Our regularly scheduled programming was interrupted this week by the ‘Academy Awards’, the surprise prime-time appearance of the ‘Daytona 500′, and a triple shot of ‘Idol’. That brought a few unexpected drops to the numbers. On cable, ‘The Walking Dead’ continues to rule.
The big news on the networks was ‘American Idol’ falling to third place in viewers and the demo. Over on cable, the premiere of ‘Eastbound & Down’ could do nothing to stop the freight train that is AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’.
The big news on the broadcast networks last week was the huge ratings for the ‘Grammy Awards’. The death of Whitney Houston brought viewer levels the show hadn’t seen since the ’80s. Over on cable, the amazing run of ‘The Walking Dead’ just keeps going. The latest premiere finished even higher than the last one.
A big week of premieres was headlined by the return of ‘American Idol’, but the ratings king is not quite the juggernaut it used to be. ‘Big Bang Theory’ managed to top the singing kids in the demo.
The flood of premieres for the new year continues with ‘The Firm,’ ‘Are You There Chelsea,’ ‘The Finder,’ ’30 Rock,’ ‘Rob,’ and ‘The Game.’ That’s both good and bad, as the numbers run the gamut from ‘sure to be canceled’ to ‘solid hit’.
The new calendar year is upon us, and the mid-season premieres are already starting. ABC kicked off ‘The Bachelor’, ‘Wife Swap’, and ‘Work It’, while NBC had a brand new season of ‘Biggest Loser’. Over on cable, have the judge/host shenanigans ruined ‘Project Runway’?
‘Two And A Half Men’ has slipped back ahead of ‘Modern Family’ on the big networks, while over on cable the ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ finale was bested by bikes, boxes, and babies.