ABC – This really was a horrible week for the network. After taking Sunday off, Skating With The Stars (6.06m/1.2) took over on Monday and tanked hard. 1.2? Yikes. The CMA Country Christmas (7.3m/1.4) didn’t offer much in the way of help. Things were a little better Tuesday, with Grinch (6.91m/2.2) and Shrek (7.39m/2.4) repeats kicking off the night. Unfortunately, new entries from No Ordinary Family (6.23m/1.9) and Detroit 187 (7.29m/1.6) were less than impressive following the ‘toons.
With the comedies in repeats, Wednesday’s lone new entrant was the return of The Whole Truth (3.65m/.9). The only real success in the week came Thursday. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (7.36m/2.3) plugged the 8PM hole, managing second in viewers and first in the demo. Then Grey’s Anatomy (11.02m/4) and Private Practice (7.9m/2.8) came in near the usual levels.
NBC – After another strong outing from Sunday Night Football (19.1m/7.1), the really interesting bit came on Monday. With the CBS comedies and House in repeats, and ABC puking all over their shoes with the skating debacle, how would Chuck and The Event respond? To give some perspective of just what was up for grabs, at 8 ABC/CBS/FOX were down a combined 22.48 million viewers and 6.4 in the demo. Unfortunately, that didn’t do much for the NBC lineup as Chuck (6.17m/2), The Event (5.83m/1.9), and Chase (6.03m/1.6) could only manage small gains despite the lack of competition. NBC was actually beaten in every half hour by the CBS repeats.
The news was better on Tuesday. Christmas In Rockefeller Center (11.26m/1.9) managed to pull in some eyeballs, and The Biggest Loser (8.31m/2.9) looked much healthier in the new 9-11 slot. Wednesday saw the return of Undercovers (4.82m/1.3), and some small gains for L&O: SVU (9.22m/2.5) and L&O: LA (9.15m/2.2).
Thursday brought another discouraging comparison for the network. Community (4.55m/1.9) has been getting hammered at 8 forever, but this week brought an opportunity. A repeat from Big Bang Theory had CBS down 4.12 million viewers and 1.9 in the demo. I don’t know where those viewers went, but it wasn’t to Community, as the show only gained .14 million viewers and nothing in the demo, remaining a distant fourth in both measures. 30 Rock (5.03m/2.3) came out a little better, managing to tie for first in the demo on a weakened evening. Against more typical competition, The Office (7.31m/3.7) and Outsourced (5.32m/2.5) were as expected. The Apprentice (4.12m/1.4) remains a huge disappointment.
FOX – A football overrun meant a good start to the week from the boosted Simpsons (9.39m/4.1), Cleveland (7.39m/3.4), and American Dad (6.13m/2.9). There was also good news Monday, as Lie To Me (6.38m/2.2) was up despite it following a House repeat. The numbers aren’t great, but they do put the show ahead of Fringe and Human Target when it’s time to start handing out pink slips.
Glee (11.68m/4.6) rebounded from the pre-Thanksgiving drop, which gave a boost to Raising Hope (6.65m/2.7). The fun stopped when the return of Running Wilde (3.36m/1.4) quickly dropped the ball. The future of Human Target (5.78m/1.6) remains very iffy, while Hell’s Kitchen (5.83m/2.6) will probably be with us for a while.
The curious entry in the FOX lineup came from Bones (8.83m/2.3). That’s off the pace, and on a night when the competition was down. Not sure if this is an aberration or if the Bones/Booth shenanigans are finally starting to chase viewers away. It’s one to keep an eye on. The week finished with Fringe (5.13m/1.8) and The Good Guys (2.45m/.7) right where you would expect.
CBS – It was actually quite a good week for the network, despite only having new episodes from five of the regular shows. The Amazing Race (11.07m/3.2) led off the week with November Christmas (13.48m/2.1). Monday was all repeats, but still good enough to win the night in viewers and demo. Tuesday was another winning night, thanks to a great performance from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (12.2m/3.9), an NCIS repeat, and the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (8.96m/3.4).
Survivor (12.26m/3.6) was back to regular episodes on Wednesday, and led the way for another nightly win even with the Grammy Nomination Concert (5.01m/1.7) in tow. A night of repeats on Thursday didn’t take the top spot, but was still solid, before a fourth win on Friday with Medium (6.83m/1.4), CSI: NY (10.19m/1.8), and Blue Bloods (11.36m/1.7).
CW - A full schedule started off normally, with 90210 (2.01m/1), Gossip Girl (1.96m/1), One Tree Hill (1.81m/.9), and Life Unexpected (1.52m/.7). Wednesday was notable as America’s Next Top Model (3.36m/1.5) edged out Undercovers to take fourth in the demo. Hellcats (1.89m/.8) remains an improvement in the time slot but somewhat shaky overall. Vampire Diaries (3.46m/1.5) is still the class of the network, and Nikita (2.3m/.8) remains the most worrisome series. The week wrapped with Smallville (2.79m/1.1) and Supernatural (2.13m/1).
I say that Nikita remains the most worrisome because of the women aged 18-34 performance, where it just isn’t competing with the other Mon-Thurs shows. Have a look:
CABLE - After what has been a disastrous first season where ratings are concerned, at least Terriers (.78m/.3) went out on a high note. It’s still probably a long shot for renewal, but given the critical adoration, and the fact that it finished the season on an upswing, the door has at least been opened (Editor’s note: Terriers was officially canceled after this was written). The other surprising bit of news from cable came from The Walking Dead (5.56m/2.8), which managed to set a series high with the fifth episode.
Basic:
Premium:
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Dec 06, 2010 @ 15:30 EST5EDT
Skating with the Stars is a flop? Shocking. If only ABC had somehow known it would flop, like if this same exact show was tried before… on a different network… and also failed… wait, that’s exactly what happened.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skating_with_Celebrities
*POST AUTHOR*
And it just gets worse. This week’s installment of Skating With The Stars fell to 4.8m/1… That makes me wonder if the show will even finish its run.