost. Initially she refuses to join the team but once 'Aphrodite' gives her a 'helping' hand she accepts the job. They help Roland find true love by seeing/reading the future through the oracle. Firstly, Danny and Leo take Roland to Joanna's bachelor party. Danny uses his 'gun' to configure Joanna's mind and she ends up sleeping with Roland that night. But this is only the start of Roland's problems, once Joanna wakes up she is surprised with the events of the previous night and walks out on Roland, promising to never see and talk to him again.

Whilst the boys were celebrating, the bad news from the oracle arrives, the job wasnt complete. So they planned to strand both Roland and Joanna in the middle of no where. As Joanna and Tad were travelling to Vegas, Roland swapped his broken 'gun' for a bow and arrow and punctured Tad's car tyre, whilst Leo and Grace kidnapped Roland. 'Coincidently,' Pheobe too was travelling on that route and offered to drive Joanna to the nearest gas station as Tad refused to go. With a few miles left to the gas station, Pheobe drops Joanna off and to her surprise, she sees Roland stranded across the road. They spill their love for each other which leads to the two of them getting married.

Overall, this is a cute show with a Reaper feel to it. I enjoyed the pilot, however the middle block was very slow and dragged out. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable 40 mins and has plenty of potential, fingers crossed ratings improve.

6/10

Sunday 5th October: CW struggles for viewers

CBS kicked off the night with strong performances from the Football overrun and a solid performance by the older skewing 60 minutes. CBS was stable across the night with the Amazing Race and Cold Case above the magic 10M mark, however Cold Case struggled in the younger demos only scoring 2.5/6 (rating/share) in the 18-49 demo and a mere 1.6/4 in the 18-34 demo. Its lead-out program The Unit remained steady on last week with 9.4M viewers and strong demos for a usually older skewing network.

Over at ABC, the stalwart America's Funniest Home Videos continues to do the job for the ABC, however its demos are worrying. Extreme Makeover followed, I have no idea about this show, but it did do well in total viewers and demos. But it was no match for the long running Simpsons, anniliating the competition in the 18-34 demographic with a winning 4.5/13 share. Even though numbers for this long running comedy are low, those demos should keep the execs at FOX happy. King of the Hill, which in my opinion is the funniest animated comedy, scored a credible 6.6M with smashing 3.3/8 in the 18-49 and 3.8/10 in the 18-34 demos. However all eyes were on the premiere of Valentine at 8pm on The CW, The CW have decided to lease out their Sundays to the Media Rights Captial but going by the paltry ratings, this will probably be the last of such deals. Valentine received a small sampling with 1.1M and 0.4/1 in both key demos.

In the 9pm hour, all eyes were on the second episode of Desperate Housewives. But it disappointed with only 15.5M and 5.8/13 and 4.8/12 in the demos, this is down a massive 3M and 1.2 in the 18-49 demo. On the otherhand my favourites, Family Guy and American Dad scored an impressive 4.3/10 and 3.5/8 in the 18-49 demo respectively and 4.4/11 and 5.4/14 in the 18-34 demo. Amazing Race also deserves a mention as it was sampled by 11M viewers with competitive demos. But lets forget Easy Money, what a snooze fest that was.
At 10pm Brothers and Sisters was up against the second half hour of Cold Case and the first half of The Unit. It had a ~66% retention out of the Housewives and scored well in the demos.