ABC has now announced that FlashForward will be taking a little break, with new episodes returning March 4th. And that really couldn’t have come at a worse time. Television is not usually a place where absence makes the heart grow fonder. More likely, viewers forget what you were up to and can’t be bothered to return. If that wasn’t bad enough, the show took it’s fall bow with it’s worst performance yet. Elsewhere this week, Sons Of Anarchy had a big finale, with some big numbers, and Dollhouse returned to be run over by a reindeer.
ABC - The Sunday combination of Extreme Makeover (10.36m/3), Desperate Housewives (12.78m/4.4), and Brothers & Sisters (8.69m/2.9) got the week off to a mostly typical start. Things changed on Monday, as the network had their first week with no Dancing With The Stars. The Grinch (9.2m/2.8) and Shrek The Halls (9.15m/2.9) did pretty well filling in from 8 to 9, finishing second in both measures for the hour. Things got a little sticky after that, as Find My Family (6.95m/2) took a big hit without Tom and Samantha.
More bad news came Tuesday, as Scrubs (4.63m/2 – 4.43m/2) tried, and failed, to fill those DWTS Results shoes. Scrubs is now the new According To Jim. It should have been canceled, but syndication money will keep those episodes coming. For perspective, the 12/16 According To Jim from last year managed (5.22m/1.8). That offered no help to The Forgotten (5.48m/1.2), which was beaten in the demo on Wednesday by the canceled Eastwick (4.25m/1.3).
Thursday is when things get interesting. Private Practice (9.21m/3.2) did alright filling in for Grey’s with a two hour episode. But FlashForward (7.07m/2.1) … it’s really not looking good. Not only was it bested by Survivor and Bones, as we’ve come to expect, it was also beaten in the demo by the struggling NBC comedies. And if the three month layoff saps any more viewers, it’s conceivable that we could see it fall to 5th in the demo when it has to face new Vampire Diaries in March. Add to that the 12/4 episode of Ugly Betty (8.37m/2.6) from last year and the situation really looks dire. Ugly Betty (4.23m/1.2) wrapped up the week on Friday by bouncing back a bit before she heads off to her new home in Eastwick‘s old slot.
CBS - The network also saw a nice performance from a Christmas special as A Dog Named Christmas (12.36m/2.1) improved on the usual 9 to 11 Sunday performance. That came on the heels of another solid outing from Amazing Race (11.61m/3.4). Monday was all repeats, but it’s worth noting that 2 ½ Men (11.38m/3.2) and Big Bang Theory (10.09m/3.2) were still able to win their hour.
Tuesday saw the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (8.01m/2.9) taking advantage of a very successful NCIS (14.28m/2.7) repeat. Wednesday brought another successful Christmas outing in the form of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (10.59m/3.8). The Grammy Nomination Concert (6.28m/2.3) that followed wasn’t quite as successful. Survivor (12.82m/3.9) was the only new entry on Thursday. Friday was down across the board, but Ghost Whisperer (8.23m/1.9), Medium (6.96m/1.8), and Numb3rs (7.38m/1.6) still easily won the night.
NBC - Sunday Night Football (19.21m/7.7) delivered as expected to kick things off. The party ended quickly though, as Monday was, as usual, rather disappointing. Despite the absence of DWTS and CBS being in repeats, Heroes (5.39m/2.3) and Trauma (5.36m/1.6) couldn’t gain any real ground. The best news of the week was the shifted Biggest Loser (9.99m/3.7) on Tuesday. The bump to 9-11 because of the Obama address gave a huge boost to the usual 10PM numbers from Leno.
The network didn’t see the same success with Christmas specials that ABC and CBS did, but Christmas In Rockefeller Center (8.69m/1.8) was just above the usual viewer number for Mercy on Wednesday. Thursday, Community (5.42m/2.2) and Parks & Recreation (4.8m/2.1) continued to struggle. And for those of you playing along with the home game, Parks & Rec remains below the Kath & Kim line (12/4 4.91m/2.2). The Office (8.05m/4.1) and 30 Rock (6.08m/3) were around the normal marks. The Muppets Christmas Letters (4.27m/1.1) closed things out on Friday.
As for Leno, it was not a good week. The big story when the whole thing was announced was that Leno would really pay off when the other networks had to go to repeats. Jay got his shot in a big way this week, and came up severely lacking. Leno was beaten by repeats from CSI: Miami, Castle, Criminal Minds, and The Mentalist. In fact, the only show Leno beat all week was Eastwick, which has already been canceled.
FOX – The Simpsons (8.88m/4.2), Cleveland (7.17m/3.5), Family Guy (8.5m/4.4), and American Dad (6.38m/3.3) started the week with their usual performance. House (13.25m/4.8) kept things going on Monday, finishing #1 in viewers and demo for the night. Lie To Me (7.48m/2.7) continues to be just okay following Dr. House. So You Think You Can Dance was at normal levels on Tuesday (5.84m/2.2) and up just a bit on Wednesday (6.27m/2.3). That led to Glee (8.15m/3.6) which won the hour in both measures.
Thursday, Bones (9.92m/2.9) had another solid second place outing, and Fringe (6.94m/2.5) took advantage of no Grey’s and a CSI repeat. Friday, Dollhouse (2.17m/.8 – 1.94m/.8) returned to the expected dismal numbers. The 1.94 million viewers for the 9PM episode is notable, as it was beaten by Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer on CW.
