(12/30 – 1/04)
Christmas and New Years are now in the rearview, so we can finally start getting back to something that passes for a regular television viewing schedule. If someone could just make this damn snow stop, I’d be a happy guy. Before we rejoin some of our favorite shows for the beginning of 2009 though, we’ve got one more really slow week to talk about. The hits were few and far between, but there were a couple interesting bits hidden away in there.
I mentioned last week that, in certain situations, repeats of popular shows may be a better choice than original programming from crappy ones. We saw that in full force Monday night as NBC had the night to itself. All the rest of the networks just mailed it in. Despite no original competition, the combination of Greatest Holiday Moments (6.07m/1.5), Deal Or No Deal (7.18m/1.7), and Momma’s Boys (4.97m/1.8) could only manage third place in viewers and fourth in the demo. Yikes.
Among the shows found putting the boots to NBC, Gary Unmarried (8.79m/2.9) finally got a shot following 2½ Men (11.79m/3.6). Unfortunately, those were both repeats, so we can’t say for certain how it would perform compared to the Worst Week numbers, but I’d bet on Gary.
CBS took a similar hit on Tuesday, foregoing a repeat of The Mentalist to run the Kennedy Center Honors (10.45m/1.8). Not terrible numbers, but a dip from what the kids at the CBI would have done. CBS still took the night in viewers, but gave up the demo crown to a night of L&O repeats on NBC.
Meanwhile, over at ABC, everyone seems to have given up on Eli Stone (3.81m/1.2). Despite being one of the few original hours on the schedule, it wasn’t even close to the Kennedy Center Honors and an SVU repeat. And if you really want to kick the prophet/lawyer while he’s down, the episode was actually tied in the demo with Aqui y Ahora on Univision.
Similar to Eli, Knight Rider (4.48m/1.1) had another free run this week, and failed to capitalize. It’s become quite apparent at this point that a Knight Rider TV movie was a solid idea. A Knight Rider series, not so much.
Good news for networks this week? Deal Or No Deal (10.214m/2.5) managed to show a glimmer of its former self on New Year’s Day. It took the viewer crown in the 9 o’clock hour, although it was third in the demo. And FOX managed a rare Friday night win. The Sugar Bowl was too much for Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs repeats to overcome.
This coming week, we finally have a schedule worth talking about. NBC is rolling out Superstars Of Dance, and they’ll be facing off against The Bachelor. Place your bets now. The smart money is on none of the above, as both of them should be cannon fodder for the CBS lineup when it comes back online.
Elsewhere, Scrubs changes networks, and continues to get treated like crap. Did you catch what the lead-in is for the big premiere is? Homeland Security USA. Even better, the episode title is “This is your car on drugs.” What the hell is that? And, oh yeah, they get to face a new episode of The Mentalist too. That will follow the women’s prison episode of NCIS, featuring SG alum Janina Gavankar.
It appears that people are wandering back into the offices over at CW, as Monday and Tuesday are all new. And Wednesday brings the premiere of 13: Fear Is Real. The big guns (The Winchester Bros) are still in repeat mode on Thursday, but ABC is bringing the full lineup. It will be our first chance to see how Private Practice is going to do following Grey’s Anatomy. It should make for an interesting battle when Eleventh Hour is new again. NBC will play along. Everything but The Office is new Thursday.
And finally, on Friday, NBC offers up Howie Do It as the latest sacrifice to the Ghost Whisperer altar. Melinda will be followed by the premiere of Flashpoint in the 9PM slot and a new Numb3rs. Less exciting, a new Lipstick Jungle follows Howie.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jan 05, 2009 @ 11:04 EST5EDT
The two most notable things about 13: Fear Is Real are the producers – Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. That has to be worth something – certainly more than Ashton Kutcher and Tyra Banks.
You make a solid point Brent. Raimi and Tapert are more than enough to get me to tune in for Fear Is Real.