2009 TV season

[JackFetch]

>> Fox won the opening night of the fall season for the first time in the network's history. The network aired the two-hour return of "House" (16.5 million viewers, 6.5 preliminary adults 18-49 rating), the medical drama climbing 14% from last year while most of its competitors declined.

>> CBS placed second in the key adult demo with its comedy block and "CSI: Miami" (13.7 million, 4.3). "Miami" was down 17%, though still beat ABC and NBC at 10 p.m. combined. "Big Bang Theory" (12.8 million, 4.6), however, managed to rank as the network's highest-rated show last night. "Big Bang" was in its new time period after "Two and a Half Men" (13.6 million, 4.4) and grew 28% from last year to hit a series high. Leading off the night, "How I Met Your Mother" (9.2 million, 3.5) was off only a tenth from "Big Bang" in the slot last year. New comedy "Accidentally on Purpose" (9 million, 3.2) lost less than 10% of its lead-in and did fairly well considering the intense competition.

>> In third place, ABC aired a two-hour "Dancing With the Stars" (17.5 million, 4.1), down 24% from last fall's premiere and down 33% from its spring edition (Tom Delay is a poor substitute for Melissa Rycroft, it seems). This was the reality competition's lowest-rated premiere yet. The second season debut of "Castle" (9.4 million, 2.3) was soft; on par with "Boston Legal" in the slot last fall, but dipping from its midseason debut.

>>NBC ranked fourth, it's two-hour "Heroes" premiere (6 million, 2.7) free falling 46% from last year's one-hour opener. "Heroes" didn't face "House" last year, but this is nonetheless a troubling drop. At 10 p.m., "The Jay Leno Show" (5.7 million, 1.8) assumed its third-place position and dipped below a 2.0 for the first time. Though expected, this means "Leno Show" went from being the highest-rated show last Monday among the major broadcast networks to the lowest rated last night.

>> Against significantly increased competition this week, the CW's "One Tree Hill" (2.5 million, 1.2) impressively maintained its premiere rating, but "Gossip Girl" (2.1 million, 1.1) was knocked down 21%.

Analysis:

The big winners here are "House" and "Big Bang Theory" ... Fox hopes that next week's addition of "Lie to Me" will help the network maintain a powerful presence on Mondays this season ... The rest of CBS' block that took ratings hits could easily improve -- the shows aren't serialized and CBS viewers often check out other networks during premiere week, then loyally wander back to CBS for their Charlie Sheen comfort food. The "Accidentally on Purpose" number gives no hint where this new show is going ... ABC's "Dancing" has dropped with nearly every premiere. That's eventually going to be a problem, but not for a while -- the show is still doing really well ... "Heroes" took a hard hit, and not unexpected considering how dramatically the show's ratings fell last season. NBC adds "Trauma" next week. "Leno Show" is still settling, but this is about where insiders expect the show to be.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/09/house-rises-heroes-falls-big-bang-tops-half-men-and-more.html

It's amazing to see how far Heroes has fallen, and how popular House has gotten. Both House and Big Bang Theory have been two of my favorite shows the last couple years so I'm happy.

Full Monday night ratings:

6.5 House

4.6 Big Bang Theory

4.4 Two and a Half Men

4.3 CSI Miami

4.1 Dancing With The Stars

3.5 How I Met Your Mother

3.2 Accidentally On Purpose

2.7 Heroes

2.3 Castle

1.8 The Jay Leno Show

1.2 One Tree Hill

1.1 Gossip Girl

[MaxPower]

Have I just not given Big Bang Theory a fair go? When I watched it, I just got the impression that it was a by the numbers sitcom.... As hot as Cucco is, her character seemed too weak and felt like they played the 'Unresolved Sexual Tension' card too quickly.

I thought I read that Lie to Me was canned, glad it wasn't very good show.

[JackFetch]

Big bang Theory pretty much is a by the numbers sitcom, but I love the characters and writing. The way they interact geek style reminds me of me and my friends. The fact that the writers actually know geek culture and aren't making stuff up is what puts it over the top for me. The Batman conversation that was about the current storyline in the books was great. They even mentioned in the season premier how they all missed Comic-Con because they were at the North pole(or Antarctica I don't remember) for six months, and then thanked Comic-Con with a picture of the crowd attending the panel in the end titles. Also, one of the main characters gets mad when he realizes he missed Star Trek also.

[George W.]

I thought I read that Lie to Me was canned, glad it wasn't very good show.

Lie to Me comes back next Monday and is good with the potential to be great. I look at it like the first season of the West Wing; good enough, a little different, but will really hit it's stride in the upcoming year.

[Molly]

And Tim Roth. One can never get enough Tim Roth.

