It’s that time of the year. Now that we’ve all been spoiled for months with tons of new TV, it’s all going away. Last week we saw the first real evidence of the holiday slowdown as CW just shut down completely and ABC was the only network that even made an effort on Thursday and Friday. There were still some interesting numbers to look at. My favorite was the huge boost brought to NCIS: LA with the Abby crossover. There was also another strong finale for Dancing With The Stars, some stabilization for V, and Big Bang Theory finally overtook 2 ½ Men in viewers.
CBS - The first three days of the week were great. Things kicked off with Amazing Race (12.19m/3.7) enjoying a boost in the demo. That led to Cold Case (9.55m/2.1), which improved on the numbers Three Rivers (7.89m/1.7) had been delivering at 9. More good news Monday with How I Met Your Mother (8.75m/3.7), Accidentally On Purpose (7.89m/3.1), and 2 ½ Men (13.88m/4.7) holding up well against the DWTS finals. Then, Big Bang Theory (14.13m/5.2) finally made the jump and topped Men in viewers and the demo. We’ll just have to wait and see how much not facing DWTS had to do with that.
Tuesday started with another strong performance from NCIS (20.35m/4.4). The better news though, was over on NCIS: LA (17.22m/4.3). It would seem that Abby brought about 2.5m viewers and a point in the demo with her, and that was against the DWTS finale. The Good Wife (12.53m/2.8) also held up well against DWTS. Wednesday, everything was down, but that was true of everything on TV that night. Given the holiday, it was still a decent night for Old Christine (7.01m/1.8), Gary Unmarried (6.8m/1.9), Criminal Minds (13.51m/3.2), and CSI: NY (12.66m/2.9). And that did it for the week as the network took Thursday and Friday off.
ABC – The American Music Awards (14.24m/5.5) got the week started on a nice note. Dancing With The Stars (20.41m/4) continued the success on Monday, with the final performances. More interesting, Castle (10.31m/2.7) was up in the demo, despite following Find My Family (12.76m/2.9) instead of DWTS. Tuesday saw V (9.3m/3.1) level off, and the Dancing With The Stars finale (19.29m/4.3).
Wednesday, as with CBS, everything was down. The Middle (6m/1.8), Modern Family (7.12m/2.4), Cougar Town (5.53m/1.9), and Eastwick (3.41m/1) were all well off the pace. Thursday, Beyonce (5.14m/1.7) and Paul McCartney (4.65m/1.2) didn’t set any records. And Friday, Ugly Betty (3.39m/.9) landed in fourth place, behind Ice Age Two, 40 Year Old Virgin, and a Medium repeat.
NBC - Sunday Night Football (17.33m/6.6) kicked things off with another solid performance. That success was short lived, of course, with Heroes (5.16m/2.3) and Trauma (5.39m/1.7) still struggling mightily on Monday. The Biggest Loser picked things up with appearances on Tuesday (8.91m/3.5) and Wednesday (7.7m/2.8). Leno had another typical week, hovering right around that 5m/1.5 spot.
FOX – It was really an off week for the network. Starting with Sunday’s Simpsons (6.89m/3.3), Cleveland (6.56m/3.3), Family Guy (7.48m/3.9), and American Dad (5.6m/2.8) outings, everything was down. That trend continued as House (11.95m/4.6) and Lie To Me (7.16m/2.7) were off the pace on Monday. So You Think You Dance felt the sting on Tuesday (5.45m/2.1) and Wednesday (4.88m/1.6). Even the kids from Glee (6.11m/2.5) struggled. Chalk it up to holiday shenanigans.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Nov 30, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
Why on earth ABC would air a new Ugly Betty on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I’ll never know…unless they really do want to kill the show. To make matters worse, in Baltimore the local ABC affiliate aired Supernanny and Primetime (or whatever the news magazine is called) and pre-empted Betty with two infomercials! I don’t know how many other affiliates followed suit, but I was not a happy camper when I found that out.
Yeah, having Abby from NCIS on NCIS Los Angeles gave it the credibility it seriously needs. Now for the occasional visit by Gibbs or our favourite IT geek. Even Ducky.