My fancy spreadsheet that tracks ratings is looking awfully bare this week. The television summer has arrived, and it brought a lot of blank spaces with it. There were still some notable premieres, with America’s Got Talent, Wipeout, Losing It With Jillian, and Hell’s Kitchen kicking off on the networks. Meanwhile, Burn Notice and Royal Pains are back for USA over on cable.
ABC - New programming was almost entirely unscripted this week, with only Happy Town (2.73m/.8) breaking the spell. Things kicked off with another decent performance from The Bachelorette (7.64m/2.5), followed by the premiere of True Beauty (5.25m/2). Wipeout (8.37m/3.1) looked very good in its return on Tuesday, standing up well against Glee and Talent. The highlight of the week was Game 1 of the NBA Finals (14.09m/5.7).
NBC - After a somewhat slow start with Game 2 of the Stanley Cup (5.89m/2.5), things really picked up with America’s Got Talent on Tuesday (12.35m/3.6) and Wednesday (10.36m/2.9). The premiere of Losing It With Jillian (6.44m/2.6) was solid as well. It was downhill from there, with 100 Questions (2.22m/.9) and Friday Night Lights (3.81m/1.1) both leaving plenty of room for improvement.
FOX - Prime Time NASCAR (4.93m/1.6) was less than impressive in kicking off the week, but the Tuesday combination of Hell’s Kitchen (6.22m/2.9) and Glee (9.02m/3.9) looked much better. That’s our first look at Glee without Idol and it looks like it’s holding up well, especially considering the competition. So You Think You Can Dance was next with two more episodes on Wednesday (7.44m/2.8) and Thursday (8.69m/3.3). Finally, the week wrapped up quietly with Past Life (2.01m/.7) on Friday.
CBS - I find the CBS scheduling just a little curious. Nothing new from Sunday to Thursday, then three new dramas on Friday and Saturday. I suppose it’s possible that Friday’s Miami Medical (6.14m/1.3) and Saturday’s Three Rivers (3.07m/.5) wouldn’t do any better than the crime-time repeats. Still, I’d be very curious to see what kind of number Flashpoint (6.09m/1.3) would put up in the middle of the week, instead of Friday.
CABLE - The big news this week was the return of Burn Notice (6.62m/2) and Royal Pains (5.84m/1.8). Those are strong numbers that had both of them besting their premieres from last season. I think it’s also a case of perfect scheduling on the part of USA, having these two shows kick off right at the end of the broadcast season. Other cable numbers:
Basic
Premium
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jun 07, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