[Koete]

I want to like Lie To Me, I really do. Tim Roth is a great actor and easily the best thing about the show. My big problem with it is that, besides Lightman, none of the characters on the show feel like real characters to me. They come across as actors reading their lines and that's it.

[Stavros]

Watched the season opener of House, which was really more of a TV movie in that it was 90 minutes long. Great stuff, and a nice allegory for the show itself. House was struggling to live a life without vicodin, and the show was trying to be good without vicodin-dependant storylines.

[JackFetch]

Watched the season opener of House, which was really more of a TV movie in that it was 90 minutes long. Great stuff, and a nice allegory for the show itself. House was struggling to live a life without vicodin, and the show was trying to be good without vicodin-dependant storylines.

I don't think it had as much to do with his vicodin addiction, and was more about his being an asshole who shits all over people. They never gave a reason for his hallucinations other than vicodin, and he was off those 5 minutes into the episode.

[Stavros]

Watched the season opener of House, which was really more of a TV movie in that it was 90 minutes long. Great stuff, and a nice allegory for the show itself. House was struggling to live a life without vicodin, and the show was trying to be good without vicodin-dependant storylines.

I don't think it had as much to do with his vicodin addiction, and was more about his being an asshole who shits all over people. They never gave a reason for his hallucinations other than vicodin, and he was off those 5 minutes into the episode.

Right, but the key is that House uses the drugs to mask emotional pain as much as physical. The who episode dealt with the reasons for his addiction rather than the actual weaning process. You are right though, this coming season is going to be an exploration of House learning to be normal whilst the show tries to deal with not writing him as quite as much of an asshole.

[Tom BITD]

Big bang Theory pretty much is a by the numbers sitcom, but I love the characters and writing. The way they interact geek style reminds me of me and my friends. The fact that the writers actually know geek culture and aren't making stuff up is what puts it over the top for me. The Batman conversation that was about the current storyline in the books was great. They even mentioned in the season premier how they all missed Comic-Con because they were at the North pole(or Antarctica I don't remember) for six months, and then thanked Comic-Con with a picture of the crowd attending the panel in the end titles. Also, one of the main characters gets mad when he realizes he missed Star Trek also.

I only watched the pilot episode of Big Bang Theory before giving it up in disgust. There's a definite 'look at the freaks' aspect to the geek characters that really bothered me. Every one of the nerdy characters are written with a kind of contempt and bemused condescension that is really distasteful. And because it tightly hews to the 'unconventional romance' sitcom, it will be on forever and ever...but hey, at least the Barenaked Ladies get a residual check every week out of it.

Compare that to Chuck, another geeky show where there's a much more varied view of geekdom, with geek characters that range from the more-or-less well-adjusted to the truly creepy. And unlike The Big Bang Theory, where the show stops dead while geek culture is discussed so the average viewer can laugh and point and go, 'look at how stupid these smart guys are,' the geek culture references in Chuck tend to be subtle and more integrated into the show. Granted, it took a season and a half before it convinced me it was a show to follow--and I can pinpoint the exact episode where it was no longer on my 'inertia' list, namely the one where Chuck and Sarah go undercover in a suburban community unofficially headed by Andy Richter--and its insistent that the disturbingly five-headed Yvonne Strahvoski is The Hottest Girl EVER can be obtrusive, but it has slowly ramped up its game until the last act of season two, featuring amazing turns by Scott Bakula as Chuck's father and especially Chevy Chase as the villian, a sort of Bill Gates gone horribly, horribly evil. So even though I'll be watching House live, I'll be taping Chuck (yes, I am one of those sad old bastards who haven't purchased a DVR yet). Of course, since Chuck came close to be cancelled last year and, much like my beloved Veronica Mars, will most likely be gone this year, well..I better enjoy it while I can.

[JackFetch]

Several fall series have yet to debut but the CW’s “The Beautiful Life: TBL” is already dead, victim of hideous ratings, after airing just two episodes.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42505

To be fair, if your advertising consists only of a picture of a naked Sarah Paxton, there better be a naked Sarah Paxton somewhere in your show.

[JackFetch]

The return of Fox's "Dollhouse" went right back to where it left off -- as the lowest-rated show on a major broadcast network on Friday night. Only this time, "Dollhouse" had some company. The series premiere of Fox's comedy "Brothers," which served as a lead-in for "Dollhouse," was equally abysmal.

While over on CBS, the debut of "Medium" in its new time period (and network) retained most of its "Ghost Whisperer" lead-in and won 9 p.m. despite dropping considerably on its new night.

CBS started with "Ghost" (8.6 million, 2.2), down 12% from last year. "Medium" (8.8 million, 2.0) matched the debut of "Ex-List" in the slot, yet fell sharply -- 33% -- from its debut on NBC on Monday nights last season. "Numbers" (7.9 million, 1.7) was down 19% from last year. Overall, these are somewhat soft for CBS' block, though the network did win the evening.

