The Olympics wrapped up last Sunday, and that means two things. First, we’re now just four short years from the next time NBC actually wins a week in the ratings. And more importantly, new episodes everywhere. The week also brought the premieres of three new shows for NBC in The Marriage Ref, Parenthood, and Who Do You Think You Are. The first two premiered to time-slot winning numbers, but still have a ways to go before we crown them hits.
FOX - With the Olympics gone, American Idol easily pushed FOX back to the top of the heap. With three showings on Tuesday (23.53m/8.6), Wednesday (23.56m/8.5), and Thursday (19.42m/6.5), the singing kids did the heavy lifting for the week. Also joining the party, 24 (8.63m/2.5) is anxiously awaiting the return of Dr. House. Kitchen Nightmares (7.89m/3.3) finished the week with another strong outing.
CBS - Undercover Boss (15.15m/5.1) is in no hurry to come back to Earth. Facing the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, the numbers were outstanding. That came on the heels of another solid outing for Amazing Race (10.21m/3.2). Cold Case (9.83m/2.4) wasn’t up to that pace in finishing off Sunday night. Monday also brought good numbers from How I Met Your Mother (10.37m/3.9), Rules Of Engagement (9.73m/3.4), 2 ½ Men (16.86m/5.7), and Big Bang Theory (15.73m/5.9), and CSI: Miami (12.07m/3.4). Those Rules results make things very curious where Accidentally On Purpose is concerned.
Tuesday was successful as well, opening with NCIS (19.62m/4). NCIS: LA (14.84m/3.1) took a bit of a hit up against Idol and Lost, while The Good Wife (13.32m/2.7) fell just short of the Parenthood demo. Old Christine (5.56m/1.6) and Gary Unmarried (5.57m/1.8) remain the weak link in the schedule on Wednesday. You have to think something will be done with that comedy block next season. Criminal Minds (13m/3.4) and CSI: NY (12.35m/3) were both solid following.
The first full Thursday of programming in quite some time looked good as well, with Survivor (12.72m/3.8), CSI (15.59m/3.7), and The Mentalist (14.87m/3.2). Ghost Whisperer (7.39m/1.7), Medium (7.88m/1.9), and Numb3rs (8.1m/1.7) finished things off winning all three hours Friday night.
ABC - Desperate Housewives (10.89m/3.7) and Brothers & Sisters (7.92m/2.5) have not done well against event programming, and the closing of the Olympics was no different. I’m still looking for them to bounce back when everything is back to normal. Not needing a rebound was The Bachelor (15.15m/5.3), and the companion show After The Final Rose (13.91m/5.3). You can look forward to more Bachelor in the future.
The final season of Lost (9.29m/4.1) continued on Tuesday, and the show was down while going against NCIS:LA and Idol, but that is still a very good demo number. 20-20 (5.2m/1.7) stepped into The Forgotten‘s spot, with similar results. Wednesday was a little odd. Modern Family (8.01m/3.4) held up despite being against SVU, Criminal Minds, and Idol. The Middle (5.89m/2.1) and Cougar Town (5.35m/2.3) didn’t handle it nearly as well. Oprah’s Oscar Special (4.34m/1.3) failed to find much of an audience.
Thursday, the struggles for Grey’s Anatomy (11.83m/4) and Private Practice (7.57m/2.7) continued. Those aren’t bad numbers, but they’re down. I’m chalking that up to the baby episode of The Office and looking for those numbers to go up in coming weeks. The week ended with Supernanny (4.36m/1.2) and 20/20 (6.28m/1.4 – 6.73m/1.6) on Friday.
NBC - The last blast of the Olympics (21.4m/5.5) kicked things off on Sunday, and made for great premiere numbers from The Marriage Ref (14.45m/4.9). Things slowed down on Monday where Chuck (6.7m/2.4) held steady while Law & Order (7.76m/2) moved over to fill in. The Biggest Loser (8.27m/3.2) continues to feel the effects of Idol, but is holding strong on Tuesday. The bigger news though was the premiere of Parenthood (8.1m/3.1). That’s a good number, but you could argue it’s a little soft given all the promotion the show received during the Olympics. It will be interesting to see what the next couple outings bring.
Thursday, Community (5.02m/2.3) and Parks & Recreation (4.61m/2.3) were at their usual leisurely pace. The Office (9.02m/4.7), on the other hand, again proved that a baby episode still commands eyeballs. That gave a nice push to the second outing of The Marriage Ref (7.71m/3.4), but I’ll be very curious to see what following 30 Rock does to the numbers. Friday brought the premiere of Who Do You Think You Are (6.85m/1.6). Not great, but not bad for a really cheap Friday show. Things wrapped up with a double dose of Dateline (6.6m/1.4 – 7.74m/1.9).
CW – Working in scheduling at CW must be a great gig. There’s so little to do. And so much time off. The week brought exactly one new hour of programming. Life Unexpected (1.78m/.8) continued to fall just short of numbers that would offer confidence about a second season. It’s not done, by any means, but it’s firmly on the bubble.
CABLE - The big news on cable was probably the premiere of Southland (2.49m/1). TNT has finally burned through all of the episodes that NBC aired, and brought out their first ‘new’ episode. I have to think that number is a bit of a disappointment. And it kind of supports NBC’s case for cancellation. Certainly, you can’t expect a cable show to do network numbers. But if this really was a big mistake that NBC was making you could expect it to at least be competitive with The Closer and Leverage. And it’s not. Other cable numbers:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Mar 08, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