CW - It was another rather sparse schedule for the little network. One Tree Hill (2.4m/1.1) and Gossip Girl (2.23m/1.1) had fairly typical outings, as did 90210 (2.15m/1.1). And I suppose you could say Melrose Place (1.41m/.7) was typical as well, although that’s not a good typical. With Wednesday and Thursday in repeats, the only other new entry was Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (2.22m/.7) on Friday, which has the distinction of finishing 4th in viewers.
CABLE - The big story on cable this week was the finale for Sons Of Anarchy (4.33m/2.3), which has now become the #1 series on FX. The week also saw the premiere of Steven Seagal: Lawman (3.44m/1.4 – 3.57m/1.6), to a surprisingly large audience. It will be interesting to see if that holds up. Some other cable numbers to consider:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Dec 07, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Everyone keeps saying that “Fringe” bounced back because of a “CSI” repeat and no “Grey’s” but I think the real reason for the slight boost was because the show that really splits the viewers was a rerun – “Supernatural.” Those shows share more similar viewers than the other two, in my opinion.
And has the “Ugly Betty” move to Wednesday been confirmed? When does that happen?
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t think Supernatural has that much of an impact on Fringe. History would seem to agree. If you look back to 9/17, they both did very good numbers, on a night where there was no Grey’s or CSI. The Supernatural audience just isn’t big enough to start with to explain the kind of bounces Fringe has taken. From 7.81m/3 on 9/17 without Grey’s/CSI to 6.03m/2.3 on 10/1 with Grey’s CSI. Supernatrual was 2.78m/1.2 and 2.6m/1.2 on those nights.
As for Ugly Betty… Yes, the move has been confirmed. Ugly Betty producer Jim Weis posted to twitter that the show will begin on Wednesdays on January 6th.
Well, I see a lot of posts online from fans of both show complaining about them both being on at the same time so to me they have similar audiences. Like the CSI/Grey’s “battle,” I don’t see a lot of overlap in viewers for those shows and they both do big numbers against each other. So where’s the battle? But, no matter, I’m glad “Fringe” saw an uptick in numbers! Still one of my favorite shows on the air…even if it is up against my other favorite show (and I don’t watch either CSI or Grey’s). And good news about Ugly Betty! I thought ABC was just going to let it die on Fridays.
Oh, btw, I guess ABC just doesn’t learn anything from past mistakes. Extended absences killed both “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” Sure, that was a result of the writers strike, but why they never bothered to rerun the first season episodes in late spring/early summer to lead into the new season, I’ll never understand. This practice might work for an established show like “24” or “Lost” (and that one barely survived its first extended leave from the airwaves), but for new shows like “V” and “FlashForward” its almost certainly a death sentence. They need to get some new trained monkeys to do the programming at ABC!
FlashForward’s declining ratings almost justify the long layoff, though I still think it was stupid. If anything, I think ABC might be trying to drag the numbers down further so they can feel justified when they cancel it. I can’t fathom how it would get a renewal with the steady decline in ratings. Ultimately, I think the show has been really disappointing creatively as well. There is a whole lot worse that manages to stay on the air, though…
A big problem for shows like “Lost” and “FlashForward” is that they have a tough time picking up new viewers, because you just can’t catch up on everything that has previously been shown and explained.
However, on most shows, you have your weekly “A” plot (comedic situation or crime to solve or competition event), which work even if you haven’t seen all of the character development that has occurred on the show.
So, the “storyline” shows, almost by definition, will get a smaller and smaller audience over time. Their only real hope for survival is to hook the audience early and keep them.
Even something like Dexter really has a whole new arc each season — new bad guys and new heroes to interact with the series regulars. The only thing missed out on for new viewers is previous character development — which is easier for the viewer to recover from than storyline development, where the details are important.
*POST AUTHOR*
You make a good point Randy. That slow ratings decline is something we’ve seen with both Lost and Heroes. And there is very little chance at ever reversing that course, given the nature of the shows. Although, I do expect Lost to pick up viewers this year as it nears the finale. I suspect some of those that gave up on the show long ago will return just to see if they can have any sort of a real resolution.
The problem with FlashForward is that it seems to have managed to jam 4 seasons worth of audience erosion into 4 months. I also can’t understand the thinking behind taking it off the air now, when the clear time slot winner, Survivor, is also off the air. If the show is ever going to rebound, now is its best chance. Unless I am missing something, when the show returns in March, Survivor should be up and running again.
I don’t get the whole “we can’t burn off new episodes during the Olympics.” Not everyone watches the Olympics. It’s called counter-programming. Airing repeats or just holding new shows until the Olympics is over is just giving up and telling viewers to go watch new stuff on cable, and we hope you’ll come back while we go on vacation for a couple of weeks. And how is this delay going to screw with the show’s timeline? The pivotal episode that addresses the flash forward was to air on the exact date of the event in the show. I’ve read they’re already rearranging episodes now so I don’t see how any of this is going to work in the show’s favor.
I completely agree. At the few least I would like to see is a true miniseries, not something that is a long movie. Over the two weeks have one an hour a day a miniseries of something, anything at all.
They’d better not cancel Flash Fwd just when I am getting into it. I hung in there for a couple of snoozers after the pilot, and now it is interesting….. but these ‘ breaks ‘ suck. Not everyone sits glued to the Olympics.