ABC was second in the demo, picking up some additional sampling by re-airing a few of its premieres, along with "20/20" (7.1 million 2.3), which won 10 p.m. and ranked as the night's highest-rated show (a tad depressing, that).

NBC aired the 20th season premiere of Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" (6.3 million, 1.3). Judging by the rating, this show is ready for pasture. The procedural was also down 41% from its Wednesday night debut last season. "Dateline" (5.8 million 1.5) was modest and "The Jay Leno Show" (5.7 million, 1.5) hit a new low, now creeping into the upper region of Leno's "Tonight Show" average.

And then there's Fox. Nobody had any expectation that "Brothers" (2.8 million, 1.0) would open and it didn't (mixed reviews, weak promotion, terrible time slot). "Dollhouse" (2.6 million, 1.0) was down 41% from its first season premiere, basically picking up where its finale left off. As stated time and time again, once a heavily serialized show starts to decline, it's almost impossible to reverse -- the same mythology that keeps some fans tuning in each week discourages new viewers from leaping in, or previous fans from giving the show a second chance.

On the CW, the premiere of "Smallville" (1.0) took a hit being moved to Fridays, down 45%. CW points out this is the network's best performance in the time period in more than a year, though naturally if you burn off the (presumed) final season of one of your highest rated shows on your lowest-rated night that's what you get.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/09/dollhouse-returns-to-bottom-medium-debuts-average.html

Bottom line is Fridays are a terrible time slot, and anything you move there will tank.

The actual numbers:

Many premieres hit Friday; the 18-49 scores:

2.3 20/20

2.2 Ghost Whisperer

2.0 Medium

1.7 Numbers

1.5 Dateline

1.5 The Jay Leno Show

1.5 Modern Family ®

1.5 Cougar Town ®

1.4 FlashForward ®

1.3 Law & Order

1.0 Brothers

1.0 Dollhouse

1.0 Smallville

[JackFetch]

NBC announced late Wednesday that it’s canceling its pricey but low-rated paramedic drama “Trauma,” and upping its current episode order for “Chuck.”

“Chuck’s” third-season order has grown from 13 installments to 19.

“Trauma” will cease production after its 13th episode. While it consistently pulls better ratings than "The Jay Leno Show," it costs considerably more to produce.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42893

[MaxPower]

Chuck is one of those shows I watched as a guilty pleasure back when I had cable (it was on cable here in Oz). That and Greek. I really need to download both of them...

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

Have I just not given Big Bang Theory a fair go? When I watched it, I just got the impression that it was a by the numbers sitcom.... As hot as Cucco is, her character seemed too weak and felt like they played the 'Unresolved Sexual Tension' card too quickly.

cucco gets better as the seasons progress. I have the first 2 seasons on dvd and I find myself laughing at least three times each episode. Season 2 was very funny.

[JackFetch]

People better start watching Fringe, Supernatural, and Flashfoward.

ABC won the night, with its lineup slipping about 4% across the board: "FlashForward" (8.5 million viewers, 2.6 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) ...

Returning after a two-week hiatus, Fox's drama lineup had "Bones" (8.5 million, 2.5) down 11%. At 9 p.m., "Fringe" (5 million, 1.7) hit a serious low, falling 23%.

Things were also bad for the boys at Supernatural, whose audience fell 14 percent.

But there was good news for fans of The CW's Vampire Diaries: The show boasted 4.2 million viewers, maintaining its recent gain in audience.

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

People better start watching Fringe, Supernatural, and Flashfoward.

ABC won the night, with its lineup slipping about 4% across the board: "FlashForward" (8.5 million viewers, 2.6 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) ...

Returning after a two-week hiatus, Fox's drama lineup had "Bones" (8.5 million, 2.5) down 11%. At 9 p.m., "Fringe" (5 million, 1.7) hit a serious low, falling 23%.

Things were also bad for the boys at Supernatural, whose audience fell 14 percent.

But there was good news for fans of The CW's Vampire Diaries: The show boasted 4.2 million viewers, maintaining its recent gain in audience.

looks like they'll have to come up with better TV and soon! lol

[Koete]

People should watch Supernatural, because it's a great show, but I'm not worried about it getting canceled. This season wraps up the show's main storyline, so even if it doesn't get renewed, there's going to be closure.

[JackFetch]

I keep telling myself I'm going to start watching Supernatural. I didn't like the Fringe pilot so no interest in the show. Flashforward just isn't that good.

On a side note, Smallville's ratings have been up the past two weeks.

[Stavros]

Fringe is a crap show to watch by yourself but its a laugh to watch with other people, poking holes in the plot and science.

