CBS - It was a short week for CBS, with only five new entries. And it didn’t get off to a great start when Undercover Boss (9.25m/2.3) had to go up against the NFC Championship. Business picked up on Wednesday, with Criminal Minds (13.81m/3.7), and CSI (14.26m/3.4). But the real treat came Thursday, where Big Bang Theory (16.13m/5.5) again bested Idol in the demo (5.5 to 4.9). Rob (11.5m/3.5) finished the week.
FOX - Apparently, the next best thing to the Superbowl is the NFC Championship (57.63m/21.4). It made for the beginning of what was a nice week for the network. House (8.76m/3.1) was back on Monday, with Alcatraz (9.03m/3) holding on to most of its premiere audience. I’ll be curious to see where the show is in two weeks when CBS is back with a full Monday. American Idol (19.67m/6.5 – 17.14m/5.5) had another down, but strong, week. That gave a very nice boost to the sneak of Touch (12.01m/3.9). That is an encouraging number, but will probably mean very little when the show makes its Monday debut in March.
The Finder (8.44m/2.8) also had a good week, hitting highs in both measures with its third episode. Good news, but not something to place much value on considering there was no new Office, Grey’s, or PoI to compete. Expect a sharp drop next week. Things finished with Friday’s duo of Kitchen Nightmares (3.44m/1.4) and Fringe (3.37m/1.2).
ABC - ABC was also on a short schedule, and again the big news came from Once Upon A Time (9.33m/3.2). That is down, but not by much considering it was dealing with the 57 million viewers going to football. Desperate Housewives (7.48m/2.6) and Pan Am (3.74m/1.2) werent’ nearly the same draw. The Bachelor (8.3m/2.7) took advantage of a slow Monday to gain some ground before handing off to Castle (10.05m/2.1). The other new entries were on Friday, Shark Tank (5.45m/1.6) and What Would You Do (5.19m/1.7).
NBC - The peacock had the most new programming, but it was again a quantity over quantity thing. Biggest Loser (6.42m/2.1) was the only show that managed to crack 2 in the demos. Sunday didn’t offer any help to the failing Prime Suspect (4.31m/.8). Slightly more positive … Monday offered gains for Who’s Still Standing (6.44m/1.7) and Rock Center (7.13m/1.6) but that’s really going from horrible to not-so-horrible. Not unlike the series finale presentation from Chuck (4.12m/1.2 – 4.32m/1.3).
Comedy remains a huge problem. Wednesday is sinking fast with Whitney (4.4m/1.4) and Are You There Chelsea (3.8m/1.4). And the idea to hand the Office spot over to 30 Rock (3.98m/1.9) was not a good one. Yes, that was better than the 8pm 30 Rock (3.82m/1.6). But with Parks & Rec (3.49m/1.7) and The Firm (3.8m/1) joining in, NBC didn’t have one show get over 4 million viewers on Thursday, despite five hours of repeats between ABC and CBS. At this point, it borders on ridiculous that any of these shows are still on the air.
CW - Another off week included Gossip Girl (1.11m/.6), Hart Of Dixie (1.23m/.5), 90210 (1.24m/.7), Remodeled (.89m/.4), and One Tree Hill (1.46m/.7).
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Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jan 30, 2012 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
I see what you did there, refusing to associate the word “quality” with NBC as long as it keeps Community off the air. Good on ya.
*POST AUTHOR*
Clever! Although, for anyone that hasn’t caught on over the past 200 or so ratings posts, ‘quality’ is usually referencing ratings success in this context. Unfortunately, as has been proven time and again, how ‘good’ a show is doesn’t always track with how many people actually watch it. Likewise for how ‘bad’ a show is.
I don’t know why I get such a feeling of Schadenfreude when I watch things like “Must See TV” Thursday being taken from NBC. They held that Thursday prime spot for YEARS with some consistently funny shows but they just can’t seem to get the formula right again. On the other hand CBS has a real cash cow in “Big Bang Theory”..I don’t think the problem is necessarily the shows on NBC Thursday because personally I like most of them, but I think there are some consistency issues for me. Sometimes I crack up at Parks and Rec and sometimes I barely crack a smile…same thing for Community (in my opinion folks, sorry) and quite honestly, The Office has become unwatchable (again, to ME folks). 30 Rock still makes me laugh all the time but I really think a lot of people just don’t “get” it!