[KnightWing]

Fringe is a crap show to watch by yourself but its a laugh to watch with other people, poking holes in the plot and science.

I hear that it actually gets really good by the end of the first season, though.

[Koete]

The first season finale is great, but the second season premiere is terrible.

[Dread]

I only watched the pilot episode of Big Bang Theory before giving it up in disgust. There's a definite 'look at the freaks' aspect to the geek characters that really bothered me. Every one of the nerdy characters are written with a kind of contempt and bemused condescension that is really distasteful.

Good god! I thought I was alone. I knew there was a reason i liked you.

...but hey, at least the Barenaked Ladies get a residual check every week out of it.

Cocaine ain't cheap!

[JackFetch]

Say bye to Heroes. Chuck is taking it's time slot:

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – November 19, 2009 – NBC’s action-comedy series “Chuck” returns to the NBC lineup on Sunday, January 10 with all-new missions and two action-packed, back-to-back original episodes in its season premiere (9-11 p.m. ET) before the series -- starring Zachary Levi in the title role -- moves to its regular day and time (Mondays 8-9 p.m. ET) beginning January 11.

In addition, "Chuck" returns with guest stars galore in its third season. These include: Angie Harmon (NBC’s “Law & Order”), who will play Sydney, an enemy operative; Brandon Routh (“Superman Returns”), who is set to play CIA Agent Daniel Shaw; Robert Patrick (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) will play Colonel Keller, a soldier and spy from Casey’s past; Kristin Kreuk (“Smallville”), who will portray Hannah -- a potential love interest for Chuck; Armand Assante (“Judge Dredd”) as dictator Premier Goya, who is the target of an assassin; Steve Austin (“WWE Smackdown!”) will portray Hugo Panzer, who becomes entangled in Chuck’s first solo mission; and Vinnie Jones (“Snatch”) will play Carl Stromberg, an arms dealer.

In other programming news, a special two-hour episode of "Heroes" will be broadcast on Monday, January 4 (8-10 p.m. ET) and then the series moves to its new time slot of Mondays (9-10 p.m. ET) starting January 11.

“Josh (Schwartz) and Chris (Fedak) and the writing team are doing a great job this season, and we think the loyal fan base for this show will be happy to see it back on the NBC schedule,” said Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

In “Chuck,” the world's nerdiest secret agent is back in the one-hour action-comedy series. Chuck Bartowski (Levi, "Less Than Perfect") continues as the Buy More electronics store computer geek, who unwittingly becomes the government’s most vital secret agent. Chuck is transformed into the Intersect 2.0 after another data download into his brain. This time, he not only knows government secrets, but he is also well equipped with deadly fight skills. Chuck has the potential to become a real agent, but he has one problem -- his emotions. Now he faces the battle of keeping his emotions in check in order to protect himself and the people around him.

The ever stoic Colonel John Casey (Adam Baldwin, "My Bodyguard") returns with partner Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski, "Gone"), one of the CIA's top agents and Chuck's dream girl. As Chuck assumes his new role as the Intersect 2.0, Casey and Sarah need to protect him but also help him become the agent he is destined to be.

[Derrick]

THE BIG BANG THEORY: Next to "Parks And Recreation" probably the funniest show on TV. Jim Parsons shamelessly steals every scene he's in and with good reason. He's funny as hell. And the writing is sharp and right on point. And has been pointed out earlier in this thread, the writers know geek culture and they aren't afraid to poke fun at it as they're more than likely geeks themselves.

LIE TO ME: Much as I like Tim Roth I never started watching this show.

HOUSE: The minute they stop writing him as an asshole, that's the day the show starts losing viewers. It isn't so much that House is an asshole...well, he is...but he's an asshole that's always right. People tend to overlook a lot when you always have the right answer (as I know from personal experience) House is a character that does and says things most of us wish that we could do but we're hampered by societal conventions and bullshit PC indoctrination. You take away that most vital characteristic of his and the show stops dead in the water.

CHUCK: Watched three episodes. Was bored for three episodes. Never went back for more.

SUPERNATURAL: Excellent show. One of the reasons my DVR is my third favorite toy is that I get to watch FRINGE live while DVRing SUPERNATURAL.

FLASHFORWARD: Even though it has the amazing Gabrielle Union in the cast I never started watching it as I'm pretty sure ABC will screw her over in this show the way they did the new "Night Stalker" And isn't anybody besides me tired of ABC trying so pathetically hard to create a new "Lost"?

FRINGE: My favorite TV show right now. It's unfairly compared to the "X-Files" which grinds my grits. FRINGE does everything "X-Files" was supposed to do and does it way better.

HEROES: Won't somebody put a stake through this show's heart already and get it over with?